Ninety-eight years ago, Ellen White found Angwin, a peaceful health resort, and recognized it as an ideal rural setting for a college. Today, it remains a tranquil natural environment, described in the current PUC Strategic Plan as "2,000 acres of forested and agricultural land ...this breath-taking environment, conducive to learning, has nurtured students for more than 90 years." Even Wikipedia calls our College a "serene, rural setting" in the "beautiful nested hills above Napa Valley." This breath-taking environment is PUC's endowment. Amazingly, it may soon be gone. Once lost, it can never be regained. This is a matter of stewardship. This land was bought by our forefathers to assure a rural environment in which students could learn and worship God. They did not buy a few acres on which to build a few buildings; They bought 1,600 acres to preserve an environment, and the environment was part of the institution's educational "mission." PUC was founded with the counsel of Ellen White. It was not built in a subdivision or by a shopping center. The founders of PUC trusted their successors to preserve this environment as a vital component of their values and religious ideals. For more than nine decades, this trust was kept and the succeeding hands that guided the College cherished the land and environment as their forefathers did. The church trusted the College to cherish its spiritual heritage. Parents trusted PUC to provide the solace and peace that had shaped their own youth in earlier decades. Until now. A new idea of stewardship has arrived at PUC. The love for rural Angwin which has blessed PUC for a century has been replaced with the notion that 885 acres of land surrounding the campus is nonessential. Accordingly, the Administration, has joined with Triad Communities L.P., a Seattle developer to spend the school's heritage. This is a breath-taking departure in leadership. 1. THE SKY NOT FALLING. PUC will not go out of business if there is no sale of this land. The College's financial situation goes up and down, but even the very unusual shortfall of nearly $1 million in a single bad year will not break a $40-million budget. 2. PUC IS NOT UNDER-ENDOWED. PUC does not have a small endowment. In fact, it is larger per student (by 50%) and in total than that of Walla Walla. La Sierra (which is considered well endowed by sister colleges) has an endowment of only $15,000 per student, according to McClain Publications. 3. The sale of lands is NOT ASSURED A PROFIT. The financial benefits of the Triad scheme are very unclear. The College apparently believes that sale of all the "nonessential" land will add $127 million (including $27 million from the sale of the college airport) to the college pie. But developing real estate is high cost and high risk. And the boom in California real estate has busted. This is all very speculative. 4. NOT ABOUT ENDOWMENT. An endowment is a gift to an institution that produces a return for the institution. Most of the College's property was given to the College with the intention that it would produce both income from agriculture and a rural mountain top environment - PUC's greatest asset. An endowment is to be preserved for perpetuity. That is the whole point. Real income may be used, but income can be earned from land as well as from a bank account. And the land offers inflation protection a one-shot sale does not. THE COLLEGE LANDS ARE THE COLLEGE'S REAL ENDOWMENT. According to independent appraisers, the College's land could earn a lease income of $2200-$2500 per acres, RIGHT NOW, RISK FREE. And the College would retain ownership and control of the land. 5. ONCE GONE, THE LAND WILL BE LOST FOREVER. So why sell? One answer is so that it will be easier to spend the capital and that appears to have already happened to the proceeds from the acres of agricultural land that has recently been sold. Spending the capital diminishes the endowment, rather than increases it. The Triad scheme is a threat to PUC's future not only from the destruction of the tranquil mountaintop that has been intrinsic to PUC's success, but from making the endowment liquid and spending it. It can always be rationalized that spending money on this department or that capital improvement will enhance the marketability of the college producing greater income. But if our forefathers had conducted their stewardship in this fashion, there would be no PUC today. Their expenditures would have long gone . . and PUC would be gone. While the financial benefits of the Triad scheme for PUC are murky, the resulting increase in crime and congestion for the community of Angwin is clear. Whether PUC succeeds or fails, the security and tranquility of rural Angwin would be lost forever. The New Angwin we would find in 10 years would not be recognizable. No matter what color of pastel Triad uses to sell its scheme, the folly of planting a subdivision in a rural community tied to civilization with an 8-mile, winding two-lane mountain road is self-evident . The Napa County General Plan envisioned Angwin with a .9% annual growth. The PUC/Triad scheme represents 50 to 100 years of this growth. Unbelievable. This changing course of the stewardship of PUC, in short, concerns many. The results will be disastrous. Alumni may seriously re-consider their generosity to a College which is not cherishing it heritage. Parents may re-consider where they send their children to college. The uniqueness will be gone. The mission will be compromised. The years of sacrifice will have been in vain. Once PUC's endowment is gone, it is gone forever. And the decision is on the doorstep.

Readers who know members of the Board of Trustees may want to express their concerns by phone or letter. You can write to the chairman of the Board at this address:

    Thomas J. Mostert, President
    Pacific Union Conference
    P. O. Box 5005
    Westlake Village, CA  91359

Below is a map showing in light blue the land to be sold to Triad.

Other PUC directors are:

members
v. elizabeth	ALEXANDER		P.O. 2106	COLLEGEDALE		TN 37315	423-344-5469
THEODORE	BENSON	ted@puconlin.com	P.O. 5005	WESTLAKE VILLAGE		CA 91359	805 497 9457
BRYAN	BRECKENRIDGE	BrynBreck@aol.com	13356 E. APPALOOSA	SCOTTSDALE		AZ 85259	408-767-0369
SHIRLEY	CHANG	Jchang03@dslextreme.com	47868 AVALON HEIGHTS TERRACE	FREMONT		CA 94539	510 623 2316
HARRY "CHIP"	GABRIEL	cgabriel@genrationsllc.com	8709 SE CAUSEY AV.	PORTLAND		OR 97266	503 652 0750
RICARDO	GRAHAM		P.O. 5005	WESTLAKE VILLAGE		CA 941359	805 497 9457
LEANOR BOULIN	JOHNSON	dribj@asu.edu	8280 E. CAPTAIN DREYFUSS AV	SCOTTSDALE		AZ 85260	480 965 5827
JERRY D.	JOLLY	jjollyinc@netzero.com	1481 W. CHAPARRAL	RATHDRUM		ID 83858	208 755 3091
donald j.	logan	logan@mlbllaw.com	P.O. Box 5540	NAPA		CA 94581	7072578100
LAUREL	MUNSON	tennisdr@empirenet.com	25455 BARTON RD.	LOMA LINDA		CA 92354	909 799 7900
BRAD	NEWTON	bnewton@nevadautah.org	P.O. 10730	RENO		NV 89510	775 322 6929
joaline	olson	olsonj@shpo.ah.org	10 woodland rd.	ST. HELENA		CA 94576	707 963 6433
jerry	page	jpage@cccsda.org	P.O. 770	Clovis		CA 93613	559 347 3000
james	pedersen	jpederson@ncc.adventist.org	P.O. 23165	pleasant Hill		CA 94523	9256854300
Charles	Pereyra-Suarez	cpereyra@rrbllp.com	445 S. Figueroa St.	Los Angeles		CA 90071	213 623 5923
Larry	Provonsha	lprovonsha@aol.com	2109 Cassie Hill Pl.	Gold River,		CA 95670	9168454114
Blair	Tikker	BLTikker@yahoo.com		Highlands Ranch		CO 80126	303 808 6266
Arnold	Trujillo	arnold.Trujillo@puconline.org	P.O. 5005	Westlake Village		CA 91359	805 413 7100
Amabel	Tsao	tsao@writeme.com	9132 Pinyon Ctr.	Corona		CA 92883	951 277 8881
Ralph	Watts	wattsr@hawaiiconf.com	2728 Pali Hwy	Honolulu		HI 96817	808 595 7591
Kelly	Bock	kbbock@puconline.org	P.O. 5005	Westlake Village		CA 91359	85 413 7314
Thomas	Mostert	tmpm2@attglobal.net	P.O. Box 5005	Westlake Village		CA 91359	805 497 9457
Richard	Osborn	rosborn@puc.edu	One Angwin Av.	Angwin		CA 94508	707 965 6211
Delmar	Tonge	drdtonge@aol.com	1444 Florida Av. #101	Modesto		CA 95350	209 522 1027
Vern	Biloff	vbiloff@cccsda.org	P.O. 770	Clovis		CA 93616	559 347 3000
Berit	Von Pohle	beritvp@aol.com	P.O. 23165	Pleasant Hill		CA 94523	925 685 4300
Tim	Kubrock	principal@montereybayacademy.org	783 San Andreas Rd.	La Selva Beach		CA 95076	831 728 1481
Bettesue	Costanzo	bconstanzo@sacaa.org	5601 Winding Way	Carmichael		CA 95608	916 481 2300
Doug	Schmidt	dschmidt@riolindo.org	3200 Rio Lindo Ave.	Healdsburg		CA 95448	707 431 5100
Larry	Aldred	laldred@puc.edu	One Angwin Av.	Angwin		CA 94508	707 965 7272
Gerald	Kovalski	gerald.kovalski@nad.adventist.org	12501 Old Columbia Pike	Silber Spring		Md 20904	301 680 6440
Tim	Mitchell	tmitchell@puc.edu	P.O. 702	Angwin		CA 94508	707 965 7297
John	Rasmussen	Jrasmussen@ncc.adventist.org	P.O. 23165	Pleasant Hill		CA 94523	925 685 4300
John	Collins	jcollins@puc.edu		Angwin		CA 94508	707 965 6699
Caleb	Chan		1030 W. Georgia St.	Vancouver		BC VGE2Y3
Alan	Rice	riceaj@ah.org	2100 Douglas Bl.	Roseville		CA 95661	916 781 2000
Cliff	Sorensen	ncsorensen@mxn.com	16112 SE 16th St.	Vancouver		WA 98683	360 354 8649
Ron	Stretter	rstretter@ncc.adventist.org	P.O. 355	Angwin		CA 94508	707 965 3555
Richard	Malott		P.O. 250	Nevada City		CA 95959	530 265 4835

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