Quote from: MCScots2013 on September 20, 2026, 09:17:41 AMUnpopular opinion: John Brown had a just cause but not just means.

It is a popular opinion in Missouri, made more popular by the hype video that Kansas football released two weeks ago.

But even the elder Brown, and Leonard Case for that matter, would have led complicated lives heavily influenced by their place in time and space.  Land their grand or great grand parents in Virginia rather than Connecticut and they probably look more complicated still.

If was born in the 1830's South or 1930's Germany or when and wherever, I am 100% sure I would be on the right side of history in perpetuity. [/sarcasm]

Quote from: y_jack_lok on September 18, 2026, 09:24:02 AMMy wife graduated from Southwestern. If I'm not mistaken, it's a uniting of four different institutions.

Yes, Southwestern has an interesting history for sure and might have been known as Texas University if things had played out differently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_University

Separately, an interesting resource on closed colleges and universities run by a former history professor.

https://www.lostcolleges.com/

Just thinking about one of the other themes here, many colleges and universities today were founded as academies, seminaries, one-year normal schools and through mergers.

For the latter, there is the previously mentioned Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon as the obvious examples, but also:

UW-Platteville was a merger of the first normal school in Wisconsin with the local polytechnic.

Southwestern (TX)

Brevard College

University of Hartford involved a merge of independent art and music schools along with a liberal arts college.

Quote from: MCScots2013 on September 16, 2026, 10:49:03 PMIt would be interesting to know how many colleges in the South were burned/destroyed during the Civil War. Maryville's original "campus"—better described as its only building— was destroyed by the Confederates under Gen. "Fightin'Joe" Wheeler, not Gen. Sherman as one might think as Maryville is located in Tennessee. 

And some were not significantly damaged, but were commandeered and used during the Civil War as barracks, hospitals and such.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 16, 2026, 07:48:34 PMTrinity(TX) was founded in Tehuacana (2020 population: 228) in 1869, moved to Waxahachie (2020 pop, 41,140) in 1902, then to San Antonio in 1942 (2020 pop, 1.4M), where it merged/took over the campus of the failing University of San Antonio.  It finally moved to its present home in a former quarry site in 1952:  "On moving day, the new campus consisted of a dormitory housing 60 residents, a classroom building that lacked a heating system, a barren library, and an uncompleted student union."

I missed this when I posted.  I would need to look, but I think a fair number of Texas schools were founded elsewhere.

Quote from: y_jack_lok on September 16, 2026, 06:01:31 PMSome colleges actually did move to another town.

And some colleges closed or burned down.

Carthage University was founded as Carthage College in Carthage, Illinois. 

Trinity (TX) was founded in rural Texas.

Austin College moved and burned to the ground.

St. John's was located in St. Cloud before moving to Collegeville.  And Augsburg Seminary crossed state lines before becoming a full-fledged college.

The University of the South did not move, but was founded prior to the establishment of the town of Sewanee.

Others moved from the cities to the suburbs including Kean University.

Quote from: MCScots2013 on September 14, 2026, 09:43:03 PMChanging things up tonight. Instead of "Future", let's talk about the Past. I knew we had some interesting facts like the first College in Tennessee to give a woman a baccalaureate degree or playing in the first Tangerine (Citrus) Bowl in 1947, but these are noteworthy:

I always wanted to make a Past of Division III thread.

So many colleges have a history of almost closing, almost burning down to the ground, almost moving to another city or town. And usually a fascinating history with varsity athletics.

Quote from: Kuiper on September 14, 2026, 01:07:32 PMHudl is annoying because they minimize the game every so often to blast commercials. That may be fine in football or basketball where there are natural breaks in the action, but it's disruptive in soccer.

I have watched many games on the Hudl platform and cannot remember seeing a commercial that interrupted the stream, but that would suck.

These are good ideas, though Flo Sports should only tackle those after they have matched the standards set by Hudl.

Maybe I'll go back and watch some of the highlights, oh never mind, technical difficulties...

Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 12, 2026, 01:29:01 PMThanks.  The paragraphs below are *not* directed at you whatsoever but the author.

Understood and likewise.  I really appreciate the posts from you and others here.

Quote from: Ralph Turner on September 09, 2026, 09:39:09 AMI found this web site that lets one do a deep dive into the financial status of a university.

https://financialtracker.hechingerreport.org/

I had no idea that Trine was actually two universities.

One in Angola and another with industrial park campuses in Detroit and elsewhere that enroll over 10,000 international students.

Quote from: Ron Boerger on September 12, 2026, 09:49:58 AMWhile I don't disagree with the general premise, I can't stand guys who write stories saying things like "15 of 43 schools won't survive" and fail to provide any further information or, as in this case, even any kind of methodology because "it might hurt the schools" (paraphrasing, not quotes). 

He published his results in a 45 page report.

https://stevenmshulman.substack.com/p/discounting-decapitalization-and

Quote from: IC798891 on September 11, 2026, 01:21:33 PMI mean, to be fair to the president, I don't think it's laziness.

As anyone who has ever worked at a college can tell you, major changes take a lot of time. And every president is going to have different goals and visions for the institution. You don't want to hire a new president and tell them they have to put their initiatives on hold because your resources are pot committed to the stuff the last guy started.

Heck, you may even turn off good possible presidents who say, "I don't agree with this prior president's vision of necessary change, and I'm not starting my tenure trying to deal with it"

It is hard to generalize a college or a college president.  But some are lazy and some just want the university that existed 20 years ago to exist forever.  And some do not have the time to wait for the change.

Not that you needed another take to hammer home the obvious point, but another story from the blog that after reviewing the financials of 43 liberal arts colleges in New England, 15 would not be able to make it through the next three years with the status quo.

https://globecollegetown.substack.com/p/steven-shulman-higher-ed-finances