SITKA, ALASKA
While some unsecured debt remains, the way is now clear for the Sheldon Jackson trustees to transfer the historic campus to another institution. Board president Shirley Holloway was nursing a cold when the news was announced, but she couldn’t help but be relieved and grateful.
“I feel like it’s a red-letter day for us and for Sitka.”
Holloway is one of five remaining trustees who oversaw the demise of Alaska’s oldest educational institution. Sheldon Jackson abruptly shut down in June of 2007 when it could not meet payroll. It was reportedly laboring under several million dollars in debt, much of it owed to Alaska Growth Capital. While the trustees first entertained the idea of reorganizing and reopening, and subsequently a takeover by the University of Dubuque, the focus lately has been on saving the historic core campus for use by another – any – educational institution.
The Sitka Fine Arts Camp is the likely institution waiting in the wings. Holloway says there’s more for the trustees to do besides handing over the keys.
“We won’t run away fast because there’s a lot of historical things we want to take care of, and we want to work with a lot of different stakeholders in terms of preserving the history of the college. There is just a lot of stuff to do yet, and we want to do it well and with integrity.”
Hugh Short, the CEO of Alaska Growth Capital, says AGC has always had the welfare of Sheldon Jackson in mind. He says arriving at an agreement with the college was not difficult.
“It’s been our goal all along to work with the trustees and preserve the core campus, and to provide a soft landing for the trustees and Sheldon Jackson to continue their educational legacy. And to provide that legacy to Sitka, Southeast Alaska, and the state of Alaska.”
With the recent closing of the sale of the Stratton Library to the state for $2-million, and some other major pending sales, Sheldon Jackson’s debt to AGC has been pared down to around $650,000. There’s also another estimated $600,000 or so in unsecured debt to local vendors and other creditors from the school’s last days.
SJ’s executive manager, John Holst, told a meeting of concerned Sitkans last fall that there was no way the trustees could clear both amounts without parceling out the core campus. Holst mentioned that the trustees would likely make a personal appeal to Chairman Jacob Adams and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation – the parent of AGC – and the many shareholders with ties to the college.
Alaska Growth CEO Short says those ties were a factor in the decision to release the debt.
“There’s a long tradition of ASRC executives and elders attending the college – that’s important. It’s always taken into consideration. The bottom line is that Jacob Adams through his leadership at ASRC, Shirley Holloway through her leadership at Sheldon Jackson, and myself were able to come up with a solution that was beneficial to all parties. And we couldn’t have done it without the cooperation of everyone involved.”
Short says many in the community of Sitka, and the state, “stepped up to the plate” to purchase the college’s property and infrastructure, allowing AGC to “recoup the vast majority of our investment.” He says AGC and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation then did a cost-benefit analysis and decided that forgiving the balance would be in the best interest of all parties.
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