MacMurray College is still in need of funding or they may be forced to close. An email from MacMurray Board of Trustees Chairman Charles O’Connell said yesterday that closure was still on the table if MacMurray does not achieve it’s $2.5 million dollar goal soon. Since December 10th when Dr. Beverley Rodgers told the college that their would be a shortfall in the operations budget, the college alumni department started the Move Mac Forward initiative. As of yesterday, the drive has raised a little over $1.4 million.
O’Connell says the board is doing things it has not done in the past, including working with higher education foundations and state and federal legislators for any relief, grants, or extra funding to keep the doors open. The college is working with a consultant from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges to create a new and sustainable business model for the school. O’Connell says the college will be moving its academics to professional studies and consolidating its general education requirements as a part of the school’s realignment. O’Connell says an ultimate decision about MacMurray will come later this month. Questions and a request for interviews from Dr. Rodgers’ office have gone unanswered. For questions on how to donate, call MacMurray’s alumni office at 479-7024.
Founded in 1846 by Methodist Clergy as Illinois Conference Female Academy, MacMurray College is one of the oldest institutions of higher education originally for women in the United States and one of the oldest private liberal arts colleges in the State of Illinois.