FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Supreme Court of Virginia Agrees to Hear Appeals in Charitable Trust and Student Contract Cases

Successful Appeal Could Require Randolph College to Honor Donor Intent and Prove it Cannot Remain a Woman's College Before it May Use Any Charitable Assets for Coeducation

Richmond, VA - The Supreme Court of Virginia has announced that it will hear the appeals of students, alumnae and donors of Randolph-Macon Woman's College (R-MWC) in two cases a lower court dismissed in January 2007. One of the cases, filed in November 2006, involves the doctrine of "donor intent." The other lawsuit, filed a month earlier, claims breach of contract. Both are being watched closely by the higher education and philanthropic communities.

"We are gratified that the Supreme Court of Virginia has decided to hear these appeals. These cases are not just important for members of the Randolph-Macon Woman's College community - they are important to all residents of the Commonwealth and all Americans who donate money to charities," said Anne Yastremski, Executive Director of Preserve Educational Choice, the alumnae group supporting the lawsuits.

"The charitable trust lawsuit isn't really about coeducation, it's about donor intent," she stressed. "If donors can't be assured their money is used for the purpose for which it was given, they'll stop giving. That will have a profoundly negative impact on charities in Virginia and throughout the country, and those who rely on their good works."

BACKGROUND

In September 2006, R-MWC Trustees decided to change the college's mission by making the college co-educational and using R-MWC's more than $250 million in accumulated assets for the new institution, now known as "Randolph College." In October 2006, a group of students brought suit against the college for breach of contract saying that they had been promised four years of single-sex education.

In November 2006, a group of students and donors filed a second lawsuit against the college on charitable trust grounds, arguing that the college should have to go to a court for a cy pres action proving that it could not continue as a woman's college before it could use the assets accumulated under the original charitable purpose - to "educate women in the liberal arts" - for the benefit of a coed college.

Before either case could go to trial, the college filed to have the suits dismissed. In January 2007, Judge Leyburn Mosby, Jr. of the Lynchburg Circuit Court in Lynchburg, Va., dismissed both cases.

In its decision, released yesterday, the state Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals in both cases, consolidating the two for purposes of oral arguments.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the students and donors, the cases will return to the trial court in Lynchburg, where ultimately the college could be asked to prove to the Court that it is impossible or impractical for the college to continue operating as a woman's college. Only then could the college's charitable assets be used for other purposes.

A few weeks before the former Randolph-Macon Woman's College announced its decision to go coed and change its name, the college completed a $100 million capital campaign for the woman's college. It also has an exceptional art collection donated by alumnae and others valued at more than $100 million and an endowment that at $142 million (in 2006) was the fifth largest of any private college in Virginia.

Since announcing that it would go coeducational, Randolph College has been beset by problems.

• The school was placed on warning by its accrediting agency – the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) – in December 2006.
• Alumnae participation in the college's fundraising programs has declined by 50 percent.
• The college announced a 15 percent staff layoff in May as well as imminent faculty layoffs.
• And at 665 students, the college's enrollment has fallen to an historic low – 100 fewer students than five years ago – with the number of students transferring out of the college rising and the incoming 2007 freshman class, the college's first coed class, smaller than previous classes.

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.