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Wells President Jonathan Gibralter said the board will hold meetings July 7-8 to decide if Wells can operate in the fall. Gibralter in May that Wells wouldn't be able to open again if students can't come back to campus in the fall due to the coronavirus outbreak. He said room and board revenue make up a significant amount of the institution's operating budget, so it could not afford to open again without enough students involved in residential life.

"It's a big decision, but there's a sense of hope and optimism for the future of Wells," Gilbralter said Wednesday. "The announcement that I made really engaged our alumni in a way that makes me feel just so incredibly proud of our community, and I know the board doesn't want to let them down."

A small army of alumni has sworn to help the institution deal with its financial issues. June 30 marked the end of the #WellsNow campaign, but so many gifts and pledges have come in that all of them are still being tallied, Gilbralter said. As of noon on June 30, the campaign, which was announced mid-May, raised $3.3 million, mostly from alumni along with some private foundations. Gibralter believes that figure will be closer to $4 million once everything is tallied.

All of this money was raised in advance, he noted, since July 1 is the first day of the college's 2020-21 fiscal year. The college still has the rest of the year to gather funds.

A page on the said the #WellsNow fundraising goal was $7.5 million by June 30.

Beyond the impending decision about the fall semester, Wells is also aiming to get its accreditation renewed. The college's accrediting organization, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, placed Wells on probation last year, largely due to financial challenges. It was granted two years to fully comply with the commission's requirements.

"I think that Middle States will certainly see that we have a financial future, so I can't anticipate what they'll do or say, but we're feeling pretty optimistic," Gilbralter said.

In a Larry Jerome, the college's vice president for advancement, said that $7.5 million fundraising goal was Wells' best estimate of their anticipated revenue shortfall for the 2020-21 academic year.

"In order to commit to operating for the 2020–2021 academic year, Wells needs to be confident that we will have sufficient funds to complete the entire year, and have reasonable expectation of the College continuing beyond that point. This is important for two reasons: First, this is an ethical decision that we need to make sooner rather than later, both for our students and for our faculty and staff. They need and deserve confidence that Wells will complete the academic year. The closer we get to achieving our fundraising goal, the more confident the trustees can be that our students will have what’s needed for the year," Jerome said in the letter. "Second, it will demonstrate progress to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, whose major concern is Wells’ ability to be financially sustainable in the long term. Thus, to have our accreditation reaffirmed, we must demonstrate that we will have sufficient resources not just for this year but also the next few years. That is why we are asking people to make gifts as well as multi-year pledges."

Amid the fundraising campaign, a recent petition called for Gibralter's resignation as president. That petition has since closed with 521 supporters, though the board of trustees previously said it is backing Gibralter.

Wells ended on-campus classes and its residential life program in mid-March over the respiratory illness pandemic, and like other institutions in the state, remained closed for the rest of the semester. Last month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke about the required plans colleges and universities have to create to reopen for the upcoming semester. These plans include carrying out social distancing guidelines, having personal protective equipment supplies, acquiring cleaning and disinfecting standards, and forming containment plans in the event of positive cases. Reopening plans for college, universities and school districts have to be sent to the state this month and the state must approve the plans.

Gilbralter said continuing operations for the upcoming semester is far more than just a financial matter, since there are health and safety components to consider, including the logistics of having so many students, equipment and supplies together on campus. He said every college or university in the country is contending with similar issues.

Wells is still developing its plan for the fall, navigating issues such as social distancing, masks and disinfecting classrooms. The college is looking at various considerations, Gibralter continued, such as whether plexiglass barriers will be placed to separate faculty and students, if such barriers will be in between bathroom sinks, what the academic calendar will look like and whether students will return after Thanksgiving break or not. Wells is currently in the second phase of reopening the campus, with administrators, secretarial staff and those in the business office, admissions and more on college grounds, but those who can't maintain social distance are asked to still work from home.