PEC Update, July 4, 2007

This Independence Day holiday we want to revive in each of you the spirit of perseverance that strengthened the founders of our Nation to continue in the face of unbelievable odds to fight for a cause that they knew to be just. We, too, have a daunting task before us. The Board of Trustees has changed the name of our college and has abandoned the very core of what made her special. They have made these sweeping changes without allowing the alumnae and financial supporters of R-MWC to have a meaningful voice.

We know the justness of our cause and that knowledge should fuel our determination to see this battle through to the end. We know that our cause can succeed. Regardless of what the present Board has done to our Alma Mater, she can rise again, stronger than before. As easily as this Board changed her name, we can change it back. The boys who have signed up for this year's class may come, but that does not mean that there has to be another coed class. Although the College has been mismanaged for years, that, too, can be fixed without resorting to coeducation and the wholesale abandonment of the College's mission. Randolph-Macon Woman's College can continue to educate young women in the very best environment for raising strong leaders and thinkers for the 21st century.

You have confirmed our mission by responding overwhelmingly in the affirmative to the matching gift campaign. The campaign was so successful that we have received $30,000 more than we needed to claim the whole $100,000 matching gift! As of July 2 we have received more than $130,000 toward the $100,000 matching gift challenge, and gifts continue to come in that were mailed before the deadline. We are truly grateful for all of the support that you have shown for our collective efforts to preserve Randolph-Macon Woman's College! This is only the beginning of the fight, so let us resolve today to do what it takes to be remembered by history as a group of women who stood strong in the face of great adversity and saved a valuable treasure for the women of tomorrow.

Supreme Court Will Consider Petition for Appeal in Contract Case Hearing on July 9

The initial hearing in the student contract case will be held Monday in Richmond. DurretteBradshaw will have ten minutes to present the reasons why the Court should hear the appeal and answer any questions the three-judge panel may have. The Court usually informs litigants within three weeks or so whether the Court will hear the appeal on its merits. We will keep you apprised of the status of the contract case as it unfolds.

The Petition for Appeal for the charitable trust case was filed June 13 (you can read it in the "Legal Pleadings" section of the PEC website). The initial hearing for this case will not be held until September.

PEC Elects Its First Executive Director

All organizations mature, and what started as a few alumnae in August 2006 has grown to a group of more than 1,000 alumnae and friends of the college united in a battle to preserve Randolph-Macon Woman's College. PEC is in this fight for the long haul and to ensure that we build the infrastructure and operations necessary to achieve our mission we have taken the first step in formalizing the leadership of our organization.

Last week the PEC Board met and elected Anne Yastremski as the first Executive Director of PEC. As Executive Director (an unpaid position), Anne is now responsible for the day-to-day operations of PEC, community engagement and development, media relations, and other activities. She was filling many of these roles through her membership on the PEC Board so in many ways the move to Executive Director is an affirmation of the work she has already been doing.

Anne attended R-MWC from 1988-1990 as a traditional-aged student and from 2004-2005 as a Prime Time student, graduating as a member of the class of 2005. In her first Macon foray she was a Schaeffer scholarship recipient, lived in Main and West, and was an Economics major under Dr. Carl Stern, tutoring for the Economics Department and the Learning Resources Center. Her second year and a half at Macon found her living in the Quinlan House on campus as an adult student, tutoring for the Learning Resources Center once again (this time for the Political Science Department), and serving as a Student Government senator for Prime Time students. She graduated in 2005 in Political Science (Honors).

During her fourteen years away from R-MWC Anne was busy building her skills in product development, electronic commerce, marketing and business development. For a brief time early in her career she worked in Virginia Tech's Development Office for the Annual Fund and in development and public relations for an environmental non-profit. She spent most of the 1990s working as a director of a marketing consulting firm, where she created technology and marketing products to drive customer retention, maximize cross-selling opportunities and increase market share for clients like MCI, Time-Life, Hewlett-Packard, Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae, Random House, and GE Mortgage. She eventually left the marketing firm in 1999 to become Vice President of Marketing for a financial services software company where she was responsible for product management, marketing and third party alliances. She and her husband Kevin Williams currently own a small software consultancy firm and live in Charles Town, West Virginia. In 2005-2006 she took a leave of absence from her job to live in the Czech Republic and teach at the University of Economics in Prague.

A founding member of PEC, Anne has headed up PEC's research effort and was the principal author and organizer of PEC's "20 Reasons" document. She can be reached at anne@preserveeducationalchoice.org.

Dr. Charlotte Stern Speaks in her Open Letter to the R-MWC Community

Dr. Charlotte Stern, a former R-MWC professor, has written a 24-page letter to the R-MWC community entitled "How the Board of Trustees Hijacked Randolph-Macon Woman's College Right Before Our Eyes." Signed by several former R-MWC faculty and trustees as well as alumnae leaders, this letter explains what has happened at the college from a former faculty member's perspective and provides concrete suggestions as to what each of us can do today to preserve R-MWC. You may have already received a copy of Dr. Stern's letter – if not, it can be found linked from the PEC homepage www.PreserveEducationalChoice.org.

Name Change at the College

Regardless of what the administration says, they seem to have abandoned the mission to attract and educate women. The media attention surrounding the name change has centered around the "men" who will be coming. Have you seen one article or interview that asked about the women who will make up next year's first-year class? In fact, the Class of 2011 will have only about half the number of women as previous years.

Here are a few highlights of recent media coverage of the name change:

Brenda Edson had an interview on July 2 with a morning talk show host on WRVA in Richmond (he played "It's raining men!" as the introductory music and asked about the favorable odds of the new students finding a date on campus). You can listen to the interview on the WRVA website here:

http://www.wrva.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=RMNPodcasts.xml

The News-Advance carried an article about the name change as well. It ended with a quote from a college staff person about the new name:

"It will be less to say, so I think that's going to be a very easy transition," she said. "We'll just drop off the 'Macon' and the 'Woman's.' I'm glad it's not a change that's going to totally throw off people that are used to hearing 'Randolph' associated with this college."

We believe that it isn't "raining men or women" at Randolph College and there has been nothing "very easy" about the transition so far. We hope that each of you will take the opportunity to write letters to the editor and comment online on articles about the college and about PEC in the press. The "Press" section of the PEC website provides links to all articles that we are aware of, so it is a good place for you to start.

PEC In the News

PEC issued a news release on our successful matching gift campaign that has generated stories in the Associated Press, the Lynchburg News-Advance, WDBJ7 and other media outlets. The release is available in full at the end of this update and on our website in the "Press" section.

The fight for R-MWC isn't over – in many ways it is just beginning. Please take the time needed to read the letter from Dr. Charlotte Stern on the PEC homepage and take action in at least one of the ways the letter suggests. It will take perseverance and hard work from each and every one of us to get our college back.

Vita abundantior,

PEC Board

Gail Ballou (R-MWC '64)
Carol Curcio Lang (R-MWC '68)
Diane U. Montgomery (R-MWC '85)
Anne Yastremski (R-MWC '05)
Martha McClerkin Durnett (R-MWC '85)
Chantel Sheaks (R-MWC '91)

$100,000 Matching Gift Challenge Surpassed by Preserve Educational Choice

For more information contact:

Anne Yastremski
anne@preserveeducationalchoice.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2007 - RICHMOND, VA. – Preserve Educational Choice (PEC) today announced that it has successfully completed a $100,000.00 matching gift challenge to preserve Randolph-Macon Woman's College (R-MWC) as a college for women. More than $130,000.00 has been received in response to the matching gift challenge, bringing the total funds raised by the group to more than $475,000.00.

"As of today, we have received $130,500.00 in response to the $100,000.00 matching challenge, and gifts are still coming in that were mailed before the deadline," said PEC fundraising chairwoman Carol Lang (R-MWC Class of 1968). "We've received gifts from alumnae, current students and parents, current and former R-MWC faculty, former R-MWC trustees, and people unconnected to the college who believe in the importance of preserving single-sex education as a choice at the college level."

PEC board member Diane Montgomery (R-MWC Class of 1985) is pleased but not surprised by the success of the program. "The alumnae and friends of Randolph-Macon Woman's College are sending a clear message to the Board of Trustees and the college's administration. We want our college back and we are willing to fight for it. The college wants to convey the impression that the battle is over. It most assuredly is not."

The funds raised as part of the challenge will support the ongoing appeals of two lawsuits against the college brought by current students and donors to R-MWC, which are poised to be considered by the Supreme Court of Virginia, as well as additional outreach programs by the organization. "It's amazing that many alumnae still do not know that there is organized resistance to the change to "Randolph College" and that the legal challenges continue," said PEC board member Anne Yastremski (R-MWC Class of 2005). "More than 60 percent of our funding has come in since the lawsuits were dismissed at the trial court level – resistance to the plans of R-MWC's trustees is building, not fading away. We are very optimistic about our ultimate success."

PEC cites the failure of the college to meet recruiting goals and recent reports of mismanagement at the college as reasons that support for PEC is growing. "This year's incoming class is nowhere near the size the administration said it would be. In fact, it is smaller than classes in previous years," said Yastremski. "Alumnae were told that coeducation would allow the college to educate more women, not less. Next year's class will have barely half of the women that made up previous classes. You don't hear the college's administration talking about that. I think many alumnae were waiting to see what would happen this first year and we are not happy."

Recent dissemination on the internet of a May 2007 financial review from a consultant engaged by the college has also drawn more supporters to PEC. "The consultant describes overstaffing of thirty percent, tuition discounting rates fifty percent greater than other single-sex colleges, and other management issues at the college," said Yastremski. "I think many alumnae feel like this report confirms what we said in August 2006 – single-sex education is not the problem at R-MWC – the management is. Now that the college's own consultant has told them the same thing we said almost a year ago, it's time for the trustees to reexamine the change to coeducation. Alumnae are willing and able to support Randolph-Macon Woman's College – we are only looking for the opportunity to do so."

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Preserve Educational Choice, Inc. is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization founded in September 2006 to oppose the R-MWC Board of Trustees' move to make the college coeducational and adopt "global honors" as a curricular focus. Supporters include more than 1,000 R-MWC alumnae, students, parents, faculty, staff, and former trustees united by a concern for the college's future. For more information about PEC please see www.preserveeducationalchoice.org.

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