Phillips University Will Live On Through Legacy Foundation, Alumni Group
Phillips University web site

ENID, Okla. — Phillips University, a 90-year-old Oklahoma institution that declared bankruptcy in 1998, will live on permanently through the Phillips University Legacy Foundation (PULF) and the Phillips University Alumni and Friends Association (FUAFA).

• See also: DHE press release

Scholarships will be available from PULF for undergraduate students attending Disciples of Christ-related colleges and universities and for faculty of Disciples of Christ institutions, including the former faculty and staff of Phillips who served in the last years the school was open. Further, PUAFA will assume a broader role in connecting the Philips community across the nation and around the world. Philips University itself will also continue to explore educational options.

In addition, Phillips will offer modest educational grants for academic year 2001-2002 to students who were enrolled at Phillips during its last two years of operation (1996-97 and 1997-98), but did not graduate from the university. The grants will be payable jointly to the students and the college, university, graduate school, or other institution where they are enrolled. "Phillips was always about the students and these grants signify the university's ongoing concern and appreciation for those who were on campus during some difficult times, " said Dr. G. Curtis Jones, Jr., Phillips president.

In another action, the university announced that it would honor the late Denny Price, former Phillips coach and administrator, with a $20,000 donation to the Denny Price Memorial Foundation through the Enid Community Foundation for the benefit of the Denny Price Family YMCA of Enid, Oklahoma. In the view of the university trustees and staff, "Denny Price epitomized the best of Phillips University, whether coaching, working with students, or otherwise representing Phillips and serving the community."

According to Dr. Jones, these actions ensure that the Phillips name will continue to be associated with the educational and live values so strongly embodied in the university's purposes for so many decades. Likewise, PUAFA's programs will ensure that the university community remains connected, even though its physical presence in Enid has ended.

Jones pointed out that "although the university's closing was a sad and even tragic events, the conduct of the closing and bankruptcy - and the opportunity for Phillips' ongoing life — were victories."

"When we filed bankruptcy in April 1998, the trustees set several objectives: (1) graduate the senior class and complete the academic year, (2) place students, faculty, and staff, and (3) pay creditors 100 percent of their allowed claims."

"Each objective was achieved," Jones said. "Creditors also were paid interest. No other closed university of college has accomplished what Phillips has done."

Beginning January 2002, PULF will solicit and receive applications for Phillips University Legacy Scholarships for the fall and spring term of the 2002-2003 academic year. The scholarship program will be administered by the Division of Higher Education, a unit of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Scholarship funds will be managed by the Christian Church Foundation, also a unit of the Christian Church.