Meeting the Challenge: - The Council of Independent Colleges

Alvin P. Sanoff
“We think that many of our practices and what we are doing
in our curriculum can be models for others.”
—Karen Halbersleben, President, Northland College
check for $2,000. Crouch says that the student challenge is
not only a teaching tool but a cost-effective way to improve
the campus. For example, he says the college staff wanted
$10,000 to paint each residence hall lobby, something the
students accomplished for a fraction of that amount.
Crouch brings his entrepreneurial instincts
to fundraising as well. He has established a variety of
partnerships with corporations that have enabled him to raise
the profile of the college and creatively woo new donors.
For example, the college serves as the summer training
camp for the National Football League’s Cincinnati Bengals.
(Georgetown is among several CIC members that host NFL
training camps.) As part of the arrangement with the team,
Crouch negotiated a deal that provides Georgetown with a
suite at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, and allows the
college to bring guests down to the field prior to each home
game. “When the Bengals play the Dallas Cowboys,” says
Crouch, “we invite alumni from Texas to come on the field so
they are right there with the players.”
Programmatic Diversity
Just as they have chosen different strategies for
dealing with an ever-changing educational landscape, CIC
member institutions have pursued diverse academic paths.
Some have opted for innovation, while others—such as
Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, Hamilton
College in New York, Illinois Wesleyan University, and
Millsaps College in Mississippi—have adhered to a
traditional liberal arts mission. Still others have chosen
a third way, innovating within the framework of their
traditional mission.
Whichever path they have taken, most schools have
developed academic programs that contain at least a few
distinctive elements. Looking in detail at a small number of
programs provides some sense of the richness and academic
diversity at CIC colleges and universities.
The environment has always been part of Northland
College’s history. Northland, which enrolls about 750
undergraduates, is located in Ashland, Wisconsin, in the heart
of a region once brimming with virgin timber. The timber
was fully harvested in the 19 th century, leaving ecological
devastation behind. The college was founded to serve the
residents of the “cut over” district, and part of its mission was
to help people in the area adapt to environmental change.
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