Current, former Queens University students react to merger with Elon University

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Two North Carolina private schools with Charlotte ties are planning to merge.

Leaders announced that Elon University will combine and take over operations at Queens University.

While many current Queens students are looking forward to the opportunities they may get by being connected to Elon, many alumni worry that this merger will change the identity of the school they love.

“We’re all just shocked, I think is the best way to say it,” said Rebecca Hankla, a Queens University alumna.

Hankla learned via a Facebook post that her alma mater plans to merge with Elon.

“I started crying,” she said. “This place has been around since 1857.”

Hankla has deep roots at the university.

“My grandmother used to take me walking on campus,” she said. “My parents had their wedding reception there. Like it’s been a huge part of my family.”

Elon’s main campus is west of Burlington, but the school has a satellite campus in South End that includes a law school.

To learn that another school is expected to take over operations of the campus in the next few months brought up many questions.

“What’s going to happen to our students?” said Hankla. “What’s going to happen to scholarships? What’s going to happen to sports? I saw one lady say that she’s pulling the scholarship in her name from the university.”

Many of the answers are yet to be known. A Queens University spokesperson told us decisions about the school’s name, branding and athletics are yet to be determined.

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“This might be a good thing because it could help us branch out with sports, can help us with more pathways, which they were already building on,” said current Queens University student Isabella Gorecki.

She’s hopeful the changes made will better set them up for success.

“Queens is such a connected college,” said Gorecki. “There’s always a ton of clubs, sororities. You can go around and say hi to someone and they’ll say hi back. I think expanding that and making sure we can keep that is going to be a great thing.”

Queen City News has learned there’s a faculty-only meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning for employees to learn more about what this merger means for them.