MacMurray College to Close After Spring Semester

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Published on March 29 2020 6:00 am
Last Updated on March 30 2020 11:05 am
Written by Matt Robinson

MacMurray College has voted to close at the end of spring semester, concluding 174 years in operation.

The Jacksonville-based college's board chairman, Charles O'Connell, said the school had no viable financial path forward in the wake of declining enrollments, rising competitive costs, and an insufficient endowment.

O'Connell said the coronavirus pandemic and economic disruption it has caused were recent factors that complicated MacMurray's financial condition, but they were not the principal reasons for the Board's decision to close.

MacMurray College President Beverly Rodgers has been working "seamless transitions" for its more than 500 full-time students to seven nearby colleges and universities this fall. Those institutions include Blackburn College, Eureka College, Greenville University, Illinois College, McKendree University, Millikin University and Monmouth College.

The official date of termination of most MacMurray employees will be Monday, May 25. Some staff members might be asked to remain to help close the college.