BY BILL KNOTT, associate editor of the Adventist Review.

have no experience with closing down colleges," says the soft-spoken administrator with an easy grin. "I feel confident that the Lord did not call me here to close this school down."

Atlantic Union College's new president, George P. Babcock (below), won't be getting that kind of experience anytime soon. News flashed through alumni networks and church leadership channels across the North American Division (NAD) on Monday, November 10, that the beleaguered college in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, had received continued accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), the same group that had voted to terminate the school's status just six months earlier. The college will have to respond to several important NEASC concerns between now and November 2004.

"We're grateful to the Lord and those involved in this decision for giving this wonderful place a new chance to reorganize and stabilize itself," Babcock says. "This process will require a lot of work, but it's worth it, because we will be a better college." Veteran Educator

The college's alumni and church leaders throughout the NAD have been quick to credit the new president's experience and skill for the successful rescue effort. With 43 years of educational administration behind him Babcock has served as an associate director of education at the church's world headquarters, as president of Griggs University (the higher education division of Home Study International), and, until his retirement in 2002, as senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Adventist College in Collegedale, Tennessee. Addressing the Crises

On his arrival in early June 2003, Babcock quickly set about addressing the college's academic and financial crises, having obtained unprecedented leeway from the school's board of trustees to change administration and staffing, reorganize the college's finances, and plot new spiritual directions for the institution.

"Any of three critical situations could have closed the doors of this place as early as this past summer," Babcock notes. "First, and most obviously, our accreditation. The college had failed to address the legitimate concerns of the accrediting organization over the past few years, and though I didn't know it when I came here, they had already put us on 'termination.'"

"Second, our student finances were in deep trouble," he continues. "Our relationship with the federal government over Title IV funds was in disarray. That group also had actually voted on this past July 14 to withdraw government aid from this school, so that no student here could get government loans and grants. But they listened to our appeal and gave us a few more months to straighten out our situation. We are now in full compliance with the government's requirements."

"Then there's the overall money situation," Babcock grimaces. "That's the hardest of all. The college has a total debt load of about $9.9 million just now. We're working to restructure that debt so that we can use available cash to help get the word out about the new directions this college is taking."

The 121-year-old college is the oldest Adventist educational institution still on its original site, and has been a center of Adventist life in the Northeast since its founding in the 1880s by early church leader Stephen Haskell. Though it has attracted enrollments of more than 900 during several growth cycles in the past 40 years, the school's recent woes have dropped the current year's full-time enrollment to fewer than 500.

"Transparency is just good policy," says Don Tucker, president of an educational consulting firm in Tennessee, and now working with Babcock to stabilize the college. "There's nothing to hide. I think it's important that we get the doom and gloom out of the way-and move forward. If we dwell on the negatives, we'll never be moving to the positives. The best method of working with this college's supporters is to be as transparent as we can so people really understand the situation and appreciate where we're headed." Aging Physical Plant

Babcock is equally candid about the physical condition of the campus, which boasts numerous federal-style buildings and several historic structures. "In order to attract students here, we must fix the dormitories, and we will," he says determinedly. "Many of our buildings are in great need of maintenance, as this seemed easy to defer when times were tight. We're committed to working with our vast network of alumni and friends to rebuild and repair one of the most beautiful campuses in North America.

"We've also been given authority by the board of trustees to restructure our academic program, eliminate course offerings that weren't efficient, and drop or change some majors and minors," he says. "Of course, we'll be adding new things, too, to get our curriculum and our offerings up-to-date and streamlined. By the time we're through, we expect to have trimmed about six budgets from the academic side and another five or so from the nonteaching staff.

"But," he says, brightening, "we will be the only Adventist college in North America, I'm quite sure, that will actually reduce tuition for this next year. It's being dropped by 7 percent, and for anyone trying to pay for higher education these days, that's a significant factor." A New Image

The president has also made clear his intention to refashion both the image and the reality of the college's spiritual life.

"The single most important thing is to make sure that this institution is a place where students have a wonderful opportunity to meet their Lord and develop a relationship with Jesus," he says slowly. "I've put considerable pressure on those who are charged with that responsibility to make sure that we have a well-thought-through, well-developed strategic plan for spiritual life on this campus."

In his August 28, 2003, installation address Babcock candidly described the school's spiritual condition and his proposed remedy.

"I believe that what AUC needs most of all is a renewed emphasis on a connection with Jesus Christ, a 'back to basics' course," he told students, faculty, and community representatives. "This is not something that I as president can mandate. It is not something that teachers can require of their students for extra credit. The only way we can have a revival here is to pray for it, encourage it, be open to it, and let the Holy Spirit come down in power among us. When we let the Lord take over this college, He will take over its problems."

For more information about trends in Adventist higher education, read "Adventist Higher Education--A Sobering Report."

Dormitory Fire Claims Life of One
Adventist Student, Injures Another
A Peruvian Seventh-day Adventist student at Peoples Friendship University in Moscow, Giancarlo Paitamala Sanez, 20, died of head injuries sustained when he jumped from the third floor of a burning dormitory on November 24. He was one of 36 students who died in the fire.

A graduate of the Spanish Adventist School in Lima, Patiamala came to the university with a scholarship to study political science.

Another Adventist, 18-year-old Ivan Ostrovsky from Brazil, is recuperating in a Moscow hospital after suffering a broken arm, broken ribs, and spinal injuries. He had been at the school only a month and planned to study international law. About 200 other students were also injured.

Heriberto Muller, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) director for the region, said that local church leaders had located the Adventist students only a few days before the fire. The young men attended the Moscow International Adventist Church the following Sabbath and had lunch with several church members that day. Paitamala prayed at the close of the Sabbath, Muller said, "and asked for the courage and strength to be a good witness" at the university.

News reports indicate that the fire, which broke out at 2:17 a.m., may have been caused by an electrical problem. The dormitory lacked an alarm system, and many of its overseas students didn't speak Russian. The school was originally designed to teach a strict Marxist curriculum; but after the fall of the Soviet state in 1991, government funding decreased. Extremely low tuitions continued to attract students from other countries.

The local ADRA office plans to help not only Adventists, but all those in need, with clothes, food, and other necessities.
                                                            --Adventist News Network.

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