The University of the Arts, a private college in Philadelphia that abruptly closed its doors in June, filed for bankruptcy Friday, two weeks after it faced
The school listed assets and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million, in a petition for Chapter 7 liquidation filed in the US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The school’s board of trustees held a special meeting on Sept. 5 to approve the filing. It was subsequently approved by 17 of 18 board members.
The closing of the school last year came as a shock to students, parents and staff who were only given a week’s notice. The action spurred protests at its campus as well as multiple legal actions.
Bloomberg News
Former faculty members filed suit against the institution in June saying it violated federal and state employment laws for failing to give enough notice of a mass layoff. A class action suit was also filed by students on similar grounds.
Many
University of the Arts had a student-faculty ratio of 7.5 to 1 and offered degrees such as a master of music and master of fine arts, according to its website.
Enrollment dropped precipitously ahead of the closing, with the number of full-time students falling to about 1,100 in the 2023-24 school year compared to 1,800 in the 2019-20 year, according to a regulatory filing.
The university issued revenue bonds in 2017 through a conduit issuer, the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development.
University of the Arts has hired restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal as an adviser. Richard Placey, the university’s bankruptcy attorney, didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Gordon Gendler, a senior vice president of UMB Bank, the trustee, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.