President steps into a financial crisis

Tabor?s second president, P.C. Hiebert assumed leadership in 1932 with an impossible task?providing adequate financing and recruiting faculty and students during a national economic crisis. The Great Depression had taken a toll on the campus, as elsewhere. Enrollment had dropped to below 100 by fall 1933 and the state had withdrawn junior college accreditation. Not since the fire of 1918 had Tabor faced such a major crisis. Even though Tabor was accepted as a conference school in 1933, it was not possible to attain sufficient finances in time to continue and in May 1934 the board voted to close the school for one year. Disappointed, President Hiebert resigned and returned to Sterling College.

The above anecdote is included in ?Tabor College: A Century of Transformation 1908-2008,? the history of the college commissioned for this year?s centennial celebration. The book can be purchased for $48.39 (tax included) plus $5 for shipping. Call 620-947-3121 ext. 1212 for information or orders.