A history of Dowling College Founded in 1955 as an expansion of Adelphi University and established as an independent institution in 1968, Dowling College announced in May 2016 that it would close. Published: June 3, 2016

01 January 1970

A fire badly damages the college’s Vanderbilt mansion, the institution’s main building. It is later rebuilt.

01 January 1970

Norman Smith, who was credited with bringing Wagner College on Staten Island back from the brink of closure in the late 1980s, becomes Dowling president.

01 January 1970

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The deal with the academic partner stalls, a state senator announces.

01 January 1970

Dowling says it will affiliate with an unnamed academic partner to remain afloat.

01 January 1970

Dowling’s faculty union approves $4.7 million in contract givebacks to help close the 2014-15 budget gap.

01 January 1970

Dowling agrees to pay more than $400,000 to Gaffney in a settlement of his lawsuit against the Oakdale school.

01 January 1970

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services indicates a poor outlook for Dowling, dropping its long-term debt rating from B to B-minus.

01 January 1970

Inserra is pictured, center, on June 14, 2002. (Credit: Howard Schnapp)

Dowling names Albert F. Inserra, chairman of Dowling’s doctoral program in educational administration, leadership and technology, to be the college’s chief.

01 January 1970

Moody’s says the school is “likely in or very near default” on bonds issued by the industrial development agencies of Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven.

01 January 1970

In recent weeks, Dowling lays off staff members and reassigns others in a downsizing because of declining enrollment and struggling finances.

01 January 1970

The board of trustees names Elana Zolfo interim president.

01 January 1970

Astronaut Wally Schirra opens the college’s new transportation campus in Shirley.

01 January 1970

The Dowling campus in Oakdale on Aug. 5, 2010. (Credit: Michael E. Ach)

Moody’s Investors Service downgrades $14.1 million of Dowling’s already junk-rated bonds.

01 January 1970

Dr. Jeremy D. Brown gives the commencement speech at Dowling on May 19, 2012. (Credit: Heather Walsh)

Jeremy D. Brown, the former head of Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pa., begins his tenure as Dowling’s president.

01 January 1970

Facing outrage from students and employees over an announcement the previous week, Dowling says its aviation school will remain open. It had said it would stop training pilots to focus on aviation-management classes.

01 January 1970

Gaffney resigns and is succeeded by Scott Rudolph, a trustee.

01 January 1970

Gaffney is pictured on Sept. 19, 2002. (Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas)

Robert Gaffney, the former Suffolk County executive, becomes Dowling president.

01 January 1970

A late-night vote by the faculty on a new contract ensures that professors will be in the classroom for the first day of the fall semester.

01 January 1970

Victor Meskill, one of the longest-tenured college presidents on Long Island, is forced out by the board of trustees, who in previous years had lavished on him a large salary and a host of pricey fringe benefits that included a house near the campus and a personal loan so that Meskill could buy a condominium in Montauk.

01 January 1970

Five top administrators are fired as part of a reorganization plan.

01 January 1970

A student carries his belongings as he leaves Dowling College on June 1, 2016. (Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara)

Dowling announces it is shutting down.