Northland College in Wisconsin prepares to sell campus assets

Northland College’s board has hired an appraiser as it seeks to sell the Ashland campus and other real estate once the college closes this spring.

In February, the Northland Board of Trustees announced the college would close after 133 years amid rising costs and declining enrollment. The news came after the college had previously avoided closure last year in the face of a $12 million deficit through fundraising, paring back majors and laying off staff.

In an April 11 update to the college community, Board Chair Ted Bristol said in an email that the board has worked diligently to secure resources needed to finish out the semester.

“We understand Northland College’s obligations and are committed to our efforts to meet them. Key to this commitment is the successful liquidation of the College’s assets, and toward that end, we have hired an appraiser selected by the Board to value the campus,” Bristol said. “We have also approved the preparation for sale of other real estate owned by Northland.”

The board has also directed staff to inventory art, furniture, equipment and other items to sell, donate or recycle. The campus has 19 buildings on a 130-acre campus.

WPR reached out to Bristol and Northland Interim President Barb Lundberg for an interview. In a statement, Lundberg said officials are focused on faculty, students and staff.

“It will be some time before the Board of Trustees can address the future of the College’s property and other holdings. We are only just beginning the appraisal process,” Lundberg said. “Any future decisions by the Board, and their timing, will be strictly governed by federal and state regulatory processes for college closures.”

Local lawmaker says task force could chart a path for next steps

Rep. Angela Stroud, D-Ashland, previously taught at Northland and fought to save the school from shuttering last year. Stroud said the governor’s office has asked the board to convene a task force to develop a plan for what comes next for the campus.

“If you look at other case studies of campuses that have closed, that are shuttered, the drain on the community is significant,” Stroud said. “By convening a group of experts and developing a feasibility study, we could potentially come up with all kinds of novel ideas for how these buildings on this campus could be utilized.”

On average, the closure of a single college results in the loss of 265 jobs and a $67 million economic impact each year, according to the economic software and analysis company Implan. When Northland announced its closure, the college had about 150 faculty and staff and about 250 students.

Bristol said the board hasn’t received a request from the governor’s office to form a task force. The governor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Northland is not the only Wisconsin school to close. Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee and half a dozen two-year campuses in the Universities of Wisconsin system have also been shuttered or announced plans to close. As many as 80 colleges might close over the next five years in the U.S., according to a paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Faculty and students continue to voice frustration with the board

As its closure draws near, Elizabeth Andre, an outdoor education professor at Northland, said faculty and staff haven’t received answers about the sale of college assets.

“We haven’t heard … if they are currently entertaining any offers, or if there’s even a way to participate in that process of deciding who might get certain assets or how those decisions might be made,” Andre said.

She said a small group dubbed the Northland Collaborative formed with a goal of facilitating conversations about the future of the campus, but Andre said that’s been difficult without information from the board.

She added that faculty and staff haven’t received answers about whether they’ll receive pay for the next year as outlined in their faculty handbook. Employees will lose health insurance at the end of May and receive a refund on their employee contribution.

Lundberg said the college worked with the Northwest Wisconsin Concentrated Employment Program to help staff with finding new employment and obtaining health insurance.

Northland student Kelby Youngberg is one of 100 seniors graduating in May. While he understands the college’s financial woes, he said it’s frustrating to see assets sold to meet financial obligations rather than benefitting the community. He said the Northland College Student Association recently voted to donate its remaining funds to nonprofit groups and gift certificates for students to spend in the Ashland area.

“Students are not thriving, but they’re also just sort of getting through,” he said.

Northland student Julia Menig has transferred credits to a college in southern Wisconsin to finish out her college education. She was studying water chemistry, but now plans to major in geoscience. She said students are resigned to the college’s closure, but she doesn’t want to see it developed or sold to a large corporation.

“Even if we knew more details, we couldn’t change it,” Menig said. “It’s definitely a tone shift from last year when everyone was fired up to save the college. Now it just feels like everyone’s finishing it out.”