{"id":2833,"date":"2015-07-20T13:58:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T17:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=2833"},"modified":"2016-12-22T11:40:33","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T16:40:33","slug":"joe-lapp-led-a-shrinking-college-to-be-a-growing-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2015\/07\/20\/joe-lapp-led-a-shrinking-college-to-be-a-growing-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Lapp Led a Shrinking College To Be a Growing University"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joseph<\/a>

Joseph L. Lapp ’66, JD (left), walks beside his successor as president of EMU, Loren Swartzendruber ’76, MDiv’79, DMin, and Myron Augsburger ’55, MDiv, ThM, ThD, who was EMU’s fifth president, serving from 1965 to 1980. (Photo by Lindsey Kolb)<\/p><\/div>\n

Of EMU\u2019s eight presidents during its 98 years of existence, only one came from a career in a totally secular field. Law. This was president no. 7, Joseph L. Lapp \u201966<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After graduating with a J.D. from the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1972, Lapp practiced law in several situations before becoming a partner in the firm of Souder, Rosenberger, Lapp and Bricker in Souderton, Pennsylvania. There he did such bread-and-butter law as general business and estate planning.<\/p>\n

Two years after he began building his law practice \u2013 and just eight years after graduating from EMU as a history and Bible major \u2013 Lapp agreed to serve on EMU\u2019s board of trustees.<\/p>\n

Little did Lapp know back in 1974 that this affiliation would put his life on a track entirely different than he expected as a young lawyer with a growing practice in Souderton.<\/p>\n

Six years later Lapp was elected board chair. Six more years, and he was appointed EMU\u2019s seventh president, succeeding Richard Detweiler \u201949<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Lapp knew what he was stepping into as president. And it wasn\u2019t a ship-shape vessel. \u201cMany people thought I was a fool to leave my practice and come to EMC [Eastern Mennonite College],\u201d Lapp told Crossroads<\/em> recently. Enrollment had dropped precipitously from 1980 to 1986, he noted, leaving it with only 774 students in 1986-87.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome said EMC should plan on being a college with 500 students,\u201d he added. \u201cBut efficiency is impossible at that small of a size. Our aspirations were to offer high-quality education.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Lapp took the helm in July 1987, Eastern Mennonite College could have gone one of two ways:<\/p>\n

(1) as Sweet Briar College did this year, when it announced it would focus on methodically closing down due to shriveling enrollment, or<\/p>\n

(2) as James Madison University did, when it went from being a small women\u2019s college founded in 1908 to growing rapidly in the 1960s, upon becoming fully coeducational and adding an array of graduate programs.<\/p>\n

Lapp was determined that the demise of EMC would not happen on his watch. He was equally determined that the Anabaptist value base of EMC would not disappear.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany higher education institutions have removed Christian faith from the curriculum,\u201d he said in comments published in Crossroads<\/em> (fall \u201994). \u201cEastern Mennonite believes the fusion of religion and the educational curriculum, especially in the private sector, contributes a set of values to the community that are beneficial to all.\u201d He went on to talk about upholding \u201cChrist\u2019s call to a life of service and peacemaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Lapp\u2019s law background, he set about seeking information, analyzing the facts, and asking tough questions about EMC\u2019s situation. At a conference with other Christian colleges, he learned that some of them were doing well offering adult degree completion programs. In talking with his brother, John Lapp \u201954<\/strong>, then head of Mennonite Central Committee (and profiled on page 62), Joe Lapp learned that MCC needed a place where its workers could get intensive training in conflict transformation theory and skills. From EMC\u2019s seminary faculty he learned of the need for counseling education.<\/p>\n

Lapp was backed by a strong cabinet, with Lee F. Snyder<\/strong> as his academic dean and vice president. \u201cShe was very important to me \u2013 her work ethic was outstanding, as was her judgment.\u201d Ronald E. Piper<\/strong>, a CPA, was also key, \u201cmagic,\u201d as vice president of finance.<\/p>\n

Based on his research and wide consultations \u2013 with the trust and support of his cabinet and EMC\u2019s board \u2013 Lapp led EMC through a remarkable series of changes from 1987 to 1995, including:<\/p>\n