SOUTH BEND, Ind.
(AP) -- An email mistakenly sent to the entire student body of northern
Indiana’s Holy Cross College has stirred fears among the school community by
painting a dismal picture of the college’s finances and its future.
The email sent
Friday was written by Kelly Jordan, the school’s vice president for student
affairs. In it, Jordan said “it may be that I will spend the better part of
the coming school year closing down the College.”
“All we can do is
try our hardest and hope for the best!” she added, The South Bend Tribune
reported.
The newspaper,
which obtained a copy of the email, said it spread quickly among students,
employees and alumni, raising fears about the future financial well-being of
the Roman Catholic four-year liberal arts college.
The South Bend
Tribune reports several students contacted the newspaper saying they shared
the email with their parents and are concerned that the school may close
before they can graduate.
Holy Cross College,
which has about 529 students on its South Bend campus, is facing serious
financial challenges, but its academic accreditation remains intact.
The college has
been ordered by the Higher Learning Commission, an accrediting agency, to
develop a plan to get out from under increasing borrowing and the need to
eliminate positions each summer to balance its budget.
The email’s
accidental release comes only weeks after the college’s president, Brother
John Paige, abruptly left that post.
Paige was replaced
on April 7 by the Rev. David Tyson, an administrator at the Mendoza College
of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
Tyson sent an email
Friday afternoon to students and employees saying that the email mistakenly
sent earlier that day is “one person’s opinion and does not reflect the
conversations that the Board of Trustees and administration are having about
the future of the College.”
He added that he’s
working with the trustees and its partners “to develop a robust plan” for
the college and says its future appears bright.