by Patricia Cohen for the NY Times, April 20, 2008
AS any student at Antioch College can tell you, our view of reality is socially constructed. What we consider to be truth is often just a reflection of the power structure, a single narrative propounded by a privileged class that must be countered by alternative narratives. Put simply, there is more than one side to any story. –Read the Article.
Chicago alumni of Antioch College, along with one current student on co-op in Chicago, leafleted Friday outside the annual conference of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association (of which Antioch University is a member) to draw the national educators’ attention to ongoing efforts to keep Antioch College open. Conference attendees, who were trustees, administrators, and professors from colleges and universities across the country, expressed support for the college’s continuous operations. Representatives of at least seven institutions, including one college president, signed postcards to Antioch University trustees, encouraging the trustees to remain open to all avenues to save the college. Many of the educators were unaware of Antioch’s plight before the event, expressing concern and surprise over the situation – others mistakenly believed that the college had already closed. Numerous Ohio educators were very familiar with the situation and expressed solidarity with the college (“this could happen to us” said a representative from the University of Dayton). There are plans for another leafleting Monday at the conference. Video of the Friday action is now available.
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A scene from the 2001 film, Boycott, in which Coretta Scott King recounts what she learned from Bayard Rustin while she was a student at Antioch College.
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ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY
News Release
April 10, 2008
Upon receipt
Contacts: Lynda Sirk Director of Communication, Antioch University • 937-769-1222
YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – Antioch University board Chair Art Zucker and Frances Degen Horowitz, co-chair of the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, announced today that the Trustees and the ACCC have agreed to meet in person. While details are being worked out, both Zucker and Horowitz stated that the meeting will occur as soon as possible. “We are pleased to have this opportunity to meet together,” Zucker and Horowitz said. “We look forward to a constructive discussion and appreciate everyone’s patience as we move forward.”
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COLLEGE REVIVAL FUND, INC.
NONSTOP ANTIOCH HAS NEW HOME AND STAFF
CRF Opens New Offices Across from Antioch College Campus
and Announces Plans for Fund-Raising
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: 443-864-0514 • press
April 10, 2008– Antioch alumni working through the College Revival Fund, Inc. (CRF) announced today that they have opened new offices in Yellow Springs, Ohio for “Nonstop Antioch.” These offices are at 716 Xenia Avenue, right across the street from the Antioch College campus. The CRF is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt non-profit corporation founded by members of the Antioch College Alumni Association. Since last June, the CRF has raised over $19.5 million dollars for a continuing, independent Antioch College.
CRF Acting President Ellen Borgersen said today in a statement, “The Antioch University Board of Trustees has shown that they are unworthy to and unwilling to carry on the Antioch College educational mission. The attack on Antioch College is an attack on experiential liberal arts education, shared governance, tenured faculty, and unionized staff. It is up to the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and townspeople of Yellow Springs to carry on the historic mission of Antioch College, and Nonstop Antioch is the vehicle that will organize alumni support for that effort.”
Nonstop Antioch is a movement to organize alumni, students, staff and faculty to keep the spirit of Antioch College alive and operating in Yellow Springs, no matter how long the negotiations between the University Trustees and the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC) drag on, or how they turn out. In late February, the CRF committed at least $1 million to support this movement and assure faculty that they would be financially supported if they committed to stay in Yellow Springs for the 2008-2009 academic year to teach and plan for an independent Antioch College. The faculty who have made this commitment are excited at the opportunity to reclaim the Antioch mission for themselves, after years of mismanagement and abuse at the hands of a hostile Chancellor and a distant, disinterested Board of Trustees.
The CRF has hired Risa Grimes, former Director of Institutional Advancement at Antioch College, as its Executive Director. Ms. Grimes’ first order of business is hiring the entire College Institutional Advancement staff, all of whom were laid off on April 2. Joining Risa Grimes are Aimee Maruyama, Director of Development and Alumni Relations; Fred Kraus, Director of Research; Cheri Robbins, Database Manager; and Wendy Ernst, Major Gifts Officer.
“These amazingly capable people have become a powerful fundraising machine under Risa Grimes’s superb leadership,” Borgersen said. “Their phones have been ringing off the hook. Everyone in higher education fundraising is talking about the people who raised over $18 million for an independent Antioch College in less than six weeks, even though it was scheduled to close.”
Borgersen continued, “We are very glad that the University laid them off, which allowed us to hire them, liberate them, and set them loose on fundraising for Nonstop Antioch. Just watch what they can do, now that the University administration is out of their way.”
Since the University Board of Trustees announced the suspension of operations in June 2007, alumni across the country have rallied to their alma mater’s defense. Alumni chapters have grown worldwide. The Alumni Board is continuing with its fundraising and planning efforts. For additional information on the Antioch College Alumni Association and the College Revival Fund, visit the Antioch College Alumni Association web site, antiochians.org.
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What: ANTIOCH COLLEGE ALUMNI- CHICAGO CHAPTER LEAFLET AT the 113th Annual Meeting of The Higher Learning Commission; Exhort University Board of Trustees to Meet With ACCC and to Implement the “10-10” Plan
When: Friday, April 11, 2008
Where: 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., 113th Annual Meeting of The Higher Learning Commission, Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 East Wacker Drive, Chicago IL USA 60601
Why: Members of the Antioch College alumni-Chicago chapter invite members of the media to join them as they pass out leaflets at the 113th Annual Meeting of The Higher Learning Commission at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. They are demanding that the University Board of Trustees meet with the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC) face-to-face, Board to Board, as soon as possible. The Higher Learning Commission is a regional accrediting body for colleges and universities and Antioch University is a member.
Recently, Antioch University forfeited an agreement to create an independent Antioch College by dragging out negotiations in an effort to profit from the College’s current difficulties.
“The issue is not about money – it’s about time,” said Eric Bates, co-chair of the ACCC, which was formed to negotiate independence for the historic liberal arts institution. “As a result of the University’s repeated foot dragging it would now be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to receive the necessary regulatory approvals to continue operating the College next year as a separate entity. Through its needless delays, the University has squandered a historic opportunity and created a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
While the University chose to forfeit the ACCC’s offer of $12.2 million for the College, the group emphasized that there is still one alternative that would enable the College to continue operating next year. More than a month ago, the ACCC offered to make an immediate contribution of $10 million in return for ten seats on the nineteen-member University Board of Trustees. This plan has been dubbed the “10-10” plan. The offer stands in stark contrast to the dismally low contributions by the current board, which reportedly totaled less than $25,000 in the current fiscal year.
The ACCC noted that it has yet to hear a response to its “10-10 plan,” which it is still prepared to discuss. “This is the only remaining arrangement that can enable the College to continue operating next year while creating a truly philanthropic board for the University,” Bates said. “This is not a hostile takeover – it is a remarkably generous and well-intentioned offer by an experienced and supportive group of alumni, six of whom are former University trustees. We remain mystified as to why the board has not acted on this win-win solution that could be enacted within a matter of hours.”
Ellen Borgersen, Vice-President of the Antioch Alumni Board and Acting President of the College Revival Fund, Inc. (CRF), said in a statement: “The suspicion that the University Board of Trustees was negotiating in bad faith and not interested in saving the College has, unfortunately, been confirmed. Over the past four months, the ACCC labored mightily to put together an offer that would be a win-win solution for the University and the College, as well as for the community and for everyone who believes in what Antioch stands for.”
Since the proposed closure of historic Antioch College was announced last June, the CRF has raised over $18 million to date for a continuing, independent Antioch College with tenured faculty.
Contact: press
More Info: antiochians.org