User:Visviva/History of Shimer College in Waukegan

The 438 building, originally the sole building of the Waukegan campus and subsequently the main classroom building.

The history of Shimer College in Waukegan begins with the school's arrival on Sheridan Road in 1979 and concludes with the departure of the college for Chicago in 2006.

Arrival

The college began classes in an old Victorian house on Sheridan Road in Waukegan in the spring of 1979. The campus initially consisted of one classroom and administration building and one dormitory. It grew steadily over subsequent years, reaching 12 buildings by the end of the 20th century.

Academics and admissions

Prairie House, the main administration building of Shimer in Waukegan.

The academics of the college remained intact in the Waukegan location,

Efforts were made to reach out to new groups of students. In 1981, a Weekend College program for working adults was begun. The program, which as of 2010 remained in operation, provides a bachelor's degree through classes meeting intensively every third weekend.

Enrollment rose from 62 students in 1978 to approximately 100 students by 1982. In the spring of 1988, the school graduated the largest class since 1974.

In 1988, Shimer began to offer a chess scholarship. Subsequent beneficiaries of this scholarship include grandmasters Jesse Kraai and Noureddine Ziane.

Governance

The internal governance structure in Waukegan differed from that in Mount Carroll. Shortly after the move, the House was replaced by the more structured Assembly. The first Assembly Constitution, inspired in part by the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was adopted in 1980. Under the Assembly system, most detailed work is performed by elected committees containing a mixture of students, faculty and staff. The Assembly itself governs by "moral suasion" only. Legal authority continued to reside in the Board of Trustees and the president. Donald P. Moon, an Episcopalian pastor and former nuclear physicist, remained president of Shimer from 1979 through his retirement in 2004. He was succeeded by William Craig Rice, under whose administration the college moved to Chicago.

Finances

Finances during much of this period remained problematic, with faculty salaries low or nonexistent. In 1980, the college obtained a major grant from the United States Department of Education, in preparation for which eight new members of the faculty were hired. However, the grant was not funded, and the senior members of the faculty went without pay so that the new instructors could be paid. Even when paid, the salaries were at a level that Chairman of the Board Barry Carroll described as "poverty-level".

Campus

In the mid-1990s, the college began an intensive upgrade of the physical plant, made possible by a municipal bond issued through Northern Trust. From 1995 to 1998, the total value of the college's real estate holdings rose approximately 40% to 2 million dollars. This included expansion of on-campus housing, renovation of the Prairie House administration building, and clearing of the central quadrangle. This also included the "Shimer Commons" plan for the former YWCA gymnasium, which was to have been funded by a capital campaign.

Departure

In 2005, negotiations began regarding an invitation extended by the Illinois Institute of Technology to move Shimer's operations to the IIT campus in Chicago. On December 18, 2005, amid controversy, the Assembly of Shimer College expressed its support for the ongoing negotiations by a vote of 46-29. On January 19, 2006, the Board of Trustees announced that it had accepted the invitation. The move was completed August 10, 2006.