Wells College 1868-2024

[www.fingerlakes1.com]

Let's protect those pretty old buildings, nom nom nom.

Additional information from The Ithaca Voice Perhaps most encouraging:

College officials said students will be able to complete their current course of study at one of several designated “teach-out” institutions: Manhattanville College, Excelsior University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Keuka College, Le Moyne College, Mercy University and SUNY Brockport.

Most institutions are required by their accrediting commissions to have “teach-out” plans to allow students to complete their course of study should the college face a sudden closure.

At an institution-wide assembly Monday, college leadership assured students they would pay the same tuition and receive the same financial aid they would have had they remained at Wells, provided they transfer to one of the designated teach-out institutions.

David Harding
Additional information from The Ithaca Voice Perhaps most encouraging:

College officials said students will be able to complete their current course of study at one of several designated “teach-out” institutions: Manhattanville College, Excelsior University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Keuka College, Le Moyne College, Mercy University and SUNY Brockport.

Most institutions are required by their accrediting commissions to have “teach-out” plans to allow students to complete their course of study should the college face a sudden closure.

At an institution-wide assembly Monday, college leadership assured students they would pay the same tuition and receive the same financial aid they would have had they remained at Wells, provided they transfer to one of the designated teach-out institutions.

That's a lot more encouraging than the original announcement that only mentioned Manhattanville. Westchester is not really a substitute for a campus on the shores of Cayuga Lake.

Gutting. What a loss to the community.

To pay off the surely mounting debts, I say Cornell buys some buildings and moves them, brick by brick, to replace some of our more horrific structures.

There are advantages to the new parent school accepting Wells orphans: The news schools get more students, they've got students who've made it through at least one year academically, they're grateful to be taken in, they understand New York State winter weather. New York State has suffered a net loss (~20%) of students the past decade if I'm reading this NYS chart correctly.

Cornell is up, but what do you expect when Cornell is rated among the world's top universities. Cornell's 2024 graduating class entered ~3300 students, 38% more than the class of 1974 (~2400 enrollees). Probably the case with Rochester, Colgate, Hamilton, RPI, RIT, Syracuse, the ones in the national top 100 universities or colleges. None lack for qualified applicants.

Per the New York State comptroller's office
* In academic year 2022-23, New York State public and private higher education institutions enrolled 777,838 full-time and 334,247 part-time students.
* Full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment at public institutions decreased in 2022-23 by almost 17 percent compared to 2018-19 and by 19.5 percent compared to 2013- 14. Private sector FTE enrollment decreased marginally from the prior year.
* The State has a higher proportion of private college attendance than most states, or 45 percent compared to 22 percent of students nationwide in Spring 2023, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.

The NYS comptroller's chart below counts full-time equivalent students. I don't believe it includes

jtwcornell91

David Harding
Additional information from The Ithaca Voice Perhaps most encouraging:

College officials said students will be able to complete their current course of study at one of several designated “teach-out” institutions: Manhattanville College, Excelsior University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Keuka College, Le Moyne College, Mercy University and SUNY Brockport.

Most institutions are required by their accrediting commissions to have “teach-out” plans to allow students to complete their course of study should the college face a sudden closure.

At an institution-wide assembly Monday, college leadership assured students they would pay the same tuition and receive the same financial aid they would have had they remained at Wells, provided they transfer to one of the designated teach-out institutions.

That's a lot more encouraging than the original announcement that only mentioned Manhattanville. Westchester is not really a substitute for a campus on the shores of Cayuga Lake.

Yeah, but there’s clearly some administrative connection:

“Wells has selected a legacy institution partner in Manhattanville University. This institution will plan to house various materials including transcripts, business records and other important artifacts.”

For some reason, I find this interesting. It must be quite a sobering job for the college archivist, essentially tasked with boxing up the soul and essence of a longstanding institution for storage and a last chance for preservation. Too bad they couldn’t carve out a corner of Kroch Library to keep them home.

On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

"I used to date girls from Elmira and Wells ... but I got tired of driving down to Purchase every weekend."

jtwcornell91

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

"I used to date girls from Elmira and Wells ... but I got tired of driving down to Purchase every weekend."

Definitely “a bridge too far,” namely, the Tappan Zee (oops, Mario Cuomo) Bridge.

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

nshapiro

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

[www.youtube.com]

although it's got the "ladies" version of the Sophomore verse. As I recall the "gents" version it goes:

Oh, I am the Sophomore, with debonair look
My vile Freshman ways I have long since forsook
I used date girls from Elmira and Wells
But in my opinion, the best are Cornell's

Never should have gone Co-Ed. I'm sure there are deeper issues than that, but that was what made Wells a distinct institution, beyond it's remote and beautiful location.

jtwcornell91

nshapiro

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

[www.youtube.com]

although it's got the "ladies" version of the Sophomore verse. As I recall the "gents" version it goes:

Oh, I am the Sophomore, with debonair look
My vile Freshman ways I have long since forsook
I used date girls from Elmira and Wells
But in my opinion, the best are Cornell's

Yes I have seen that. I cannot find the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown.

nshapiro

jtwcornell91

nshapiro

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

[www.youtube.com]

although it's got the "ladies" version of the Sophomore verse. As I recall the "gents" version it goes:

Oh, I am the Sophomore, with debonair look
My vile Freshman ways I have long since forsook
I used date girls from Elmira and Wells
But in my opinion, the best are Cornell's

Yes I have seen that. I cannot find the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown.

I’m pretty sure I have a 30 y.o. CD with that song on it. It’s in storage back home and I’m on a work trip for a few weeks.

RichH

nshapiro

jtwcornell91

nshapiro

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

[www.youtube.com]

although it's got the "ladies" version of the Sophomore verse. As I recall the "gents" version it goes:

Oh, I am the Sophomore, with debonair look
My vile Freshman ways I have long since forsook
I used date girls from Elmira and Wells
But in my opinion, the best are Cornell's

Yes I have seen that. I cannot find the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown.

I’m pretty sure I have a 30 y.o. CD with that song on it. It’s in storage back home and I’m on a work trip for a few weeks.

Wow! If you could (at your convenience) post it somewhere so I could hear it, I would really appreciate it.

nshapiro

RichH

nshapiro

jtwcornell91

nshapiro

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

[www.youtube.com]

although it's got the "ladies" version of the Sophomore verse. As I recall the "gents" version it goes:

Oh, I am the Sophomore, with debonair look
My vile Freshman ways I have long since forsook
I used date girls from Elmira and Wells
But in my opinion, the best are Cornell's

Yes I have seen that. I cannot find the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown.

I’m pretty sure I have a 30 y.o. CD with that song on it. It’s in storage back home and I’m on a work trip for a few weeks.

Wow! If you could (at your convenience) post it somewhere so I could hear it, I would really appreciate it.

I’ll dig it out when I get back and see what I can do. Btw, there is a Waiters album from 2015 on both Apple Music and Spotify. It has “We Didn’t Go to Harvard” with updated lyrics.

jtwcornell91

nshapiro

David Harding
On a lighter note, I wonder what modifications we'll see (hear) in "The Song of the Classes".

Was the reference in that song or in the Cayuga's Waiters song 'Cornell' - to the tune of Downtown?

I would also love to hear that again, if anyone can find it online.

[www.youtube.com]

although it's got the "ladies" version of the Sophomore verse. As I recall the "gents" version it goes:

Oh, I am the Sophomore, with debonair look
My vile Freshman ways I have long since forsook
I used date girls from Elmira and Wells
But in my opinion, the best are Cornell's

That's exactly what I meant.

I do remember hearing TheWaiters sing "Cornell" to the tune of "Downtown", but I couldn't reproduce any of the lyrics. I did find links to the LP on which it appears, Lost in the Sound, et alia.

Scersk '97
Gutting. What a loss to the community.

To pay off the surely mounting debts, I say Cornell buys some buildings and moves them, brick by brick, to replace some of our more horrific structures.

Just raze everything built since 1930.

Trotsky

Scersk '97
Gutting. What a loss to the community.

To pay off the surely mounting debts, I say Cornell buys some buildings and moves them, brick by brick, to replace some of our more horrific structures.

Just raze everything built since 1930.

You do realize that includes Lynah?

In addition to proximity, there’s another connection between Wells College and Cornell. As the story goes, Ezra wanted Henry Wells (of Wells Fargo, and later American Express fame) to locate and endow his proposed women’s college at Cornell. Wells declined, as he wanted Wells to be a separate and distinct entity in his hometown of Aurora. Not deterred, Ezra and Andrew White then convinced Ithaca businessman Henry Sage to donate $250,000 to build Sage College for Women. At first a women’s residence hall, today the Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Jeff Hopkins '82

Trotsky

Scersk '97
Gutting. What a loss to the community.

To pay off the surely mounting debts, I say Cornell buys some buildings and moves them, brick by brick, to replace some of our more horrific structures.

Just raze everything built since 1930.

You do realize that includes Lynah?

The sacrifice is worth it. We can play our games at St. Nick. The working girls in the Mezzanine will have a field day.

FingerLakes1
In a significant announcement, Wells College has announced its upcoming closure at the end of this academic semester ...

Droll understatement