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Florida Southern College defers university status
Board of Trustees accepts recommendation to remain a college

LAKELAND, Fla. (Feb. 14, 2001) - The oldest church-related college in Florida will remain a college, at least for now. Florida Southern College’s (FSC) Board of Trustees on Friday received a recommendation from senior college officials to defer the discussion on a change to university status.

"As interesting as it was to consider becoming a university, we believe that now is not the time for such a move," said Thomas L. Reuschling, FSC president. "For now, we will continue to focus on our strengths as a college while improving programs and services for our students."

For more than 100 years, FSC has provided a values-based education with a liberal arts core. Its small, student-centered environment has been the college’s hallmark.

FSC began studying the feasibility of obtaining university status in November. T. Terrell Sessums, chairman of the FSC Board of Trustees, said the college learned a great deal from the study.

"Becoming a university is a significant change - one that we carefully evaluated," Sessums said. "There is certainly merit in switching to university status, but for now we believe there is more value in remaining a college."

Switching to a university would require modest structural changes at Florida Southern, including staffing and programs.  Changing Florida Southern’s name would also require new logos and artwork for any publications or signage on campus, an additional cost the board considered.

 "We believe the word ‘college’ connotes the personalized, student-centered education that Florida Southern has always provided," said Reuschling.  "Our goal is to serve our students with the excellent teaching and mentoring for which we are known."

About Florida Southern
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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