A major battle over the future of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art appears to be coming to an end, according to statements released on Tuesday by the prestigious Manhattan college’s Board of Trustees and a coalition of professors, alumni, and students who sued in 2014 to block the board’s plan to start charging undergraduate tuition.
Those groups and the office of the attorney general of New York State, which began investigating the board’s handling of the institution’s finances after the lawsuit was filed, said they had reached agreement on a consent decree to settle the case. The document, signed by all three parties, was to be filed in a state court on Wednesday.
The attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, who brokered the agreement, said in a statement quoted by The Wall Street Journal, "We are uniting to preserve the Cooper Union as a national treasure."
Under the consent decree, which requires court approval to go into effect, tuition would remain in place for now, but the board would install an independent monitor and form a committee to explore ways for the college to return to its previous free model as soon as possible.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/fight-over-cooper-unions-decision-to-charge-tuition-nears-an-end/103993