FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VA Supreme Court Holds Hearing On Fate of Randolph-Macon Woman's College

Court's Decision Will Have Ramifications for Virginia Donors and Charities

August 29, 2007 -- Richmond, VA - The Virginia Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in a case that will help decide the future of Virginia's historic Randolph-Macon Woman's College (R-MWC).

At issue is whether the college's students and donors have the legal right to question the actions of the school's trustees, who voted to make the 116-year-old college coeducational last year.

The Supreme Court panel has been asked to recognize that a century-old decision of the full Court granted petitioners the right to bring an action challenging the R-MWC Trustees' repurposing of the woman's college's substantial assets to be used for a new coeducational institution, Randolph College.

In September 2006, the R-MWC Trustees decided to change the college's mission by making the college co-educational and using R-MWC's $250 million in accumulated assets for the new institution, now known as "Randolph College."

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the students and donors, the college would be asked to prove to a court that it is impossible, impractical, unlawful, or wasteful for the college to continue as a woman's college before the charitable assets could be used for another purpose.

"This lawsuit isn't really about coeducation, it's about donor intent and making sure that the money that was donated over the years for one mission – educating women in the liberal arts – is used for that purpose and not another," said Anne Yastremski, Executive Director of Preserve Educational Choice, the alumnae group funding the lawsuit. "If donors can't be assured their money is used for the purpose in which it was given, they'll stop giving. That will have a profoundly negative impact on charities in the Commonwealth and throughout the country."

A few weeks before the coeducation decision was announced, the college completed a $100 million capital campaign for the woman's college. It also has an exceptional art collection donated by alumnae and others valued at more than $100 million and an endowment that at $142 million in 2006 was the fifth largest of a private college in Virginia.

"Despite what the Trustees say, they clearly did not need to make the College coeducational," said Yastremski.

Since announcing that it would go coeducational, the College has been beset by problems. It was placed on warning by its accreditor -- the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools -- in December 2006; alumnae participation in the college's fundraising programs has dropped by 50 percent; the college announced staff layoffs of 15 percent in May as well as imminent faculty layoffs; and at 665 students the college's enrollment has hit a historic low – 100 fewer students than five years ago -- as the number of students transferring from the college has risen and the entering coed class brought fewer students than when it was a woman's college.

According to Yastremski, "Many alumnae and friends of the college worry that if unchecked, the trustees will simply spend all of the monies raised for the purpose of women's education to prop up this new coeducational institution – when by rights, the funds should be used for the reason they were given – the education of women at Randolph-Macon Woman's College."

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Preserve Educational Choice, Inc. is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization founded in September 2006 to oppose the R-MWC Board of Trustees' move to make the college coeducational and adopt "global honors" as a curricular focus. Supporters include more than 1,000 R-MWC alumnae, students, parents, faculty, staff, and former trustees united by a concern for the college's future. For more information about PEC please see www.preserveeducationalchoice.org.