Meredith College Fights Highway Improvement Project Adjacent to Its Campus

Meredith College, the liberal arts educational institution for women in Raleigh, North Carolina, is fighting a proposal to expand Interstate 440, a highway adjacent to campus. The North Carolina Department of Transportation has proposed a plan that would use approximately one-fifth of the college’s total acreage for the highway expansion project.

In a statement at a public hearing on the project, Jo Allen, president of Meredith College, said that “throughout its history, Meredith has been a good partner, good citizen, and good neighbor. But the human, educational, and environmental effects of this project will significantly impact Meredith College’s ability to thrive and grow for the next 100 years. Meredith has given enough.”

Jo Allen was named the eighth president of Meredith College in 2011. Earlier, she served as provost, executive vice president, and professor of English at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Dr. Allen is a 1980 graduate of Meredith College. She earned a master’s degree from East Carolina University and a doctorate from Oklahoma State University.

You can read the full text of President Allen’s public statement in opposition to the highway proposal here.

Meredith College, founded in 1891, enrolls about 1,700 women in undergraduate degree programs and 300 students in its co-educational graduate programs.