Faculty at the Middlebury Institute are set to be laid off, but are not rolling over quite yet.

Sara Rubin here, reflecting on the role of higher education institutions in our lives. If you’re a student or staff member, the impact is obvious—people move great distances to study or work at colleges or research institutes. But the way institutions shape our lives and communities also happens indirectly. 

Institutes of higher learning can define and change landscapes. Think of the way the campus of CSU Monterey Bay (still in active evolution) has transformed part of the former Fort Ord Army base into a public space (including the World Theater for a variety of public events).

Alternatively, the U.S. Army’s Defense Language Institute in Monterey is surrounded by secure fencing, open only to authorized personnel, an inaccessible island in the middle of town. But DLI also draws faculty from all over the planet teaching languages to American Army soldiers, and those jobs help make Monterey an arguably more diverse, global community than it otherwise would be. 

Here in Monterey County, we have at least 11 institutions of higher learning: CSUMB, Hartnell Community College, Monterey Peninsula College, Hopkins Marine Station (affiliated with Stanford), Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (San Jose State University), the Army’s DLI, the Navy’s Naval Postgraduate School, UC Cooperative Extension's agricultural research station in Salinas, Monterey College of Law, UC Berkeley’s Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. 

It’s that last one, known as MIIS, that became the topic of my cover story in the Dec. 11 issue of the Weekly. That’s because it is set to close in 2027, the result of a decision that was made in August by the board of trustees of Middlebury College, an undergraduate, liberal arts college in Vermont. 

That feels about as far away from a professional graduate school offering celebrated programs in international relations in Monterey, California, as you could get. And that distance between the two, in mission and culture and priorities, is perhaps part of why the institutions never quite meshed, according to many people I interviewed for the story. 

I was interested to learn how and why the Midd/MIIS partnership ever came to be in the first place, and what worked or didn’t work. I set out to answer those questions in the story, but ended up focusing more on the future. That’s because a group of faculty have dedicated themselves to a rehoming effort. Middlebury saved MIIS from potential closure 20 years ago, and now there is a little sliver of hope that another higher ed institution may do so again. 

The trends in the business of higher education do not bode well for that prospect. But even as the first round of layoffs at MIIS are set to take effect on Jan. 1, some faculty are clinging to a bit of hope. 

I intend to keep following this story in the years ahead, whatever happens. If MIIS does indeed close, one major unanswered question remains: What will Middlebury do with the property, at least 24 parcels assessed at a value of over $40.4 million in downtown Monterey? 

The impact to the community and built environment of Monterey is just one dimension of how MIIS’ future (or termination) is felt even to people beyond the campus community.