On November 2, 1966, the Jesuits sold the property to Macauley and Helen Dow Whiting, who donated it to Northwood Institute, a private, coeducational college founded in Midland, Michigan. The former hotel/Jesuit seminary was operated as a satellite campus of Northwood's business management school from 1968 to 1983. By its third year at West Baden Springs, the school's enrollment exceeded 400 students. Basketball legend Larry Bird, who was born in West Baden, held basketball clinics and staged games in the atrium. He briefly attended Northwood, after leaving Indiana University, before resuming his studies and collegiate basketball career at Indiana State University.
