Devin Lunsford for The New York Times
Oct. 22, 2025
For The New York Times, Kevin Carey argues that the closure of small liberal-arts colleges threatens the civic, economic, and community fabric of the college towns that depend on them.
When a friend called up Rachel Snyder, sobbing, on the morning of April 29, 2024, she needed a moment to process what was going on. Check your email, the friend said. The college was closing down.
Ms. Snyder knew that her alma mater, Wells College, was struggling. Enrollment at the 156-year-old liberal arts school had slipped in recent years, despite a proud history and picturesque location overlooking the eastern bank of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York. But it had just held a fund-raiser the week before and admitted a new class of freshmen for the fall. She had personally written some of them notes of welcome — a tradition among Wells alumni.
Over the following weeks and months, the truth emerged. Faced with seemingly unsolvable financial problems, the Wells board of trustees abruptly shuttered the school. Today, Wells stands empty, an academic ghost ship with dust gathering on shelves and barricades barring locals who used to mingle on the lawns.
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