antioch continuation

Is there any possibility that the Trustees would consider “leasing” the College to the alumni-based Antioch Continuation Corporation (ACC) for a period of years, with various options delineated for its subsequent purchase or for its return to the University? This arrangement could overcome the “credit” issues the Trustees are allegedly concerned with in taking on a promissory note from the ACC and would allow the ACC more time to raise funds; rehab the College’s programs and marketing, etc.

heh boston, at 7:25 am EDT on March 31, 2008

to heh:

Have you read the University’s e-mails? All that you’re proposing has been rejected specifically, singularly and in general. sds

Sue Snyder, at 1:05 pm EDT on March 31, 2008

The Door...

As someone unaffiliated with Antioch College and unfamiliar with the facets of the fiscal crisis, perhaps the usefulness of what I am about to say is that I remain unemotional about it.

Plain and simple, the chancellor and the board have failed. A CEO protects against fiscal crises and navigates them when they arise. A board carries fiduciary responsibility, which I believe implies keeping the institution open. Failure and failure. Regardless of personal feelings, issues of trust, etc., these folks have manifestly demonstrated that they have no business running this institution. Resignation, apology, and transparency of transition are BASICALLY due to all constituents of the institution.

A question for those who might know: Why was temporary cross-subsidy of Antioch College via Antioch University never considered/successful? Again, regardless of one’s feelings on cross-subsidization, if you’re interested in keeping the campus you do what you have to.

Al, at 5:25 pm EDT on March 31, 2008

Antioch University

It is clear that the trustees of Antioch University failed to support the very institution that gave them life. Much as any parasite they have killed the organism that allowed their survival. I doubt they can keep the “University” alive now either. Very foolish on their part and a great loss for everyone.

Jeffrey Kyff, Antioch College 75

Jeffrey Kyff, at 9:55 am EDT on April 1, 2008

BRAC Anyone?

I for one am very curious about Toni Murdock’s and the University’s history with BRAC and the Dayton Development Coalition. If and when? No wonder the college was allowed to self destruct. The timeline just seems to fit too nicely and the financial stakes for YSO and the University are sooo high. The lack of transparency, the plans to sell off or develop parcels of the College, the exquisite timing of “bad” news for those of us interested in preserving the College just seems too coincidental. The idea that Antioch is a brand name owned by the University is just too much for me. Wendylr “68

wendy Rossen, at 4:00 pm EDT on April 1, 2008

Antioch Hijacking by Trustees Confirmed

Antioch Hijacking by Trustees Confirmed

News of Antioch University Trustees ending negotiations for continuation of that crucial college institution [Inside Higher Ed 3-31] is not a day late but a day early. It should have come a day later, as another painful, grotesque if historic April fools joke.

A pathetic ending to what a leading college president called the, “founding college of the American progressive movement,” the great academic innovator, including its role as the first liberal arts college to provide a required, comprehensive work-study program for alternating periods of full-time on-campus study with months of full-time jobs over the nation and beyond arranged generally by college staff. This is no recent experiment, but has been operating over the last seventy-five, 75!, years. Other Antioch innovations going back to the 19th Century, include racial and gender policies for students and faculty, as well as proportional representation Choice Voting for integrated faculty-student governing bodies. These procedural innovations have contributed to both highly talented faculty and highly qualified students that have over the years led to extrordinary results in the usual measures of academic achievement in the physical sciences as well as social sciences, political science, and traditional liberal arts.

We now have a sad, if foreshadowed, confirmation of the hijacking of the college by some leadership of the so-called university, consisting of several probably worthy adult education centers, the tattered remnants of a megalomaniac program for over thirty, 30!, such remote centers that drained the modest Antioch College endowment from 60 million dollars down to 30 million over recent years.

The current news that the Trustees refuse to consider the impressive offer by alumni of a 50% down-payment on the University Board’s asking price of $12,200,000 with the remainder to be paid in a few years, based on pledges of over $18,000,000 by alumni. As noted the spurious complaint by a Trustee representative, that they require some collateral to secure such a contract, contradicts the Trustees’ own statement that the college is worth 12 million dollars at a minimum and therefore must be considered adequate collateral for the six million dollars additional to be paid.

In fact it would seem only equitable that the University Trustees also hand over the $30,000,000 remaining in endowment funds back to the college, where those funds originated, perhaps even with a commitment to return the other half of the original Antioch College endowment to the new, restored Antioch College trustees. This seems reasonable and even feasible as it is asserted by the University Trustees that the remote adult study operations are now operating with an annual surplus.

It has been reported and now seems clear that the University Board members are primarily interested in the remote adult education operations they call a University, and not in the 150 year old internationally famous and culturally significant college. [Witness the howls of glee at the news of Antioch destruction by the royalist columnists around the nation, in addition to the various Letters To Editors and E-mail offal by the usual suspects that jumped out of the woodwork in recent months.]

It is also asserted that the University Trustees include few if any Antioch College graduates, but does include some Board members professionally associated with major military-industrial corporations. This is significant as it is understood that the major air-force operations at the nearby, Dayton based, Wright Patterson Airbase is undergoing major changes that include real-estate acquisitions, which some have proposed include the very substantial Antioch College properties in addition to the historic and more recent College facilities. The Inside Higher Education article also indicates a member of the Board of Trustees says no Board vote was taken on the question of ending negotiations for sale of Antioch College to the alumni organization.

The true, underlying issue for any continuation or restoration of Antioch College is not money. Although if a White Knight, Gates or if his friend Soros might change his mind and come up with one or two hundred million dollars for an endowment, cash itself could make the difference.

The underlying issue for any college without a huge endowment is an adequate enrollment that would bring in sufficient tuition for operating costs. I believe it is correct to say that for decades alumni and others were lied to about the unacceptable, intolerable cultural standards and resulting disastrous enrollment losses. It appears that these followed the totally unsustainable experiment with inadequately managed admissions and student support programs based on a short-term un-renewed foundation grants. Dramatic institution of dependable behavior standards would surely be essential but only part of the solution.

I can only offer one concept that might over a year or so demonstrate an educational experience that could increase applications. If impressive visiting adjunct instructors came even for a day or week along with a program of utilizing the special experiences, recognition, and wide variety of professional achievements, including Nobel Laureates, McArthur fellows as well as other alumni might demonstrate an impressive and exciting campus offering to potential students. Resulting word-of-mouth, academic peer review articles, media commentary, internet accounts, as well as materials generated at the college might rebuild the amazing and formerly pervasive reputation with substantial college application levels of my own years, far beyond the capacity of the college to admit.

One truly encouraging item of news is the report of willingness of Dr. Frances Degan Horowitz, retired president of the New York City College Graduate School, Antioch Class of 1953, to serve as an interim president. Since we graduated then I have admired her progress to lead a major institution of higher education.

It may be as they say that all good things come to an end. But it may also be that the deep interest of alumni will continue to provide corrections for all the disastrous errors of recent decades at Antioch College. If so perhaps Antioch College can again provide the kinds of educational experiences, that contributed so much for thousands of us, for another generation or two that can change their lives and their world.

BKB

Bob K. Bogen, Antioch Grad, ‘53 at University of Pennsylvania, MCP, at 11:15 am EDT on April 2, 2008