Northeastern announces merger with Marymount Manhattan College in New York

Northeastern announced Wednesday morning the acquisition of Marymount Manhattan College, a small private liberal arts college in New York that has struggled with declining enrollment in recent years. The merger will mark Northeastern’s 14th campus and comes less than 3 years after the announcement of Northeastern’s merger with Mills College in Oakland in 2021.

Marymount Manhattan College, or MMC, was founded in 1936 and is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and offers a well-known performing arts program. After the merger, the school will be known as “Northeastern University – New York City,” Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun wrote in a statement. statement to the university community.

“As always, our guiding principles for building the global university system remain: increased mobility for undergraduates; industry-aligned lifelong learning opportunities; and unprecedented opportunities for faculty to globalize their teaching and research,” Aoun wrote in the statement posted on Northeastern’s website and emailed to students on all of the university’s campuses. “And because no other university has built a global system like Northeastern’s, we differentiate ourselves at a time of great uncertainty in higher education.”

The boards of trustees of both institutions approved the merger, but it is still subject to final approval from state and federal regulators and will be completed in stages. Once completed, Northeastern will assume the assets and liabilities of MMC, according to a FAQ page about the deal.

The university did not directly respond to questions from The News about how long the merger will take or how long the two schools have been in communication about an acquisition. A university spokesperson referred The News to Aoun’s statement and the FAQ page.

On the FAQ page, Northeastern said the growth of its global network has benefited the university in a variety of ways, including “financial health, demand for our educational offerings, faculty recruitment, philanthropic opportunities and visibility of the brand “.

“Adding a campus in New York will further amplify all of these benefits, while providing powerful differentiation at a time when higher education is experiencing profound change,” the FAQ reads.

Marymount Manhattan College, which opened its doors for the first time over two years women’s college, offers 34 different specializations across all disciplines and currently hosts 1,400 undergraduate students. More than 80% of students enrolled in fall 2023 identified as women, according to to college.

Once the merger is complete, current and admitted MMC students will continue their studies at Northeastern without tuition increases or fee increases outside of normal annual increases, according to Aoun’s statement. Marymount Manhattan students will also have access to Northeastern’s experiential learning programs, which include cooperative learning, service-learning and global experience opportunities, according to MMC. website.

“Students enrolled and admitted at the time of the merger will continue to progress academically in their chosen field(s) of study,” reads Northeastern’s FAQ. “In the event that program offerings are changed, students will receive individualized guidance and support to ensure a path to degree completion. »

Marymount Manhattan currently offers several shows focused on the performing arts majors that Northeastern does not have – these include dance, stage and production management, musical theater, and theater design and technology. In 2022, nearly 60% of MMC students were enrolled in a performing arts program, according to United States data.

Full-time MMC faculty at the time of the merger will receive one-year contracts in the Northeast and will be considered for permanent, tenure-track and non-tenure track positions. All MMC employees will become Northeastern employees on the effective date of the merger, according to the FAQ page.

In his statement, Aoun wrote that “New York is home to a rapidly growing technology sector” and that students are “increasingly seeking opportunities to reskill and upskill to meet the job opportunities of tomorrow.”

Northeastern did not directly respond to questions from The News about whether the New York campus would shift its focus from liberal arts to technology and related fields, but the FAQ states that “(on-campus) enrollment could span a range of academic disciplines, including those that align with the unprecedented economic ecosystem that is New York City.

Marymount Manhattan College has been struggling with declining undergraduate enrollment and retention rates in recent years. Data of the college shows that undergraduate enrollment fell by 2.6% between fall 2022 and fall 2023, and total continuing enrollment fell by more than 20%.

Financial pressures have also taken a toll on the school. According to tax returnsthe school’s assets declined while total operating costs continued to climb.

The college’s financial and enrollment challenges prompted the MMC Board of Trustees to seek a plan to preserve the school’s mission. The merger is the result of a unanimous vote of MMC management 27 members of the Board of Trustees, Northeastern’s FAQ reads.

“The MMC Board of Directors has proactively sought a plan to ensure the continuity of MMC’s core elements for generations to come,” MMC said. wrote on its own Merger FAQ page. “Through this agreement, MMC aims to benefit from additional resources and complementary strengths of Northeastern. »

Northeastern said it would take steps to preserve historic elements of MMC, which has been around for nearly 90 years. The names of some buildings, including the Judith Mara Carson Visual Arts Center and the Theresa Lang Theater, will be retained, according to Northeastern’s FAQ.

Marymount Manhattan CollegeThe campus, located on East 71st Street, includes 55 teaching spaces and two residence halls with more than 750 beds, according to Northeast Global Newsthe media managed by the university.

“As part of the merger, Northeastern will establish a center that reflects the strengths and traditions of MMC. Northeastern will also retain MMC’s Bedford Hill and Taconic College prison educational programs,” the FAQ states.

Northeastern’s emphasis on experiential learning and MMC’s mission to provide student-centered education give the schools a “shared vision,” according to the MMC website.

Northeastern’s emphasis on experiential learning and MMC’s student-centered educational approach closely align, with both missions “oriented toward preparing students to lead lives of fulfillment and accomplishment ”, according to the MMC website.

“MMC and Northeastern are natural partners,” MMC Interim President Peter Naccarato said in a statement. statement. “Institutions reflect each other in many ways, including how we foster meaningful engagements with our communities and create opportunities for our students to take advantage of the resources of world-class cities to find an edge in their careers and lives.

The merger with MMC is just one chapter in Northeastern’s expansion story: the university acquired the New College of the Humanities in London in 2019 and carried out a merger with Mills College in Oakland in 2022.

The school’s acquisition of Mills College, a historically all-women’s liberal arts college with a rich history and historic social justice programs, faced backlash Mills students and alumni. Criticism focused on what some saw as a failure in preserving Mills’ legacy and the end of Mills’ historical specializations like ethnic studies, dance, child development and education and the ‘the history of art.

Over the past 13 years, Northeastern has opened campuses in 11 national and international sites: Arlington, Virginia; Burlington, Mass.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Miami; Oakland, California; Portland, Maine; Silicon Valley, California; Seattle; London; Toronto and Vancouver. The Boston campus was established in 1898, and Northeastern’s Marine Science Center in Nahant, Massachusetts, has operated since 1967.