AROUND HIGHER EDUCATION: NU votes to close Dental School

The Daily Northwestern EVANSTON, Ill. (U-WIRE) -- Northwestern's Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday night to close its 106-year-old Dental School after all current students graduate in 2001. Dental students said they were not surprised by the decision, but they expressed concern that the school will not be able to retain the faculty needed to teach students through 2001. Northwestern President Henry Bienen said he recommended the school's closure because it no longer fit within the mission of the university. The amount of research conducted at the Dental School does not meet Northwestern's goals, and investments required to increase research would be huge, he said. To bring the school's research into line with administration goals, Northwestern would have to invest $70 million in capital costs plus $6 million each year to sustain that research, Bienen said. The Dental School's endowment cannot cover these costs and the school is already running deficits, he said. Bienen said the university will retain some of the school's 54 faculty members by moving them into programs at its Medical School. Others will be offered positions in a new Dental Science and Engineering program. Some of the 100 staff members of the school may also be retained by the university. Several students said they are worried about faculty attrition and keeping the quality of the education high. "We want to make sure everyone in the school can graduate with the degree they signed up for," one student said. "A lot of us are concerned we will not be getting the full experience we are paying $27,000 for." Bienen originally recommended that the Dental School close in 1999. But after learning that other schools would not be able to accept all of Northwestern's transfer students, he revised his recommendation.