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
