OAKLAND CITY, Ind. — After reportedly telling some employees on Wednesday they planned to close altogether, Oakland City University officials reversed course less than two hours later and said the school will remain open thanks to a “strategic partnership” that’s allegedly pending final approval.
But Todd Mosby, OCU’s associate vice president for development, marketing and communications, told media outlets he couldn’t share any concrete details about the arrangement. That includes who it’s with and what it entails.
“I can’t at this time. We’re still putting all that together. But we’ve had some meetings,” he said outside the OCU administration building a little before noon. “(It) looks like we’re going to be able to continue operating as normal and excelling in sports and academics.”
He’d just come out of an 11 a.m. meeting in the campus chapel, where President Ron Dempsey and others shared the news of the partnership with OCU employees. It must have come as a surprise to anyone who attended a similar gaggle at 9 a.m. with athletic staff. According to a source at OCU, they were told that the school would close by May 31.
Mosby said the alleged deal came together between that meeting and the one at 11. He credited its existence in part to media coverage of the issues facing OCU. Citing financial difficulties, the school had issued a WARN notice to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development on April 1 warning of a “mass layoff” of all 167 employees by June 1.
Despite writing that in official state paperwork, the school later denied it planned layoffs at all. It called the WARN notice “procedural in nature.”
Meanwhile, employees still haven’t been paid after OCU failed to fund paychecks that were supposed to come on May 8.
“We’ve created a strategic partnership that we think will allow us to not only be able to recoup what hasn’t been paid for employees, but going forward we plan to be able to open up again this fall and have another year of Oakland City University,” he said.
Oakland City University still hasn’t paid its employees
Mosby said there’s still no timeline as to when employees will get paid.
“It could be today,” he said. “Again, we hope just like we did yesterday and the day before and the day before that, but we’re truly hoping that within the next day or two we can make that happen.”
Like the alleged “strategic partnership,” the source of that money is also being kept secret. According to multiple emails Dempsey wrote to staff and faculty that were later obtained by the Courier & Press, the money to fund the paychecks is coming from an unnamed benefactor.
The cash was originally supposed to land in employee bank accounts by Friday. That became Monday, which became Tuesday, which became Wednesday, which became sometime in the near, hazy future.
In the emails, Dempsey blamed banking issues. Mosby reiterated that Wednesday.
“Quite frankly, we’re a little disappointed with some of the things that have happened with the banks, but it is today’s world. And in banking society you just don’t transfer money like you used to … before 9/11, let’s put it that way,” he said, without explaining further. “Transferring money does not just happen overnight anymore, unfortunately.”
According to Mosby, the school actually has two paycheck sources now. And he said “the plan” is to fund not only the last pay cycle, but all others going forward.
Faculty and staff were set to “discuss the future of the university” at 2 p.m., but the meeting was moved up to 11 a.m. after media arrived on campus, according to a Dempsey email.
Mosby said the deal with the unnamed “strategic partner” should be finalized before June 1. On Wednesday, the Courier & Press asked if layoffs could still occur.
“If our partnership doesn’t succeed, then yeah, that could happen,” he said. “But we’re not planning that. We think we’re beyond that.”
In fact, he said if the deal with the unnamed partner goes through, Oakland City will not only stay open, but “grow our campus into bigger and better offerings.”
“It’s a somber moment for everybody because there’s been this cloud over our head, but quite frankly God is lifting the clouds,” he said. “And anything that’s happening here forward that is positive for Oakland City University is 100% God’s work.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: OCU says it has ‘partnership’ in place to remain open; no details given
Reporting by Jon Webb and Sarah Loesch, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
