CINCINNATI — During her 2018 inauguration speech at Union Institute & University, President Karen Schuster Webb talked about the importance of social justice through education.
“We were taught that those of us who had the privilege of an education had the responsibility to make sure that others had access to excellence in education as well,” Webb told the crowd.
Five years later, Union Institute graduate Bryon Garner wants to know why Webb is blocking access to his own transcripts.
“I am applying for postdoctoral fellowships and will need a record of my degree conferral for this process,” Garner wrote in an Oct. 20 email to Webb and Tom Frederick, vice president for academic affairs at Union. “I appreciate the fact that Union Institute & University is facing severe financial challenges presently. Nonetheless, it would be unconscionable to disregard all of the work I have done by not providing a record of my degree conferral when I have completed all of the requirements.”
It's the latest example of personal turmoil caused by the meltdown of Union Institute, a private university in Walnut Hills that depleted its cash reserves during four straight years of operating losses that began when Webb arrived.
“Her leadership has been ineffective,” Garner said. “She has not been transparent. She has not held herself accountable by answering the questions, the legitimate questions by everyone about how did we get here and what are we going to do moving forward?”
Garner is not alone in seeking answers. An Oct. 3 letter, signed by more than 50 Union doctoral students, calls for Webb’s resignation and the replacement of Union’s entire board of trustees with “an emergency board to address the institution's stability.”
The letter said Webb should resign “due to her creation of and subsequent failure to address the financial crisis, as well as her lack of transparency and empathy.”
The WCPO 9 I-Team has been trying to reach Webb since March, when Union failed to pay employees in two straight payrolls, triggering a proposed class-action lawsuit in April. Payroll problems continued into July, when students told the I-Team the school used their student loan refunds to pay employees instead. That led to cash restrictions, imposed by the U.S. Department of Education in August, followed by a September demand that the school obtain a $12 million line of credit before it can receive new federal student aid.
Through it all, Webb has not responded to more than a dozen attempts by the I-Team to reach her via email and through the school’s attorneys.
Union provided a statement to the Chronicle of Higher Education for an Oct. 10 report. It said Union is “working with consultants” to explore “new fund-raising activities” and has hired a new interim chief financial officer, Lee Blackwell, to assist Union with “finances and restructuring matters.”
It said Union “submitted required responses and supporting documentation” to the Higher Learning Commission, an accrediting body that declared the school in financial distress in September.
HLC scheduled an Oct. 23 “focused visit” to determine whether it will revoke its accreditation. Its statement to the Chronicle said the school is preparing a provisional teach-out plan, which enables students from closed colleges to continue their education elsewhere.
But several students and Union employees question whether Webb has made any plans to help students continue their education.
“We demand that the university immediately begin negotiations and release comprehensive teach-out plans as soon as they are available and prior to January 2024,” doctoral students wrote to Webb on Oct. 3. “These plans are crucial for students’ ability to complete their programs in the event of institutional closure.”
Union’s headquarters on Florence Ave. have been locked by its landlord since August and emails about transcripts, paychecks and other matters are rarely returned, students and employees say.
“I’m trying to get answers from what remains of the staff there at Union. But we’re not getting answers,” said Garner, who participated in Union’s June commencement ceremony but lacks documentary evidence of his doctoral degree in interdisciplinary studies. “The dean for the PhD program has been highly supportive … but she’s not getting answers either.”
If the school has developed provisional plans for a teachout program, those plans do not include the University of Cincinnati, which offers online degrees in 110 different topics and purchased Union’s former headquarters building in 2021.
“At the end of August, UC offered to explore a partnership and teach-out option with Union leadership, including expedited and mid-semester admission, fee waivers, etc.,” wrote UC spokesperson M.B. Reilly in an email response to the I-Team. “Union's president and provost acknowledged receipt of the offer but didn’t follow up with any interest.”
Reilly invited Union students to contact UC’s office of admissions at 513-556-1100 to see how much of their previous course work will apply to any of UC’s degree programs.
“While UC can seek to work with individual transfer students, there may be some limitations without a direct partnership because we or other institutions may not be able to access students' Union Institute files,” Reilly added.
In the meantime, Union’s president has relocated to Bloomington, Indiana, where she received a “distinguished alumni service award” from Indiana University. She was among four recipients honored Oct. 12 “for service and achievement in their fields, and for significant contributions to the community, state, nation, or university.”
Monroe County real estate records show Webb purchased a $381,5000 home in Bloomington in December 2022. A sales disclosure form said she bought it without financing and checked yes to the question: Will this be the buyer's personal residence.
The purchase happened at the same time Union began taking on high-interest loans to address cash flow concerns, according to the I-Team’s analysis of its audited financial statements.
One former employee who asked not to be named said Webb left town in March. That was one month after Union stopped paying rent on its Walnut Hills headquarters building, according to an eviction lawsuit filed by Corporex Cos. Inc.
Webb's prior address in Milford was vacant in May, when Clermont County deputies attempted to serve notice of two lawsuits by Union lenders, court records show.
Garner thinks Indiana University should rescind its award to Webb because of the way “her failed leadership has affected so many lives.”
Garner spent four years and $80,000 pursuing his PhD at Union, which he valued for its reputation for producing social justice leaders in communities throughout the U.S.
“The faculty and staff believed in this program so much that they kept working without being paid,” Garner said. “That says a lot about the value of what this program was. So, it breaks all of our hearts to see it collapse like this.”
