Delaware State(HBCU) acquires Wesley College

[get these nets]

Delaware State University to officially acquire Wesley College

• Jul 9, 2020

Delaware State University (DSU) will officially acquire struggling Wesley College after talks had been ongoing since March.

The agreement states the acquisition will take place no later than June 30, 2021.

In a letter to the school community, obtained by WDEL, Wesley College President Robert E. Clark II said:

"This agreement ensures the real potential, if fully executed, for us collectively to be able to continue to provide the life-changing educational instruction to the students we serve, while also ensuring as best as possible a secure future for the many dedicated faculty and staff who have provided this oasis of educational transformation for so many years."

The deal is being called an "unprecedented" because a historically black institution has never before acquired a non-historically black college or university (HBCU).

Wesley, a small, private liberal arts college in downtown Dover had been facing financial pressures due to waning enrollment, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"As I have stated throughout this process, for at least the next year we will be governed and operated as we have been in the past while we work through the details and changes that will occur...into the future. When we started the search over two years ago for the right partner, I had mentioned many times that mergers/acquisitions/consortiums would be the norm in the future of higher education, just as it has become for other service-oriented professions like Health Care. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the future was forced upon higher education, and many small and medium size independent institutions are scrambling to find partnerships and a way to survive. We are fortunate to have already been well into this journey before our collective world was turned upside down by the unprecedented economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic," Clark wrote in a letter to students.

Delaware State University said the acquisition fits with the HBCU's strategic plan for a greater presence in downtown Dover. Officials noted by acquiring Wesley they can add to an array of academic offerings and enhanced facilities on both campuses.

In order for the deal to take place, DSU must obtain sufficient private or government funds, outside of its operating budget.


Clark called it a "great opportunity" for the two institutions and the state.

"Because of these uncertainties, there are contingencies associated with the Definitive (Acquisition) Agreement, the biggest being securing external (federal, private…etc.) funding support to assist in the transformation process. I am cautiously optimistic, and will continue to do everything possible to ensure with any eventuality that we will be able to continue the Wesley legacy of providing life-changing educational opportunities to the students we serve, while also protecting the salary and benefits of our faculty and staff for as long as possible moving forward, as we all continue to deal with the uncertainty resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," said Clark.

The deal also must still be approved by the U.S. Department of Education and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

 

[get these nets]

Is that your campus? GIMME DAT !!!!!

 

[CoryMack]

subs

 

[Arrogance.]

Big win for DSU, gives them the additional campus space they've been desperately needing for ages and puts them closer in league with UD.

 

[AggiePride336.]

Good shyt.

While a period of economic uncertainty, if you’ve got your shxt in order, this might be a good time for prosperity.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

S/O to DSU, they’re my alma mater’s (UMES) main rival school but I love seeing fellow HBCUs winning for Da Culture

 

[AggiePride336.]

I want to go to the campuses of DSU and UMES one of these days. Never been to Princess Anne, MD but I have been to Dover once. It was for business. I hate I didn’t have time to stop on the DSU campus. I was right there.

 

[Cel 510 kid ados forever]

Great thing here

 

[Coco Loco]

YES D State!!!! This is huge. I hope more HBCU's are able to do this.

 

[MajesticLion]

Nice.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

I want to go to the campuses of DSU and UMES one of these days. Never been to Princess Anne, MD but I have been to Dover once. It was for business. I hate I didn’t have time to stop on the DSU campus. I was right there.

UMES itself is a very beautiful campus and it’s smedium in size but you’ll legs will still get a decent workout lol. Princess Anne itself is like one of those one-stop country towns and it doesn’t really have much to do. It was definitely my first time encountering rural poverty (hell it was my first time seeing housing projects in the country too lol), it was a totally different environment from PG County. The town does have a very underrated Black history however, especially as it relates to UMES, the lynchings, and the Civil Rights Movement and both the town and the school played a key role in Maryland during that time as well.

You’ll find a couple of gems in PA tho, such as this really bomb ass Soul Food/BBQ joint behind the BP gas station called Grillin’s, this really good seafood place in the cut next to the Food Lion that got one of the best crab cake sandwiches I’ve ever tasted, a small Sudanese community living near the railroad tracks, and nearby Deal Island. PA is predominantly Cac but got a large Black plurality. Most of the Cacs look like they stay strung up on meth and opioids The Black natives can be cool at times

If nothing’s going on on campus, we typically hit up Salisbury for some fun since you got the large PWI Salisbury University (their campus and library are drop dead gorgeous ngl), way larger and better food options including CookOut, existent retail including a large mall and endless shopping centers, a small zoo and botanic garden and a nice park to chill at, an exotic pet store, also where most of the clubs and bars are at, etc. It’s also pretty common for us to hit up Ocean City for a day trip or weekend stay since it’s only 40+ minutes from campus

Definitely come thru when it’s an event going on at UMES like Homecoming or SpringFest

I’ve always wanted to check out DSU too tho, one of my best friends from high school went there for her undergrad years

 

[get these nets]

Donations Fuel Delaware State Acquisition Plans
Feb 8, 2021

Delaware State University is fueling an acquisition plan with recently secured donations.
Buoyed with cash from two major gifts, Delaware State University is on track to complete its acquisition of Wesley College in July.

In December, the public historically Black land-grant university announced the receipt of a $20 million gift from MacKenzie Scott, an author and philanthropist and one of the world’s wealthiest women. A portion of that gift will be put toward acquisition transition costs, but the university hasn’t determined exactly how much, said Tony Allen, president of Delaware State.

A few days later, the university said it had received $1 million from the Longwood Foundation, a charitable organization that invests in Delaware nonprofits. The Longwood gift will also pay for transition expenses.

When the acquisition was announced last summer, its completion hinged on several contingencies, including Delaware State’s ability to secure private and government funding to manage the acquisition. Allen said he’s confident the university will raise enough money to complete the deal without cutting into the university’s operating budget -- a promise Delaware State made at the outset.

In total, the acquisition will cost about $15 million over three years, Allen said. The university has received some money from the state to complete the acquisition but did not disclose how much. Allen said he will not ask for additional state funding until the acquisition is complete.

“I made a special declaration that until the transition was done, we wouldn’t be asking the state for additional resources,” he said.

Delaware State announced in July 2020 that it will acquire Wesley College, a small, private liberal arts college in downtown Dover, Del. A successful acquisition will make Delaware State the first historically Black university to buy a non-HBCU institution, and the second to acquire one. Tennessee State University, a historically Black university in Nashville, was the first to acquire a non-HBCU institution when it took over the University of Tennessee at Nashville through a court-ordered merger in 1979.

Remaining Wesley students will have the option to transfer to Delaware State to complete their degrees. The two institutions are working on a teach-out plan, which the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, their accreditor, will need to approve.

One reason Allen believes the Wesley acquisition is a good fit for Delaware State is that the racial and ethnic makeup of Wesley’s student body is similar to Delaware State’s. Wesley is a minority-serving institution, and 39 percent of its students are Black or African American. More than a third of Wesley students are white, 8 percent are Hispanic or Latino and 7 percent are two or more races, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By comparison, more than two-thirds of Delaware State students are Black or African American, 9 percent are white and 6 percent are Hispanic or Latino. Both Delaware State and Wesley draw most of their students from outside Delaware.

Delaware State expects to add about 900 students through the acquisition, which would increase student head count by nearly 18 percent. Enrollment has grown by 40 percent in the past decade, Allen said. This past fall, the university welcomed 5,027 undergraduate, graduate and online students -- only a couple dozen students short of last fall, when 5,054 students set an enrollment record.

Meanwhile, enrollment at Wesley College has steadily declined since the 2006-07 academic year, when the college counted more than 2,100 full-time undergraduate students, according to NCES. During the 2018-19 academic year, the college enrolled only 1,122 full-time undergraduate students.

Wesley College has sought to be acquired for several years, said Robert Clark, its president.

“Very early on, I started looking very hard at finding this partner, finding somebody who would be interested in an acquisition-merger,” Clark said. “Not just purely from a financial or books standpoint, but more importantly for doing something that will truly expand the opportunities that the combined institution would provide.”

Wesley had been fairly far along in acquisition talks with another institution before Delaware State approached, Clark said. He did not name the other institution. Ultimately, Clark and the board liked that Delaware State was nearby and decided to move forward with the university.

While it searched for a buyer, Wesley received more than $6 million in state funding and was approved last year for an additional $3 million as needed to remain open. Clark said he’d received some pushback from state legislators and others who were skeptical about funneling public dollars to a private institution. The state support that kept Wesley afloat was an investment in regional and state education, Clark argued.

“The days of private and public are, I think, in the past. It’s: What’s the return on investment to the region and the state that we serve?” Clark said. “That drove the investment.”

Over the past six months, the Dover community has grown more enthusiastic about the acquisition, Allen said.

“If Wesley went away and there was no one to support them in this way, it would have been devastating to Dover,” he said. “So I think the Dover community generally -- and, I would say, Delaware writ large -- believes that the acquisition is an important one.”

Delaware State will take over Wesley’s 50-acre campus in downtown Dover, which is home to about 20 academic buildings, Allen said. The college has maintained strong health-science programs that the university hopes to capitalize on.

“Our biggest thought is to really build capacity for our college of health and behavioral sciences. Wesley has some health science-related programs, particularly nursing and occupational therapy programs that I think are best in class,” Allen said. “We want to be able to match that with our current college of health and behavioral sciences and create a downtown campus that reflects those particular disciplines.”

Allen didn’t have an update on how many Wesley employees will be hired by Delaware State. His comments mirrored what he said in July, when the acquisition was first announced.

“We always will have some Wesley employees come over to Delaware State. We haven’t made final determinations about who those folks will be,” he said.

That said, it’s likely that Delaware State will need additional faculty members to support the influx of Wesley students.

“We’ve grown our student population significantly over the last 10 years or so,” Allen said. “We’ve held our faculty in particular pretty flat over that same time period, so we do see some opportunity to bring over Wesley personnel to support what will effectively be an additional 1,000 students.”

Wesley's president, Clark, said there are no plans for him to join Delaware State in any capacity.

 

[newworldafro]

UMES itself is a very beautiful campus and it’s smedium in size but you’ll legs will still get a decent workout lol. Princess Anne itself is like one of those one-stop country towns and it doesn’t really have much to do. It was definitely my first time encountering rural poverty (hell it was my first time seeing housing projects in the country too lol), it was a totally different environment from PG County. The town does have a very underrated Black history however, especially as it relates to UMES, the lynchings, and the Civil Rights Movement and both the town and the school played a key role in Maryland during that time as well.

You’ll find a couple of gems in PA tho, such as this really bomb ass Soul Food/BBQ joint behind the BP gas station called Grillin’s, this really good seafood place in the cut next to the Food Lion that got one of the best crab cake sandwiches I’ve ever tasted, a small Sudanese community living near the railroad tracks, and nearby Deal Island. PA is predominantly Cac but got a large Black plurality. Most of the Cacs look like they stay strung up on meth and opioids The Black natives can be cool at times

If nothing’s going on on campus, we typically hit up Salisbury for some fun since you got the large PWI Salisbury University (their campus and library are drop dead gorgeous ngl), way larger and better food options including CookOut, existent retail including a large mall and endless shopping centers, a small zoo and botanic garden and a nice park to chill at, an exotic pet store, also where most of the clubs and bars are at, etc. It’s also pretty common for us to hit up Ocean City for a day trip or weekend stay since it’s only 40+ minutes from campus

Definitely come thru when it’s an event going on at UMES like Homecoming or SpringFest

I’ve always wanted to check out DSU too tho, one of my best friends from high school went there for her undergrad years

Relative of mine went to UMES.
Always wondered what they did in spare time out there. Great description.

 

[AggiePride336.]

UMES itself is a very beautiful campus and it’s smedium in size but you’ll legs will still get a decent workout lol. Princess Anne itself is like one of those one-stop country towns and it doesn’t really have much to do. It was definitely my first time encountering rural poverty (hell it was my first time seeing housing projects in the country too lol), it was a totally different environment from PG County. The town does have a very underrated Black history however, especially as it relates to UMES, the lynchings, and the Civil Rights Movement and both the town and the school played a key role in Maryland during that time as well.

You’ll find a couple of gems in PA tho, such as this really bomb ass Soul Food/BBQ joint behind the BP gas station called Grillin’s, this really good seafood place in the cut next to the Food Lion that got one of the best crab cake sandwiches I’ve ever tasted, a small Sudanese community living near the railroad tracks, and nearby Deal Island. PA is predominantly Cac but got a large Black plurality. Most of the Cacs look like they stay strung up on meth and opioids The Black natives can be cool at times

If nothing’s going on on campus, we typically hit up Salisbury for some fun since you got the large PWI Salisbury University (their campus and library are drop dead gorgeous ngl), way larger and better food options including CookOut, existent retail including a large mall and endless shopping centers, a small zoo and botanic garden and a nice park to chill at, an exotic pet store, also where most of the clubs and bars are at, etc. It’s also pretty common for us to hit up Ocean City for a day trip or weekend stay since it’s only 40+ minutes from campus

Definitely come thru when it’s an event going on at UMES like Homecoming or SpringFest

I’ve always wanted to check out DSU too tho, one of my best friends from high school went there for her undergrad years

Whenever I see PA, I think of Port Arthur, TX.

Lol @ project housing in the country. Definitely will see that throughout the south

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Relative of mine went to UMES.
Always wondered what they did in spare time out there. Great description.

It would always be parties, kickbacks, and smoke sessions happening on campus too. And there would always be hotspots for certain areas of campus depending on the semester but typically the main party spots be Clusters, Arden’s, and occasionally Talons, whereas the main kickback spots be Student Apartments and Hawks Landing. It would often always be random ass block parties in Clusters tho. shyt gets real live during certain events too like Homecoming, SpringFest, Shady Affair, Hawks Pointe Cookout, Students Pavilion Cookout, etc.