PEC Update, December 12, 2006

This weekend was a difficult one for those of us who are fighting to keep Randolph-Macon Woman's College a woman's college of academic distinction. The announcement of the name change to Randolph College on Saturday was bittersweet. While the protest rally organized by former professors Charlotte Stern, Carl Stern, Helen McGehee, Linda Thomas, and Carolyn Bell was heartwarming and clearly showed that there is an active group of Randolph-Macon Woman's College supporters who still oppose the strategic plan, the announcement on the steps of Main Hall that happened an hour later was a heartbreaking time for current students, alumnae, faculty, and friends of Randolph-Macon Woman's College.

Now is not the time to give up – it is the time to redouble our efforts. Many students are transferring out of the college for next semester. Completed applications for next year's first year class are down by 20% (down by 35% compared to two years ago). Alumnae have stopped supporting the college in high numbers. None of the college's "town meetings" have drawn a supportive crowd. The two lawsuits are still proceeding. The trustees must be questioning the wisdom of the strategic plan. We need to bring more pressure to bear.

This update includes information on the progress of the two lawsuits and actions that you can take today to help save Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Even though the name change has been announced, please know that the change is not yet official, and concerns that the College cannot use the Randolph-Macon Woman's College name later when we are successful are unfounded. When we win – and we will win with the concerted efforts of all of us who cherish Randolph-Macon Woman's College – we will be able to hold a true celebration on the steps of Main Hall to reaffirm the continued existence of our beloved alma mater.

Legal update:

PEC is presently litigating two lawsuits: (1) a suit to enforce the 4-year contract that Randolph-Macon Woman's College made with present students and require the college to delay implementation of any coed vote until after the class of 2010 graduates (i.e., temporary relief); and (2) a "Charitable Trust" suit to require R-MWC to use the charitable assets of the college to advance the purposes for which those assets were donated – to operate a college under the name of Randolph-Macon Woman's College to educate primarily women in the liberal arts (i.e., more permanent relief). Both suits are proceeding toward hearings that will probably occur in early January 2007.

In the student contract case, attorneys for the college have produced 2,188 pages of documents in response to our discovery requests, and our students have produced nearly as many documents in response to the college's requests. The college initially filed a motion called a "Bill of Particulars" together with an old-fashioned Virginia motion to "Crave Oyer." Together, those motions required the student plaintiffs to produce the written documents upon which they relied for their contract. The students' response to the motions was filed last week. The students rely upon their letters of acceptance, which offered them, among other things, a place in their respective classes (2008, 2009, and 2010) at "Randolph-Macon Woman's College," and specifically offered them the benefits of the "Macon Plan," a coordinated curriculum plan whose benefits can only be realized if a student remains at R-MWC for her entire college career. The offer letters are identical for all three classes of plaintiffs (first years, sophomores, and juniors). The College now must file its responsive pleadings in the contract case. Once the College has filed its official Answer to the Complaint, the schedule for hearing the contract case will be more definite.

In the charitable trust case, brought by the student plaintiffs as well as plaintiffs who donated money to the college for specific funds (art and scholarships), the College has filed a "Demurrer," which is another old-fashioned Virginia name for a Motion to Dismiss. The student and donor plaintiffs will shortly be filing their memorandum in opposition to the Demurrer. Once that response is filed, a hearing will be set for the Demurrer early in 2007, which will most likely reach the main legal issues in the case. The title of this motion should not concern you; the result of the motion is that the ultimate legal issues in the case will be heard sooner rather than later. Thus, this motion is good news to PEC, because it means an earlier trial date is possible. PEC doesn't want to hurt the college, we simply want the legal issues heard quickly so that we can hopefully help R-MWC recruit women for a women's college as soon as possible.

As funding and volunteer assistance allows, we have begun to investigate in much greater depth the operational issues identified in PEC's documents, "20 Reasons Why You Should Change your Vote" and "What Every Trustee Should Know" that have led to the current state of the college's finances and the move toward coeducation. This investigation is proceeding on many different fronts; however, PEC's ability to pursue any of these issues depends upon our ability to either pay for the expertise necessary to undertake the projects, or to find volunteers among our supporters who have the qualifications to do this on a pro bono basis.

As information comes to light, we have been seeking the assistance of various professionals including forensic accountants, financial analysts, curriculum planners, admissions and tuition discounting experts, and more (both alumnae and non-alumnae) to help us find the most effective ways to continue to fight the actions of the Board of Trustees and to reverse the September 9 vote. If you have such expertise and have not already volunteered to help, please consider volunteering today.

While PEC's request for a meeting with trustees to share PEC's findings and our request for mediation have thus far been denied, we continue to hope that the Board of Trustees will enter into discussions with us and others who are challenging the coed vote. We wish that we could share every aspect of our work publicly, but we have learned that the Board of Trustees will simply use the information that we provide to further entrench themselves. We will continue to publish details of our work as soon as it is strategically safe to do so. We truly hope that our supporters can appreciate the need for legal counsel to maintain the privileges of the various individuals (students and donors) who have taken on the task of serving as the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, and that this necessarily means that PEC cannot communicate everything about these suits publicly.

What can you do to help?

Please make PEC part of your year-end giving:

We cannot afford to continue this fight without your assistance. PEC will need an estimated $200,000 to finish the two lawsuits currently up for trial. We need $75,000 to pay current bills and the balance for litigation early next year. As you make your plans for year-end giving, consider giving again to help preserve Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Some PEC supporters have even thoughtfully asked friends and family to make a donation to PEC in lieu of exchanging holiday gifts.

If you would like to send us a gift, please note that we have a new address to mail donations to:

Preserve Educational Choice, Inc.
P.O. Box 29612
Richmond, VA 23242

As always, you can also donate via PayPal from our website www.PreserveEducationalChoice.org.

PEC will be sending letters to all who have donated in 2006 that will satisfy the IRS requirements for acknowledgment of your gift. Because we have a number of donors that have made multiple contributions, we have determined that these letters will all go out in bulk after December 31, 2006, so that those who have given multiple times can have their contributions recorded in one letter. We caution that we have not yet received approval of our application for 501(c)(3) status from the IRS, and we will alert you as soon as we receive word on our application. Nevertheless, we will be sending out these confirmation letters so that you will have them in hand the moment we hear from the IRS.

Continue the fight to save Randolph-Macon Woman's College:

The lawsuits are critical and funding them is a priority for PEC. However, there are other ways that you can also work to save Randolph-Macon Woman's College.

1) With the announcement of the name change, many alumnae may give up on the effort to save the College. Please contact your classmates and R-MWC friends and let them know that it isn't over. The trustees are counting on us giving up – we must continue the fight.

2) Please keep sending emails and letters to the individual trustees and college administrators questioning the strategic plan.

3) If your faculty advisor or other professors that you were close to still work at the college, please contact them to explain your concerns about the direction the college is taking. Faculty contact information can be found on the college's website in the online directory here: http://www.rmwc.edu/directories/faculty_staff.asp

4) Keep attending the town meetings organized by the college around the nation. Reports from these meetings are now posted on PEC's website at http://www.preserveeducationalchoice.org/reports.htm. If you have attended a meeting and would like to share your experience, please send an email to info@preserveeducationalchoice.org.

5) Stay informed. In many past PEC updates we have apologized for our lack of communication. Keeping our supporters informed and engaged is a priority and we have now made a commitment to communicate on a more regular basis with all of you. So please expect more regular (and shorter) updates. Please share our updates and website information with your friends and classmates that may not be as well informed on the issues. We are working to expand our website to include more informational resources like the town meeting reports and information on other women's colleges. You will find these new resources under "Viewpoints" on our website. If you have information that you think should be included, please send it to info@preserveeducationalchoice.org.

\ There are many groups – alumnae, students, faculty, former faculty, former trustees, friends of the college, and supporters of the Maier Museum – that are negatively affected by the strategic plan. It will take the concerted efforts of each of these groups to reclaim Randolph-Macon Woman's College. If you have ideas about how these constituencies can be engaged to save R-MWC, please let us know.

We are continuing this fight but we cannot do it without you. As always we are grateful and humbled by the trust that PEC supporters have placed in us.

Vita Abundantior,

PEC Board

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