To Shannon Winegardner, Cascade College in Portland, Ore., is a little piece of heaven — an oasis of Christian faith and learning in one of the most unchurched cities in America.

The 22-year-old senior from Richland, Wash., knows most of the 280 students and 45 full-time faculty and staff members by name.

“We have our own community here,” she said, “and we’re all a part of the community.”

But that community suffered a devastating blow on a recent Monday: News that Cascade — a branch campus of Oklahoma Christian University — will close at the end of the spring 2009 semester.

Cascade canceled 1 p.m. classes and called a mandatory meeting for students, where President Bill Goad disclosed that financial problems and other concerns had prompted the closing. Ninety minutes earlier, Goad had broken the same news to faculty and staff members.

“It was like a death,” Winegardner said of how students reacted. “People are just really sad.”
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