Court Asked to Reopen Shuttered College

May 28, 2009

Court Asked to Reopen Shuttered College

A court in New Orleans has been asked to order Tulane University to reopen the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, which it shuttered after almost 120 years, according to the group Save Newcomb College.

Susan Henderson Montgomery, a successor of Josephine Louise Newcomb, who created the college through a bequest and earlier donations, petitioned the Civil District Court for Orleans Parish on May 27 to grant summary judgment on key issues in the case and order the college’s reopening.

The petition states that Ms. Newcomb’s bequest to Tulane’s board was contingent on the board creating and maintaining in perpetuity a women’s college at the university. The plaintiff’s lawyers say they are not seeking money or property but recognition of the donor’s original intent. The college was closed in 2006 as part of post-Hurricane Katrina restructuring.

Comments

Although this case is based on Louisiana law, its outcome will undoubtedly serve as a caution to universities nationwide, in terms of their efforts to use donated funds for purposes other than the donor intended.

— Paige Gold May 29, 01:53 AM #
And it will remind all of us to have a clause in every endowment agreement that recognizes that over time, things change and institutions must be allowed to change programs to serve the future not the past; to raze buildings that cannot be repaired; and to identify how the gift will be honored in perpetuity. Didn’t anyone read “The Sabre Tooth Curriculum?”

— Ken May 29, 10:12 AM #
There are legal avenues for institutions to change when it beomes impossible or impractical to continue using gifts a certain way. Newcomb College changed in important ways, but it was strong and financially solvent when TU’s ego got in the way and they could not deal with the fact that the women’s college was the most prestigious part of the undergraduate university.

You notice that TU has never given a real reason for closing Newcomb College.

— Kate May 29, 04:13 PM #

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