Creation and growth

Union Institute & University traces its origins to 1964, when the president of Goddard College hosted the presidents of nine liberal arts institutions at a conference to discuss cooperation in educational innovation and experimentation.^[1] The Union for Research and Experimentation in Higher Education^[2] was established with Antioch College, Bard College, Goddard College, Chicago Teachers North, Monteith Masson, New College at Hofstra University, Sarah Lawrence College, Shimer College, and Stephens College originally forming The Union for Research and Experimentation in Higher Education, later known as the Union Institute.^[3][4] The "discovery" of the English open education movement may have played a factor in the interest in progressive education.^[5]

From its inception, the institution had a continuing emphasis on social relevance and interdisciplinarity of research. The Union Graduate School's doctoral programs were based on the British tutorial system. The first doctoral students were admitted in 1970.^[6] Samuel Baskin, a psychologist and educational reformer who served on the faculty of Stephens and Antioch colleges, was the founding president of the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, Union Graduate School, and the University Without Walls. Margaret Mead, an anthropologist and author, was one of the institution's first professors.^[7]

Renamed in 1969 as the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, it focused on providing educational opportunities for non-traditional students whose needs were best served by a low-residency college experience, as well as those students who sought to conduct socially relevant research in an interdisciplinary manner. The institution is based on the Oxbridge educational model. By 1971, five more colleges and universities joined the Union, bringing the total consortium to 22 schools of higher education.^[8] In 1975, the number of schools in the University Without Walls network reached 34.^[9] The Union provided administrative support for these programs under the guidance of Samuel Baskin.^[10]

The Union of Experimenting Colleges and Universities, or UECU, disbanded in 1982, but the University Without Walls remained in operation^[11] after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984.^[12] The University Without Walls was renamed in 1989 as "The Union Institute".^[13]

Vermont College acquisition and spin-off

The Union Institute acquired Vermont College in Montpelier, Vermont, from Norwich University in 2001.^[14] The purchase of Vermont College added several master's degree programs and an adult degree program to the Union's existing undergraduate and doctoral programs. This enabled The Union to provide a progression of degree opportunities, along with certificates in advanced graduate study. In October 2001, the Union Institute was renamed "Union Institute & University". In 2008, fine arts programs from Vermont College were spun off from Union into the newly independent Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Early 2000s academic issues

Union Institute & University's PhD program came under scrutiny by the Ohio Board of Regents, culminating in a reauthorization report published in 2002.^[15] In response to the report, Union underwent major academic and structural changes, including dissolution of the Union Graduate School and restructuring of its PhD programs. The PhD in Arts and Sciences, for example, was redesigned to a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, with four majors: Ethical and Creative Leadership, Public Policy and Social Change, Humanities and Culture, and Educational Studies, and offers a specialization in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Studies.^[16] In 2004 the U.S. Department of Education also raised concerns about the quality of the institute's PhD programs.^[17]

2023 financial distress

Union Institute began to publicly experience severe financial distress in March 2023 when salaries owed to university staff were paid late.^[18]

Throughout 2023, the university continued to exhibit signs of financial distress including further delayed wages and being locked out of its headquarters. Some university staff filed a class action lawsuit against the university alleging that the delayed wages violate labor laws.^[19]

The start of the fall 2023 semester was delayed from August 28 to November 6,^[20] and then cancelled completely on November 15.^[21][22] Union was also placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 by the U.S. Department of Education, a status that imposes oversight over its federal financial aid.^[23] Christopher Miller, chief of the Atlanta School Participation and Financial Analysis Division of the United States Department of Education, wrote in a letter to President Webb that "few staff remain" as Union has failed to pay staff for three pay periods, and "[i]t is unclear if [Union] has the financial resources to resume educational instruction with minimal staff and resources."^[24] In addition the Department of Education demanded that Union secure US$12,000,000 in credit or cash by October 13, 2023, in order to not lose access to federal financial aid.^[25] They also noted that Union has yet to pay US$750,000 in federal loan refunds that were due in July 2023, and lost access to student data with the loss of its headquarters, from which the university was officially evicted on November 9.^[26][27] As a consequence of being placed on heightened cash monitoring status, the Higher Learning Commission, Union's accreditor, "assigned a Financial Distress designation to Union."^[28][29]

In October, fifty doctoral students at Union signed a letter saying that the President of Union, Karen Schuster Webb, "should resign".^[30]

In late November, the U.S. Department of Education revoked the institution's ability to receive federal financial aid. It also fined Union $4.3 million, alleging that the institution collected more federal funding that it was supposed to collect and failed to refund the federal government.^[31][32][33] In addition, the Education Department reported that the Institute had missed employee payroll for the past several months and had failed to refund more than $750,000 in student financial aid that had been required.^[34]

Notable alumni

• Tania Aebi, the youngest circumnavigator of the globe by sail (age 18–21); author, Maiden Voyage.
• Stanley Aronowitz (PhD 1975) trade-unionist, social critic, and scholar.^[40]
• E. M. Broner, novelist, professor and feminist. Author of A Weave of Women and Her Mothers. Taught for Wayne State University and Sarah Lawrence College.
• Brother Blue, street performance artist, and instructor.
• Rita Mae Brown, poet and author of Rubyfruit Jungle.
• Joseph Bruchac, writer, educator, and storyteller; Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.
• Danny K. Davis, congressman, Illinois 7th District.
• Gary Dorrien,^[41] Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, NY.
• Lez Edmond, civil rights activist, author, and professor at St. John's University.
• Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Jungian analyst and author of Women Who Run With The Wolves.
• Gerald Haslam, author, Workin' Man Blues, Straight White Male, Coming of Age in California.
• Carl Hausman, professor of journalism at Rowan University and author of Lies We Live By: Defeating Double-talk and Deception in Advertising, Politics and the Media (Routledge, 2000) and other works.
• Jean Houston, author and lecturer, co-founder of the Foundation for Mind Research.
• Barnet Kellman, theater, film and television director
• Michael T. Klare, professor of Peace and World Security Studies, Hampshire College.
• Bernie Krause, bioacoustics authority.
• Elizabeth Kapuʻuwailani Lindsey, actor, filmmaker, and anthropologist.
• Aurora Levins Morales, Puerto Rican writer and poet.
• Phillip Lopate, film critic, essayist, fiction writer, and poet.
• James P. Lyke, Roman Catholic prelate; auxiliary bishop of Cleveland (1978-1990) and archbishop of Atlanta (1991–92)
• Karyl McBride, psychotherapist and author^[42]
• Portia Simpson-Miller, first female Prime Minister of Jamaica, 2006–2007, 2012–2016.
• Scott Douglas Miller, President of Virginia Wesleyan University, former president of Bethany College, Wesley College, and Lincoln Memorial University
• Gary Null, radio personality, alternative medicine practitioner, nutritionist, and HIV-AIDS denialist.
• Antonia Pantoja, educator, social worker, civil rights leader, and founder of ASPIRA, Boricua College, and Producer.
• Ellen Jane Lorenz Porter, composer and editor^[43]
• Lincoln Ragsdale, member of the Tuskegee Airmen and real estate developer.
• Jane O'Meara Driscoll Sanders, social worker and academic administrator, provost and Interim President of Goddard College, 1996–1997, president of Burlington College, 2004–2011.
• Clayton Valli, poet and linguist.