An aberrant event, or a glimpse of higher ed's future?

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/everyone-gets-laid-off-at-atlantic-union-college/34809?sid=pm&utm_source=pm&utm_medium=en

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2011
Washington Adventist University Proposed Branch Campus Update
AUC Students Invited to Enroll at WAU’s Maryland Campus

Current and prospective students from Atlantic Union College (AUC) in South
Lancaster, Mass., are being notified of a transition plan that will enable them to attend
Washington Adventist University (WAU) at the Takoma Park, Md., campus for the fall
2011 semester.
After signing a memorandum of understanding and obtaining support from constituents
of both the Atlantic Union Conference and Columbia Union Conference during the
spring, leaders of the university have been working to secure approval from required
federal, state, regional and church accrediting agencies for the establishment of a
branch campus in South Lancaster, Mass.
As of this date, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education is still processing
the application and has not yet given its approval. As a result, the WAU campus will be
unable to open in the fall in South Lancaster, but the Atlantic Union College students will
be able to attend Washington Adventist University at the Takoma Park campus.
Washington Adventist University will begin educational activities in South Lancaster
when the permission to operate in Massachusetts is granted by their Department of
Higher Education.
“We’re working through the process and are optimistic that we’ll be able to operate soon
after permission is granted by the commonwealth. Moving this process forward keeps
our commitment to serve the educational needs of students in 15 states in the Mid-
Atlantic and Northeast United States and the islands of Bermuda,” said Weymouth
Spence, EdD, president of WAU.
Norman Wendth, PhD, president of AUC, said, “Fortunately WAU has already been
working with our students to provide a smooth transition to the Takoma Park campus.”