Frances Shimer Academy
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Shimer College was founded in 1852, when the pioneer town of Mt. Carroll, Illinois, lacking a public school, incorporated the Mt. Carroll Seminary with no land, no teachers, and no money for this purpose. Founded as non-denominational, it was affiliated with
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
s from 1896 into the 1950s, and subsequently with
The Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine Ecclesiastical provinces and dioces ...
between 1959 and 1973, after which it became non-denominational once again. Shimer has evolved over time from a coeducational seminary to a women's
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
, a women's academy, a women's
junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...
, a women's college, and finally a coeducational Great Books college. Throughout its existence, it has been involved a series of crises and profound changes. Because of this, the college is often symbolized by a phoenix which is reborn from its own ashes.Eric Nicholson (1973).
Phoenix Fly
.
Crises throughout Shimer's history have included three abandonments of the college by its board in 1855, 1973 and 1977; a catastrophic fire in 1906; bankruptcies in 1974 and 1977; and struggles over governance in 1966 and 2010. Faculty and students have historically worked together to keep the college viable. The college has undergone two hotly contested moves, from
Mount Carroll Mount Carroll is a city in Carroll County, Illinois, United States. It is the Carroll County seat. The population was 1479 at the 2020 census. Due to its elevation and northwesterly location, Mount Carroll is subject to unusually cold winter wea ...
, Illinois to Waukegan, Illinois in 1978 and from Waukegan to
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
in 2006. In 2017, Shimer College became the Shimer School of Great Books at North Central College. Characteristics that have been noted to recur throughout Shimer's history, include a unique degree of student involvement in administering the school's affairs. The school maintains a tradition of welcoming any pupils as they are ready and able to learn, admitting students many schools would consider too young. The school has maintained notably high standards of academic performance and required workload. In the 19th century, it sent students to the East Coast ready to skip the first years of college. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Shimer students had among the highest
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scores and rates of graduate study in the country.


Mount Carroll Seminary

Shimer College was founded in
Mount Carroll Mount Carroll is a city in Carroll County, Illinois, United States. It is the Carroll County seat. The population was 1479 at the 2020 census. Due to its elevation and northwesterly location, Mount Carroll is subject to unusually cold winter wea ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, USA as the Mount Carroll
Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
, a non-denominational coeducational seminary. The charter for the seminary was granted by the
Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...
on June 18, 1852, after lobbying by the citizens of Mount Carroll. The town sought and secured two recent graduates of the
New York State Normal School The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...
.
Frances Wood Frances Wood (; born 1948) is an English librarian, sinologue and historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China. Biography Wood was born in London i ...
(later Frances Shimer) and her friend
Cindarella Gregory ''Cindarella'' is genus of trilobite-like Cambrian arthropod known from the Chengjiang biota of China. It is classified in the stem group of trilobites (Artiopoda) in the clade Xandarellida, along with ''Phytophilaspis'', ''Sinoburius'', and ...
, arrived from Ballston Spa, New York and classes began on May 11, 1853, with 11 students in a single room in the
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
church in Mount Carroll . Enrollment rose in the course of the year; when the college formally opened in a dedicated building in 1854, there were 75 students. The seminary was to have been funded by subscription. However, only a fraction of the original pledges were honored. In 1855, fearing that the school would fail due to the lack of subscription revenue, the incorporators sold their shares in the college to the teachers, Wood and Gregory. This was arranged under favorable terms, with the land donated and the buildings sold at cost, on the condition that Wood and Gregory continue operating the school for at least 10 years. The transfer took effect on March 30, 1855. On February 25, 1867, the school was re-chartered by the state legislature to reflect the new arrangement. Throughout the 19th century, the campus grew steadily from the original single building. In 1857, construction on an expansion was halted due to the
Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...
. Wood, Gregory and their students worked together to successfully complete the construction in time for classes to start. This cost-saving pattern was followed in a subsequent expansion from 1865 to 1867. The campus was known for being free of disease due to the hygienic design of these buildings. By 1883, the campus covered , much of it planted with trees. The music and arts programs were a significant attraction of the seminary. The seminary had the first piano in Carroll County. The seminary's music program began with only 3 students, but grew rapidly. By the 1880s, there were 5 to 7 music faculty, and the conservatory held nearly 40 instruments. The music program in this period was overseen by Mrs B.F. Dearborn Hazzen, a voice instructor who became associated with the seminary in the late 1860s. The music and arts programs remained strong even after the seminary became the Frances Shimer Academy in 1896. On December 22, 1857, Frances Wood married local naturalist Henry Shimer, thus becoming Frances Shimer. It has frequently been claimed, including by Henry Shimer's family, that the marriage was purely a
marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...
. Henry Shimer subsequently became a physician and also taught science classes at the seminary. He later became wealthy through real estate speculation. The Mount Carroll Seminary functioned similarly to a preparatory school, with a six-year course of study that could lead the pupil to more advanced study. Some graduates were even ready to skip the first years of college. The specialized departments of the school included a normal department which trained schoolteachers, a music department that employed up to seven teachers, and a labor department that gave students the opportunity to work off their tuition obligations. A full scholarship to the normal department was provided for one teacher from each township of Carroll County, and one teacher from each county in the state. The seminary accepted any pupil who was willing to learn, and is said to have welcomed pupils as young as three. Facing space constraints in 1866 following the US Civil War, the formerly coeducational seminary limited residential study to women, although some men were still allowed as day students. From 1853 to 1896, Frances Shimer was the chief executive of the school. Initially this was a partnership between her and Cindarella Gregory, who served as the chief academic officer while Frances oversaw the finances of the school. In 1870, the partnership ended, when Gregory left the school to marry. The Mount Carroll Seminary remained the sole property of Frances Wood Shimer until her retirement in 1896. For most of her administration, the seminary made no effort to either recruit students or solicit donations, focusing all energy on creating a school that would merit confidence. In the 1880s, Frances Shimer became concerned about the future viability of the school, and made repeated efforts to secure an endowment. In 1886 she offered to provide the seminary to the
Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
on the condition that an endowment be raised. In 1888 she offered to transfer the seminary to a
board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
on the condition that they provide $100,000 to start an endowment. However, the proposed trustees were unable to raise this sum. In a will authored shortly before his suicide in July 1895, Henry Shimer left his entire fortune to her to use for educational purposes. However, the will was successfully contested by the Shimer family, and the resulting reduced endowment was never sufficient to provide meaningful financial support.


Relationship with the University of Chicago: Frances Shimer Academy and Junior College

On July 1, 1896, Frances Shimer transferred control of the seminary to a 15-member
board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
, under an affiliation with the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. The school at the time had an estimated value of $250,000. The affiliation related primarily to educational standards, and did not include any financial support. Shimer then became known as the Frances Shimer Academy of the University of Chicago. Shimer also adopted the University of Chicago's affiliation with the Baptist denomination, and required that at least two-thirds of the Board be members of a Baptist church. The membership of the Board was divided equally among representatives of the University of Chicago, graduates of the Mount Carroll Seminary, and citizens of Mount Carroll. Having completed the affiliation arrangements, Frances Shimer, in ill health, then retired to
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
where she took up orange growing. In 1897, her place as the executive of the college was taken by Dean
William Parker McKee William Parker McKee (1862–1933) was an American educator and Baptist minister. He served as the chief executive of Shimer College from 1897 to 1930, a position known at the time as "Dean". During this period the school was known by turns as th ...
, who served until 1930. Like most Shimer executives throughout the school's history, McKee was also an instructor, teaching history. Frances Shimer died on November 10, 1901, and her body was returned to Mount Carroll for burial. Under the terms of the affiliation, academics were kept to University of Chicago standards, so that students left the academy and junior college prepared to continue their studies at any university in the country. Examinations were held at the University of Chicago campus in
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
. However, the academic relationship faded over subsequent decades, until it was restored in 1950. The academy was accredited by the North Central Association in 1909, and the junior college was accredited in 1920. Throughout this period, the College was governed by a chief executive overseen by the Board of Trustees; McKee, the first chief executive, was known as "Dean", but the subsequent executives were known as "President". McKee was followed as Dean by
Floyd Cleveland Wilcox Floyd Cleveland Wilcox (March 17, 1886 – April 20, 1958) was the third president of Shimer College, serving from 1930 to 1935. His leadership, though marked by controversy, saw the school through the most difficult years of the Great Depression ...
, who served from 1930 to 1935, and Raymond B. Culver, who served from 1936 to 1938.
Albin C. Bro Albin Carl Bro (1893–1956) was a Christian missionary and educator, United States diplomat, and the fifth president of Shimer College. Early life and education Bro was born in Prentice, Wisconsin, on September 4, 1893. In 1917, he graduated ...
held the presidency from 1939 to 1949. In 1942, the college dropped the "junior" from its name and became "Frances Shimer College." In the late 1890s and early 20th century, enrollment rose steadily. To accommodate this, the board ordered new construction on the campus, of the South Hall (1899), Dearborn Hall (1903) for music, and Hathaway Hall (1904). On February 9, 1906, a fire destroyed much of the campus, including South Hall and all of the buildings that had been part of the Mount Carroll Seminary. An emergency fundraising drive was launched which secured $50,000 to rebuild the campus. The campus was rebuilt with more modern and fireproof brick buildings, West Hall (1906) and Metcalf Hall (1908). In 1909, a College Hall was erected on the campus, and a
junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...
program was formally begun. In that year the enrollment was the highest on record. The school had already been providing college-type instruction since 1907. The first junior college class graduated in 1910. The name of the college was changed from "Frances Shimer Academy" to "Frances Shimer School" in 1910. At this time, the school offered two separate courses of study: a 4-year academy course equivalent to
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
, and the 2-year junior college course. As the academy was phased out, the name of the school was changed again to "Frances Shimer Junior College" in 1932. In the 1940s, the college faced difficulties with both enrollment and finances. By 1949, enrollment had fallen to 65 students and the college was $80,000 in debt. Donations from graduates were slight, as students of the junior college would typically go on to another college, marry a graduate of another college, or both.


Shimer College in Mount Carroll

Shimer underwent a major reorganization in 1950 when
Aaron Brumbaugh Aaron John Brumbaugh (February 14, 1890 – February 25, 1983) was a higher education administrator and professor of education, and the sixth president of Shimer College. Brumbaugh was born in Hartville, Ohio in early 1893. He subsequently became ...
assumed the presidency. He had previously been Dean of the College at the University of Chicago. In the reorganization, Shimer took on its current name, "Shimer College", for the first time. Shimer again became coeducational, and adopted the Chicago "Hutchins Plan", thus becoming a Great Books school. In the course of this transition, the requirement for a majority of Baptists on the Board was removed, although a nominal Baptist affiliation was retained for some years. Shimer remained officially classified as a junior college until it was accredited as a four-year college by the North Central Association in 1959. At the same time as the reorganization, Shimer was selected together with 11 other colleges nationwide to receive a Ford Foundation grant to support an early entrance program under which high school students could enter college before graduating. The program was a success, and although the grant expired in 1955, the program was kept in place. Shimer's early entrance program continues in operation as of 2010. In contrast, most other schools receiving the grant soon canceled their early entrance programs. The presidency was assumed in 1954 by a former University of Chicago professor of medicine
Francis Joseph Mullin Francis Joseph Mullin (December 16, 1906 – February 13, 1997), also often known as F.J. Mullin or Joe Mullin, was an American academic and the seventh president of Shimer College. He was raised Catholic Church, Catholic, but became an Episcop ...
, who began an aggressive fundraising campaign that approximately tripled incoming donations to $150,000 per year. In 1956, Shimer ceased to be affiliated with the University of Chicago. Mullin sought to build "a community of scholars where intellectual inquiry is the highest value". The school faced imminent closure due to a financial and enrollment crisis leading up to the 1956–1957 school year, with enrollment still more than 50 students below the level of 200 that was considered sustainable. To address the crisis, Mullin recruited powerful corporate donors including
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executive Nelson Dezendorf. Dezendorf subsequently became chairman of the board. In the early 1960s, Shimer gained national attention from a ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine article about the school highlighting its academic reputation. The article cited a survey by the '' Harvard Educational Review'' that ranked Shimer as among eleven small
liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capac ...
s in the United States with an "ideal intellectual climate".


Grotesque Internecine Struggle

In the 1960s, thanks in part to the
Baby Boom A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...
, enrollment rose to an all-time high. By 1966, enrollment stood at 510 students. At the same time, the administration of Shimer became increasingly isolated from the community, as the president ceased teaching classes and strict conservative social mores continued to be enforced despite cultural changes. Restrictions over dress, conduct, and fraternization were a source of frustration for students. Tensions thus developed between the administration and older faculty on one hand, and the students and younger faculty on the other. In 1966 and 1967, the school underwent a severe internal crisis subsequently known as the "Grotesque Internecine Struggle" or "GIS". The roots of the crisis involved a power struggle between the dean and younger faculty and president Mullin over Mullin's increasingly dictatorial style. The specific issues under dispute included an unwillingness by the president to involve the faculty in decisions on buildings and personnel issues, and to consult with them on matters affecting the college. Early in the fall of 1966, Dean of the Faculty David Weiser wrote a letter to Mullin requesting his resignation. This was rejected, and Weiser resigned in February 1967, the fourth member of the faculty to do so. Mullin released a statement through a Chicago public relations firm stating that "the recent turmoil instigated by a now former member of the faculty is passing with the receipt of his resignation." However, 18 members of the faculty responded with a statement praising Weiser. The Board expressed its support for Mullin in its March 1967 meeting, at which registrar James M. Green was present as a representative of the dissidents. The Board also set up a committee of faculty and trustees to improve communication, and honored a request by the dissidents for increased administrative staff. The dispute soon evolved into a bitter personal struggle in which the actual issues were secondary. Over time, the struggle began to impact the academic life of the school. Protests were held, including one in which faculty and students carried the coffin of the Spirit of Shimer to the president's house. An independent report to the Board was favorable to the dissidents, but this was disregarded by the Board. Most of the younger faculty departed in the summer of 1967. The Grotesque Internecine Struggle led to the departure of many of the school's faculty and one-third of the students. The adverse publicity the school received as a result of the crisis was compounded by a 1968 article in ''Look'' magazine that described Shimer as "the Midwest mecca of the marijuana mystique". This publicity led to caution from both prospective students and their parents, further damaging enrollment. In the fall of 1967, Mullin resigned from the presidency, departing on August 30, 1968. Mullin was replaced by Milburn Akers, a former editor of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' who adopted a less adversarial style. Akers served until 1970. The presidency was then taken over by
Robert Spencer Long Robert Spencer Long (June 1927 in Chicago – December 25, 2015 in San Francisco), was a professor of physical science and the tenth president of Shimer College. Long was born on the north side of Chicago and graduated from Roger C. Sullivan High ...
, who served until the school's bankruptcy in 1974.


Bankruptcy

Enrollment continued to fall throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, by approximately 50 students per year. In the fall of 1973, enrollment was 230 students, with 35 instructors. Debt exceeded $500,000. On November 10, 1973, the executive committee of the Board of Trustees voted to close the school at the end of December. The college entered into voluntary bankruptcy, and attorney Leonard Spira was appointed as liquidator. Students protested the decision to close the school. A statement by student leaders noted that, because Shimer's education and community were unique in the world, "there is nowhere for us to go now." Working together, the faculty and students were able to raise $250,000 to stave off immediate closure. Spira resigned as liquidator in 1974, but financial difficulties continued due to the low enrollment and aging physical plant. From 1974-1975, Esther G. Weinstein, Ph.D., former Associate Dean, became acting president. She was succeeded in the Fall of 1975 by urbanologist Ralph W. Conant, who promised to raise 5 million dollars. He was not successful, and on May 14, 1977, the Board again voted to close the school. The decision was reversed on May 23, with the adoption of a new reorganization plan. The Board refused to accept Conant's resignation, reassigning him to full-time fundraising. Due to the falling enrollment and rising debt, the cost of maintaining the Mount Carroll campus became unsustainable. In the winter of 1978, an emergency decision was made to move the school to
Waukegan, Illinois ''(Fortress or Trading Post)'' , image_flag = , image_seal = , blank_emblem_size = 150 , blank_emblem_type = Logo , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivisi ...
. The school's papers and books were moved to Waukegan in borrowed grain trucks the midst of the Blizzard of 1978. The Mount Carroll campus was purchased at auction for $170,000 by the
Restoration College Association Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology ** ...
, a group of Mount Carroll residents who wished to prevent the campus from being broken up. It later became the site of the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies. The move was to have extinguished the college's debt, but the college remained $1.2 million in debt in 1982. Governance during this period reflected the college's difficult position. Most college governance in the mid to late 1970s was performed by the community as a whole, as the college's survival depended on the cooperation of the entire community. This was done through a purely democratic institution known as the "House".


Shimer College in Waukegan

The college began classes in an old Victorian house on Sheridan Road in Waukegan in the spring of 1979. The campus initially consisted of one classroom and administration building and one dormitory. It grew steadily over subsequent years, reaching 12 buildings by the end of the 20th century. The academics of the college remained intact in the Waukegan location, and efforts were made to reach out to new groups of students. In 1981, a Weekend College program for working adults was begun. The program, which as of 2010 remained in operation, provides a bachelor's degree through classes meeting intensively every third weekend. Enrollment rose from 62 students in 1978 to approximately 100 students by 1982. In the spring of 1988, the school graduated the largest class since 1974. In 1988, Shimer began to offer a chess scholarship. Subsequent beneficiaries of this scholarship include grandmasters
Jesse Kraai Jesse Kraai (born May 6, 1972) is a chess Grandmaster (GM) living in Baltimore, MD. He reached GM status in 2007 making him the first American-born player to achieve the title since Tal Shaked in 1997. He won the 1987 National Junior High Sch ...
and Noureddine Ziane. The internal governance structure in Waukegan differed from that in Mount Carroll. Shortly after the move, the House was replaced by the more structured Assembly. The first Assembly Constitution, inspired in part by the writings of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
, was adopted in 1980. Under the Assembly system, most detailed work is performed by elected committees containing a mixture of students, faculty and staff. The Assembly itself governs by "moral suasion" only. Legal authority continued to reside in the Board of Trustees and the president. Donald P. Moon, an Episcopalian pastor and former nuclear physicist, remained president of Shimer from 1979 through his retirement in 2004. He was succeeded by
William Craig Rice William Craig Rice (May 4, 1955 – June 20, 2016) was an American educator. He was the Director of the Division of Education Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Career Rice was born in 1955 in Washington, D.C. He received his ...
, under whose administration the college moved to Chicago. Finances during much of this period remained problematic, with faculty salaries low or nonexistent. In 1980, the college obtained a major grant from the
United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
, in preparation for which eight new members of the faculty were hired. However, the grant was not funded, and the senior members of the faculty went without pay so that the new instructors could be paid. Even when paid, the salaries were at a level that Chairman of the Board Barry Carroll described as "poverty-level". In the mid-1990s, the college began an intensive upgrade of the physical plant, made possible by a
municipal bond A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a Bond (finance), bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal ...
issued through Northern Trust. From 1995 to 1998, the total value of the college's real estate holdings rose approximately 40% to 2 million dollars. This included expansion of on-campus housing, renovation of the Prairie House administration building, and clearing of the central quadrangle. This also included the "Shimer Commons" plan for the former YWCA gymnasium, which was to have been funded by a capital campaign. In 2005, negotiations began regarding an invitation extended by the Illinois Institute of Technology to move Shimer's operations to the IIT campus in Chicago. On December 18, 2005, amid controversy, the Assembly of Shimer College expressed its support for the ongoing negotiations by a vote of 46–29. On January 19, 2006, the Board of Trustees announced that it had accepted the invitation. The move was completed August 10, 2006.


Shimer College in Chicago and Beyond

In September 2007, just one year after completing the move he had pushed for, President
William Craig Rice William Craig Rice (May 4, 1955 – June 20, 2016) was an American educator. He was the Director of the Division of Education Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Career Rice was born in 1955 in Washington, D.C. He received his ...
left abruptly for a position with the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
. He was replaced by interim president Ron Champagne Thomas Lindsay became president of Shimer College in January 2009. His subsequent tenure was marked by controversy over both his tactics and his long-term plans for the school. Controversy first broke out over Lindsay's hiring, outside of the standard process, of a personal acquaintance to replace a professional Director of Admissions whom he had also fired out of process. In November 2009, a meeting of the Shimer College Assembly, the internal governing body of the school, produced several resolutions demanding that Lindsay and the Board respect the Shimer College tradition of self-governance. In January 2010, it was first made public that most of the trustees supporting Lindsay's actions also shared financial ties with Barre Seid, a Chicago industrialist and major donor to the school who had previously been anonymous. In February 2010, despite the unanimous objections of the faculty, strong opposition from the community as a whole, and protests by students, the Seid-dominated Board of Trustees approved a wholesale rewrite by Lindsay of the school's mission statement. Prior to the vote, Lindsay indicated to the faculty that anyone opposing his mission statement would be expected to leave the college. The vote passed by a secret ballot vote of 18–16. On April 19, 2010, it was reported that the Shimer College Board of Trustees had voted to remove Lindsay from his post as president. The move came shortly after unanimous votes of no confidence by the faculty and Assembly. Edward Noonan succeeded Lindsay as Interim President, serving for 2 years until the 2012 appointment of
Susan Henking Susan E. Henking (born 1955) is an American religious studies scholar. She was the 14th and final president of Shimer College in Chicago, appointed in July 2012 and finishing in 2017. She then served in interim roles at Salem Academy and College ...
, the first female president since Frances Wood Shimer. Under Henking, Shimer strengthened its relationship with community colleges, undertaken the Shimer@60 program in which Chicago-ans 60 and over may take a free course, and increased the diversity of the student body. She led a transition for Shimer in which the College became the Shimer Great Books School of North Central College in 2017.


Notable alumni

*
Beulah Bondi Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...
, Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actress, graduated from Shimer in 1907.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Shimer College Shimer College Waukegan, Illinois Education in Carroll County, Illinois Shimer College Shimer College