Opinion | Iowa Wesleyan closure is stark reminder of tightrope Bethel walks
In the midst of backlash against Bethel for changes in financial policy, it's important to see the other side.
One week ago, Iowa Wesleyan University, founded in 1842 and located in Mount Pleasant, Ia. tweeted a link to an announcement on its school’s website with no additional context — because the headline said it all:
IOWA WESLEYAN ANNOUNCES CLOSURE.
And with a lengthy statement that includes quotes from the Iowa Wesleyan board of trustees, one of the oldest colleges west of the Mississippi River informed its roughly 850 students, countless alumni, and the public that it was closing up shop for good following the conclusion of the 2022-2023 academic year.
Sadly, Iowa Wesleyan isn’t alone in what has turned into a largely concerning trend among NAIA schools in 2023 alone. On Jan. 17, Presentation College in Aberdeen, S.D. shared that it won’t be enrolling students for the 2023-2024 academic year. A month later, Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill. announced that its undergraduate programs would be moving fully online.
Between the closures of Presentation and Trinity International, Bethel College sent an email to its students on Feb. 15 outlining an uptick on the pricing of housing for single rooms (even for those with a Medical & Emotional Support Accommodation) and a 25% reduction in financial aid for commuting students.
In the past month, students and student organizations have responded. Abigail Chappell Deckert’s “Knowledge is Not Enough” piece for the Bethel College Community for Justice and Peace (BCCJP) publication Survival and the Student Government Association’s (SGA) resolution — or soon-to-be recommendation — in opposition to the changes are just the most notable examples.
From Bethel’s point of view
The closures of Presentation, Trinity International, and Iowa Wesleyan can’t (and shouldn’t) be ignored. In fact, they should serve as a reminder of the tightrope Bethel must balance itself on while being mindful of its budget (failing to do so got the institution in hot water with the Higher Learning Commission in 2020) and student recruitment, retention, and wellness.
And fresh off the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, like most NAIA institutions, Bethel must search for ways to both survive and thrive simultaneously. To do the former, the school’s leadership has to keep infrastructure afloat. As VP for Business & Finance Jayna Bertholf told The Collegian:
“In the time since our last increase [in housing pricing] (2017), the cost of utilities (water, gas, electricity, [and] trash) has increased substantially,” Bertholf said. “Single rooms offer the option for students to have extra space, but the air in the extra space needs to be heated and cooled. Thus, the utility cost per student is higher when the student has a single room.”
To do the latter, it must continue to come up with funding for projects that enhance the Bethel experience and contribute to the institution’s economic ecosystem — such as renovations to the freshman-only residence building, Haury Hall, that generations of students have bemoaned to no end. It also feels it must return to its community-based structure that was emphasized by a strict requirement that students live on campus which was lost during the pandemic.
And, no, this isn’t a referendum on the student-led responses to Bethel’s residency financial changes. Student engagement is (and always will be) a positive thing. I wasn’t asked by anybody to write this.
This is simply a call for perspective. To see that a 450-student private college in the Midwest is, as we’ve learned over the past four months, quite literally never abundant in confidence in survival. It’s important to learn from the three schools that will graduate their last group of students in May — and understand that many of an institution’s decisions are made out of necessity.
And if you don’t believe this could ever be a reality in North Newton, just ask the student-athletes of Presentation, Trinity International, and Iowa Wesleyan:
