Wartburg: Ohle leaving and the future

Iastfan112 · 04-30-2008, 01:07 AM

Since I know there are at least 3-4 other Wartburg grads/students who post here I was curious what everyone thinks about Ohle leaving? Also anyone else a bit concerned by the large amounts of debts he leaves behind? I'm sure the college is looking to collect even more money than the xx,000 dollars you gave them when you attended here now!

83Clone · 04-30-2008, 06:29 AM

Not a student or an alum but since I pay for a Wartburg student's education (and they are very proud of their school $$) I pay attention to what is going on there.

I was a bit surprised that he made a move at age 60. I thought he would stay at Wartburg for another few years then retire.

As for the debt, my daughter told me that he had a reputation for that at other schools he was at, so it was no surprise to her.

wartknight · 04-30-2008, 07:10 AM

You probably don't have any idea what all facilities were like before Ohle got there. Something needed to be done because things were being put off all the time. Along with incurring the debt, he also raised 90 million for Campaign Wartburg over 3 years. Not bad for a school with 15-1600 students at that time.

leg4cy · 04-30-2008, 07:11 AM

Can you say, "I'm getting out of Dodge." I find this move very shady. Ohle just dispelled rumors of him retiring or leaving months ago by saying he would "finish his career" at Wartburg. Gustavus is without a doubt a better job and more prestigious school, so I don't blame him there. I can't help but think he felt like he needed to try and use his accomplishments at Wartburg to catapault him somewhere else because his accomplishments have left the college in a tremendous amount of debt. I will be interested to hear what the new president has to say about Wartburg's finances when he or she gets acclimated to the situation. I think Wartburg will be fine, but the accreditation committee that visited campus last year (?) made note of Wartburg's finances before granting re-accreditation.

I think Ohle's vision for Wartburg was great. The new facilities and donations that he received were amazing. However, his lofty (costly) goals outweighed the record amount of money that was coming in.

drmwevr08 · 04-30-2008, 07:27 AM

Is Lena leaving with him?

wartknight · 04-30-2008, 07:29 AM

Sounds very similar to what Pollard is trying to do right now.

RCyclone · 04-30-2008, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by drmwevr08

Is Lena leaving with him?

Good one!

leg4cy · 04-30-2008, 08:28 AM

Debt-spending can be ok in certain situations. It remains to be seen if this is one of them.

ajk4st8 · 04-30-2008, 09:00 AM

I enjoyed him during my time at Wartburg. Money most likely won't be an issue. There is more money available to Wartburg than most would realize. Great education. Great facilities. Great athletics.

Just wish I could have used this. The W - Wartburg-Waverly Sports & Wellness Center

leg4cy · 04-30-2008, 09:08 AM

From what I understand, there's a lot of people that Wartburg is waiting on to die (that sounds bad, but is true). There is a considerable amount of donative money in wealthy alums wills, or so I've heard. I think a big part of the problem is that Wartburg was in the stone age before Ohle's tenure. The previous president was very prudent with money and didn't purchase anything if it couldn't be paid for then and there. Ohle felt the need to catch Wartburg up. I just wish it would have been done over a more extended period of time.

Iastfan112 · 04-30-2008, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by wartknight

You probably don't have any idea what all facilities were like before Ohle got there. Something needed to be done because things were being put off all the time. Along with incurring the debt, he also raised 90 million for Campaign Wartburg over 3 years. Not bad for a school with 15-1600 students at that time.

Actually I have somewhat of an idea, my dad has been the leader of our high school youth group for like 12 years now and Wartburg always hosted a weekend event sometime during the early spring, he was amazed by the amount of change that occurred on the campus. My views on the debt is that while I appreciate the nice facilities, it might have been good to go about it a little slower as 85 million is a fairly hefty load debt to carry around. I'm not gravely concerned but I anticipate any new projects such as a full renovation of FAC/CAC will be put on hold for awhile.