RENSSELAER, Ind. (AP) — Alumni want to help reopen a Catholic liberal arts school in northwest Indiana that’s suspending operations at the end of the month.
The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports that the Rev. Barry Fischer, new Saint Joseph College Rector, has written a letter to alumni saying a team of volunteers has assembled to find a way to save Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer.
Dubbed the Saint Joseph’s Phoenix Project, the group hopes to find a way to re-constitute the college to be in a stronger financial position. They hope to reopen as early as the fall of 2018.
The school’s board of trustees decided to suspend operations after the college racked up $27 million in debt with an additional $35 million in deferred building maintenance.
The college has about 1,100 students.
