A recent email from the CSU Board of Trustees to former employees provides an opportunity to update BBS/BBCST/CSU stakeholders on recent developments since the school abruptly closed the doors on July 1, 2024. The email has not been posted online as far as I know, but it has been shared with me “through the grapevine.” It contains no confidentiality stipulations.
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Go here for our previous posts on Clarks Summit University and other current issues in evangelical theological education
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Events Leading up to the Board Email
After receiving grave warnings from its accreditors due to financial instability, CSU suddenly shut the doors on July 1, 2024, This was not long after CSU had assured constituents that it would be open for the fall semester. Jeff Spear’s financial analysis at CFO Colleague had led him to believe the school would and should close. Stakeholder Lee Kliewer raised legitimate questions and urgent concerns soon after the closure. A year later, the campus was on the commercial real estate market for $17,500,000 and an online auction of campus equipment and memorabilia had been held. A farewell to CSU reception was held at the GARBC national conference last summer. In late December 2025, the sale of the campus for $15,750,000 was announced. A Jewish group, the Abington Center for Education, plans to operate it as a retreat center and summer youth camp, and also open it for community and civic functions.
Good News for Debtors, Former Employees, and Other Schools
In the recent board email, the CSU trustees expressed appreciation to CSU’s former employees, along with recognition of deep disappointment and unresolved questions. The tone of the email was appropriately warm, and its contents were no doubt welcomed by those who received it. Apparently the school’s debts have been fully settled from the proceeds of the campus sale. Former employees, in accord with PA law, will now be in line to receive an amount equivalent to 60 days of wages and benefits. This is nothing to sneeze at, especially for those who have not been able to find comparable employment for nearly two years.
Assets remaining after the settlement with former employees must be distributed according to PA law to other “mission-aligned” schools in PA. It is rumored that Lancaster Bible College and Cairn University (formerly Philadelphia College of the Bible) will benefit from these assets.
The email states the board’s intentions to release a final public statement once the school’s financial affairs have been fully addressed.
What should we think now?
First and foremost, let’s be thankful that proceeds from the sale of the campus were sufficient to settle debts, distribute legally prescribed funds to former employees, and transfer remaining assets to other like-minded schools in PA. This is about the best resolution anyone could hope for at this point, one that does not further damage the school’s reputation and legacy.
Second, let’s be thankful that the board seems to be taking a path of responsibility and integrity in following the requirement of PA state law regarding the closing of non-profit institutions. No doubt some of the trustees came on the board after the die was cast and had little to no responsibility for the school’s decline. Today these trustees are working to bring something positive out of the mess that was made. Theirs is a largely thankless task.
Warm fuzzy positive thoughts aside, nagging concerns remain. We hope the board steps up and speaks to these concerns in its upcoming final statement.
Several hundred CSU students were negatively impacted by the school’s closure. Evidently nothing has been done for them beyond the initial “teachout” assistance to help them find other schools where they transfer and complete their degree programs. In some cases, relatively smooth transitions were no doubt available. In others, problems certainly arose. Transferring to another school may not have been that big of a deal for students taking online courses in a common undergrad programs. Others however, especially grad students, likely found it more difficult to find and gain admission to comparable programs without losing credits and incurring moving expenses. Such students would likely have already been financially vulnerable even before they encountered the sudden closing of CSU.
Some staff may have been able to secure comparable employment soon after the school closed, but many others, especially full-time faculty, would have faced a one year career hiatus at best. Annual faculty hiring cycles typically are normally completed by early spring. Those dismissed in July 2024 would have to wait over a year for potential new positions to be open. Given the state of higher education these days, few would have found opportunities to interview for comparable full-time employment. Some likely found part-time adjunct positions for modest stipends and no benefits, necessitating immediate stopgap measures to make ends meet and new longterm career paths.
Everyone is not going to live happily ever after following this debacle. The board’s email acknowledges its responsibility to a degree, but hedges by affirming a good faith effort to steward the institution despite the demographic factors that led to enrollment decline. The email refers to the sovereignty of God in a way that makes it appear that the school’s closing was inevitable. This is fatalism that conveniently absolves the former president and trustees of any responsibility.
Some CSU stakeholders will accept this explanation, but it will not sit well with others who will view it as self-serving blame-shifting. With all due respect to the former president and the board, proffers of piety and sincerity are no substitute for competence and wisdom in the oversight and pursuit of best higher education practices. I once heard an old preacher say “If you’ve planted onions, you can have an all-night prayer meeting for a bumper crop of green beans, but you will still get onions.” Hopefully the board’s future final statement will own its mistakes and speak helpfully into the ongoing difficulties of Christian higher education.
We also hope that individuals and organizations outside the CSU orbit—financial experts, academics, accrediting societies, and watchdogs of evangelical non-profits—will analyze the situation and provide insights that will keep other schools from proceeding down the broad boulevard paved with good intentions that leads to educational destruction. The board is correct in saying that CSU’s legacy of training ministry leaders from 1932-2024 will endure, but sadly, so will the pain and lingering questions over its abrupt closing.
By the grace of God, may we all come away from this cautionary tale with greater financial wisdom and renewed commitment to the trustworthy message of the gospel.
Please use the reply option below to express your concerns and views of the situation. Speak the truth in love.
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You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.“[Isaiah 40:6-8]
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:22-25 NLT)
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[An elder] must have a strong belief in the trustworthy message he was taught; then he will be able to encourage others with wholesome teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong. (Titus 1:9 NLT)
They should have done more for former employees. I suppose the law controlled the distribution and there were no options.
Apparently they were limited by PA law.
So you do … or you do not believe in the sovereignty of God? I am confused.
I don’t believe the sovereignty of God is an excuse for human failure.
You wrote about the preacher who said if you plant onions you will get onions. You might get onions, you might get green beans, you might get something else. You might get nothing. You might get gold. II Kings 6 1-7. God is in control. God can do what He wants, God will do everything God’s own way.
I fear your thinking is tantamount to fatalism.
No doubt God can do whatever he wants to do, but he calls us to wisdom, faithfulness, and excellence in ministry. We’re not free to goof off just because God is free to use us in spite of our goofing off. We are accountable. We shouldn’t make a mess just because God is able to and just might intervene to clean it up.
The miraculous restoration of an accidentally lost axe head is irrelevant.
Thank you once again, David, for your thorough and balanced reporting on the sad demise of Clarks Summit University, formerly Baptist Bible College & Seminary. The closing of this chapter is at hand; you have cited some important lessons that should be learned.
I do commend the trustees for following through with their intention to give a financial remuneration to the existing faculty & staff at time of closing. They were all under new contracts for the 2024-25 academic year when the “temporary furlough” was announced in late May, 2024, and the decision to close was made final on July 1. At the very least, these employees were owed full compensation for the 2 months of June-July, since their contracts were valid until the official closing of the school on August 1st.
I am not pleased with, and I bring into question the other non-actions of the Board of Trustees relating to the demise of the school. As I cited in my previous article, Drifting Past the Faithful Word (7-14-24), the following points should be remembered:
1. The recent letter to the employees seems to indicate that the only reason the school closed was due to declining enrollment. While that was a strong factor that led to closure, it was not the only issue, and stating it as the only issue is really “soft-soaping” the decline of the past 8 years. The trustees have taken no ownership in stating the REASONS behind enrollment decline: poor leadership from the president; administrative dysfunction; mission drift away from a Bible college curriculum and program; abandonment of church constituencies; no comprehensive fund raising that could improve recruitment and enrollment initiatives; I could go on. Even now, the trustees do not seem to want to take ownership for, at the very least, holding accountable a failed president’s administration as the real reason for ultimate closure.
2. No explanation or taking ownership of deceiving employees, students, parents, alumni, and other stakeholders concerning the shady events of the closure. We have said this before: the president KNEW of Middle States accreditation issues back in November, 2023, that would lead to closure since the school could not meet the MSA standards. Were the trustees aware of this? Also, the president announced publicly to staff and local media that the financial shortfall “caught us off guard” and that the “temporary furlough” would be resolved so that the school would stay open for Fall, 2024. This was total deception (Jeff Spear’s analysis); yet no apology or taking ownership of this deception has been offered by the president or trustees.
3. On the Sovereignty of God issue: of course we believe in the sovereignty of God in all things, but it does not excuse human failure and deception. Your statement rings true to this principle: “The email [to employees] refers to the sovereignty of God in a way that makes it appear that the school’s closing was inevitable. This is fatalism that conveniently absolves the former president and trustees of any responsibility.”
I doubt that we would approve of Joseph’s brothers staging his murder, selling him into slavery, and lying to Jacob about his death. Did God have a sovereign plan in all of this? Of course, but Joseph’s brothers were still guilty of wrong doing and deception. The same is true in the situation with the flawed leadership of BBC&S. God is GOD in all things, and He does as He wills; perhaps we should consider that God’s will was performed in that CSU was no longer fruitful in carrying out its mission for Christ’s church and God’s kingdom. Every church, every Christian ministry is under the watchful eye of a sovereign God who alone measures its effectiveness. Five out of seven churches in Revelation 2-3 received a message from Christ, the Head of the Church, which commended them for past achievement, yet chastened them for no longer following Christ’s plan “. . . nevertheless, I have something against thee . . .” In all ages, it is our responsibility as believers to do the will of God according to His plan. Maybe God decided to remove the lampstand from CSU?
I still grieve over the lost potential of what a dynamic, truth-driven Bible college and Seminary could have accomplished in the harvest field until Jesus comes . . . if only they had been faithful to their original calling.
Very well stated Dr. Kliewer! You are spot on in so many ways. While I also commend the efforts to provide some level of financial relief for those that were directly impacted, the continued lack of ownership in the decisions that led to the closing continue to be troubling.
David Turner’s statement, “The email refers to the sovereignty of God in a way that makes it appear that the school’s closing was inevitable. This is fatalism that conveniently absolves the former president and trustees of any responsibility…” sums it up so well.
I have little doubt that the email was carefully crafted exactly for that purpose. After all, who would argue with the concept of God’s sovereignty?
Declining enrollment was a significant factor – perhaps the single-most identifiable factor – in the decision to close the doors. But there were many decisions made by the President, VP’s, and Board of Trustees that directly led to that decline in enrollment.
As a former Admissions Professional at BBC/CSU, the demands to meet the needed enrollment numbers without clear vision and direction from leadership made the task a daunting one. There were many other contributing factors that leadership should have acknowledged publicly.
While I am forever grateful for my time at BBC/CSU (college graduate, seminary graduate, former employee), I remain deeply disappointed that the school no longer exists. I still live in the community and periodically find myself passing by the property. Each time I do, I am reminded that God will continue to do great things through the lives of the individuals that passed through the halls of BBC/CSU. Like you, I too believe that so much more could have been accomplished!
Thanks for the comments Sean. BBC/CSU alum and former staff member Paul Golden expressed similar thoughts in a lengthy Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BKRys1NyU/
Well said, Lee. And David. I’m saddened by what happened to our beloved school. Not just the closing, but also the mission drift, which the leadership is responsible for.
Good to hear from you Randy. I totally lost touch with your after our time at BBC. Send me an email and let me know what you’ve been up to the last 50 years!
Any information on the role of the accreditors during this process?
Here’s the link to the Middle States archive on CSU:
https://www.msche.org/institution/0801/
Could CSU continue to operate even if they lost their accreditation?
Doubt it. Without accreditation CSU probably could not offer degrees, or receive government grants for student financial aid. Most students wouldn’t pay for unaccredited classes.
Losing accreditation is an operational death sentence. Without accreditation, a school no longer qualifies for federal student aid programs such as Pell grants and student loans. No government student aid = no students are able to afford college costs. A school’s annual budget is heavily dependent on income from federal and state student aid programs.