University president takes new approach to help school rise above woes
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Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - At the front gates leading to Life University's campus on Barclay
Circle in Marietta, the hands of founder Dr. Sid Williams - 15 feet tall and
cast in bronze - still welcome students and visitors to the chiropractic
college.
But step inside the gates and look beyond the bronze hands and stone clock
tower, and little at Life remains the same as it was just two years ago.
The university has lost more than 2,000 students, from about 3,600 in 2001 to
about 1,200 today. Williams stepped down as Life president in July 2002 after
the Arizona-based Council on Chiropractic Education stripped the school of its
accreditation. The university's current president, Dr. Ben DeSpain, took over as
leader of the school last November.
Last week, almost one year to
the day that DeSpain arrived at Life, the university announced plans to transfer
ownership of the school's 89-acre campus to the fund-raising foundation of
neighboring Southern Polytechnic State University.
If approved by next June, the proposal would relieve Life of $30.7 million in
debt while allowing the school to lease back its current classroom facilities
and continue operating.
In return, SPSU would take over the Life University student center, student
apartments, gymnasium and other athletic facilities.
The transfer should not have a significant effect on daily life at Life,
considering that the school disbanded its once-active athletic programs more
than a year ago.
For DeSpain, the dramatic changes have been necessary to save the school and
help it rise above the accreditation hassles that have plagued the school.
While he refuses to directly criticize Williams or the members of the Williams
family who helped run Life for 27 years, DeSpain said most of the changes have
been directed toward radically altering the way in which the university is run,
moving away from an organizational culture focused on the needs of its founder
and toward addressing the needs of students.
"I think there is a huge difference in the basic philosophy between how a
university should be run between myself and those who led before me," he said.
Part of that change in
philosophy has involved replacing officials in every university leadership
position - about 25 to 30 positions in all, ranging from academic department
heads to top Life administrators - appointed by Williams. DeSpain made the last
leadership change last week.
"I think people realize that it is a new day," he said. "It's a cultural change.
It was just a breath of fresh air that needed to be done."
Other cultural changes have been subtle, DeSpain said, such as simply taking the
time to reaffirm employees and tell them they are doing a good job.
Williams could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Life's Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Chuck Ribley said the changes are less
about a cultural switch and more an effort to strengthen the university
academically.
"What we're doing is we are refining academic programs so that we can continue
to be a viable university in the future," he said.
In focusing more on academics, the university has also done away with many of
the extra programs separate from the mission of training future chiropractors.
The cuts have become a budgetary necessity. DeSpain said the drop in student
enrollment likely will cost the university about $250 million.
The most dramatic cut was that of the school's athletic program in August 2002,
which saved the university about $2 million.
Life's athletic program once offered eight intercollegiate sports that compete
as members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The men's
basketball team won three NAIA championships in 1997, 1999 and 2000, while the
men's track team won four of the last six Outdoor National Championships.
Eliminating the program affected about 12 full-time and part-time coaches and
other staff, as well as between 140 and 150 student athletes who once attended
the school.
Life saved another $2 million in payroll costs last year by cutting almost half
of the positions of the school's "organizational chart." Of the 110
administrative titles at the university, officials eliminated 50.
In 2002, the university also sold off the six properties it owned outside its
main campus on Barclay Circle. These included the administrative building at 31
Atlanta St. near the Square, which was shared with the Atlanta Ballet and is now
owned by former Gov. Roy Barnes.
Other sites included a clinic in north Marietta and a facility on Franklin Road.
Despite the changes, Life has still not fully emerged from its problems with
accreditation. In August, Life and the CCE settled lawsuits filed by both sides.
A court had issued an injunction earlier in the year to restore the school's
accreditation. But the threat still exists that the CCE could deny Life's
request for accreditation when the school reapplies for its credentials in 2005.
Life's accreditation remains on probation with the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools.
In December, officials with the university plan to meet with SACS
representatives in Nashville, Tenn. to discuss efforts to fully restore the
school's standing with the association.
"I have no doubt that we will have success in that accreditation issue and the
CCE accreditation issue later on," DeSpain said. "I don't see why we need to
fear success with either agency."
Life expects to be removed from probation with SACS in December 2004.
But for DeSpain, the efforts are about more than just restoring Life's
accreditation. The changes are also aimed at making the school a more appealing
place for students and faculty whose careers center on this training ground for
young chiropractors.
And many of those changes involve moving the focus away from the personalities
of the leaders at the school and more toward the students themselves.
"This isn't about me. It hasn't been for the last year, and it won't be in the
future," DeSpain said. "It will be about those who are served by the university.
I don't need to have the spotlight focused on anyone other than those I serve."
dburch@mdjonline.com