The history of Vennard College is much like that of Israel, in that times of great blessing are invariably followed by times of terrible testing.  But to each generation of Vennardians there has come a new revelation of the present power of God to deliver.  So generations have been encouraged by what they have heard of former pilgrims on this journey of faith, and have added their own witness to the unchanging nature of our God.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beginning with the fall semester of 1992, Dr. Neff’s first year, registrations continued their steady, discouraging pattern downward.
                        Fall, 1992                     150 students
                        Fall, 1993                     131 students
                        Fall, 1994                     111 students
                        Fall, 1995                     106 students
Consistent with the steady decline in enrollment, the financial condition of the College continued to worsen, with indebtedness climbing from $721,120 in 1992 to $1,117,669 at the close of the 1994-95 fiscal year.

Members of the faculty came forward with a plan of their own which they called “A Radical Plan to Keep Vennard College Open." Unwilling to abandon ship, they offered the following ideas to not only keep the doors open but lay the foundation for a happier future:

1.      Eliminate non-educational assets.
2.      Adopt a pay-as-you-go approach to salaries and purchases.
3.      Drastic reduction in the number of support staff.
4.      Salary reductions.
5.      Curtail the sports program.
6.      Reduce expenditures for travel.

The third and fourth recommendations say something about the resolve of the faculty, for those measures would directly impact them.  A reduced support staff would mean a reduction in personnel assistance and support services—faculty would have to do more for themselves.  Lower salaries, already below levels in comparable ministries, would be a powerful and personal statement of loyalty.

At the beginning of a September 9-10, 1995 meeting of the Executive Committee, Dr. Neff asked the committee members to "give the college’s administration direction concerning the two major issues at hand:  1) How to solve the $351,177 projected shortfall for the current year and, 2) How to correct the financial and downward enrollment trends to assure the long range future of the College.”  Several ideas were advanced during the ensuing discussion:

1.      Change the location of the College to a more metropolitan area.
2.      Modify or change the mission of the College.
3.      Expand the College’s curricular offerings.
4.      Sell Vennard to another evangelical organization.
5.      Develop an innovative instructional approach in cooperation with other holiness Bible colleges.

Concluding that none of the suggestions would really work, Executive Committee members came to the unhappy decision that “there was no apparent way out of the College’s eighteen-year downward spiral.”  In their judgment “the best course of action to protect the College is to instruct the President to develop a plan to terminate the academic activities and dissolve the corporation.” 

The shadows were lengthening.

Centuries before this decision, the nation of Israel was positioned to enter the land God had promised would be theirs.  But before the command to enter could be given, the  reports from the survey team sent by Moses to spy out the land had to be considered.  The majority report is succinct:  the land cannot be taken.  The minority report, bearing two signatures, is terse but true:   “We be well able to enter the land.” (Numbers 13:31-33).

The first report was based upon evidence; the ten spies were remembering the hostile land, the giant-sized people, their puny resources.

The second report was based upon experience; Joshua and Caleb were remembering the demonstrated faithfulness of God at the Red Sea, at the Wilderness of Sin, at Rephidim, at Sinai, and at Aroer, Gilead and Bashan.

In the weeks and months to come following the recommendation of the Executive Committee that Vennard College be closed, the prevailing question was simply, Why?

The answer is just as simple:   They, like Israel, believed a wrong report.

As Dr. H.M. Couchenour, Vennard’s third President, had said in his 1955 report to the Board, “If we were to exclude the anticipation of the supernatural in keeping His promises we would despair of the future.”  (The Torch Goeth Onward,  pp. 119, 121, 123, 139).

Thus it was that nearly a century of Christian education in University Park, Iowa was to come to an end.

Of immediate concern was the question of public reaction to the decision to close the College. Clearly, the good will and the gifts of the constituency would be crucial in the difficult days ahead. So it was decided the President should contact major donors before news of the school’s demise could reach them.

Further, in advance of the meeting of the full board in early October, at which time the recommendation of the Executive Committee would be received and voted upon, the President was instructed to plan a public forum at which supporters of the College would be given a chance to express themselves in a constructive manner. Since the Board vote on the recommendation to close and dissolve would occur on October 7, the forum was scheduled for October 6. It was perceived as a ray of hope for those who wished the school to continue, for as the Committee report noted, "….it may produce new ideas that could save the school."

As the time for the October 6 forum approached, there was a rising level of expectation that a way out of Vennard’s problems could be found, that the people on the Board of Trustees were men and women of reason and faith who would respond to pledges of support to see the school through its current crisis.

note from Dr. Harris' personal journal:  September 14, 1995---Once again it is clear to me the only issue to be voted on October 7 is vision. Given that, courage and faith will follow.

At least that seemed to be the position of the President of the Alumni Association as she wrote to the membership on September 21: "This is a letter I never dreamed I would have to write. You have received many appeal letters from Vennard through the years, but let me assure you this is not a fire drill. We have one final chance to preserve our school." She closed by urging all alumni to make a financial commitment to the College and attend the public forum on October 6 to demonstrate the fact that "the alumni do care about Vennard."

At the same time, there were some ready to close the books on the College, taking heart in the illustrious history of service the school had achieved. Both elements, the former most certainly predominant, were brought together that fall evening under the directions which had been issued by the Executive Committee:

1.      Only persons who had requested the opportunity to speak in advance of the meeting would be allowed to speak.       Each speaker would be limited to three minutes.
2.   No questions could be directed to the forum’s chairman, or any member of the Board.
3.   No discussion would be allowed; only statements of opinion.
4.   No response to any specific presentation would be allowed.

Clearly the event was to be under the control of the Executive Committee and it was not for the purpose of meaningful dialogue about the issue at hand. The Committee was not about to explain or defend its position; it had come only to give alarmed people a chance to vent and, perchance, offer some way out of the situation which the Committee had not been able to identify.

Nonetheless, the Harris Dining Room in Memorial Hall was packed that evening—125 alumni plus a host of friends of the College. And everyone who had requested the privilege of speaking(about twenty persons) was allowed to do so.

The Day of Decision, October 7, was a Saturday, so classes were not in session. The student body, along with concerned alumni and staff members, gathered in Memorial Hall to await the verdict from the Board. While there was a sense of optimism—none seemed able to believe their school would actually close—the reality that it could actually happen produced a somber overtone to the singing and fellowship which helped fill the long hours of waiting.

After a prayer service at the chapel altar the Board had come together to face the issue of dissolution. Finally, at 12:45 P.M. the doors of the conference room opened and the long-awaited announcement was made. By a vote of 10 to 5 the recommendation of the Executive Committee was sustained. Vennard College would close forever by December 31, 1995.

It is early afternoon at a restaurant in Oskaloosa, Iowa.  At one table several friends are eating a post-commencement lunch.  There is more than friendship bonding these young adults.  Most prominent is the grief they share over the event they have witnessed together—the closing forever of their beloved Alma Mater, Vennard College.  They are also linked by an organization which  had mounted a valiant effort to keep the school open, for the Vennardians lunching together are Board Members of the Vennard College Alumni Association.  They don’t know it yet, but they are soon going to be asked to dip their feet in the waters! 

These representatives of the alumni of all the schools which called the University Park campus home, along with the full membership of the Association, had spearheaded the drive to keep the school open.  Since that effort had failed, all they could do now was to try to find some way in which the memory and the ministry of the school could be perpetuated.

There were no signs in the sky or on the earth.  No one heard voices.  Just an impression that would not go away that the alumni were to give leadership to the improbable task of seeing Vennard’s doors open again.  As the President of the Association said repeatedly, “we have no agenda, we are not out to prove anything.  We are simply doing what God tells us to do.  And we’re going to keep on doing that until He shuts the door."