Higher Education: Gift Gives Hope to King’s College

An alumnus has given a $1.8 million gift to the King’s College, but the financially troubled school in Briarcliff Manor, New York, continues along a precarious path.

The gift—by a donor who will not be identified until dedication ceremonies—will be used for the library in a 200,000-square-foot building on the new 310-acre campus in Sterling Park, 32 miles southwest of the present site.

Two years ago, the school assumed a $12.4 million mortgage on the former International Nickel Company research center in anticipation of moving. King’s sold its 52-acre campus to a consortium of Irish cultural and athletic groups for $18.2 million. But the sale has been held up because of a city-ordered environmental-impact study.

King’s president Friedhelm Radandt says the sale remains “absolutely firm,” and the move should happen by June. But many details must fall into place for the school to survive.

King’s is $21 million in debt; the sale would whittle its debt to $9 million. In May, the college worked out a ten-year debt-restructuring plan with creditors, which includes no payments for two years. But, Radandt admits, another $1.9 million is needed for renovations of the three-story complex, which would contain not only the library, but administrative offices, classrooms, gymnasium, dining hall, and chapel. Students will live in leased apartments and dormitories in nearby towns. Radandt says, “Dorms won’t be built until we have finances.”

The move is necessitated by the deteriorating condition of the Briarcliff Manor campus. Radandt says the cost of renovating the main building—an old resort hotel—would be prohibitive.

Financial instability and poor facilities were two factors cited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in questioning whether to continue King’s accreditation. Several appeals have delayed a final decision, but accreditation is due to expire next June. Radandt says King’s has until March 1 to prove finances and moving plans are solid. Otherwise, Middle States accreditation will end and students will be ineligible for federal financial aid.

The financial and accrediting woes already have severely curtailed the school’s enrollment. It now stands at 250, down from a high of 860 in 1981 and from 460 last year. There are two-dozen full-time faculty members, half the number of two years ago.

The school has been living on the edge of viability for two years. Payroll and pension contributions have been delayed in order to pay bills. In April, Radandt sent a fundraising plea to alumni for $500,000 by June 30 in order to keep the school open. The college received $562,000 in donations.

Some critics, including a few former faculty members, blame Radandt’s authoritarian leadership style for the school’s decline (CT, Aug. 16, 1993, p. 48). They allege he has wasted huge sums on consultants and never delivered on promises to be a big fundraiser.

Other professors and former faculty argue that the school, under Radandt’s strong leadership, has restored a commitment to conservative biblical values. They claim a small group of disgruntled teachers—who have all left—started leading King’s down a liberal path before Radandt arrived in 1985. That, they say, led to a decline in alumni and church support.

“It seems as though there were two King’ses,” says Rex Rogers, academic vice president at the school between 1988 and 1991 and now president of Grand Rapids Baptist College. “One was spiritually strong and moving forward with the right biblical motives. The other was under financial pressure; there was infighting among the alumni and staff. It was difficult to know one day to the next which King’s I was working with.”

Whatever the interpretation, King’s has changed. Many faculty have moved on to other jobs—voluntarily or begrudgingly—and the number of students and programs has declined.

“I didn’t shed a tear when I cleaned out my office,” says Russell Fry, a King’s religion and philosophy professor who retired in May after 25 years. “I don’t think the college has a future.”

But Radandt sees a strong future provided the financial questions are resolved. The new campus is strategically located near the New Jersey-New York border and is one of only two evangelical schools—the other being Nyack College—in the metropolitan New York area. Marketing and recruitment have been repositioned, with professors teaching extension courses at rented facilities in Manhattan. “King’s has survived a period of extraordinary financial distress,” Radandt says. “We are now beginning our road to recovery.”

By John W. Kennedy.

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