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| "Next we'll sell Concordia College in Portland." |
I was looking for information about seminaries and found the ALPB Online discussion (2017) about the ELCA seminaries losing 80% of total student enrollment in relatively few years. ELCA seminary names have continued, but they are all a shadow of what they were 20 years ago.
The LCMS is following the same pattern in colleges and seminaries. Missouri sold the China property for a bundle, closed the Selma college, and shuttered Portland's LCMS college. They sold their NYC Concordia College to Iona College, run by the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic order.
Harrison - "I cannot but reflect with thanksgiving, even today, on the myriad blessings God has produced through this school. We thank God, too, for the heroic effort of the CCNY Board of Regents, CCNY President Rev. Dr. John Nunes, the LCMS Atlantic District and District President Rev. Derek Lecakes, and the faculty and staff of CCNY to find a way forward."
The LMCS extension fund has bought the Portland college for a mere $3 million. The college owed the synod $36 million. The college got involved with HotChalk, a company partially owned by Noodle. The Portland college was using HotChalk/Noodle, apparently in a scheme where the online component recruited students who would keep the LCMS college solvent.
I would hate to be the chief accountant at HotChalk/Noodle trying to explain the numbers to giggling reporters. Or - a student with a diploma printed by HotChalk with a footnote - "A Subsidiary of Noodle."
"Doctor" Harrison's sales pitch has probably gone from "I will resuscitate this synod" to "I inherited this mess." Potential replacements for Harrison are probably already at the point of wondering how much more will sold at a sheriff's auction and argued in various courtrooms.
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| "Honey, I shrunk the synod!" |
