Sangamon Sun

Lincoln College in Logan County announced in March that it would be closing its doors effective May 13. On April 8, Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield), whose district includes Lincoln College, saw his resolution to support the students of the closing school pass both chambers.

Prior to the vote Butler made a speech on the House floor urging his colleagues to vote for the resolution.

"Lincoln College has been around since 1865 it was named while Abraham Lincoln was still alive in February of 1865 for Abraham Lincoln, the only university named for Lincoln while he was still alive," Butler said. "This has been a wonderful institution. My brother graduated from Lincoln College; my chief of staff graduated from Lincoln College and it's a true loss the community for Lincoln College to close."

House Joint Resolution 0092 is asking Illinois educational institutions to make allowances and provide whatever assistance possible to students looking for a new school starting in May. The resolution includes a plea for the state's public and private institutions to extend application deadlines to honor credits students earned at Lincoln College, and it also urges Lincoln College to waive transcript fees for students.

"This is a unique university in our state. It has over almost 60% black and brown students in the small community of Lincoln, Ill. Fifty percent of the student population is black - largely coming from the City of Chicago and Cook County; and from the Saint Louis metropolitan area. It's one of seven predominantly black universities in rural communities in the entire United States," Butler said. "It does a great thing by bringing kids from around the state into a small town like Lincoln to become educated and really see life in a different way, so with this announcement it's - as I said, it's a huge blow to the community. The university employs about 150 full-time staff and faculty; another 150 or so part-timers. Its 300 jobs in a community of 15,000, so what this resolution does is express our consensus as the legislature to urge all the public and private universities in Illinois to extend their deadlines to accept Lincoln College studets for next fall, to waive transcript fees that might apply, to honor their credits that they earned at Lincoln College, to match or exceed their financial assistance that they receive from Lincoln College and really do all they can to help out the kids at Lincoln College so they can go to school this fall."

Lincoln College announced its closure on March 29. The college's website explains that following record-breaking enrollment in fall 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on its recruitment and fundraising abilities.