Talk:Mackinac College

Is that link legit?
it has atrocious English and little info. It's the first WP edit by the user. I'm thinking it might be some sort of spam thing. Any thoughts? --Howdybob 18:22, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Comment moved from the main article- for further help
If you would like to help in any way, you may send suggestions or inquiries via email to: admin@mackinaccollege.org

That was inserted into the main text by user 74.60.155.185. I moved it here. --Howdybob 01:03, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Anyone interested in the history and legacy of Mackinac College is urged to contact the Mackinac College Legacy Fund, which is featured on the Mackinac Island Community Foundation website, via email at: info@micf.org

Again. --Howdybob 18:45, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Disputed content (April 2014)
Re-add material from User:Karin D. E. Everett. I looked through her sources User:TheRedPenOfDoom and they are very reliable and I am familiar with many of them. Please see talk page before removing to discuss your specific problems with the content. Nasa-verve (talk) 18:15, 6 June 2014 (UTC)
 * While you may be familiar with sites, you are apparently NOT familiar with Wikipedia's method of determining reliable sources. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  23:58, 6 June 2014 (UTC)


 * 1) In my comment above I said to discuss your "specific problems with the content". Please do so. It was apparent that Karin had no idea how to do reliable sources, but that is why I selectively edited it down. Nasa-verve (talk) 19:50, 11 June 2014 (UTC)
 * 2)  Also, please explain this edit and why you have a problem with the link to the youtube video and the archived site. Thanks in advance sir. Nasa-verve (talk) 19:55, 11 June 2014 (UTC)
 * none of them meet the criteria for being included as an external link. the onus is on the person wishing to include to display a consensus for why they might merit an exception. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  08:03, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
 * These external links easily meet WP:ELYES: Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that is relevant to an encyclopedic understanding of the subject and cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to copyright issues - the minitakan design page and the youtube video both fit in that boat. I carried the burden to here, thoughts? Nasa-verve (talk) 14:44, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
 * No they are not - they are just some guys blog promoting the long dead college. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  08:54, 14 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Its not a blog. Did you even visit the site? I never claimed that it was the college's official site (which is what your edit summary seemed to be responding to.) But the site was set up by one of the original professors of the college with a great knowledge of its operation. I felt it was relevant to link to. Please relook at the minitakan design site and then respond with appropriate details. I repeat, that site is not a blog whatsoever, its a topic based site about Mackinac College. Nasa-verve (talk) 22:44, 19 June 2014 (UTC)
 * it is the equivalent of a blog - a random website set up buy someone who by your own description has a bias towards the subject but even without your descriptor has no one who has acknowledged his/her credibility - and as you also stated it is NOT official site by any means which is one of the few types of external links that are acceptable. --  TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  00:17, 20 June 2014 (UTC)

Please stop adding the "students were not allowed to date" line
but were not allowed to date.[7] Those who went to the first version of Mackinac College referred to in this article were allowed to and DID indeed date. The reference added to support this statement (7) is a 1972 artcile which refers only to the Rex Humbard college, NOT the one referred to in this wiki entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skydeas (talk • contribs) 18:31, 3 March 2015 (UTC)
 * we follow the sources. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  18:54, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Much of the text and references in this 4-yr-old stub are partially or completely wrong
The current Mackinac College Wikipedia article is rated C-class: "missing important content or containing much irrelevant material…may still have significant problems or require substantial cleanup.” WikiProject Readers Experience grading indicates it “would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study.”  This article is one of three stubs created when I contacted Jref at the end of January 2014:  a Mission Point (Mackinac Island) stub and a Mackinac College (Humbard) stub were extracted from the previous Mackinac College article.  In February 2014, I replaced the Mission Point (Mackinac Island) and Mackinac College (Humbard) stubs with complete articles.

Subsequently, I carefully examined the existing Mackinac College stub (see table below) and found it is often wrong, misleading, and badly referenced. It is too short to provide encyclopedic coverage and entirely lacks specific information that would contribute to the Michigan WikiProject. It neglects to mention ways in which the college was notable within and outside Michigan. It has only one photo.

Working with many others, I now offer up a detailed, well referenced, and illustrated history of Mackinac College. Please find our new, proposed article on the following Talk page.

This table is comprised of Mackinac College stub’s evaluations. Sack and Martin References are below the table. MC = Mackinac College; HQ = headquarters.

Daniel Sack’s book about MRA history is cited 5 times in this wiki. His thesis was that Mackinac College was an MRA college. Sack’s ideas about Mackinac College were principally derived from MRA newsletters, Morris Martin’s book, and four phone interviews in 2008 with students. Karin D. E. Everett (talk) 20:28, 7 March 2018 (UTC)

New Mackinac College article, with 58 references
Mackinac College was an independent, non-sectarian, co-educational liberal arts college located at Mission Point on Mackinac Island, Michigan. It offered four-year Bachelor of Arts degrees. The charter for the college was granted by the Michigan Board of Education on October 22, 1965. Mackinac College operated on the semester system from September 14, 1966 through June 20, 1970 with a board of 24 trustees. The president of the college was physicist Dr. Samuel Douglas Cornell, former Executive Officer of the National Academy of Sciences.

The 21-acre Mackinac College campus on Mission Point included a Library (completed 1966; 20,000 books, per January 30, 1967 accreditation report ), Conference and Classroom Center (completed 1968; 75,000 ft2), 14 faculty homes on Lesley Court, Men’s Residence (400 beds in 225 rooms), Women’s Residence (250 beds in 150 rooms), Kitchens and Dining Halls (for 1,000), Great Hall (800 seats), Student Union, Theatre (575 seats), Film and Fine Arts Studio, Health Center (18 beds), and the historic Mission House. The 190-acre Stonecliffe estate, which is located near the island’s airport, was also part of Mackinac College. Just five years before Mackinac College opened, Mackinac Island became one of the first National Historic Landmarks in the state of Michigan.

Philosophy and Objectives
The philosophy that led to the founding of Mackinac College was first expressed on December 8, 1964 in Ames, Iowa by Peter D. Howard. Howard was a graduate of the University of Oxford, political and investigative reporter, author, and--at that time--Director of an international moral and spiritual movement called Moral Re-Armament (MRA). That winter, Howard was on a speaking tour of 17 American college campuses and was well aware that the modern MRA campus on Mackinac Island, Michigan was used only for summer conferences. Howard said, “We've met thousands of students in these past weeks, and it has been bottled in me--the urgent need to demonstrate how to create a college education in which character is developed along with brain.”. He suggested that the MRA campus might be used year round as a college to provide “the education of the 21st century. Before Howard’s unexpected death in February 1965, he had convinced Basil R. Entwistle and Dr. Morris H. Martin (both graduates of the University of Oxford) to develop this idea. . Entwistle worked with Dr. Alexander J. Cook (University of Alberta) to draft applications needed to obtain Michigan State Board of Education approval. . He also consulted with university chancellors and presidents, lawyers and financiers to plan a college that would be an independent extension of Howard’s philosophy and goals. Entwistle assembled a full Board of Trustees and, as Chairman of the Board, he consulted with the Department of Education. Then--in early summer 1965--he persuaded Dr. S. Douglas Cornell to leave “the best administrative job in American science” and hire on to become president of Mackinac College. Eventually they appointed Morris Martin as Dean of Faculty. .

Dr. Cornell later summarized what they had started: “Mackinac College began with the acute consciousness of a need. It was founded not on the small idea of establishing a new institution, but on the big idea of learning how to meet a pervasive world crisis. It was founded with one central, dominating purpose: to create an education for men and women of a kind that would equip them for immediate, effective involvement in the compelling issues of the day.”

In 1966, the Director of Admissions W. Timothy Gallwey stated in the recruiting literature that “Mackinac College is for young men and women who want to meet and master the problems and opportunities of the modern age. It expects more from its students, because its aim is to produce leaders.”

The college catalogue advised: “We have been entrusted by events with an opportunity that has come to few men and women in history--to build an institution of higher education from the ground up and to shape it to meet the challenge of our times.”   According to the catalogue:  “Student activities provide scope for the development of leadership, creative entertainment, recreation, and a zest for living. All students are expected to strive for the best of which they are capable in the classroom, on the stage, on speaking platforms, and on athletic fields.” Students were encouraged to explore their own academic goals through interdepartmental programs, off-campus programs, independent studies, career-experience semesters, and summer credit courses. This was in keeping with academic thinking introduced by Henry Noble MacCracken, president emeritus of Vassar College and a Mackinac College Trustee. Dr. MacCracken believed in giving students power to determine their own style of learning.

American and international events at the time were reverberating with the Vietnam War, Russian and American space flights, independence of African colonies, discovery of DNA code, availability of birth control pills, civil rights marches, and the assassinations of President Kennedy, Malcolm X, and civil rights workers. Some students wanted to answer President Kennedy’s call to “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Others reported that they went to Mackinac College because it was a new experiment in education for a world that sorely needed it. Students wanted many things, but most of all each wanted an education that was relevant to the world. One student later wrote of his attraction to Mackinac College: “Clutched tightly in my mind was a dream, a hope, an idea. A new college. I wanted that vague opus called an education.”

Academics
Less than a year passed between the granting of the Mackinac College Charter of Incorporation and the opening of classes (Oct. 22, 1965 and Sept. 14, 1966, respectively). The Dean of Faculty wrote in his autobiography that the curriculum was still in flux in August 1966. Nonetheless, when Mackinac College opened in September 1966 there were 15 academic faculty, two physical education faculty, and two artists-in-residence present on campus and listed in the college catalogue. . The curriculum was centered on the idea of Oxford University’s PPE course structure (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). This reflected the Oxford academic experiences of the Dean of Faculty and the head of the Board of Trustees. Each student typically carried 16 - 20 credits per semester. Summer courses were offered in 1968.

Typical classes had approximately 15 students. However, many were even smaller “short courses” or “tutorial” groups. None of the classes were in auditoriums or lecture halls. Interdisciplinary approaches were encouraged in class design. For some courses, students participated in the creation of the curriculum. An off-campus Extended Residence Program offered Practicum credits, sending small groups of students to work at specific locations or to travel. All students were encouraged to participate for a semester and each student carried two courses while off campus. Site-specific on-the-job Extended Residence study included training at newspapers, magazines, embassies, civic offices, schools, hospitals, and laboratories and also with industry, labor unions, and government. Some students who wanted to travel in other countries joined Up With People (UWP) troupes for a semester. Thus, in the first year three Extended Residence student groups travelled to Denmark, Finland, Norway, France, Germany, Italy, and numerous American states with UWP. Later, students also traveled in Canada, Latin America, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Over the life of Mackinac College, a total of 412 students were educated on campus by a total of 39 academic and athletic faculty. During the sixth semester at Mackinac College, however, the administration announced that the college expected to close due to financial distress. Thus, the final academic year (August 1969 – June 1970) offered only a greatly reduced on-campus academic program, with 65 different courses in 16 fields offered to the 34 students who remained with the college. Campus classes operated August – December 1969 and then in late April – June 20, 1970. During this time, some students also studied off-campus in the Extended Residence Program.

Thirty students graduated from Mackinac College on June 20, 1970. These graduates had majors and/or minors that included American Studies, Communication Arts, Economics, Engineering, English, English Literature, History, International Relations, Journalism, Modern Western Culture, Philosophy, Political Science, Pre-Med, Psychology, Public and Foreign Affairs, Public Policy, Science, Sociology, Spanish, Theater, as well as Western and European Studies and Languages. Although their degrees were not accredited (that would have required a previous class to have graduated and stable financial prospects for the college), at least 22 of these graduates went on to attend and complete post-graduate degrees from other colleges and universities.

Faculty and Administration
Mackinac College’s 39 academic and athletic faculty were selected according the following criteria:
 * Genuine concern for the fullest development of the student,
 * Excellent academic qualifications and the ability to stimulate the mind and spirit of youth to search, study, create and express,
 * Vitality, to stay abreast of the times, to communicate with a younger generation and to remain flexible to new ideas, techniques and subject matter,
 * The ability to work as a part of a cohesive team with the rest of the faculty, and
 * Standards of moral integrity commensurate with those expected of the students.

Many professors left high-paying prestigious positions for the opportunity to teach at Mackinac College, seeing it as fulfillment of a personal commitment to humanity. The academic faculty all had PhD, MSc, or MA degrees from prominent colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Britain, or European countries. Forty percent had doctorates. Faculty in the first year were selected by Dean of Faculty Alexander J. Cook (University of Alberta) and half of them had some previous MRA experience. Additional faculty were hired in later years under Dean of Faculty Morris Martin (Oxford Univ.). Faculty represented many nationalities, including Canada, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Norway, Scotland, Taiwan, and the United States. Many had prior professional and/or academic careers, including Art, Biology, Drama, Economics, English, History, International Relations, Library Science, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Physical Education, Physics, Political Science, and Sociology. Others came from careers in Chemical Engineering, Corporate Management, Department of Defense, Industrial Administration, Music and Music History, Portraiture, Space Science, and Speech Writing. In the final year of the school, when finances were failing, fifteen faculty stayed on so that remaining Charter Class students might qualify for graduation.

Mackinac College had 29 administrative officers. They were in charge of academic appointments, admissions, compliance, finances and fundraising, physical plant and grounds, public affairs, records, and registration.

Students
The 412 students who attended Mackinac College over the life of the school came from North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The college opened with 114 students in the Charter Class,   and there was a synergy within this class--a dynamic melting pot of fresh ideas and excitement. Some students came because they had seen a full-page Mackinac College ad in the Wall Street Journal. Others interviewed during that year said they were at the college because they were “preparing themselves to be leaders of tomorrow by training not only their minds but their whole selves.” Still others came because the school offered a good education where fees were reasonable. Two thirds of the students in the Charter Class had neither knowledge nor interest in MRA. The forty-some students in the Charter Class with MRA experience were described as “creative and helpful in getting the college off the ground.”

Whatever the students’ origins, “the strength of individuals united proved its worth many times.” In addition to classwork and study, each student donated four hours of work every week to the college community as part of a Citizenship Service program. This work included jobs in cooking and food service, mail, sanitation, grounds care, business, library, health services, switchboard, teaching assistance, and Extended Residence Program. Students who received Federal Work-Study assistance also had jobs in these areas. During the first two years of the college, a number of students earned income by doing construction on the Peter Howard Memorial Library and the Clark Conference and Classroom Center.

By the third year of Mackinac College, the student body had grown to approximately 350. As these students settled in, however, it had become apparent to the administration that financial overconfidence and misjudgment would soon lead to the school’s closure. Students who had not joined the Charter Class were advised that if they chose to remain for the 1969-70 year they would not be able to graduate before the school closed. This led to large numbers of students transferring to upper level courses of study at other colleges and universities across the nation for the 1969 fall semester.

As the fourth year opened, the 34 students who remained on campus experienced full immersion in running the college. In addition to classes, study, and Citizenship Service work, 19 of the eventual graduates had Federal Work-Study jobs and 10 undergraduates who opted to stay on campus were also on Work-Study. These students carried out a large proportion of the tasks that supported campus life in this last semester. There were also some students who were studying off-campus in the Extended Residence Program during this time.

Building a College and Campus Life
The community of students, faculty, administration, staff, and support workers on campus also included a large construction crew over a period of three years (Sept. 1965--Sept. 1968). The construction crew comprised tradesmen who lived on the island or in northern Michigan, at least 324 “volunteers” for whom the project was a training opportunity, and 25 Mackinac College students. Volunteers received free transportation, room, and board. Together these workers built the library, classroom building, and Lesley Court faculty homes. Available documents indicate that 143 of the volunteers came from the US, 101 from Canada, 25 from South Korea, 17 from Japan, 9 from Denmark, 11 from Jamaica, 7 from Indonesia, 3 from Finland, 4 from the UK, and 1 each from Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Over 123 of the US and Canadian workers came from North American indigenous peoples, including Blood, Cherokee, Chippewa, Cree, Dakota, Hopi, Nakoda, Navajo, Ojibwe, Odawa, Ponca, Pueblo, and T‘su Tina. Volunteers who came from Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Europe, and West Indies found the all-expense paid trip to America quite attractive, even though they worked without “pay” on a construction project in the northern Michigan winter. They lived alongside the male students in the men’s dorm, which today is the “Straits Lodge” at Mission Point Resort. The men's dorm had a grand pool table in a large room on the top floor. Most necessities (including clothing) were provided to construction workers, so out-of-pocket expenses were very small. The crew also created their own Work Out Sing Out as a vehicle for creative expression and recruitment. They incorporated songs from the UWP musical program plus songs and dances from their home groups. Over the years it provided a training vehicle for volunteers to learn public speaking, the discipline of being part of a musical production, how to set up sound systems and lighting, and stage presentation. Cast members changed as new volunteers arrived and others left to return home. Work Out Sing Out performed publicly on Mackinac Island, Sault Ste Marie Chippewa in Michigan and Garden River, Six Nations, Oneida, and Walpole Island First Nations in Ontario. They also performed in Montreal, Quebec, London and Strathroy in Ontario and Harbor Springs and Newberry in Michigan.

Although Mackinac Island is geographically isolated and free of automobiles, there was much to do, to enjoy, and to learn on campus. Relationships thrived (at least 26 couples eventually married). National and world events came in by radio and television (including the moon landing on July 20, 1969). News from a teletype machine was posted frequently on a public bulletin board (because mailed newspapers were typically 2-3 days old). Early morning news from radio stations was transcribed by paper and pencil and rebroadcast on a speaker system by students as the Noon News in the dining halls. This included international news, sports, weather, on-campus information, music, humor, and satire. On most weekends, a 'Saturday Spotlight Speaker' series brought in off-campus specialists as well as faculty members to talk on a wide variety of subjects. The lecturers were guests for the weekend and available for small group meetings. A student-led International Club met monthly and planned varied and enjoyable events for the entire community. These events included singing, dancing, and dinners by students and workers from Kenya, Nigeria, Cuba, and Japan.

For entertainment on campus, movies were shown weekly in the Theatre complex, complete with buttered popcorn popped in the college kitchens. Also on the theater stage were live performing arts productions by students and staff under the direction of Dr. John McCabe. These performances included The Glass Menagerie, John Brown’s Body, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, Everyman, Salad Days, The Bald Soprano, and The Zoo Story. In 1968, John Brown's Body was entered into the Regionals of the American College Theater Festival. “Opus I” and “The Awakening,” both student-written productions, were performed by students who were part of the modern dance group in the college theater, in Chicago, and at Ohio University. Frequent coffeehouse performances and talent shows by campus groups included dance, speaking, singing, and original music. The Shining Sands group (Jamaican and Trinidadian singers) performed in their unique style. “Living on an island tends to sharpen the creative impulses. If we want something done, we do it ourselves.”  Students started several bands and some students went on to have their own commercially successful bands.

Students formed a democratic Town Hall government where candidates for office, ideas, issues, and problems were aired and ironed out. One student was regional chairman of Northern Michigan Young Republicans. Other students participated with other universities and colleges in the Michigan Model UN.

Students, staff, and faculty came together for meals around tables that seated 6 or 8. They could plan ahead by inviting specific individuals for meals or could meet and form tables while walking into the dining room. Food and baked goods were prepared on site by kitchen and bakery staff and by students.

Mackinac College students also worked with the Island grade school. This work included cultural activities, crafts, music, writing, producing short plays and programs, physical education, and keyboarding.

In the spring of 1968, 75 or 80 students--under student leadership--gave up their first week of summer vacation to participate in off-campus fund raising, recruitment of students and guest speakers, and introduction of their experimental college to as many people as possible. “We knew what we had in Mackinac College, and we were more than willing to let anyone know about it.”

Athletics
Competitive athletics at Mackinac College included intercollegiate basketball, cross country skiing, cross country running, orienteering, soccer, and tennis. The Mission House served as storage for skis and other sports equipment and as a winter ski hut. These sports made good use of the 7.28 km² of forested island terrain managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. More than 17 km of trails throughout the island were used for cross country skiing and running. In addition, there were four tennis courts and a large athletic field adjacent to the campus library. In 1966, Mackinac’s cross country ski team met with Herman "Jackrabbit" Smith-Johannsen at his home in Canada. Then in February of 1967 the team skied in the Marathon Canadien de Ski/Canadian Ski Marathon. Each year students in the cross country ski program trained on the island and then participated in Canadian and American ski marathons, Nordic ski races in Sudbury, Canada and throughout Michigan. One student trained for a week in Colorado with the women’s Olympic team and eventually won the women’s championship in the Midwest Division of the United States Ski Association. Mackinac’s men won two of the three regional USSA men’s races (Central and Eastern). The ski team also partially cleared a ski slope for downhill skiing near the Stonecliffe estate. In basketball, one Mackinac College student was awarded Honorable Mention for the District 23 Michigan All-State National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic Men’s Basketball Team. Additional popular sporting events on campus included bicycle racing, gymnastics, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, pool, skating, swimming, table tennis, volleyball, water skiing, and “traying” (winter tobogganing on dining hall food trays).

Finances
In 1964 and 1965, Basil Entwistle consulted with experts and was told that $10,000,000 was needed ‘in the kitty’ to start the college. . Dean of Faculty Morris Martin was told by some members of the Board of Trustees that “it was prudent to have $25,000,000 in the bank, or pledged, in order to start an educational institution. But,” Martin disclosed, “in the face of our confidence that the world was waiting…they hesitated to contradict our expectations.” According to MRA records, MRA gave the college $208,000 and $80,000 in 1965 and ’66, respectively. In 1965 MRA transferred its Mackinac Island properties to Mackinac College. This included Mission House (built in 1825) and the Mission Point campus, most of which was built in the 1950s. The appraised value of these buildings and furnishings was $6,127,000 and they were half a gift to the college and half sold on a long-term mortgage. “We had planned on using the deserted television and film studio…as library and classrooms for the college,” Martin later reported. [But] “the island’s fire marshal proved uncooperative; because there was not the necessary layer of insulation in the studio’s construction, it could not be approved for educational purposes.”  So to launch the college, we now also needed to build a library and classroom facilities that were up to code.

Because Mackinac was a private college with neither alumni nor endowment, all costs could only be covered with gifts or tuition fees. Most of this financial development was done by individuals who felt a deep commitment to the vision of Peter Howard. Consequently, the $949,000 Peter Howard Memorial Library (required to meet Board of Education requirements) was built in 1965-66 with a financial gift from Mrs. Constance Ely and others. The $2,050,000 Conference/Classroom Center—also newly required—was built in 1966-68 with funding provided by Mr. and Mrs. W. Van Alan Clark Sr. The Lesley Court faculty housing was completed in 1968, and $474,000 was spent on other construction and renovation. The expense of transporting and supporting the 325 construction volunteers was borne by donors. MRA Canada spent $181,000 USD to cover transportation expenses of the 101 Canadians who volunteered to help build these facilities. Startup and operational costs required $2,638,000. Between Oct. 1965 and June 30, 1968 more than a thousand individuals, companies, and foundations in 37 states and Canada gave $12,238,000 to Mackinac College. Of the total given, 95% came from 75 donors in amounts of $10,000 or more. The largest donors were Mr. & Mrs. W. Van Alan Clark Sr. ($2,200,000), Mrs. Constance Ely (Mrs. Albert H. “Jack” Ely) total $1,000,000 (she also challenged others to match it, leading to an additional $1,000,000 being given), five gifts over $100,000 each, and nine over $50,000 each.

The Dean of Faculty summarized the financial situation at Mackinac College: “We had the great faith and financial naivete of enthusiasm.” “We had sadly misjudged the amount of money needed to open and operate a college…the Vietnam War had put an end to [public money] for education.” Furthermore, as it turned out, using the college buildings in winter months as initially proposed by Peter Howard contributed to the financial problems, as heating the buildings in winter and flying in supplies to feed the college population was very expensive.

Academic scholarships and Federal Work-Study programs were available to students who needed financial assistance. Some students received privately funded scholarships. But “by the end of the second year of Mackinac College, it was clear that even if we had the maximum number of students on campus, around 800, we would still have to raise a million dollars to keep out of debt.” Between June 1968 - 1969 the cost of education not covered by tuition was expected to be $2,046,000. So in 1968, despite generous gifts from the Cornell family foundation, from W. Van Alan Clark Sr., and from other donors “we began our third year with the knowledge that the writing was on the wall. We were heading for a financial disaster.” By October 5, 1968, when the Clark Conference Center was inaugurated, the college creditors had become extremely uneasy.

Controversy and Closing
Mackinac College focused on individual responsibility and action. The motto was “To Learn, To Live, To Lead.” This brought people together, but it also encouraged people to pursue strong and differing directions. Thus in September 1968, Mackinac College Trustee J. Blanton Belk Jr. (Executive Director of MRA) broke with MRA by incorporating UWP (a popular MRA program) as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation so he could exclusively run it himself. Belk then sold MRA’s many buildings in the US, severed links with the hundreds of local Sing Out groups, closed PACE magazine, fired/laid off hundreds of employees, and, on October 6, 1968, resigned from the Mackinac College Board of Trustees. At the same time Mackinac College Trustee Donald P. Birdsall also left the Mackinac College Board of Trustees to exclusively continue as Treasurer of UWP/MRA. Ironically, by 1970 the annual budget of UWP was $2,225,000 and one source reported that UWP at its peak was earning $30,000,000 annually.

Meanwhile, Cornell, Martin, and Board member Guething were pursuing paths throughout 1968 that might put Mackinac College on a secure financial footing. They hoped to find a financial partner for the college at one of the other Michigan colleges or universities, the US Government, or an International Great Lakes Research Center. Despite all their efforts, it was on December 23, 1968 that Dr. Cornell delivered news of the financial problems to students, parents, and the college community and that the only available solution they had found was in these 31 words of his 798-word letter: “...financial backing necessary for the College to continue to operate on its own could not be found…close association with Up With People (UWP) will give wider access to possible sources of funds…”   In a phone conversation with student James Nesteby, Trustee W. Van Alan Clark stated “We are saving the college, not giving the college to a cause.”  Clark stated that he was sending a financial advisor (George Cooley) to aid the Administration in handling finances and to meet with the students “on the following Friday or Saturday.”

This UWP “partnership,” however, was a profound shock to the Mackinac College community, because the financial transaction that created the independence of Mackinac College in 1966 was part of a deep philosophical and geographic reorganization within MRA. In 1965 MRA had divested its Mackinac properties, had become UWP in the US, and had separated from Britain’s MRA. In 1968 few people at Mackinac College knew any of the financial facts behind Dr. Cornell’s letter. The Administration’s effort to unite Mackinac College with UWP seemed to most of the college community to be a betrayal of everything that they had been told they were creating.

Dr. Cornell’s letter persuasively suggested that merging UWP and Mackinac College was the actual objective. The 798-word letter was largely devoted to the idea of merging UWP and Mackinac College: “It gives me pleasure to announce a long step forward…The College, while preserving its identity and corporate structure, will now assume a closely coordinated relationship with Up With People…students will be admitted and retained only if they share the basic purposes of Mackinac and wish to participate in the evolving programs of Up with People.” Long and scrupulously recorded Town Hall discussions were held by the whole Mackinac College community in January 1969. Faculty felt betrayed: “Please do come visit Mackinac College, which is merging with ‘Up With People.’ Come see a vigorous young college torn apart.”  The professor of International History described his perception this way:  “Student unrest throughout the US was rampant…Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated; President Lyndon Johnson announced he was not running for re-election; and in China the Cultural Revolution was at its atrocious height. Mackinac College did not seem to have any more ability to cope with national crisis than other older and larger universities.” Later Dr. Martin admitted that this “abortive and ill-considered attempt to create an off-campus experience for students by linking the college with the traveling program of…UWP…failed, and our days were numbered.”

Some students tried to save the college through fundraising. Many felt personally destroyed. Blame fell on everyone, and the attempt to bring in UWP was ultimately abandoned. Eventually a proposal for continuing the last semesters of Mackinac College on a limited basis was enacted. During these semesters, 34 students and 15 faculty reduced their expenses by using only portions of the Great Hall Complex and a small kitchen; other buildings were closed down. The school closed on June 20, 1970 after graduation of the Charter Class. At that time the expectation was that Indiana and Illinois Universities would coordinately take over the campus and use it for study of the Great Lakes. Ultimately, however, the campus property was sold for $2.2 million, a fraction of its $13,000,000 market value. It eventually became a hotel, Mission Point Resort.

Legacy
The Mackinac College experience prepared its community in unexpected ways for their futures, lives, careers, families, and purposes. Although many continue to deeply feel the closing of the College, the hundreds of Mackinac College students, faculty, staff, construction volunteers, and families across the globe remain in contact through phone, mail, reunions, and social media. In addition, today the Mackinac College Legacy Fund--started by a Mackinac College student--supports education and environmental projects on the island. MCLF education grants are principally directed toward preparing island students to function in a global and diverse workplace. The Fund receives frequent donations and is a significant part of the Mackinac Island Community Foundation.

Administration, Faculty, and Staff
BY EDRIC CANE
 * Teaching to Intuition: Constructive Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics Students (2013)

BY WILBER A. CHAFFEE
 * Dissertations on Latin America by U.S. historians, 1960-1970: A Bibliography (1973)
 * The Economics of Violence in Latin America: A Theory of Political Competition (1992)
 * Cuba [with GARY PREVOST] (1992)
 * Desenvolvimento: Politics and Economy in Brazil (Critical Perspectives on Latin America's Economy and Society) (1997)

BY JEANNETTE CLAUSEN
 * Women in German Yearbook 6--Feminist studies and German culture [with HELEN CAFFERTY] (1991)

BY MARTIN K. DOUDNA
 * Concerned About the Planet: The Reporter Magazine and American Liberalism, 1949-1968 (Contributions in American Studies) [with ROBERT H. WALKER] (1977)
 * Transcendentalism (1849) (1981)
 * Have You Any Room for Us? (play) (1975)

BY TIMOTHY W. GALLWEY
 * The Inner Game of Tennis (1st ed.) (1974)
 * Inner tennis: playing the game (1976)
 * Inner skiing (1st ed.) [with ROBERT J. KRIEGEL] (1977)
 * The Inner Game of Golf (1st ed.) (1981)
 * Inner Game of Winning (1985)
 * The inner game of music (1st ed.) [with BARRY GREEN] (1986)
 * The Inner Game of Work (2000)
 * The Inner Game of Stress: Outsmart Life's Challenges, Fulfill Your Potential, Enjoy Yourself [with EDD HANZELIK and JOHN HORTON] (2009)

BY YU-TANG DANIEL LEW
 * The Best of Two Worlds [ed. BRIAN LEW] (2008)

BY DON LIBBY
 * A Thousand Steps, My Journey [ed. ALICE CHAFFEE] (2010)

BY MORRIS MARTIN
 * Always A Little Further, Four Lives of a Luckie Felowe (2001)

BY JOHN McCABE
 * Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy (1989)
 * Cagney (1997)
 * Cagney by Cagney, the ghostwritten autobiography of James Cagney (1976)
 * George M. Cohan: The Man Who Owned Broadway (1973)
 * Charlie Chaplin (1978 and 1992)
 * Grand Hotel: Mackinac Island (1987 and 1993)
 * Laurel & Hardy [with AL KILGORE and RICHARD W. BANN] 1984
 * Laurel & Hardy (1966 and 1975)
 * Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy (1985)
 * Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy: A Funny Book About Stan (The Skinny One) and Ollie (The Fat One), Two Funny and Gentle Men (1961)
 * The Laurel & Hardy Encyclopedia [with GLENN MITCHELL] 1995
 * The Comedy World of Stan Laurel (1974)

BY JOHN RUFFIN
 * When Our Roads Come Together: Sing-Out and Up with People, 1965-70, Unplugged (2016)

BY KATHERINE SMEDLEY
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 * Grace - a Journey from Betrayal to Healing (2012)
 * Ojos Abiertos: Buscando a los Doce Esquema para un Mundo Nuevo (2016)

Students
BY STEPHEN E. CORNELL
 * Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World (Sociology for a New Century Series) [with DOUGLAS HARTMANN] (2007)
 * The State of the Native Nations: Conditions under U.S. Policies of Self-Determination [with JOSEPH P. KALT, ERIC C. HENSON, JONATHAN B. TAYLOR, CATHERINE E. A. CURTIS, KENNETH W. GRANT II, MIRIAM R. JORGENSEN, ANDREW J. LEE, and HARRY NELSON] (2007)
 * What Can Tribes Do? Strategies and Institutions in American Indian Economic Development (American Indian Manual & Handbook Series No. 4) [ed. STEPHEN E. CORNELL and ed. JOSEPH P. KALT] (1992)
 * Native Nations and U.S. Borders: Challenges to Indigenous Culture, Citizenship, and Security [with RACHEL ROSE STARKS and JEN McCORMACK] (2011)
 * The Return of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence (1990)

BY ROSLYN ANN DUFFY
 * Positive Discipline for Parenting in Recovery: A Guide to Help Recovering Parents [with JANE NELSEN and RIKI INTNER] (1995)
 * Positive Discipline for Preschoolers: For Their Early Years--Raising Children Who are Responsible, Respectful, and Resourceful [with JANE NELSEN and CHERYL ERWIN] (1994) [also Revised 2nd and 3rd Editions (1998 & 2007)]
 * Positive Discipline: The First Three Years-Laying the Foundation for Raising a Capable Confident Child [with JANE NELSEN and CHERYL ERWIN] (1998) [also Revised & Updated 2nd Edition, from Infant to Toddler (2015)]
 * Positive Discipline A Teacher's A-Z Guide Turn Common Behavioral Problems into Opportunities for Learning [with JANE NELSEN] (1996)
 * Positive Discipline: A Teacher's A-Z Guide, Revised 2nd Edition: Hundreds of Solutions for Every Possible Classroom Behavior Problem [with JANE NELSEN, LINDA ESCOBAR, KATE ORTOLANO, and DEBBIE OWEN-SOHOCKI] (2001)
 * The Top Ten Parenting Preschool Problems: What to do about them (2013)

BY LESLIE ANN ENGLE
 * Seeking God with Butch and Boomer: A Book of Family Devotions (2012)
 * The Healing Power of Fajitas (2013)

BY KARIN EVERSON
 * The Quadrennial Yearbook [ed. KARIN EVERSON, with CARLA MAGSAMEN and WILLIAM D. SAUL] (1970)

BY JOE FLOWER
 * Prince of the Magic Kingdom: Michael Eisner and the Re-Making of Disney (1991)
 * Disney, les managers du rêve (1992)
 * Healthcare Beyond Reform: Doing It Right for Half the Cost (2012)
 * How to Get What We Pay For: A Handbook for Healthcare Revolutionaries - Doctors, Nurses, Healthcare Leaders, Inventors, Investors, Employers, Insurers, You (2015)
 * Pushing Healthcare to the Tipping Point: A Handbook for the Revolutionaries - Doctors, Nurses, Healthcare Leaders, Inventors, Investors, Employers, Insurers, Governments (2015)

BY FREDRICA GRAY
 * Facts about the status of Connecticut women (1983)
 * Crossing bridges: A guide for displaced homemakers and other women in transition (1984)

BY SUSAN WARNER KEENE
 * Fiberarts Vol. 20, No. 31993 Nov/Dec [with LYNN BASA, MARGO MENSING, PATRICIA MALARCHER] (1993)
 * Out of Nature: A Survey of Fibre Work from 1982 to 1995 [with THERESA MORIN] (1995)
 * Diligence and Elegance: The Nature of Japanese Textiles [with NATALIA NEKRASSOVA] (2017)

BY PHYLLIS KIRK
 * Quantum Lite: How to Calm the Chaos (2002, 2011, 2016)

BY JACQUELYN FORD MORIE
 * Mackinac College: To Learn - To Live - To Lead (2014)

BY JAMES R. NESTEBY
 * QUASI - Brief on Ideology (1970)

BY LYNDA COOK PLETCHER
 * The Early Intervention Workbook: Essential Practices for Quality Services (2013)

BY WILLIAM D. SAUL
 * Mackinac College 1969-1970, A Philosophy of Realism, A Practice of Imagination (1970)

BY CARMEN STERBA
 * The Amazement of Deer (2017)

Request edit on 25 June 2018
I am a retired molecular microbiologist with no conflict of interest in this work (see my UserPage). I am responding here because Theroadislong has not replied to my effort to contact him. I am neither personally nor professionally connected with the subject of Mackinac College. The poor quality of the Mackinac College Wikipedia page came to my attention in 2013, and I decided to (slowly) write a well-researched history of Mackinac College for Wikipedia. In 2014 I provided some input to this page that is still in the current article. I also wrote and in February 2014 posted two related Wikipedia pages: Mission Point (Mackinac Island) and Mackinac College (Humbard). I am a graduate of Mackinac College (1970), Michigan State University, Columbia University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of Tennessee Memphis. For my complete Mackinac College history efforts, see Mackinac College Talk #5: “Much of the text and references in this 4-yr-old stub are partially or completely wrong”. Then see Mackinac College Talk #6 - #19 “New Mackinac College article, with 58 references” for my new complete History of Mackinac College.Karin D. E. Everett (talk) 04:10, 25 June 2018 (UTC)

Mackinac College Wikipedia page. This is, in detail, the first of many minimally essential edits referred to in Mackinac College Talk #5. More edits will follow in subsequent posts.

REPLACE “This article is about the college created by founders of the Moral Re-Armament.” WITH THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE: “This is the first college created on Mission Point, Mackinac Island, Michigan.”

RATIONALE

(1) This statement was posted on 11:07, 20 June 2014‎ with no references or support. It was a statement that the writer simply believed to be true. However, it has never been true for the following reasons.

(2) Moral Re-Armament (MRA) had only one founder: Frank N. D. Buchman. Buchman founded a Christian movement that in 1931 was known as The Oxford Group, and which he renamed MRA in 1938.

(3) Frank Buchman did not found or create Mackinac College because he died August 7, 1961. (Mackinac College opened September 14, 1966. )

(4) In November 1964 Peter D. Howard had an idea to start colleges in Caux (Switzerland) and on Mackinac Island. Howard was an MRA member, but not a Founder. After Buchman’s death, Howard had become the head of MRA but he also soon died (February 25, 1965).

(5) Shortly before his death, Howard convinced two other MRA members (neither were Founders) to develop the college idea: Basil R. Entwistle and Dr. Morris H. Martin. Both, like Howard, were graduates of the University of Oxford. For details of this process, see Mackinac College Talk #6 - #7.

(6) MRA's explicit role in the founding the college was to sell its Mackinac Island property to the college. Therefore "Moral Re-Armament" should not be in this sentence.

REFERENCES Karin D. E. Everett (talk) 04:10, 25 June 2018 (UTC) ❌ - same reasons as the last several times you've made the same request. Your idiosyncratic method of referencing prior discussion makes no sense. Your references are still the same connected sources. Your "qualifications" are still irrelevant. And your conflict of interest is still obvious. John from Idegon (talk) 06:26, 25 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Hi. I haven't had a chance to try and get a hold of these sources, but I don't think that having attended a college several decades ago represents a strong enough conflict of interest that it requires you to request edits be made on your behalf. I'd just go ahead and put that in the article, if I were you -- it's all referenced, to what appear to me to be decently credible sources. If somebody has an actual argument as to why these sources are bad or being misrepresented, they can explain it here on the talk page. jp×g 08:49, 25 April 2021 (UTC)
 * PS. It might be worth pinging, who has quite an extensive roster of articles about Michigan history, and a good ability to track down / evaluate sources. jp×g 08:54, 25 April 2021 (UTC)

Remarks by User:Skydeas
There have been some errors in the latest edit of this article. The school's mascot was never an eagle; it was a turtle. The team was never named the Patriots either. And the school's colors were blue and green. The college logo, which seems to have been removed, clearly showed those colors. Not sure why these changes were made, but having researched this place extensively, and having many of the references and documents from the college, I can definitively say the items mentioned above are now not longer correct on the page.

It seem that the references for the mascot, et al. came from a brief newspaper article from 1973, which was referring to the bible college that came later (and was active in that year), not to the first and original Mackinac College. Could these errors please be fixed?


 * As the main author to the article, I can ONLY go by references for the article. I use reliable websites and books -> none show any of this information above. I also use historical newspapers. The college was well covered in newspapers and my search at Newspapers.Com shows 2,595 articles. None of those articles talk of the mascot being a turtle or talks of the college's colors being blue and green.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 10:00, 28 September 2021 (UTC)
 * I note that User:Skydeas (Jacquelyn Ford Morie), that lives in California, happens to edit her own article a lot. I note that the main editor to her article is User:Orlib, who's only edits she has made are to her article. It turns out 78% of the article has been made between these two editors.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 10:08, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

School mascot and colors
Doug, you are missing the point in my comments, which refers to the date of your reference newspaper article about the school mascot and colors. The date is 1973, which is 3 years AFTER the first Mackinac College closed. The second college, The Rex Humbard one, was the school that made the announcement in that newspaper post. Maybe you could add to that wiki article, as that is where that reference should be attached. It should be removed in this wiki article, as it is from a date this college no longer existed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skydeas (talk • contribs) 20:56, 2 October 2021 (UTC)

Copyright contributor investigation and Good article reassessment
This article is part of Contributor copyright investigations/20210315 and the Good article (GA) drive to reassess and potentially delist over 200 GAs that might contain copyright and other problems. An AN discussion closed with consensus to delist this group of articles en masse, unless a reviewer opens an independent review and can vouch for/verify content of all sources. Please review Good article reassessment/February 2023 for further information about the GA status of this article, the timeline and process for delisting, and suggestions for improvements. Questions or comments can be made at the project talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 09:36, 9 February 2023 (UTC)