Small College America Jonathan Nichols - Author of Requiem for a College
Welcome to Small College America, a podcast dedicated to exploring the role and value of small colleges in the higher education landscape. I'm Dean Hoke, and I’m joined by my co-host, Kent Barnds.
Today, we are speaking with Jon Nichols, an author and educator whose work explores the intersection of personal narrative and institutional collapse in American higher education. He is the author of Requiem for a College: The Troubling Trend of College Closures in the United States, a deeply reflective and investigative account of the 2017 closure of Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana, where three generations of his family served as faculty and administrators. Drawing on his background as both an insider and journalist, Nichols illuminates the human cost behind financial and governance failures. He currently teaches English at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois, and his work has made him a frequent commentator on America's college closure crisis. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Debbie, and his dog, Tony.
- Welcome Jon. Your book, Requiem for a College, is described as part memoir, part institutional autopsy, and compelling reading. What drew you to blend personal narrative with investigative reporting, rather than writing a purely objective analysis of Saint Joseph's closure?
- Three generations of your family were connected to Saint Joseph’s College—your father, Dr. John Nichols, who taught and served there for five decades, and your brother Michael, who also taught there and now teaches at Purdue. How did you balance the emotional weight of losing a family institution with the analytical distance needed to understand what happened?
- Saint Joseph’s closed in 2017, relatively early in what’s become an accelerating wave of small-college closures. Looking back, what warning signs should have been taken more seriously—at your institution or across higher education in general?
- Jon, your book captures not just institutional failure but also human loss—the erasure of identity, community, and legacy. What has been the long-term impact on former students, faculty, and the Rensselaer community?
- As someone now teaching at a community college, how has your experience with Saint Joseph’s closure shaped your view of what sustainable higher education looks like in America?
- Looking into the future, what policies or systemic reforms do you believe could reduce the frequency of college closures—and who should take the lead in driving those reforms: federal or state agencies, accreditors, or institutional boards?
Jon, thank you for joining us today and discussing your new book, Requiem for a College: The Troubling Trend of College Closures in the United States. For those listening, if you'd like to learn more about Small College America, go to our web page at www.smallcollegeamerica.net, where you can find details on upcoming episodes, contact us, and suggest topics you’d like us to cover.
This episode of Small College America is made possible with underwriting support from Perspective Data Science, a firm specializing in AI-powered tools and data solutions, including the Financial Compass platform.
On behalf of our guest, Jon Nichols, my co-host Kent Barnds, and Dean Hoke, thank you for listening.”
