Closing a University, Saving a Special Program (opinion)

Higher education finds itself, once again, in an era of turmoil and change. The enrollment cliff, dreaded for the past decade, has finally arrived and with it the closing of almost 100 universities since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic—a number projected to grow in the coming years. In this fraught period, it is good to remind ourselves of the wisdom of Seneca (popularized by Semisonic): “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

Such can be the case even with the closing of a university. This is a tale not of the end of a university, but of the endurance of its founding mission.

Fontbonne University, which closed in August 2025 in the face of declining enrollments and financial challenges, was founded more than a century earlier by a group of religious sisters who were first invited to the New World by Bishop Joseph Rosati of St. Louis in 1836. In response to the bishop’s call for assistance, six Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) began a seven-week voyage from Lyon, France, to New Orleans. Their journey continued up the Mississippi River to the St. Louis neighborhood of Carondelet, where they built a log cabin and began their teaching ministry and their service to the deaf community. The next year, in 1837, two additional Sisters trained in teaching the deaf and hard of hearing arrived from France, and the first sponsored ministry of the CSJs in the New World, the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf (SJID), opened its doors.

This founding mission became an integral part of the fabric of Fontbonne University. From its St. Louis campus, Fontbonne offered bachelor’s and master’s programs similar to those of other institutions—save for the one that grew from that 1836 mission, a graduate program that trained teachers to work with the deaf and hard of hearing (DHH). The program was not only unique to the region but also graduated approximately 25 percent of master’s-credentialed teachers of the DHH in the U.S. For more than 60 years, Fontbonne’s deaf education program stood as a national model of excellence. Its legacy was shaped not only by its outstanding faculty and graduates, but by the enduring vision of the CSJs, who believed deeply in the transformative power of education for children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families.

When Fontbonne announced plans to close, that legacy of ministry to the members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community felt suddenly fragile. Even as its university neighbor, Washington University in St. Louis, purchased Fontbonne’s physical plant, enabling the closure to happen with care and grace, the fate of Fontbonne’s soul—its founding mission—remained in doubt. The news of the impending closure brought a profound sense of grief, uncertainty and responsibility. The M.A. in deaf education program—rooted in community and built on relationships—faced the unimaginable: the potential disappearance of a preparation pathway that had shaped the workforce and activated a mission for decades.

Alumni reached out immediately with an outpouring of concern, encouragement and support. Their messages made clear that the program’s value extended far beyond its physical home; it lived in the educators they had become, the children and families they had served, and the uncommon bond formed across class years, practicum sites and professional journeys. Equally powerful were the voices from the founding order of the CSJs. Their commitment to the mission did not waver in the face of the closure. Instead, they became partners in imagining what might be possible. Their encouragement affirmed that preserving the essence of the program was not only desirable—it was necessary.

With that collective support, Fontbonne faculty and administrators began searching for a new home, guided by a singular question: What environment could uphold the values, standards and spirit that had defined the Fontbonne program while also allowing innovation for the next generation of professionals? After months of conversations with a number of colleges and universities and receiving only tepid interest, the Fontbonne community finally found a potential pathway.

In fall 2024, a nonprofit entity also sponsored by the CSJs, St. Joseph Hearing + Speech, approached the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at Butler University, in Indianapolis, about the possibility of adopting the soon-to-be-eliminated master’s program in deaf education. The department, situated in the College of Communication, had a strong reputation in the field due to its highly reputable undergraduate program, making it a good potential home for Fontbonne’s program. Another factor weighing in favor of this pairing was Butler’s founding mission, which comported with that of Fontbonne’s. Like any potential marriage, however, there were conversations that needed to be had before anything could be finalized.

In order to adopt a new master’s program in deaf education, Butler needed to ensure it would be financially viable. The Butler Transformation Lab, an internal academic research and development unit led by Stephanie Hinshaw, conducted an analysis and determined that the up-front costs of the program were roughly $430,000—money that needed to be on hand in order to start building the program at Butler and ideally in the door by Feb. 28, 2025. Fontbonne had no money to give since it was closing, and with the calendar by this time closing in on January 2025, the clock was ticking and the continuity of the program’s legacy was in doubt, despite Butler’s interest.

Call it divine intervention, a god wink or just dedication to the mission, but at a meeting with the CSJs, Fontbonne president Nancy Blattner and St. Joseph Hearing + Speech president Jeff Chapman made an impassioned plea for support—to which the CSJs responded with a lead gift to support the program. In response, Butler engaged in an aggressive campaign to raise the remaining funds from Butler donors, Fontbonne donors and graduates, and the deaf communities in St. Louis and Indianapolis.

The kickoff of the campaign took place at a gathering of about 40 supporters at the Fontbonne Presidential House in St. Louis, just a few short days after a major winter storm battered the area with ice. This meeting provided representatives from Butler an opportunity to explain why the program was a fit and how the two institutions shared DNA in their respective missions. Attendees asked questions, but more so told stories of how important it was for the program to continue and pledged to support it however they could. In just five weeks’ time, the money was raised.

What followed was a period of immense creativity and collaboration between Jenna Voss, the faculty director of the program at Fontbonne; the faculty in Butler’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and College of Education; and the staff in Butler’s Transformation Lab. The curriculum was reimagined, not as a replica of the past, but as an evolution of it, one that built on core aspects of Fontbonne’s model—comprehensive coursework, robust clinical partnerships and strong partnerships with families, schools and early intervention programs—while being responsive to contemporary workforce needs by incorporating remote-synchronous delivery of course content, expanding practicum networks including tele-intervention and strengthening alignment with Council on Education of the Deaf and Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation standards. Everyone knew what was at stake—the preservation of a legacy and a critical program for the DHH community.

The curricular proposal and approval process were both rigorous and deeply affirming. By December 2025, the master of arts in deaf education was fully approved and the Fontbonne legacy had found new life.

The momentum accelerated when Butler was awarded a federal personnel preparation grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. This project, Partners in REaching Potential: Preparing an Interdisciplinary Workforce for Family Engagement in Deaf Education, ensures that beginning with the inaugural cohort, students will receive tuition support, mentorship and robust professional development. More importantly, it guarantees that the program will launch not merely as a continuation, but as a strengthened, sustainable pathway that expands access to highly qualified educators for children who are DHH across Indiana, throughout the Midwest and beyond.

While Fontbonne’s closure marked the end of a cherished chapter, it also gave rise to a new one—one grounded in resilience, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to families and children. The program lives on because its community believed it must. At Butler, it will continue to grow, innovate and honor the legacy from which it came. Fontbonne’s end is not the erasure of its story.