The below from one of the terminated professors. Prayers for all the professors who lost their employment. Much is said about the problems at HCHC, but I for one would love to have a well-managed and well-attended Orthodox place of higher learning for our youth.
THIS IS HOW HELLENIC COLLEGE, INC TERMINATED THE SERVICES OF THE SIX TENURED PROFESSORS TO THE SCHOOL.
"In your meeting with George Cantonis yesterday you were notified that Tuesday,
August 11, 2020, was your last active employment date with Hellenic College Holy Cross.
I am attaching a scan of your Separation Agreement, and I will overnight the originals of the Agreement and your final checks to your home. Please pay special attention to sections 8, 9, and 10 regarding Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement.
As explained you have up to 45 days to accept the Agreement, however, you will not begin to receive Severance Payouts until 7 days after you have signed the Agreement.
It's required that you remove all personal effects from your office by Monday, August 17, 2020. Any documents, manuals, books, telephones, computer(s), and other equipment which are College property need to remain in your office. Any building, office, and classroom keys need to be given to me.
Howard Thomas and his crew are available up to 2:30pm with boxes, and to assist you with removing your personal effects to your car.
Also at the end of day on Monday, August 17, 2020, your HCHC email will be deactivated. Please provide me with an alternate personal email address.
As we discussed, I am available for any questions regarding the Separation Agreement process.
Regards,
Dave
David Volz
Human Resources Director
Hellenic College Holy Cross"
Posts
I wonder what the numbers are. How many college age/attending Orthodox youth are there in America? Of those, how many attend a non-standard and traditionally Christian higher learning institution of any sort? If it's > than 1% I would be surprised. Heck, how many Orthodox youth attend a trad Christian school (or religiously home school) of any sort from K-12? 10%? 15%?
ReplyDeleteOrthodoxy, and trad Christianity in general, relies on a praxis that simply assumes Christendom - that when you leave your church service the village will support you, or at least not try to convert you. Reality is very different of course...
Wow. My sister-in-law used to handle terminations at a big tech company (since defunct, I might add), and this sounds about as cold.
ReplyDeleteWill GOA start encouraging its young people with priestly vocations to attend St Vlad's, St Tikhon's, or the Ukrainian or ACROD seminaries? Hard to picture. Times must be very tough at HCHC. Lord, help us.
out side of going to a foreign country,, st vlads or st tihkon's are the only real options,,, st sophias is small, is focused on ukrainian and ukrainian nationals, under 15 seminarians at best,, christ the savior has been in limbo for years, under 5 seminarians,,, holy trinity is focused on russians and russian emigres,under 20 seminarians, st savas is focused on the serbs, under 20 seminarians ,,, the only with enrollments over 45, with accomodations for married seminarians, and can offer a multicultural approach, if needed, are st tikhons and st vlads ,,,,,,, wow the thought just hit me,,, what if all of there combined into one, we could have a multifaceted major divinity school,,, ah but do we have the vision and faith to make it happen
DeleteAny replacement would probably have to be EP-aligned, which of the American seminaries probably just leaves the Ukrainian and ACROD seminaries. Absorbing a wave of GOA seminarians would be difficult for either one. Is HCHC really likely to go belly-up?
DeleteI'd like to add clarification to the comment above; "...holy trinity is focused on russians and russian emigres,under 20 seminarians".
DeleteHoly Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, NY has been accredited by the NY State Board of Education to offer a B.Th. since its founding in 1948, and now offers an accredited M.Div. program. HTOS has naturally focused on the needs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, under whose jurisdiction it operates, and while remaining true to its roots, it has embraced converts and Orthodox Christians from all backgrounds, in keeping with the demographics of ROCOR. For practical reasons, Holy Trinity Seminary has changed its language of instruction from Russian to English. English has been added to the Divine services. Our student body is and has been very diverse, notwithstanding the pan-Slavic backgrounds of its founders, teachers and students, and now includes many non-Russians & converts to Holy Orthodoxy. We also welcome students from other Orthodox jurisdictions. At various points in just the last decade, we have had students on campus from 5 continents; from countries including the USA, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Spain, Sweden, Scotland, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Sierra Leone. Our total student body is above 30 seminarians.
Deacon Michael Pavuk
Director of Development
Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary, Jordanville, NY
website: https://hts.edu/
email: mpavuk@hts.edu"
How is the Univ. of St. Katherine doing in southern California?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAccording to Wikipedia it is up to 275 "Full Time Equivalent" students. When thinking about it as an option in the future for my 11 year old daughter, I just wish it was not in KaliFornia for cultural and $ reasons...
DeleteI know a priest who quit St. Katherine College several years ago. He called it a ‘football school’.
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DeleteDelicately, does his name end in 'land'? I would be sincerely interested in mature (i.e. non retaliatory and bitter) assessments of the institution as it is a consideration for my daughter. Perhaps a private conversation?
DeleteHellenic College/Holy Cross of been in financial troubles for a bit now (Google it) There is no conspiracy here. The Hellenic College basically only 6 liberal arts courses, including business and Classics. It can't compete with the thousands of other liberal arts colleges around the country. Best to cut their losses and close the Hellenic College and focus on the Holy Cross Seminary. Yes, the terminations were cold and business like. The college is a business and it got to this situation, partially, on not functioning as a business. If you are upset about the severances, open your cheque book and donate to the school.
ReplyDeleteAbout the same as Rose Hill College in North Carolina.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning Rose Hill as it reminded me of Dr. Cutsinger, who I see fell asleep in the Lord earlier this year. He felt compelled to write this about a month before his death:
Deletehttps://www.cutsinger.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/A-Delicate-Balance-Final.pdf
Which was too bad really but understandable. A true disciple of Socrates is so rare, let alone one willing to make an effort to attempt something like Rose Hill. Memory Eternal!
"Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius..."
DeleteMemory eternal indeed. Thank you for linking to this. I did not realize he had died.
What if we stopped sending money to foreign patriarchates and invest the funds into an American institution
ReplyDeleteAnother argument for the Local Autocephalous Church that successfully runs 3 Orthodox Seminaries in America & Alaska despite all the hate and at best cold shoulder from Phanariots. Will GOARCH be humbled by their losses? I doubt it. Will they send seminarians to SVOTS or STOTS? Never. Some GOARCH clergy are graduates of one or the other OCA seminary but this is far from the norm. If HC closed, GOARCH would rather send men to Greece. Their cultural blinders are so high they will never allow OCA clergy (‘The Russians’) to get their hands on them.
Deleteis rose hill still functioning? could not find it on the net
ReplyDeleteNo, it was an effort in the 1990's, that only lasted a few years
Deletehttp://cutsinger.net/pdf/once_and_future_college.pdf
Does anyone know who these furloughed professors were? Was J. P. Manoussakis one of them?
ReplyDeleteDecades ago when I came into the Church I heard there was an "Orthodox college" in Boston, it interested me. Then I met people who knew the reality. Several pretty educated GOA laymen referred to HC as a community college at best, a lichen growing on the seminary. They explained it was a fantasy of Achp Iakovos to have a "Greek Ivyleague" school, his invention. What he failed to understand, among many things, is that if Greek Americans wanted to send their kids to an ivy league school they sent them to a real one. The albatross has hung around to the present day. No one dare say Holy Cross. It's one word: heleeniccollegeholycross. Do not fail to say the WHOLE word. Now with one or both about bankrupt financially and academically the end may be near. They managed to do for themselves what the Turks did for the other embarrassment, Halki. Notice how the headmaster of one utter failure is now presiding over the collapse of another? Kind of like an oriental rug store, a perpetual going out of business "sale". This one might really happen. Not to mention the utter fraud of the partially built thing in New York. Let it sit as is to actually reflect what they call a "national shrine".
ReplyDeleteThere are few things in life as certain as a grumpy 'bob' comment. "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with them that weep" says the Apostle but NO! says bob. The right thing to do is to be "embarassed" at the misfortunes of others and maybe even rub some salt in their wounds depending on which side of the bed we get out of.
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