James F. Jones

For other people named James Jones, see James Jones.

James F. Jones, Jr., is an American education administrator who has served as the interim president of Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, the president of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and of Kalamazoo College, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jones is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He and his wife, Jan, have three children and six grandchildren. Following an agreement to keep the college open released by the Virginia Attorney General's office on June 20, 2015, Jones stepped down as Sweet Briar College president on July 2, 2015.

Education

James F. Jones, Jr. graduated from Georgia Military Academy (later renamed Woodward Academy) in his hometown of Atlanta. Jones holds Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, a master's degree from Emory University and a Bachelor of Arts and GDIship from the University of Virginia, from which he graduated cum laude. While at Virginia he was assistant director of the Virginia Glee Club. He also holds a Certificat from The Sorbonne.

Career

Pre-Trinity positions

Before his presidency at Trinity, Jones served as president of Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1996 to 2004. From 1991 to 1996, he was Professor and Vice Provost at Southern Methodist University, as well as dean of its Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. From 1975 to 1991, Jones held various academic positions at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, including professor and chair in the department of Romance languages. Earlier, he served as preceptor in the Department of French and Romance Philology at Columbia University, and was chair of the Department of Foreign Languages at Woodward Academy in Atlanta.

Career at Trinity College

Jones assumed the role of Trinity’s 21st president on July 1, 2004 after leading Kalamazoo College in Michigan as its president for seven years. Jones announced in May 2013 that he would be retiring early on June 30, 2014.

Jones oversaw many new programs and infrastructure improvements to the college, including the largest capital campaigns in the college’s history; renovations to the historic Long Walk buildings; the redesign of the Gates Quad; the redesign of the Vernon Social student center; and the building of the new Crescent Street town houses.

Jones's most prominent fundraising effort failed to reach its target despite having raised $281 million in gifts and pledges—more than twice the total of any previous capital campaign at the college. A parallel Legacy Campaign raised nearly $88 million towards a $75 million goal. However these successes were overshadowed by Jones's attempt to effectively shut down Trinity College's 160-year-old Greek system by, among other things, requiring all sororities and fraternities to become 50/50 male/female by 2016 or risk having their properties confiscated by the school and their members expelled.

His presidency also saw the creation of the Center for Urban and Global Studies, the launch of a new urban studies major, the creation of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and a partnership with the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy. In 2011, Jones published a white paper entitled, "To Reweave the Helices: Trinity’s DNA by Our Two-Hundredth Birthday," in which he offered numerous suggestions for transforming the College by its bicentennial in 2023, strengthening its academic rigor and intellectual life, and expanding its social climate.

Jones's position at Trinity College ultimately became untenable (see criticisms below) and he was asked to retire early in 2013.

Criticism

Trinity College

Misuse of the Shelby Cullom Davis Endowment at Trinity College

In 2009, Jones faced criticism for allegedly raiding Trinity's Shelby Cullom Davis endowment and using the funds in contravention of the wishes of the original donor. Professor Gerald Gunderson, the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of American Business and Economic Enterprise at Trinity College filed a complaint with the Connecticut Attorney General's office and a review revealed that Jones had for some years been drawing on the Davis endowment without approval. Jones only agreed to adhere to wishes of the original donor in late 2013, when Prof. Gunderson commenced litigation. Details of the situation can be reviewed under "Cautionary Tales #8" in The Intelligent Donor's Guide to College Giving published by the American Council of Alumni and Trustees and in Games Universities Play: And How Donors Can Avoid Them, published by The John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. Commenting on the case, the donor's daughter, Diana Cullom Davis Spencer, noted: "If colleges like Trinity undermine donors’ confidence that they will respect their wishes, they place at risk the generous support they receive from our foundation and so many others—and the benefits that inure to millions of students from this largesse."

Fall in Trinity College's rankings

In 2003, prior to Jones's arrival at Trinity College, it was among the top 25 Best Liberal Arts Colleges, and 9th among the nation’s most selective Liberal Arts Colleges according to U.S. News & World Report. After Jones was appointed as Trinity's 21st president on July 21, 2004, Trinity College:

• fell to 45th according to U.S. News (2015)
• fell to 78th according to Forbes (2013)
• fell to 196th according to Washington Monthly (2013)

As Trinity's rankings began to plummet, Jones persuaded the Trinity community to join the Annapolis Group, a group which includes colleges such as Kalamazoo College, which refuses to participate or provide information to U.S. News & World Report or other college ranking organizations.

Social policy at Trinity College

Jones proposed a social policy for Trinity College which made a commitment, among other things, to require all sororities and fraternities to achieve gender parity within 2 years (ie for each sorority and fraternity to have an equal number of male and female members) or face closure. In a subsequent vote by Trinity's student government association, 82% of students voted against Jones's social policy. Jones's policies were also deeply unpopular with alumni, as evidenced by a 40% fall in the numbers of donations to Trinity College from 2011 to 2013, with not one single class of alumni meeting its goal for annual participation, an accomplishment which had been commonplace in every year prior to 2013. In his defense, President Jones pointed out in his final interview with Trinity's school newspaper, that at colleges that close fraternities, “non-Greek males and females make up the amount of donations lost to Greek males” within three to four years and that “year to date the College is doing very well.” However, at the July end of Fiscal year 2014, when Jones was finally replaced, the number of donors continued to fall further from 2013 levels, with a fall of almost 25% in donations from parents and a further decline in the percentage of alumni giving to only 6,942 gifts, versus a high of nearly 13,000 annual donors just three years earlier.

With donations continuing to slide in 2015, barely a year after the installation of Jones's successor, the key element of his social program, the requirement that all sororities and fraternities become coed, was cancelled by Trinity College's new president, Joanne Berger-Sweeney.

Sweet Briar College

Attempted closure of Sweet Briar College

On March 3, 2015, Jones, acting as the interim president of Sweet Briar College, surprised students, faculty and alumnae that the 114-year-old institution would close permanently in August 2015. Jones stated that the Board of Directors had come to two conclusions after deliberation: “The declining number of students choosing to attend small, rural, private liberal arts colleges and even fewer young women willing to consider a single-sex education," and "the increase in the tuition discount rate that we have to extend to enroll each new class is financially unsustainable."

Critics of the the announcement questioned Jones' claim that the college needed "$250M into the endowment by tomorrow morning." pointing to a (then) current a $94 million endowment as of 2013, similar to that of the University of Maryland, a school with over 37,000 students, in comparison to Sweet Briar's student population of 739. On March 30, 2015, the Amherst County attorney filed a lawsuit against Jones, alleging that the administration had been diverting and misusing funds donated for the operation of the college, to close the college.

A vote of no confidence in Jones and the board of directors was issued at a faculty meeting and on April 24, 2015, the faculty of Sweet Briar College filed a lawsuit seeking more than $40 million in damages. The faculty case asserted that the college was not in dire financial distress; and noted that net assets rose from $126 million to $135 million, the endowment grew from $85 million to $95 million, and debt dropped from $42 million to $25 million in the past five years..

Mediation arranged with assistance of of Virginia's attorney general resulted in Jones' resignation. During Jones one year tenure a president, Sweet Briar College enrollment fell by half.

External links

• Trinity College - James F. Jones profile
• Trinity College - James F. Jones biography

Further reading

• The Intelligent Donor's Guide to College Giving