Wiley College
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| Wiley College | |
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| Motto | "Achieving Excellent Through Pride and Performance" |
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| Established | 1873 |
| School type | Private University |
| President | Haywood Strickland |
| Location | Marshall, Texas, United States |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Purple and Gold |
| Homepage | www.wileyc.edu |
Wiley College is one of the first and oldest historically black college west of the Mississippi River and is located on the west side of Marshall, Texas. The college was founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Isaac Wiley and was certified in 1882 by the Freedman's Aid Society. Melvin B. Tolson, a contemporary of the Harlem Renaissance, was an English professor at the college. James L. Farmer, Sr. was the first black Texan to hold a doctorate and also was a professor at Wiley.
Farmer's son James L. Farmer Jr. was a graduate of Wiley and went on to become one of the "Big Three" of the Civil Rights Movement; organizing the first sit-ins and Freedom Rides in the United States. Wiley, along with Bishop College, was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement in Texas. Wiley and Bishop students launched the first sit ins in Texas in the rotunda of the Old Harrison County Courthouse.
Wiley was the first college in East Texas to issue laptop computers to its students. Due to the rapid and significant change in computers, this program was discontinued and now students provide their own computers.
The college library is a Carnegie Library.
Wiley College is a four-year liberal arts college, offering bachelor's and associate degrees in several fields. About 96% of students receive some amount of financial aid.
Wiley College is an Open-Admissions college. Everyone is admitted who wants to attend.
In 2005-2006, on-campus enrollment approached 450, while an off-campus program in Shreveport, Louisiana, for students with some prior college credit wishing to finish a degree, was about 250. That made for a total enrollment near 700, as of fall 2005. In Fall 2006, total enrollment was about 750.
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[edit] Famous Wiley Alumni
- James L. Farmer, Jr. - Civil rights leader
- Conrad O. Johnson - Music educator
- Emmett Jay Scott - Civic leader
- Rubayet Salam - Native of Bangladesh, Designer of the college's Web Presence, First Computer Programmer to write code for "Let's work in the Library" activity. Graduate work at University of Texas, where he graduated number one in his class with an MBA degree.
- Lendra Jordan Sanders - Now teaching part-time at Wiley, full-time Administrative Assistant, working on her Doctoral degree in Education
- Heman Marion Sweatt - Plaintiff in famous U.S. Supreme Court Case, Sweatt v. Painter; helped found Texas Southern University
[edit] Noted College Programs
Wiley's Business Program, particularly the Introductory course, contains substantial resources for students to start their own business. While the students are actively encouraged to start their own business, this is not a requirement. A Database is kept of other student-started businesses throughout the U.S., as well as youth-started businesses. The Instructors, at least one of whom has extensive and continuous real-world business experience, continually encourage and monitor student business activity.
[edit] Financial Analysis/Stability
Wiley College has existed for well over a century. As a Black College it gets considerable support from the United Negro College Fund as well as the US Department of Education under Title III and other code sections.
However, sound fiscal policies, or a lack thereof, are readily evident in an examination of the college tax returns. The college is tax-exempt, so it annually files a Federal IRS form 990, a Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax. It files a return based on its fiscal year ending July 30 of each year.
These Form 990s are published online by GuideStar, which gets copies of the forms directly from the IRS. GuideStar is a public service organization that makes information on nonprofits available to the public. (Its free, just sign up for an account.) An examination of the Wiley College tax returns for the years ending July 30 of 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 are freely available at Guidestar.
In the year ending 2002, Wiley College took in $14,159,681.00. It spent $50,376.00 less than this, so it had a surplus. The college assets for 2002 totalled $15,234,191.00. The college President had a listed salary of $125,000.00, and contrary to specific IRS regulations, no salaries were shown for the other five highest paid college employees.
In the year ending 2003, Wiley College took in $15,840,555.00. It spent $160,002 MORE than this, so it had a deficit! The college assets for 2003 totalled $14,539,853.00. The college President had a listed salary of $132,500.00, the Executive Vice President was paid $90.000.00, the Academic Vice President (VP) was paid $94,000.00, the VP of Business was paid $80,000.00, the VP of Student Affairs was paid $80,000.00, and the Dean of Teacher Education was paid $70,000.00.
In the year ending 2004, Wiley College took in $15,436,430.00. It spent $603,911.00 MORE than it took in, so it had another deficit! The college assets for 2004 totalled $13,935,942.00. The college President had a listed salary of $142,500.00, the Executive VP was paid $95,000.00, the Academic VP was paid $94,000.00, the VP of Student Affairs was paid $95,000.00, and the VP of Business was paid $110,000.00.
In the year ending 2005, Wiley College took in $15,607,923.00. It spent $649,958.00 MORE than it took in, so it had yet another deficit! The College assets for 2005 totalled $11,966,077.00 and the college President had a listed salary of $142,500.00. The Executive VP was paid $95,000.00, the Academic VP was paid $96,820.00, the VP of Student Affairs was paid $90,000.00, and the VP of Business was again paid $110,000.00.
Any financial analysis should include trend analysis. This would foreshadow indications of financial stability, or fluctuation. It's also a ready indicator of whether an organization even has the capacity to grow, or if financial constraints indicate a more tenuous existence.
In analyzing the IRS Form 990s for Wiley, an illusory problem is the decline in the value of total assets. While the total asset figure might decline a small amount due to depreciation, in this case a more significant aspect of that decline is likely due to spending in excess of income. That, coupled with no particular addition to assets, either physical or financial, makes Wiley's total decline in monetary value not surprising.
This decline in asset and monetary value of the college is an anomaly when compared with other Non-Profit Institutions of Higher Education in Texas. Other schools are thriving, growing and increasing in value each year. This is true of schools with similar expenses and which pay their Executive Staff amounts similar to Wiley. (These figures are shown on form 990 for each school.)
[edit] Heteroclite Management
Wiley College has almost always had tenuous financial stability, even during the tenure of the current president, underscored by the increasing tendency to spend more money than the college brings in. There have been timorous efforts to bring this under control.
It was revealed in summer 2006 by the Vice President of Business that "they" had made a $1.6 million dollar budget mistake. That meant the college departments had to cut their spending by that $1.6 million dollars immediately.
In a curious attempt to cut costs, but very seriously jeopardizing employee loyalty, Wiley College cut in half the vacation benefit accrued by most full-time employees each month. This, too, was done at the end of summer 2006.
While the executive staff of Wiley College do have academic credentials, none have any real-world business experience as an entrepreneur whose financial decisions are critical for an organization's survival. However, this is not unusual in a Higher Education setting.
Summer 2006 did see the start of two new programs for adult students wishing to enroll in rapid-completion degree programs. One program is in Criminal Justice and the other program is in Church Relations.
Other than the limiting factor of no financial aid availability for students in a church-related curriculum, both these program seem to hold promise of an expanding student body.
In spite of enigmatic management decisions, Wiley College manages to carry on with a full schedule of classes and a full student body of about 800 students as of Fall 2006.
[edit] Legal Activity
Wiley College does periodically become party to various legal actions, as is common with any public entity.
Wiley has been the defendant in some lawsuits, sometimes filed by employees (now former employees). However, these are always settled out of court, so there is no public record.
The public records of Harrison County, where Wiley is located, do record at least 17 legal actions for the period starting in 2004 until mid-2006. Wiley does own several properties around the campus area. About half of these legal actions have to do with Oil & Gas leases, termination, etc. The balance record various property transfers for sales, foreclosures, tax liens, mechanics liens, etc. None of these transactions indicate any sort of windfall for Wiley College.
[edit] External links
Categories: NPOV disputes | Cleanup from October 2006 | All pages needing cleanup | Universities and colleges affiliated with the United Methodist Church | Harrison County, Texas | Historically black universities and colleges in the United States | Marshall, Texas | Universities and colleges in Texas
