RENSSELAER — In a wide-ranging interview, Saint Joseph's College President Robert Pastoor addressed what he called "conspiracies" about the suspension, his future with the institution and why the college continued to spend beyond its means.
In the wake of an announcement last week that the college will temporarily suspend operations at the end of this semester, the shocked campus community has been turned upside down.
Students on Wednesday took a vote of no confidence in Pastoor and other administrators. Employees were told Monday that most of them would be laid off and might not receive severance packages. Alumni are desperately trying to save the private college and investigating whether the suspension can be stopped. People on social media have said closure was the college's plan all along.
Pastoor, however, said there are no conspiracies occurring among the school's leaders, but rather "we have just run out of time and run out of money in order to make this work."
"I can categorically deny there are no conspiracies going on. I was not hired to do this," said Pastoor, who started his role in March 2015. "I would not have moved my family to Rensselaer, Indiana, and bought a house here two years ago for me to do this. That is not what I was hoping to do as a president of a college."
He does not plan to continue as president after May.
Pastoor said he didn't learn of the breadth of the college's financial woes until after he started. When he realized the scope of the problem, Pastoor said he communicated it to alumni in a September 2015 letter titled "The President's Call to Action." The letter stated how the college needed to significantly improve campus infrastructure, increase enrollment, address debt and enhance the quality of student life.