For Shelby Gerald and her horse, Beau, Judson College seemed like a dream come true, a walk in the clover.
“I boarded my personal horse on campus,” said Gerald, 18, who just finished her freshman year at Judson, the small Baptist-affiliated women’s college in Marion that has long been a time capsule to Alabama’s past. “I was down at the barn all the time.”
Gerald had a double-major in equine science and biology, with an eye towards veterinary school.
She could ride Beau in school equestrian competitions with the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association.
The two of them arrived on campus in fall 2020 and were there through this spring.
“I fell in love within the first quarter,” she said. “It was just so unique of a place.”
But she became uneasy in December, when Judson sent out a dramatic appeal for donations to keep the school open. It was announced earlier this year enough funding had been raised to keep the school open for the spring semester. Then, this month, she found out from a news story that her college was closing for good at the end of the summer term on July 31.
“We were given assurance the school was going to stay open,” Gerald said. “It was kind of a shock but deep down I was expecting it. I was angry because we found out on Facebook. That’s not how we were supposed to find out.”
After finishing her freshman year, Gerald is now looking for a landing place.
“I wish they made a decision in December,” she said. “Now, we missed deadlines for scholarships. They were all being hopeful. I don’t think anyone wanted this. Everybody was trying to do their best for Judson.”
Efforts to reach Judson College President Mark Tew for comment have been unsuccessful.
“We know this was the right decision, but there is not a person here whose heart isn’t broken over this,” Tew told the board of trustees, according to a press release from Judson College. “I share the heartbreak of this decision that is felt by generations of Judson students, faculty, and friends.”
The Rev. Roger Willmore, a former Alabama Baptist Convention president who is on the Judson board of trustees, said none of the trustees wanted to close the school. “The administration, the president and the board of trustees made every effort to bring viability back,” he said. “Circumstances backed us into a corner. Finances in general were an issue. I feel we tried every possible way to keep this from happening. It was a heart-wrenching decision for everyone. The members of the board of trustees agonized over this. No one wanted to see this happen. There’s a spirit of grieving taking place. Alabama Baptists invested in Judson.”
In its announcement that the school would close, the college said it made aggressive efforts in March to pursue promising leads with new potential donors, but those funds never materialized. Enrollment dwindled from 145 to about 80, with 41 students graduating April 30. Only 12 new students had signed up for the fall. The declining enrollment was compounded when a creditor called the note on a loan before the May 6 board meeting. The board said it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it shut down the school.
“I am so brokenhearted,” said the Rev. John Killian, a former Alabama Baptist Convention president who will continue to teach online Christian history and theology courses for Judson through July. “The faculty are hurting.”
Despite the lingering uncertainty of the past year, the abrupt closing announcement still came as a shock.
“There has been no transparency, no discussion with the students, until the decision is already made,” said Janet Justice, mother of student Casey Justice, who also boarded a horse at Judson. “She’s a senior. She would have been able to graduate in December.”
Tew never answered her emails, she said. Students say they were never given much information by the president.
“Whenever we were allowed to ask questions, he wasn’t answering any,” Gerald said. “That didn’t seem right. He was just saying things. None of us were being optimistic.”
On Friday afternoon, numerous alumna gathered on campus. They assembled Saturday, May 22, under the grand water oaks and magnolia trees on the front lawn for a serenade, followed by a Step Sing, with former students singing class songs on the steps of Jewett Hall.
“I just cannot believe it came to this,” said Kim Holder Boucher, who attended Judson from 1990-94.
Now, there are many questions. What happens to the 17 horses that were part of the Judson equine program? What happens to the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame, housed at Judson, which features plaques of famous women such as author Harper Lee? Where do the students go from here?
“All the students are scrambling to find another college,” Justice said.
“Forever after, school records and transcripts will have to be available,” said former Judson communications professor Michael Brooks. “How do you close a school with heating, air conditioning, roofing, security. Is it just left to crumble?”
Never a woman president
Judson College, founded in 1838, was the fifth-oldest women’s college in the United States. Sixty years ago, there were about 250 U.S. women’s colleges. With the closing of Judson this year and the planned closing of Mills College in Oakland in 2023, 35 will remain, said Emerald Archer, executive director of the Women’s College Coalition.
“We’re witnessing the disappearance of these institutions,” Archer said. “We want to make sure women’s institutions continue to thrive.”
In its 183-year history, Judson College never had a woman president. Archer said she didn’t know of any other women’s college in the country that’s never had a woman president. “Most of our members certainly have a woman at the helm currently or had a woman president in the past,” she said. “Judson was an aberration.”
That may be partly because Southern Baptists in Alabama, who founded and funded Judson, remain uneasy about women leaders speaking in their churches. Baptist college presidents tend to be ordained ministers who often visit churches and speak from the pulpit to rally support and raise funds.
“Alums thought it was time for a female president,” Brooks said.
That was raised as an issue when Tew was hired in 2019.
“I think Mark tried as best he could,” Brooks said. “There were factors beyond his control.”
Bring your horse to college
For years, Judson advertised “Bring your horse to college,” and marketed its equine program.
Students who brought horses to campus had to relocate them this month after the closure announcement. Some horses on loan have been returned to owners. Only three horses remain at the equine center.
“We’re very committed to the horses going to forever homes,” said Pam Bollew, assistant professor of equine science, who has taken a job as a seventh-and-eighth-grade math and science teacher for the fall at Breakthrough Charter School in Marion. “Those horses are family to us. They’ve taken shy young women and taught them confidence.”
Judson’s equine students, who called Bollew “Mama B,” have been her family too. “All the students have my cell phone number,” she said. “I’ve changed tires for students and taken them to the emergency room.”
Bollew and fellow longtime equine faculty members Janice Williams and Jennifer Hoggle will take a last ride around Judson Arena on Monday, she said. “We’ll just ride around the ring and put on some praise music on the loudspeaker,” she said. “We’ll ride together one last time.”
For now, Gerald’s horse, Beau, has moved to greener pastures, grazing on a farm owned by Williams. “He’s enjoying his summer in Janice’s pastures,” said Gerald, who graduated from high school last year at Coosa Valley Academy in Harpersville.
Her horse is fine, but Gerald doesn’t know where she’ll go next. She was ready for a fall semester at Judson that won’t happen.
“I had just received my financial statement that my loan went through,” Gerald said. “I had my room deposit down, my schedule. I already made roommate arrangements for the fall. There’s still a lot of things I don’t know. I’m just a freshman.”
She’s had to change her college plans, her career plans and her life trajectory.
“Being able to go to a small school with great scholarships was great for me,” Gerald said. “I don’t know right now. Maybe Mississippi State. I toured the campus. It’s not Judson. Nothing will ever be like Judson.”
