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On May 13, 2022, the renowned Lincoln College closed its doors after almost 160 years of serving black America.
This has caused its pupils to seek education elsewhere. According to The Chicago Tribune, it has also left the Illinois town of Lincoln without a key employer.
“I felt at home in Lincoln.” I made a lot of wonderful friends in such a short period. It’s difficult to watch everyone divide. It truly is,” said Lincoln College junior-to-be Blake Weibe told The Tribune over the phone from his hometown of El Dorado, Kansas.
According to The Grio, President David Gerlach formally announced the college’s closure a week before it closed in a statement posted by the college after a GoFundMe campaign and a hunt for an angel investor failed to raise enough cash to keep the school running. After a ransomware attack and a pandemic-related reduction in enrolment, it required $50 million to keep going.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church created Lincoln College in 1865, and it was named after Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president and a native of Illinois.
According to official commentary, the institution has “survived many tough and trying periods – the economic crisis of 1887, a major campus fire in 1912, the Spanish flu of 1918, the Great Depression, World War II, the 2008 global financial crisis, and more.” The board of trustees of Lincoln College has agreed to cease all academic programs by the conclusion of the spring semester of 2022.
It will be very hard for the black communities and families in America who relied on this great institution for higher education to say goodbye to Lincoln College after so many scores of years.
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