A small, private university in West Virginia declared bankruptcy yesterday, a month after announcing that it planned to stop operating, the Associated Press reported. Alderson Broaddus University filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the state’s northern district. According to the filing, the university estimated it had between $1 million and $10 million in total assets, liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million and owed money to between 100 and 199 creditors. The filing was signed by Alderson Broaddus interim president Andrea Bucklew. The campus community was notified of the decision, the university said in a statement. Alderson Broaddus Board Chairman James Garvin said the panel “is grateful to the students, employees, alumni and donors who have embodied the Christian spirit of the University, and through them, the legacy of AB will live on.” On July 31 the university’s Board of Trustees voted to develop a plan to disband after another board overseeing the state’s four-year colleges and universities revoked its ability to award degrees effective Dec. 31. The university said the revocation meant the school could have offered only limited classes to about 20 students this fall. The Baptist university’s 625 students on the Philippi campus were forced to scramble to enroll at other colleges.
