A week after Martin University announced it would “pause operations” at the end of the semester, the university terminated all staff and is encouraging students to transfer to other local colleges.
In a meeting with staff Dec. 15, interim president Felicia Brokaw told employees the university was terminating them because it could not pay them. She also said the university had not submitted payroll because it did not have the funds to pay staff for hours they had already worked.
“The reason why we’re doing a termination letter is so that I’m not digging deeper in debt,” Brokaw told staff, according to an audio recording of the meeting obtained by Mirror Indy. “Once the money gets in, everybody will be contacted, and we will go ahead and send the money out.”
In an email sent Tuesday, Dec. 16, Martin told students that they were responsible for reaching out to other colleges and provided a list of schools that have expressed willingness in helping students transition, including Marian University, UIndy and Indiana Wesleyan University.
“This is what we can do for you: try to smooth your path once you have decided on a different school,” the email said. “We repeat: It is up to you to reach out to these schools and engage in dialogue.”
In conversations with Mirror Indy, three former staff members and two students all expressed frustration with how the university has handled the closure.
Kory Amyx, a former financial aid and veteran affairs adviser at the university, said he feels that the university was not honest with staff about their struggling finances.
“They took advantage of our kindness, that we were working to help the students,” Amyx said. “Because all of us are there for the students.”
Neither Brokaw nor Martin University responded to Mirror Indy’s request for comment or to emailed questions, including when staff would be paid and what support was being offered for students in the wake of layoffs.
In the Dec. 15 meeting, Brokaw said she did not know when staff would be paid. Brokaw said that when she told university trustees that the university needed money for payroll, trustees began contributing out of their own pockets.
“We’re just waiting for money to roll in,” she said in the meeting.
How did we get here?
Martin University has long struggled financially and made headlines earlier this year when Gov. Mike Braun did not renew a one-time $5 million funding boost for the university.
Martin is a private institution and does not typically receive state funding. But Gov. Eric Holcomb advocated for the university to receive state dollars in 2023. The university used that funding for everything from facility improvements to staff salaries, according to invoices Mirror Indy obtained through a public records request.
In a recording of a Dec. 8 meeting that was shared with Mirror Indy, Brokaw told staff that although Braun’s decision not to renew state funds was a contributing factor to the university’s decision to close, it was not the main reason.
“Martin’s been on life support, probably for six or seven years now,” Brokaw said. “Reality is, we just been kicking a can down the road, and we can’t kick it anymore.”
Audits completed in June 2023 and 2024 cast doubt on the university’s ability to remain open for the following year, though both reports said the university and its board were optimistic about the university’s ability to sustain itself.
In February 2024, then-president Sean Huddleston told Mirror Indy that he was optimistic about the university and that Martin’s future “is as bright as it always has been.” Just seven months later, Huddleston announced he would step down as president.
Staff impact
While the university’s financial struggles may have been well-documented, the decision to close so abruptly came as a shock to staff and students alike.
Amyx joined the college in March 2025 because he had a passion for helping students and hoped he could help the struggling university.
“I was hoping that this would turn out to be a long-term career path,” Amyx said. “I was hoping to retire from there. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
Amyx said that while he knew the university was struggling, he had previously been told his job was secure until at least next summer and that the university just needed to boost enrollment. He estimates that over two dozen people were laid off this week.
This is not the first struggle Amyx has had during his short time working at the university. He filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in October because of harassment he said he faced while at Martin. Martin did not immediately respond to request for comment about the complaint.
Out of work less than two weeks before Christmas, Amyx is now worried about how he’s going to pay his bills. He started a GoFundMe for himself to cover rent, groceries and other essential expenses.
Stacey Lewis is a Martin alum who worked part-time in the university’s child care center until she was terminated Monday, Dec. 15.
For Lewis, the Martin job was just supplemental income, so she will still be able to cover her bills. But she’s worried about all the families whose kids she cared for.
The university was the only school in Indianapolis to offer free child care to its students, many of whom were parents. When Lewis was a student, that resource was a lifeline.
Now, Martin students who are looking to transfer will almost certainly also have to look for child care solutions if they want to finish their education.
“It was a safe environment for those children,” Lewis said. “I don’t know if other schools will look into opening up child care for families who need it to get an education, but it’s definitely something that’s needed.”
What’s next for students?
Martin University students are being encouraged by college administrators to transfer to other schools.
Zakiya Hardley, 48, is a single mom currently caring for her own two children and her sister’s three kids. She enrolled at Martin in fall 2023 to study early childhood education.
Hardley chose the university because of its flexible class scheduling. She liked that she could take hybrid and online classes, and work at her own pace. It was also less than a 10-minute drive from her house.
Though Hardley took some time off to focus on her family, she was planning on restarting at Martin. When she found out that the school was closing, she was frustrated and upset that she’d have to look elsewhere to finish her education.
“It’s a little stressful because you get used to the professors there,” she said, “and now you gotta go out and meet different people.”
Hardley’s now looking at transferring to Indiana Wesleyan University, because it offers online classes.
Per the email obtained by Mirror Indy, staff is hosting an online fair for students Wednesday, Dec. 17 and Thursday, Dec. 18, where representatives from other colleges will be available to answer questions and help students with next steps.
What will come next for Martin?
In the Dec. 15 meeting, Brokaw said that the university’s accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, does not allow for temporary pauses. If and when Martin decides to reopen, it would once again have to seek accreditation, meaning it will have to undergo an evaluation to ensure it’s up to standard.
The university was placed on probation with its accreditor from 2014 to 2017 due to financial problems and student retention issues.
In the Dec. 8 meeting, Brokaw told staff the Board of Trustees is “exploring a range of options” for Martin’s future.
“It may be online. You have a lot of online-only institutions,” Brokaw said. “We don’t know right now, but nothing’s dead in the water.”
Several state and local lawmakers, including Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, have expressed concern about the college’s closure.
Porter was the first lawmaker to raise concerns about Braun not including funding for Martin in his state budget proposal.
In a Dec. 10 statement, Porter said he would fight “for the state to adequately support this historic institution” at the next state budget committee meeting and through legislation.
But since the current legislative session is not a budget session, it’s unclear what funding options for Martin could look like and whether Braun and other lawmakers would be open to it.
The state budget committee meets Thursday, Dec. 18. Martin University is not on the agenda. As of Tuesday, Dec. 16, no legislation related to Martin has been filed.