Word: eckerd
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Down in St. Petersburg, Fla., where sun-seeking retirees are as plentiful as six-packs of Gatorade, Eckerd College has quite another capital idea. Eckerd, founded in 1958, has only 1,120 undergraduates and relies on a smallish $8 million endowment. But among its assets are 267 palmy, balmy acres of campus right on beautiful Boca Ciega Bay. Eckerd's idea: build houses on some of its land and sell or rent them to retirees. The college wants to put up 500 condominiums and a 270-unit high-rise-complete with nearby shopping center, conference hall, nursing facility...
...Eckerd announced that it intends to limit residence in the proposed community to senior citizens with a demonstrated interest in learning, who will become members of something called the Academy of Senior Professionals. The school hopes to offer a not-for-credit program of workshops, lectures and conferences for residents in four subjects: energy and environment; freedom and economic growth; undergraduate educational values; faith and culture. The plan promises that half a dozen prominent scholars of retirement age (yet to be selected) will be hired to supervise all this. In addition, the school's regular teachers could also invite...
...main impact on Eckerd's undergraduate program, however, will be financial: income from the sale and rental of the buildings could eventually surpass the school's annual yield on its endowment. If Eckerd's zoning request is approved, says the St. Petersburg Times, "the lovely waterfront site would become just another tax-sheltered retirement haven for the well-to-do." Amid local concern that the plan has more to do with real estate than education, St. Petersburg's planning commission has refused to approve it. That leaves the issue in the lap of the city council...
...defense, Eckerd President Peter Armacost notes that before working out the plan the college consulted aging teachers and other professionals all over the U.S. Says he: "This is what they're looking for. Our proposed Academy of Senior Professionals is an extraordinary opportunity for people in their senior years. They will have a chance not to relax in the sun and vegetate, but to be productive." Besides, he adds, "if developing the land strengthens the program for 1,500 undergraduates, that is better than the option of having no college...
Sell the Students. Leonard Meyers, development chief of Florida's Eckerd College, displays a loose-leaf "baby book"-a collection of photos and biographical sketches of students who need aid-when visiting local fat cats. Says Meyers: "We ask donors to adopt a student...