Elon University and the Queens University of Charlotte will soon be entering the next step of the merger, with many Queens employees becoming Elon employees within the next few months.
An email sent to Elon faculty and staff in mid-April confirms that the two universities submitted their request for accreditation approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in March with an expected response in June. After that approval, the universities will seek approval from the Department of Education, which would complete the full merger and could come in late 2027 or early 2028.
But once the two universities receive joint accreditation from SACSCOC, the universities will begin integrating some departments. The departments that will integrate beginning July 1 include administrative areas like admissions, facilities, human resources and career services, among many others. Jeff Stein, chief integration officer at Elon, said this allows these departments to be part of a bigger team.
“It means they're sharing expertise. It means they are working on projects and systems that impact both campuses, and that'll take some work,” Stein said. “When the integration team meets on one of the two campuses, we have heard from folks at Elon and Queens that they really enjoy those days, because on one hand, it humanizes or personalizes the other institution. On the other hand, they actually get to share their knowledge.”
Starting July 1, all Queens employees will get access to Elon’s non-retirement and non-healthcare benefits, like tuition remission and global study opportunities that Elon offers. But those being integrated on July 1 will officially become Elon employees. This will allow them to transition to Elon’s payroll and policies, and Elon’s healthcare and retirement benefits.
“What that means is, hopefully, for Queens employees, lower healthcare plan costs, more life insurance,” Stein said. “But our plans tend to be a bit more robust because we have a bigger pool of employees, and so the costs are a little bit lower and the plans are a little more robust.”
This integration is expected to take place on July 1, but Stein said it may be changed to June 30 to avoid disrupting Queens employees’ healthcare benefits.
Faculty, student life and some academic support departments will have to wait to be integrated until January 2027.
Beyond benefits, salaries remain an important part of the integration. There will be a process to align Queens employees’ salaries with Elon’s more market-based salaries in a three-phased integration approach.
“We will address those employees who are at the lower end of the pay scale first, and those at the upper end of the pay scale last,” Stein said. “That's kind of how Elon has done this in the past, when aligning Elon faculty and staff salaries.”
Stein also said there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes to make sure they are able to transfer over Queens employees’ years of service and banked sick and vacation days so they don’t lose those in the process. He also said they are prioritizing making the process of choosing their healthcare plan as simple as possible.
Stein said Elon and Queens are still working with SACSCOC, the Department of Education and the NCAA on how to keep the two athletic programs separate. Stein said he doesn’t know the exact timeline of the process or when they will be able to announce more about it.
“We really are doing everything just to follow guidelines, keep them separate and do whatever we can to ensure the athletics opportunities continue for students on both campuses,” Stein said. “It'll come, but this SACSCOC process and the Department of Ed tend to come first.”
Stein acknowledged the complicated nature of the multi-step merger process with its many moving parts, but said they are trying to be as upfront as they can.
“This is a hard process, and change is always hard, but folks are making a lot of effort to make this as easy as possible,” Stein said.