page_title: Mackinac College
hierarchical_section_title: Mackinac College
caption_attribution_description: English: On Mission Point, Mackinac Island, MI the Clark Center for Arts and Sciences (left) and Peter Howard Memorial Library (right) were constructed for use by Mackinac College. Both buildings were financed in whole or in part by Mr. and Mrs. W. Van Alan Clark (hon. Chairman of Avon Products, Inc.). By 2014 the Clark Center (completed in 1968) was being used for groups, meetings &amp; conventions. The Library (completed in 1966) was torn down in approx. 1990. Photo is the property of the Mackinac Island State Historic Parks. (http://www.mackinacparks.com/parks-and-attractions/mackinac-island-state-park/)
context_page_description: Mackinac College was a private liberal arts college which opened on Mackinac Island, Michigan, in the fall of 1966 and closed four years later in 1970.
  In 1964, journalist Peter Howard of the Moral Re-Armament movement, proposed the idea of turning the MRA camp at Mackinac Island, which stood unused for a large portion of the year, into a college campus. His proposal was to use a school "to train youth to take on the key places in nations, to get the right young men instead of the wrong ones into places of influence in public affairs." The school was granted a charter in 1965. Optical physicist S. Douglas Cornell resigned from his position as Executive Officer of the National Academy of Sciences to become the school's president. The MRA deeded its headquarters on the island and the Old Mission House, to Mackinac College. The first class was admitted in 1966 and consisted of 113 students.
  During its operations, Mackinac College had a liberal arts focus, and joined in with the "radical critique of traditional higher education" which was happening in the 1960s, although the MRA was generally strongly opposed to most of the ideals of the 1960s counter culture.
context_section_description: Mackinac College was a private liberal arts college which opened on Mackinac Island, Michigan, in the fall of 1966 and closed four years later in 1970.
  In 1964, journalist Peter Howard of the Moral Re-Armament (MRA) movement, proposed the idea of turning the MRA camp at Mackinac Island, which stood unused for a large portion of the year, into a college campus. His proposal was to use a school "to train youth to take on the key places in nations, to get the right young men instead of the wrong ones into places of influence in public affairs." The school was granted a charter in 1965. Optical physicist S. Douglas Cornell resigned from his position as Executive Officer of the National Academy of Sciences to become the school's president. The MRA deeded its headquarters on the island and the Old Mission House, to Mackinac College. The first class was admitted in 1966 and consisted of 113 students.
  During its operations, Mackinac College had a liberal arts focus (unlike the MRA's College of the Good Road which focused on teaching ideology of the MRA), and joined in with the "radical critique of traditional higher education" which was happening in the 1960s, although the MRA was generally strongly opposed to most of the ideals of the 1960s counter culture. Students participated in the creation of the curriculum, but were not allowed to date.
  The school closed in 1970, four years after opening. The American School Board Journal cited the reasons for the closure as being "familiar": the high costs of setting up the campus and programs, a smaller enrollment than planned and a lack of alumni to fund endowments.
  After closing, the campus was sold to Rex Humbard who reopened it in 1972 as a bible college under the same name. The campus was later turned into a hotel, Mission Point Resort.
caption: The Clark Center for Arts and Sciences (left) and Peter Howard Memorial Library (right) were constructed for use by Mackinac College.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 (20060914.r.77)  Windows", "Image DateTime": "2013:12:24 14:54:26", "Image ExifOffset": "188", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "326", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3470", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1271", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "380"}