Why is the Bluffton University Board of Trustees giving the university away (“Bluffton, Findlay universities to merge,” April)? The debt-to-student ratio is lower for Bluffton than for Findlay, so Bluffton is in a better financial situation. Bluffton will get only 1/10th of the new board seats, a token gesture. The new owners, UF-Church of God, will be able to sell any of the Bluffton campus to pay off their debt or use it as collateral for a new loan.  

The board is self-selecting, but they were told they must sign a nondisclosure agreement and not say anything about the merger until after the announcement. This is very un-Mennonite. The gag order may not even be legal. The Mennonite Church USA representative on the board should have given churches a heads-up to protect a valuable resource of our Mennonite faith.  

The governing body of higher education, the Higher Learning Commission, has delayed the transition by another year, as it has with similar mergers across the nation. This should raise some questions.  The HLC will still take comments about specific mergers on their website. 

John Suter, Philadelphia