Cascade College to close after
May graduation

   PORTLAND — For the second time in 15 years, a campus at 9101 E. Burnside in Portland will suddenly fall quiet with the closing of a Christian college.
Oklahoma Christian University’s Portland campus, known locally as Cascade College, will close its baccalaureate degree programs after the conclusion of the spring semester next May, officials announced recently. Approximately 280 students currently attend classes at the Portland campus, with 45 full-time faculty and staff.
   Cascade College’s primarily affiliation is with Churches of Christ. Last year another college in the Northwest with roots in the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ movement — Puget Sound Christian College in Everett, Wash., closed after years of financial struggle.
   Cascade’s closure will not involve Columbia Christian School, a separate program next to the college campus.
  “After 15 years of considerable effort and investment, we were unable to find a viable financial or academic model that would sustain and allow Cascade to flourish for the foreseeable future,” said Don Millican, chairman of Oklahoma Christian’s board of trustees. “Following much prayer and discussion, the board reluctantly voted to cease offering baccalaureate degrees at the Cascade campus next spring. This is one of the most difficult decisions the board has ever made.”
   Oklahoma Christian President Mike O’Neal said he was deeply saddened closing Cascade became necessary, but he agreed with the board’s decision. He said the university had subsidized Cascade operations with about $4 million, thousands of administrative staff hours, and other resources over its 15 years as a satellite campus.
  “The current economic crisis was not a significant factor in the decision, but it obviously did not help,” said O’Neal.
   Cascade was previously known as Columbia Christian College — which was founded in 1956— when it closed in the early 1990s because of financial issues. After being closed for a year, it was reopened in August 1994 as a branch campus of Oklahoma Christian.
   Cascade President Bill Goad said he would encourage Cascade students to finish their degrees at Oklahoma Christian if at all possible. His focus now will be on supporting the students and affected faculty and staff during this time and assisting them in any way possible.
The Associated Press used Cascade’s closure announcement as the lead in a story last month focusing on the financial challenges facing smaller colleges nationally.
In addition to Cascade, another Christian institution, Taylor University, announced last month it would close the undergraduate program at a branch campus in Fort Wayne, Ind., while Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minn., announced plans to close.
Also, Vennard College, a Christian school in Iowa that was down to about 80 students, announced last month it would close at the end of the current semester — two years shy of its 100th birthday.