Preparing for the Next 50 Years
"Naropa University's first decade was remarkable, operating in a bus garage, on the second floor above a deli, and in a rented gym at a middle school. The magic of Naropa is not the place, it's the people—faculty, staff, and students are the magicians."
In this time of transformation, we acknowledge the emotions that arise with change. Our decision to sell the Arapahoe campus is a step towards securing Naropa’s future for the next 50 years and beyond. This page serves as your primary source for all communications regarding this transition and the thoughtful planning and community process that will guide us forward.
We invite you to explore the heartfelt messages from Judy and Chuck Lief and Barbara Dilley, shared through videos and letters available here. These communications provide insight into the reasoning behind our decision and the great potential and exciting opportunities it presents.
As we embark on this journey together, we remain committed to our mission of fostering a compassionate and engaged learning community. With optimism and unity, we look forward to leveraging the resources from this sale to enhance the Nalanda campus, as well as the lives of our students, faculty, staff, and the broader community.
Thank you for your continued support and trust as we navigate this pivotal moment in Naropa’s history.
Hear from Judy & Chuck Lief
Dear Naropa Community,
We are writing to inform you of an important decision regarding our beloved Arapahoe Campus.
After careful consideration and extensive deliberation, the President, Board of Trustees, and University Leadership have decided to sell the 2130 Arapahoe Campus. We recognize the profound value and importance that the land, which has been home to Naropa University for several decades, holds for many of us. We now need to balance that with the opportunity to create a significant fund for investment in Naropa’s future.
First, the sale will not impact our current students and campus community for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 academic years. After 2026, Naropa will have the flexibility to manage its departure over several years based on our campus relocation goals and university strategic planning. We do not anticipate departing campus before June 2027.
What does this mean?
Selling the 2130 campus includes the buildings, classrooms, cottages, and Performing Arts Center.
The sale does not include the Tea House, which can be relocated. We have 3 years remaining on our lease of the Snow Lion residence hall, and 14 years remaining on our lease of the 2333 Arapahoe residence hall, and that will not change. The Nalanda Campus remains and will continue to serve students, faculty and staff in its current physical location.
Why now?
With more than 40% of students (and a significant portion of staff and faculty) now operating primarily in hybrid and virtual spaces, we are redefining the very essence of what it means to be a community.
This shift challenges us to reimagine the places and spaces needed to foster genuine connection, and to invest in innovative approaches to cultivate a sense of belonging and engagement in this new, hybrid world of academia. We remain committed to both the virtual and residential model, and the resources from the sale will allow for investment to strengthen each one.
The Arapahoe Campus is an asset we were fortunate to have purchased 40 years ago and can now leverage to ensure the long-term financial health and sustainability of Naropa. The proceeds from this sale will be reinvested in critical areas such as: hiring and retaining faculty for graduate counseling, which is key to attaining CACREP accreditation; new graduate, undergraduate, and professional development programs; technological innovations to support faculty and students; student scholarships to increase our diversity; and campus infrastructure improvements – to name just a few. Community conversations will continue throughout the next year to determine the best investment of these funds. We truly believe this is a decisive opportunity for Naropa University – one that we approach with both care and excitement, and that will allow us to envision the next 50 years.
Naropa now has a half century of success in overcoming a range of challenges, because the founding principles of courage, compassion, wisdom, and innovation are durable and important values. In recent years, technology has allowed this community to grow in many ways. We now engage in teaching, learning, and work through multiple modes including in-person, low-residential with focused intensives and retreats, and fully online formats. During the last 50 years, thousands of students have studied and grown both intellectually and spiritually. We are proud of what we have achieved at the Arapahoe Campus over the decades; and we are equally proud of the ways Naropa has evolved with the times, expanding opportunities for people beyond Boulder to connect to our curricula and ethos.
Communication and Feedback
We understand that this news may be difficult for some members of our community, and we share in the grief of closing this chapter of Naropa’s history.
Please know we are committed to preserving the legacy of the Arapahoe Campus in meaningful ways; and we have begun exploring how best to commemorate the campus and its significance to our history. Ritual, ceremony, and communal imagining are real resources within our community that we will draw upon to commemorate the ending of this chapter of Naropa University as well as to envision the next. Our division of Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community will host several Community Town Halls this semester with the goal of improving campus communication. These will be held on Wednesdays from 12:00–1:30 pm MST, with the first on September 11, and will include a discussion of the sale and next steps to keep our community informed. In addition, our Joanna Macy Center Residential Fellow and other trained guests will facilitate transformative group processes from Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects to support our community in its experience of gratitude and grief, envisioning the new, and taking skillful collective action.
In these upcoming conversations, let us channel some of the energies and spirit of 1974—where students and teachers, poets and dancers, healers and seekers came together to improvise an experiment in community and education. Let us use this time of the 50th anniversary to rightly celebrate the past, and also to begin creating a vision for Naropa’s future.
We appreciate your understanding and support as we navigate this transition.
Sincerely,
Chuck Lief, President
Mark Wilding, Co-chair of the Board of Trustees
Suzanne Benally, Co-chair of the Board of Trustees
Regina Smith, Chief of Staff and VP for Mission, Culture, and Inclusive Community
Jeffrey Pethybridge, Interim Chief Academic Officer
Ann Marie Klotz, VP for Development, Enrollment, and Student Success
Spencer Conroy, Chief Financial Officer
Joy Valania, Special Advisor to the President
Dear Naropa Community,
We are writing in support of the decision to sell our beloved Arapahoe Campus. As former Presidents, we recognize that this decision is both tender and raw, and full of possibilities.
We first rented and then acquired this campus site in the early 1980’s, and it has served us well all these years. Judy Lief was Naropa’s President when the decision was made to move to Lincoln School. It was quite controversial at the time. It was a leap into new and uncertain territory; but that leap proved to be just what Naropa needed to move forward. And over time we came to love this old school building, our Naropa quad, and the small cluster of buildings to the west.
Once again, we are at a point where we need to make a leap. We must do what it takes to allow Naropa to evolve wisely and in tune with the times. We must lay the groundwork—now—for Naropa’s next 50 years.
That is what this decision to sell the Lincoln campus is all about – evolving and surviving in this time of great change and transformation.
Change is not easy. Selling something so dear and familiar may be frightening or unsettling. But if we come together as a community, we can support one another. We can share gratitude for this land, its sacred sycamores, and all the blessings it holds. We can begin to imagine and evolve an environment that meets this world now, with all its complexities and emerging edges of possibilities. Change opens up possibilities. As Chögyam Trungpa pointed out, “Impermanence is not particularly terrifying. It is a natural process that allows things to happen.”
Letting go of the Lincoln campus provides us an opportunity to deepen our relationship to change. We can step over this fear of change. We can imagine new forms, new relationships, new models to meet the world as it is now. Letting go is at the heart of contemplative education. The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh taught, “Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything—anger, anxiety, or possessions—we cannot be free.”
Respectfully,
Judy Lief (Naropa Dean 1980–1985)
Barbara Dilley (Naropa President 1985–1993)
Dear Naropa University Community,
As the Board of Trustees of Naropa University, we want to extend our support and affirmation of the recent decision to sell the 2130 Arapahoe Campus. This decision, made in close collaboration with President Chuck Lief and the university’s executive leadership, was reached after careful consideration and thorough deliberation. We recognize the deep significance that this campus holds for many within our community, as it has been a cornerstone of Naropa’s identity and mission for several decades.
However, in alignment with our unwavering commitment to safeguarding the enduring vitality and continued advancement of Naropa University, we are confident that this strategic move is essential. The sale of the Arapahoe Campus will create a substantial fund that will be reinvested into key areas that are vital to Naropa’s future, including academic programs, faculty development, student scholarships, and technological enhancements. These investments will enable Naropa to continue to thrive as a leader in contemplative education, both in Boulder and beyond.
The Board was actively engaged throughout the decision-making process and believes that this represents a decisive and positive step forward for Naropa. The flexibility afforded by this sale will allow us to adapt and evolve in an increasingly hybrid academic environment, ensuring that Naropa remains at the forefront of innovative, contemplative education.
Looking ahead, we are enthusiastic about the opportunities this transition presents. While we honor the history and legacy of the Arapahoe Campus, we are equally committed to building on that foundation to shape a vibrant and sustainable future for Naropa University. We are looking forward to joining with the community in envisioning the next chapter of Naropa’s journey and ensuring that the university continues to embody the values of courage, compassion, wisdom, and innovation that have defined us since our founding.
Thank you for your continued support and dedication to Naropa University.
Warm regards,
The Board of Trustees of Naropa University
FAQs Related to the Sale of the Arapahoe Campus
When will Naropa vacate the Arapahoe Campus?
The sale of the Arapahoe Campus will not impact our current students and campus community for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 academic years. After 2026, Naropa will have the flexibility to manage its departure over several years based on our campus relocation goals and university strategic planning. We do not anticipate departing campus before June 2027.
Is Naropa closing?
No. Naropa’s enrollment continues to grow and we look forward to the next 50 years of Naropa students.
What will happen to the Sycamore trees?
While we can’t speak on behalf of the buyer, in early conversations, the direction to their planning and design team is to design around the sycamores. We have, and will continue to, cherish the sycamores. They have been an anchor for our community; their presence encouraging strength, patience, and the fortitude to withstand the seasons of change. We will honor them through ritual and ceremony in the years we have remaining on this campus.
What about the current buildings?
There is a long planning process ahead of the buyer. It is quite certain that the historic Lincoln School will remain subject to approved interior upgrades.
What will happen to the tea house?
The agreement specifically excludes the Tea House from the sale, and it will be moved close to the time of the closing.
What about the contents of the buildings?
No contents, including art and library holdings, are included in the sale.
What about the Nalanda Campus?
The Nalanda Campus remains and will continue to serve students, faculty, and staff in its current physical location.
As announced to the community, the prairie dogs are being relocated to southern Colorado so we will be able to landscape the Nalanda grounds. There is an ability to build more on the site should that be a desirable outcome.
How does the sale of the Arapahoe Campus impact students in the Graduate School of Counseling?
Most of our in-person courses in GSC are at the Nalanda campus which is not impacted by the sale.
Was this a financial decision?
The sale is not to bridge a current deficit—it is to invest in the future of Naropa. The proceeds from this sale will be reinvested in critical areas such as hiring and retaining faculty for graduate counseling, which is key to attaining CACREP accreditation; new graduate, undergraduate, and professional development programs; technological innovations to support faculty and students; student scholarships to increase our diversity; and campus infrastructure improvements—to name just a few. Community conversations will continue throughout the next year to determine the best investment of these funds. We truly believe this is a decisive opportunity for Naropa University—one that we approach with both care and excitement, and that will allow us to envision the next 50 years.
Is Naropa eliminating all in-person programs?
No. We will continue to offer programs at Naropa in three modalities: Fully in person, hybrid/low residency, and fully online.
Is the sale finalized?
Yes. We have a buyer and have signed the contract to sell 2130. As with most sales of significant properties, there are a series of milestones and conditions to be met over the next many months before the sale becomes finalized.
Who was involved in this decision?
Over the spring semester, a series of presentations were facilitated with all of the major campus constituency groups. These presentations, delivered to Cauldron (faculty senate), Academic Council, SUN (Student Union of Naropa), and the University Action Committee (comprised of academic and non-academic staff) outlined the historical financial trends, the University’s current financial picture, and the strategic initiatives being reviewed to address short and long-term financial needs and financial positioning. These conversations made clear that a wide variety of items were being considered including recapitalizing the university for future investment through real estate sales.
Several offers to purchase were received and considered by the president, CFO, and a small committee of the Board of Trustees. When a suitable purchaser was identified, the detailed contract was negotiated by the president, with advice from the board committee and then taken to the full Board of Trustees which acted unanimously to approve the sale.
Latest News
Naropa University is celebrating 50 years as an educational and cultural gem in Boulder, and is looking toward its next 50 years. As the Aug. 16 Daily Camera article addressed, Naropa shares the financial challenges of many small liberal arts colleges. We differ as well. Many schools have closed from declines in enrollment, while we are growing. And some have lacked our strengths — including creatively increasing revenues and trimming costs.
This response offers important clarifications and corrections to the Aug. 16 article.
Naropa’s decision to sell Arapahoe Campus was not “forced” to meet short-term financial challenges. That conclusion is egregiously incorrect. As we previously stated to the reporter, this sale will generate sizable capital to invest in Naropa’s future — not cover deficits. Funds will not flow to Naropa for several years, so aren’t of short-term financial benefit.
Unfortunately, higher education is filled with stories of schools that closed while owning valuable real estate assets that could have been used beneficially. For example, Goddard College, with millions in real estate assets, perhaps could have deployed those to meet its financial needs. Naropa leadership cannot presume to substitute our judgment for the leaders of other schools. However, we are committed to using our resources to realize a bright future.
The Naropa “magic” manifests at our physical campuses — but is generated by the people, not the place. For our first decade that magic, centered in the faculty and always in service of students, happened in our first homes — the old RTD bus garage, the second floor of what is now the Boulder Bookstore, and the gym at Casey Middle School. We currently, and deliberately, have no solidified plans for how we will invest the sales proceeds. We specifically negotiated to have the right to remain on the Arapahoe Campus for several years so we can involve our community in the planning process. And we continue to own the Nalanda Campus.
It became possible for Naropa to sell some underused property as nearly 50% of our students are enrolled in online or hybrid programs, and many faculty and staff work remotely. Naropa remains committed to both in-person programs and our growing community of online students. Naropa’s largest program is the Graduate School of Counseling. The average age of incoming students is 35, students with deep roots in their communities who cannot afford to or choose not to move to Boulder.
Additionally, the June 2023 audited financial statements included the language required of auditors when an audited entity is financially challenged. The best answer to doubts of whether Naropa could “continue as a going concern” until June 30, 2024, is that we passed that date as a vibrant school with increased enrollment, reduced operating expenses and expansion into new areas.
The article shared incorrect information about student housing. The aging Snow Lion residence has become less attractive to students, and occupancy rates have declined. It sold in 2021 and is leased back until 2027. Naropa contracted with a private developer to build another housing facility, which we don’t own but is leased until 2035.
The Alaya Preschool was an internship site for our Early Childhood Education degree, which has not been offered for years. Naropa is collaborating with the Future of Alaya group, and they have until June 2025 to purchase the property. We know this generous, dedicated group of Alaya supporters will succeed.
The tuition references in the article are seriously flawed. Yes, our full-time undergraduate tuition is $18,060 per semester; but crucially, we return more than 52% of that in need-based and merit scholarships. Our average net undergraduate tuition is $15,700 and net graduate tuition is $17,800 for the full year, not per semester — a very different analysis.
Naropa University was born in Boulder and will remain an important presence here. We are proud of our ability to serve students in new ways—including online—but we are not replacing residential learning with a solely online learning pathway.
I invite you to look at the Sunday Daily Camera for four weeks, beginning Sept. 1, for a full-page montage of the exceptional Naropa community members who are our heart, and for the many ways our work benefits the world.
Charles G. Lief is the president of Naropa University.
Questions?
Prospective and current Naropa students and parents—We created a special email address just for you to answer any enrollment-related questions as it relates to Naropa’s future. Please email campustransition@naropa.edu with your questions.
Share Your Suggestions
This sale allows us the opportunity to invest in critically important university needs. Please take a few minutes to share with us your ideas and suggestions for ways to invest in the next 50 years of Naropa! All suggestions shared via this form will go to both the Presidents Office and the planning committee for consideration.
