The leadership of Knoxville College recently announced their intent to suspend instruction for the fall 2015 semester.
According to Julie Woodruff, assistant executive director of postsecondary school authorization and lead attorney at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the Board of Trustees notified the commission “at the end of March that they’ve decided to suspend instruction in order to reorganize and restructure.”
But Rev. James Reese, chairman of the Board of Trustees for Knoxville College, wants to make it clear that the move is “not a closure.” The private, historically Black college had a reported enrollment of 11 students prior to the decision to suspend classes, whom Reese said officials are working to help place at other institutions.
Woodruff confirmed that it was not her office’s recommendation that the school close, as has been otherwise reported, but that it be granted “conditional authorization,” meaning the institution is “still authorized [to remain in operation], but following May 9 when the current term ends, they will not be offering instruction, they will not be enrolling” students for the next term.
“If we were going to shut down, we would have just said ‘We’re going to shut down,’” said Reese. “We’re not going to shut down.”
Instead, Reese said, the board is hoping it can restructure to better position itself to advance the viability of the college. Reese hopes to expand the board to include more people with doctoral degrees, more people within a 100-mile radius and more young entrepreneurs, as well as more Knoxville alumni whose level of personal investment may be higher than non-alumni.
“We’re just not planning to sit down and sit still,” Reese added. “We’re going to use this time to broaden our possibilities for the future.”
