James F. Jones

James F. Jones, Jr., is the interim president of Sweet Briar College[1] in Sweet Briar, Virginia, and was previously the president of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and Kalamazoo College, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jones is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He and his wife, Jan, have three children and six grandchildren.

Education

James F. Jones, Jr. graduated from Georgia Military Academy (later renamed Woodward Academy) in his hometown of Atlanta. Jones holds Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, a Master's degree from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts and GDIship from the University of Virginia, from which he graduated cum laude; while at Virginia he was assistant director of the Virginia Glee Club.[2] He also holds a Certificat from The Sorbonne. Jones has received numerous awards for his community alliances and scholarly and cultural achievements on both sides of the Atlantic, including Chevalier, Ordre des Palmes Académiques by Declaration of the French Government. He maintains positions on numerous boards, with directorships and trusteeships on select educational and cultural committees, currently including the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), the Centre d'Echanges Internationaux, Paris, and the Rassias Foundation at Dartmouth College.[3]

Pre-Trinity positions

Before his presidency at Trinity, Jones served as president of Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1996 to 2004. From 1991 to 1996, he was Professor and Vice Provost at Southern Methodist University, as well as dean of its Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. From 1975 to 1991, Jones held various academic positions at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, including professor and chair in the department of Romance languages. Earlier, he served as preceptor in the Department of French and Romance Philology at Columbia University, and was chair of the Department of Foreign Languages at Woodward Academy in Atlanta.

Career At Trinity College

Jones assumed the role of Trinity’s 21st president on July 1, 2004 after leading Kalamazoo College in Michigan as its president for seven years. Jones announced in May 2013 that he would be retiring early on June 30, 2014.[4]

Upon taking office, Jones launched a comprehensive, college-wide planning effort that focused on Trinity College’s academic mission and reaffirmed Trinity’s commitment to urban and global engagements. The Cornerstone project established an ongoing process for annual planning in a range of areas and was designed to encourage all members of the campus community to consider new avenues for strategic planning.[5]

During the past 10 years, Jones has overseen many new programs and infrastructure improvements to the college, including the largest capital campaigns in the college’s history; renovations to the historic Long Walk buildings; the redesign of what is now known as the Gates Quad; the redesign of the Vernon Social student center; and the building of the new Crescent Street town houses.

Jones's most prominent fundraising effort, failed to reach its target despite having raised 281 million in gifts and pledges—more than twice the total of any previous capital campaign at the college.[6] A parallel Legacy Campaign raised nearly 88 million towards a 75 million dollar goal.[6] However these successes were overshadowed by Jones's attempt to effectively shut down Trinity College's 160-year old Greek system[7] by, among other things, requiring all sororities and fraternities to become 50/50 male/female by 2016 or risk having their properties confiscated by the school and their members expelled.[8]

His presidency also saw the creation of the Center for Urban and Global Studies, the launch of a new urban studies major, the creation of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and a partnership with the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy. In 2011, Jones published a white paper entitled, "To Reweave the Helices: Trinity’s DNA by Our Two-Hundredth Birthday," in which he offered numerous suggestions for transforming the College by its bicentennial in 2023, strengthening its academic rigor and intellectual life, and expanding its social climate.[9]

Jones's position at Trinity College ultimately became untenable (see criticisms below) and he was asked to retire early in 2013.[10]

Writings

Jones' publications include Rousseau's Dialogues: An Interpretive Essay, The Story of a Fair Greek of Yesteryear (a translation into English of L'Histoire d'une Grecque Moderne by Antoine-François Prévost), and La Nouvelle Héloïse: Rousseau and Utopia. He has also written dozens of scholarly articles, most of them on the topic of Jean Jacques Rousseau.[5]

Criticism

Closure of Sweet Briar College

On March 3, 2015, Jones, the interim president of Sweet Briar College announced that the 114-year-old women's college would be closing for good in August 2015. After researching the issue, Jones stated that the school had come to two realities that no plan could change. “The declining number of students choosing to attend small, rural, private liberal arts colleges and even fewer young women willing to consider a single-sex education, and the increase in the tuition discount rate that we have to extend to enroll each new class is financially unsustainable,” Jones said.[11]

The sudden closure was greeted with shock by students and alumnae[12] and skepticism from local newspapers, such as The Roanoke Times which claimed that "something just doesn't add up here."[13] The paper pointed out that the school's seemingly solid financials, with a $94 million endowment as of 2013, were in contrast to Jones's public statement that: "To save Sweet Briar we would need $250 million into the permanent endowment tomorrow morning."[14] The paper pointed out that this was the same level as the University of Maryland's endowment, a school which has over 37,000 students,[15] versus Sweet Briar's student population of 739.[16]

On March 30, 2015, the State of Virginia filed a lawsuit against Jones,[17] alleging "The College is taking action to divert funds donated for the operation of the College to other purposes, specifically, closing the College." Sweet Briar's leadership has also allegedly "taken action that appears designed to ensure, at a very early point in the closure process, that operation as a College could not be continued." Those actions allegedly included destroying student records and other financial documents.[18]

On the same day, Sweet Briar's faculty issued a vote of no confidence in Jones and the board of trustees [19] and on April 24, 2015, the faculty of Sweet Briar College filed a lawsuit seeking more than $40 million in damages. The faculties case argued that the college was not in dire financial distress, noting that during the past five years, net assets rose from $126 million to $135 million, the endowment grew from $85 million to $95 million, and debt dropped from $42 million to $25 million.[20]

Misuse of the Shelby Cullom Davis Endowment at Trinity College

In 2009, Jones faced criticism for allegedly raiding Trinity's Shelby Cullom Davis endowment and using the funds in contravention of the wishes of the original donor.[21] Professor Gerald Gunderson, the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of American Business and Economic Enterprise at Trinity College filed a complaint with the Connecticut Attorney General's office and a review revealed that Jones had for some years been drawing on the Davis endowment without approval. Jones only agreed to adhere to wishes of the original donor in late 2013, when Prof. Gunderson commenced litigation. Details of the situation can be reviewed under "Cautionary Tales #8" in The Intelligent Donor's Guide to College Giving[22] published by the American Council of Alumni and Trustees and in Games Universities Play: And How Donors Can Avoid Them, published by The John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.[23] Commenting on the case, the donor's daughter, Diana Cullom Davis Spencer, noted: "If colleges like Trinity undermine donors’ confidence that they will respect their wishes, they place at risk the generous support they receive from our foundation and so many others—and the benefits that inure to millions of students from this largesse."[22]

Fall in Trinity College's Rankings

In 2003, prior to Jones's arrival at Trinity College, it was among the top 25 Best Liberal Arts Colleges, and 9th among the nation’s most selective Liberal Arts Colleges according to US News and World Report.[24] After Jones was appointed as Trinity's 21st president on July 21, 2004, Trinity College:

As Trinity's rankings began to plummet, Jones persuaded the Trinity community to join the Annapolis Group, a group which includes colleges such as Kalamazoo College, which refuses to participate or provide information to U.S. News & World Report or other college ranking organizations.[28]

Social Policy at Trinity College

Jones proposed a social policy for Trinity College which made a commitment, among other things, to require all sororities and fraternities to achieve gender parity within 2 years (ie for each sorority and fraternity to have an equal number of male and female members) or face closure. In a subsequent vote by Trinity's student government association, 82% of students voted against Jones's social policy.[29] Jones's policies were also deeply unpopular with alumni, as evidenced by a 40% fall in the numbers of donations to Trinity College from 2011[30] to 2013,[31] with not one single class of alumni meeting its goal for annual participation, an accomplishment which had been commonplace in every year prior to 2013.[32] In his defense, President Jones pointed out in his final interview with Trinity's school newspaper, that at colleges that close fraternities, “non-Greek males and females make up the amount of donations lost to Greek males” within three to four years and that “year to date the College is doing very well.”[33] However, at the July end of Fiscal year 2014, when Jones was finally replaced, the number of donors continued to fall further from 2013 levels,[31] with a fall of almost 25% in donations from parents and a further decline in the percentage of alumni giving to only 6,942 gifts, versus a high of nearly 13,000 annual donors just three years earlier.

References

  1. ↑ "James F. Jones Jr. named interim president". Sweet Briar College News.
  2. ↑ Baumgartner, Scott (2004-08-03). "An Interview with James Jones, Jr.". Trinity Tripod. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  3. ↑ "Trinity College". Trincoll.edu. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
  4. ↑ "Trinity College Announces Leadership Changes". trincoll.edu.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Joanne Berger-Sweeney". trincoll.edu.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Cornerstone Campaign". trincoll.edu. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011.
  7. ↑ trincoll.edu
  8. ↑ "Trinity College President James Jones has announced that he will step down a year early, on June 30, 2014.". Hartford Courant.
  9. ↑ "Liberal Arts Graduates Say They’re Better Prepared for Life’s Challenges". trincoll.edu.
  10. ↑ http://articles.courant.com/2013-05-06/news/hc-jimmy-jones-trinity-0507-20130506_1_jones-jr-fraternity-life-raether
  11. ↑ collegianur.com
  12. ↑ cavalierdaily.com
  13. ↑ roanoke.com
  14. ↑ washington post.com, 2015/03/04.
  15. ↑ Forbes.com
  16. ↑ Forbes.com
  17. ↑ http://files.ctctcdn.com/898ef372401/51844371-4681-49d8-a59d-c50b9ef50f4b.pdf
  18. ↑ http://www.businessinsider.com/sweet-briar-college-virginia-lawsuit-2015-3
  19. ↑ http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/faculty-of-sweet-briar-college-votes-no-confidence-in-board/article_8809eddc-d74a-11e4-844a-a39cfb5fbb71.html
  20. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/04/24/now-faculty-are-suing-sweet-briar-too/?hpid=z3
  21. ↑ Hechinger, John (23 April 2009). "New Unrest on Campus as Donors Rebel". Wall Street Journal.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 goacta.Org
  23. ↑ popecenter.org
  24. ↑ usnews.rankings and reviews.com
  25. ↑ usnews.rankings and reviews.com
  26. ↑ forbes.com
  27. ↑ washingtonmonthly.com
  28. ↑ education conservancy.org
  29. ↑ trincoll.edu, 2014/04/15.
  30. ↑ trincoll.Org
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Fiscal 2013, trincoll.org.
  32. ↑ trincoll.org
  33. ↑ trincoll.edu, 2014/04/29.

External links

Further reading