When it comes to Dana College, it's not over until after it's over.
Less than a week after announcing the college's closing, school leaders are pursuing a last-ditch effort to pry Dana back open.
Members of the Dana board of regents, school administrators and representatives of an investment group that had planned to buy the college have feverishly e-mailed and held conference calls through the holiday weekend, said Dennis Gethmann, chairman of Dana's board, searching for ways to resuscitate the 126-year-old private college in Blair.
That effort faces significant, perhaps insurmountable, hurdles, Dana leaders concede.
The tallest hurdle: For Dana to remain open, the college's accrediting body must reverse an earlier decision to deny Dana accreditation if the school is sold to the private investment group.
But the Dana effort also is gathering powerful allies, chief among them Gov. Dave Heineman, who told The World-Herald Sunday that he agreed to contact the accrediting body's leaders and argue on Dana's behalf.
Gethmann said school leaders don't want to give Blair residents, students or professors false hope but acknowledged that board members have been working since Thursday to reverse the closing they announced the day before.
“I think there are no illusions that we are fighting an uphill battle here,” said Gethmann, the board chairman and president of an Omaha financial services firm. “We feel like it's something we need to do.”
Gethmann and Raj Kaji, CEO of the corporation that agreed to buy Dana this spring, stressed Sunday that college leaders' first order of business is to fight against what they see as the accrediting body's unjust decision to deny Dana its stamp of approval once the college is sold.
The outside investors, headed by Kaji, announced their intention to buy the college in March.
That purchase would have marked the first time in state history that a for-profit company bought a previously nonprofit college. It was also Dana's last, best hope, the college's leaders have argued, one made more attractive by the fact that Kaji's group had agreed to keep Dana's campus and mission intact.
But the Higher Learning Commission, the regional accrediting body for Nebraska and surrounding states, short-circuited the sale last week when it refused to extend accreditation to the potential owners.
In a letter to Dana leaders, the Higher Learning Commission cited the investment group's lack of experience running colleges as one of the reasons for its decision. It questioned Dana's financial stability. And it theorized that Dana's new owners would pull the school far from its original liberal arts mission, focusing instead on online education and study-abroad trips for non-Dana students.
“It is uncertain whether the buyers can recruit and admit sufficient numbers of students to attend the Blair campus to restore the college to profitability” without adding online degrees or opening up a satellite campus in Omaha or elsewhere, said the letter, signed by Sylvia Manning, the commission's president.
Dana leaders say that the accrediting body's decision blindsided them and that the reasons the commission gave for the decision infuriate them.
The group trying to buy and run Dana had more than ample experience, they say. Kaji has previously worked as a college vice president, and C. Ronald Kimberling, slated to be the school's new provost, has served as both a college president and an assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
And Dana's new owners had no intention of making the college a predominately online university, Kaji said. In fact, they hadn't even asked the accrediting commission for permission to add any new online courses.
Kaji and Gethmann said they believe that the accrediting body made its decision to send a message — that it's going to be much tougher for for-profit groups to buy nonprofit colleges than in the past — rather than simply reacting to the facts of Dana's specific situation.
“Such a travesty,” Kaji said. “The political climate out there is not particularly favorable toward for-profits right now, and Dana and the Blair community are suffering as a result.”
Sylvia Manning, president of the Higher Learning Commission, couldn't be reached Sunday for comment.
Dana board members hope to pressure the accrediting body into reconsidering its decision, they say, though there's no way to formally appeal the ruling.
Heineman said he spoke with Manning on Friday to get a clearer explanation of the commission's decision. The governor said he was not satisfied with the response and plans to contact the head of the Higher Learning Commission's board of trustees to press Dana's case.
Heineman also said he would ask Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning to look into the matter. Bruning confirmed to The World-Herald Sunday that his office would investigate the agency's accreditation practices.
“I think Dana needs an additional opportunity to explain what they're trying to do and how they're moving forward,” Heineman said.
Even if the accrediting body reverses course and re-accredits Dana — a long shot, school leaders acknowledge — the investment group headed by Kaji must still agree to buy the school.
Dana's agreement with the investment group, Dana Education Corp., allowed the buyers to walk as soon as the accrediting body denied the accreditation.
Kaji wouldn't commit Sunday to going through with the purchase if the decision is reversed, saying “we and our financial backers … would have to ascertain the condition of the college at that time.”
And even if Kaji's group agrees to buy the college, a substantial issue looms: Would there be a college left to own?
Dana's approximately 550 students have already started to transfer, with 200 or so enrolling at nearby Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, said Ben Sasse, Midland's president.
Midland also has extended temporary contracts to each of Dana's 18 head coaches and plans to temporarily or permanently hire dozens of Dana professors and other employees this week.
Sasse said Midland would find a way to let the Dana students transfer back to their original school if Dana survives. But he also pointed out that many of the students he's seen are “quite angry” at their former college.
“We've told them it is completely understandable that they would be frustrated, confused, sad,” Sasse said. “We've encouraged them to be charitable with Dana's board and administration; … they were making the best possible choice they thought could save the school” when they sold it in March, he said.
Gethmann said he understands why Dana students and professors would be furious — college leaders told both groups the school would be OK this spring, before abruptly announcing the college's closing last week.
He defended the decision to announce the closing Wednesday, saying students needed ample time to transfer. But he said the board has unanimously agreed to keep fighting to save Dana through this week.
If nothing changes, the next scheduled board meeting is July 12, when a vote would be taken to officially shutter the school.
“We would be remiss if we didn't try,” Gethmann said. “If we're not successful … at least we have fulfilled our duty as board members to pursue all available avenues.”
World-Herald staff writer Juan Perez Jr. contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
444-1064, matthew.hansen@owh.com
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