Middlebury College announced on Thursday it would be closing the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, the school’s satellite campus in California, after its enrolled students complete their degrees in June 2027.
The school’s president, Ian Baucom, said in a press release and accompanying video announcement that continuing operations at the campus in its current state was “no longer feasible.” The college’s Board of Trustees approved the closure of the satellite, which primarily serves post-graduate students, during a special meeting on Aug. 27.
“I recognize the gravity of this moment,” Baucom said in the press release. “I and my senior leadership team made this recommendation after careful deliberation, and the board did not come to this decision lightly.”
The college first purchased the institute and its campus in 2005 from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school focuses on graduate degree and certificate programs in foreign languages and international policy. Baucom called it a “leading global center of international studies.”
The closure comes as Middlebury College faces severe financial difficulties. In April, facing a $14.1 million deficit, the school announced a number of cost saving measures, including reductions to staff and faculty retirement benefits, which sparked faculty walkouts and protests.
At the time, college leadership said that $8.7 million of the total deficit was due to low enrollment at the Monterey Institute. One faculty member called the institute an “albatross” for Middlebury College that was sinking finances and morale.
Baucom, in the press release, said the decision was “not a reflection on the quality of our programs or our outstanding Monterey colleagues, whose work is far reaching and significant.”
The institute experienced steep declines in enrollment following the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving programs at the campus with “unsustainable operating deficits,” Baucom said in his video announcement.
All currently enrolled students will be able to complete their degrees. The school will not consider repurposing, leasing, or selling the property in Monterey until students complete their programs in June 2027, Baucom said in the release.
“It bears repeating that this was absolutely a financial decision and not a reflection on the quality of our programs or our exceptional faculty and staff,” Baucom said. “It also should not be left unsaid that (the institute’s) work to educate students who go on to work in diplomacy, interpretation, arms negotiations, and other forms of service to humanity has mattered.”
