Tag: announcements

Antioch College Revival Resolution 2008

June 22, 2008

Whereas, the Antioch College Alumni Association, the College Revival Fund (CRF), the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (AC3), the Antioch College Faculty and Staff, Community Government (CG), Antioch College Action Network (ACAN), and residents of the Village of Yellow Springs have worked diligently over the last 12 months to save Antioch College by  building a business plan, negotiating principles of agreement and letters of intent, signing petitions, marching, protesting and meeting numerous times with the Antioch University Board of Trustees to reach agreement for a separate and independent Antioch College with its own board of Trustees, tenured faculty and unionized staff; and

Whereas, the College Revival Fund staff and volunteers have raised over $18 million in pledges and cash donations from generous alumni and friends to support the operations of an independent Antioch College; and

Whereas, the Antioch College Alumni Association has come together across generations and across the world in support of saving Antioch, and

Whereas, the College Revival Fund has committed resources to hire Institutional Advancement staff and set up a Nonstop Antioch office; and

Whereas, the Antioch College faculty, CG and staff and the College Revival Fund have initiated, developed and committed $1 million to support the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute as a way to sustain a core faculty and continue the “DNA” and spirit of Antioch College until the College is independent and under the authority of its own Board of Trustees and President; and

Whereas, the College Revival Fund and in support of Nonstop Antioch has embarked upon three concurrent strategies to win back Antioch College: 1) a response, with all due haste, to the Antioch University Board of Trustee’s Keene resolution to establish an independent residential Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio; 2) the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute and 3) the investigation, preparation and support of litigation; and

Whereas, the Antioch College tradition of self governance is continuing through the establishment of Excil to take the place of Adcil and the continuation of Comcil during this transition time; and

Whereas, the Antioch University Board of Trustees is following through on its plan to close Antioch College on June 30, 2008 and has laid off the majority of faculty and staff; and

Whereas, Over 400 Antioch College Alumni attended the 2008 Antioch College Reunion representing the classes of 1946 through 2011, and

Whereas, the Antioch College Alumni Association recognizes the role and value of the Antioch University campuses in adult higher education and believes that the independence of Antioch College from the University affirms their mission in adult education and strengthens both institutions; and

Whereas, the Antioch College Alumni call upon the legacy of Horace Mann, Arthur Morgan and the thousands of Antiochians who have passed through this institution of higher education, known today as one of the colleges that produces leaders and innovators who change the world; and

Whereas, the Antioch College Alumni believe that Antioch College is worth fighting for and deserves every effort of its alumni and friends to rebuild the institution, making it whole and vibrant and able to provide a liberal arts education based in the values of community governance, cooperative education, challenging academic course work, mutual respect, intellectual freedom, free and open inquiry, social justice and celebration of diversity, and

Whereas, the Antioch College Alumni would be ashamed to let Antioch College die;
Therefore, be it Resolved that:

1.    The Antioch College Alumni are committed to the uninterrupted continuation of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio as a residential institution of higher education with a tenured faculty, respected adjunct faculty and unionized staff to provide a liberal arts education based in the values of community governance, cooperative education, challenging academic course work, mutual respect, intellectual freedom, free and open inquiry, social justice and celebration of diversity .

2.    The Antioch College Alumni Association instructs its elected Board of Directors to continue conversations, with all due haste, with the Antioch University Board of Trustees on the following:

a.    The complete separation of Antioch College from Antioch University.

b.    The transfer of the assets of Antioch College from Antioch University including but not limited to: the name “Antioch College,” its academic and cooperative education curriculum, Glen Helen, Antioch College’s restricted endowment, Antioch Education Abroad Program, Antioch Review, the Coretta Scott King Center, the Library and Antiochiana and all its holdings, the College’s electronic data bases and other electronic documents,  WYSO radio station,  the Antioch College’s physical plant, land and all other tangible and intangible assets to an independent Antioch College non-profit corporation.

3.    The Antioch College Alumni in attendance at the 2008 Reunion call upon all Antioch College alumni, faculty, staff, students, parents, members of the Yellow Springs Community, colleagues in higher education including members of the faculty and student bodies of other units of Antioch University and other interested parties to stand with us to raise the necessary funds for our three priorities (1)funding to support an independent Antioch College, 2)Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute, and 3) litigation;  and call to action all necessary support to continue the operations of Antioch College.

Approved by a majority vote of the Antioch College Alumni Association Board of Directors at its special meeting at 6:00pm on June 21st, 2008.

Approved by a majority vote of the Antioch College Alumni at the Reunion Brunch on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008.

Respectfully submitted by:
Catherine Jordan, ‘72
Member, Antioch College Alumni Association Board of Directors and AC3

Letter from AB President, Nancy Crow, Regarding Recent AUBoT Resolution in Keene, NH

Letter from Nancy Crow, 6/13/08

To the alumni of our beloved Antioch College:

As you have no doubt heard by now, this past weekend, in Keene, New Hampshire, the University Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Alumni Association to create the process, plans and resources to secure Antioch College’s independence from Antioch University, with its own board of trustees. The resolution also calls for the alumni to craft a business plan for the transfer of assets from the University and a timetable for implementing that plan.

The full text of the resolution follows this letter for your review. Before I talk about what this resolution means and what we need to go forward, I must pause to thank the alumni and staff who came out to Keene to voice their love and support of the College. Not only were their questions and statements well articulated and strong, but their personal support to me as I went forward to represent the alumni at the Board of Trustees was much appreciated. I can’t thank you enough, and it means the world to me.

Now, what does this resolution mean? In essence, it embodies and endorses the principles of the resolution crafted and passed unanimously at Reunion 2007. That resolution calls for an independent Antioch College in Yellow Springs, with its own board of trustees, offering a liberal arts education based in the values of community governance, cooperative education, challenging academic course work, mutual respect, intellectual freedom, free and open inquiry and celebration of diversity.

Alumni have asked: How is this resolution different from other actions of the Board of Trustees? It is startlingly different, because the University Trustees have now agreed to full independence and separation from the University. This isn’t the same agreement that held sway briefly back in November, under which the College would have its own board that reported to a university board of governors. This isn’t members of the alumni association taking seats on the board for the entire university. This is complete independence from Antioch University.

You might be asking: How do we know that this isn’t just more of the same, where we get achingly close and then the Board of Trustees votes down our plans?

This is a tough question for a number of reasons. We have to acknowledge that the past year has been harrowing—to say the least­–for alumni, staff, faculty, donors, and the Yellow Springs community who love Antioch College and want it to continue. All of us are justifiably anxious. Tempers have been frayed; lives have been derailed. We must come together as a community to restore the trust that has been lost and repair the damage that has been done.

Going forward, this is the first time the alumni have been asked to control the process for making a thriving independent Antioch College happen. In the past, we have worked within prescribed and restrictive processes. Now, we set the agenda; we come up with the timeline, we name the trustees of the new Antioch College Board of Trustees who will oversee the revival of Antioch College and take responsibility for its continuing health.

The most compelling reason for climbing back up on this horse, though, is something that did not happen in Keene. During the Keene meeting, Chancellor Toni Murdock presented her plan for Antioch College 2012—or, as she dubbed it, the Revival. (That has a rather familiar ring to it.). She outlined the appointment of a commission for going forward to bring the College back as part of the University. The Board of Trustees could easily have supported this plan. Instead, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Resolution below. That, to me, is the greatest indication of a sea-change on the Board of Trustees.

This resolution was a long time in coming and many of us are exhausted. Naturally, the goal is for Antioch College to be up and running as soon as humanly possible. However, there are issues of accreditation; the need for robust academic and co-op programs, physical facilities desperately in need of repair; admissions and recruiting; and many, many more. Nonstop Antioch continues to support the faculty financially, and academic planning continues as a part of that effort. Again, our goal is to be able to swing the doors wide open to new Antiochians as soon as we can. As we embark on this process, it’s important to be realistic and to understand what may be workable and consistent with our core Antioch values.

So what process are we putting together? Since last Saturday’s announcement, members of the Alumni Board have met with members of the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, known to its friends as AC3. The AC3 has put in months of hard work already into crafting a business and fundraising plan, and we want to build upon that solid platform. We will waste no time in presenting a plan to the Board of Trustees. We have a lot of work to do before we come together next week at Reunion 2008.

We are also going to need to hear from you. Obviously we wouldn’t have made it this far without the strength, passion and tenacity of the alumni, the Antioch College community and the Village of Yellow Springs. We need your expertise, your passion and yes, your donations (antiochians.org/donate), as we lay the foundation for restoring Antioch College’s premier status as the place to prepare for a life of meaning and purpose. To learn more and to take on this new challenge, make plans to come to Reunion 2008. Online registration can be found here: reunion-antiochians.org.

We are still ashamed to let it die!

Nancy Crow, ’70
President, Antioch College Alumni Board

RESOLUTION

6.7.08:25

WHEREAS, the Antioch University Board of Trustees (“Trustees”) was forced by
financial exigency to suspend operations at Antioch College; and

WHEREAS, the Trustees are committed to resumption of operations at Antioch College
at an early time; and

WHEREAS, the Trustees have determined that Antioch College can best be brought to
health, vigor, vitality, and long-term sustainability through governance by an independent
board of trustees; and

WHEREAS, the Trustees stand ready to collaborate with the Antioch College Alumni
Association (“Association”) to achieve these objectives.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT the Trustees request the Association
create the necessary process, plans, and resources for the development of an independent
four-year, residential, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and a business plan for
the transfer of assets from the University, and to present those plans to the Trustees for
their consideration and approval and that the Association present its timetable for
implementing this request to the Trustees.

ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES UNANIMOUSLY CALL FOR PROCESS TO CREATE INDEPENDENT AND SEPARATE ANTIOCH COLLEGE

— News Stuns Alumni, Faculty, and Staff In Depth, Breadth and Timing —

 

Keene, NH, June 7, 2008-Today, in a surprise announcement, the Antioch University Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Alumni Association to create the process to secure Antioch College’s independence from Antioch University, with its own board of trustees. Additionally, the resolution calls for the Alumni Board to craft a business plan for the transfer of assets from the University.

“The Antioch College Alumni Association stands ready to continue Antioch College as a residential, undergraduate four-year liberal arts program with shared governance and a tenured faculty,” said Nancy Crow, President of the Alumni Board. “We thank the University Board of Trustees for making the decision to turn the process over to the elected representatives of the College alumni. By doing so, they have ended ten months of anguish.”

Matthew Derr, a member of the Executive Committee of the Alumni Board, said, “As Antioch College moves forward with plans for its independent future, we acknowledge the accomplishments of the University campuses and their programs. We hope that they will continue to flourish as they follow their own paths.”

When asked how this resolution differs from previous agreements, Crow replied: “This is startlingly different. This is a resolution supporting complete independence from the University. Additionally, the Board of Trustees is asking the alumni to create the process, not to work within a prescribed process.”

She continued, “I know I echo the feelings of many alumni when I say how grateful we are for the courage demonstrated by the Board of Trustees by this decision. We look forward to ensuring our process moves forward swiftly.”

This resolution comes two weeks before alumni around the world are to come to Yellow Springs for the College Reunion, June 20 – 22. Crow said, “We need alumni to come to campus to help the Alumni Association Board craft the plans needed to create a well-funded, vigorous and vital Antioch College for the next 155 years-at least!”

NONSTOP ANTIOCH MOVING FORWARD IN THE WAKE OF FAILED NEGOTIATIONS TO SAVE ANTIOCH COLLEGE

**Faculty and College Revival Fund Taking Immediate Steps to Keep the Spirit of Antioch College Alive and Fight Runaway University Board of Trustees**

Yellow Springs, Ohio, May 9, 2008 –Alumni,faculty and staff renewed their commitment to fight to save Antioch College, the 154 year old liberal arts institution known for its groundbreaking educational innovations, in the wake of the announcement today that final talks between the Antioch University Board of Trustees and the Antioch College Continuation Corporation had failed. “We are outraged at the Board’s decision to suspend College operations rather than accept an extremely generous offer that would have kept the College open and put the entire University on a sound financial footing,” said Ellen Borgersen, Acting President of the College Revival Fund, Inc. “Nonstop Antioch will keep up the fight by supporting the dedicated faculty and staff who have committed to keeping the spirit of Antioch College alive here in Yellow Springs, and pursuing legal action against a runaway Board of Trustees that has abandoned its institutional mission and breached its fiduciary duties in many ways.”

Nonstop Antioch is supported by the Antioch College Alumni Association and the College Revival Fund (CRF), a 501(c)(3) established in 2007 that has raised over $19 million in cash and pledges to save the College. The CRF has committed $1 million of its current cash holdings to Nonstop Antioch, and resolved to raise the additional funding necessary to keep it going through the 2008-09 academic year and beyond.

A number of Antioch College faculty and staff, whose contracts with Antioch University end on June 30, have been hard at work planning curriculum, preparing a budget, and establishing governance structures based upon Antioch’s core values of shared governance, community activism, and experiential learning. They have named an Executive Collective – Susan Eklund-Leen (administrative coordinator), Hassan Rahmanian (educational offerings coordinator), and Chris Hill (external relations coordinator).

In addition, the CRF is pursuing legal efforts to keep Antioch College open and to prevent the University Trustees from doing further damage to the historic institution. These efforts include supporting the pending lawsuit brought by members of the tenured faculty, which seeks to enforce their contractual right to require the University to consider less drastic alternatives than closing the College, and to enjoin the University from liquidating or misappropriating any College assets; potential claims by students, donors and other stakeholders; and a variety of claims based on the Trustees’ breaches of their fiduciary duties of care, proper accounting, and loyalty.

“This Board must be held accountable for its actions,” Borgersen said. “They cannot be permitted to walk away from the catastrophe they created without a public accounting. We have every confidence that the courts will provide a remedy for the Board of Trustees’ egregious misconduct.”

Since the Board of Trustees announced the suspension of Antioch College operations in June of 2007, alumni across the country have rallied to their alma mater’s defense. Alumni chapters have grown worldwide.

The Alumni Board and College Revival Fund are continuing with their fundraising and planning efforts. For additional information, visit antiochians.org.

ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY REJECTS FINAL OFFER; FINAL ALUMNI BID MET ALL EXPRESSED DEMANDS–ADDITIONAL SIX MILLION OFFERED

ANTIOCH COLLEGE CONTINUATION CORPORATION

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Lyn Chamberlin

Yellow Springs, Ohio—May 9, 2008  —  The Antioch University Board of Trustees today rejected an offer by a group of major donors and educational leaders to contribute nearly $16 million to keep the doors of Antioch College open.

The Antioch College Continuation Corporation, which was formed by prominent alumni to save the 150-year-old campus, had offered the contributions in return for ten seats on the University board. The current trustees have collectively given less than $25,000 in the current fiscal year.

The ACCC has been engaged in talks with Antioch University over the past five months to reach an agreement over the fate of the college, which is scheduled to close on June 30. The offer by the group would have enabled the College to continue operating until the details of a separation from the University could be finalized.

“It almost defies belief that the trustees could reject this extraordinarily generous offer by a group of major donors,” said Eric Bates, co-chair of the ACCC. “We were not only prepared to make an immediate contribution of $9.5 million for Antioch College, we offered to make an additional contribution of $6 million for the direct benefit of the University’s five other campuses. This was a win-win opportunity for the entire University, and the trustees squandered it.”

In addition to its $6 million contribution to the University, the ACCC offered a host of guarantees to protect the other campuses. The key commitments of the proposal included:

* Ensuring that the eventual separation of Antioch College would be done in a manner that protects the University’s accreditation and    financial security;
* Ending the annual subsidies each campus currently pays to the College;
* Guaranteeing that funds from other campuses would not be used to offset any operating expense or deficits incurred by the College;
* Implementing an existing plan to create separate governing boards for each of the campuses;
* Creating a new board committee to directly address the needs of each campus;
* Initiating an ambitious fundraising campaign to raise an additional $100 million for the College and assist the other Antioch campuses in their fundraising efforts.

“We are deeply disappointed that the trustees did not take advantage of this historic opportunity,” said Lee Morgan, a director of the ACCC whose grandfather, Arthur Morgan, presided over Antioch’s acclaimed rebirth in the 1920s. “Under this agreement, the University would have gained a number of experienced trustees who bring tremendous resources – not just finances, but expertise and energy – on behalf of the entire University.”

To encourage the trustees to accept the ACCC’s offer, Morgan had volunteered to work half-time – for no charge – to raise money for the College beginning in June. In addition, Frances Degen Horowitz, co-chair of the ACCC and president emerita of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, had offered to volunteer full-time during the summer to serve as chief transition officer while the College got back on its feet.

“This is a sad day not only for Antioch, but for everyone who cares about progressive education in this country,” said Horowitz. “This was a remarkably generous and well-intentioned offer by an experienced and supportive group of alumni, seven of whom are former University trustees. Our proposal was not only a brilliant solution to save Antioch College – it would also have provided Antioch University with critical resources and expertise. We are all at a loss to understand why the University board rejected a plan that would have served both the College and the University so well.”

At one point toward the end of negotiations, the University suddenly offered to accept the ACCC’s earlier offer to pay $12.2 million to immediately separate the College from the University. “This was virtually the same plan the University had rejected only a month earlier, and almost identical to the offer they refused to even consider back in February,” Bates noted. “Now, all of their earlier objections had magically vanished. Out of the blue, they were prepared to accept all of our terms, without any of the conditions on securing payments or retaining ownership of WYSO that they had previously insisted were deal breakers. They were also willing to delegate full authority to a completely autonomous College board of trustees that would operate under the University’s accreditation – a position that they themselves had previously said flat-out was legally impossible when we first sat down with them back in November.”

Bates said the sudden reversal revealed that the University had not been negotiating in good faith. “It is telling that they offered to accept this plan only after it was clear to everyone that it was too late for such an arrangement to succeed,” he said. “And it would still have required us to negotiate the myriad details of final separation with no guarantee that we would reach an agreement.”

“It was truly shocking and sad to realize that our earlier offer, which could have saved the College months ago, was rejected because of the University lacked the leadership it needed to see it through this crisis,” said Horowitz, who has more than four decades of successful experience as an administrator in higher education. “Throughout months of negotiations, the leaders of the University and the Board to Trustees repeatedly stood in the way of opportunities that would have prevented the demise of the College while also safeguarding the fortunes of the rest of the University campuses.”

COMMENCEMENT 2008

Commencement Speaker and Program of Events

Antioch College will host its 156th Commencement ceremony on Saturday, April 26. The Commencement ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. outside on the campus north of Antioch Hall. In the event of rain, the ceremony will take place in Kelly Hall, in Main Building.

Antioch College is pleased to announce that Mr. James (Jimmy) Williams will be addressing our graduating class.

James Williams, Jr. was born in Harlem Hospital on March 16,1952. He was raised in Newark, New Jersey during the “wild and crazy 60s” and is the eldest of five children.

After graduating from Weequahic High School (where he was a city track champion) in 1970, Mr. Williams attended Middlebury College in Vermont where he was one of a small number of students of color. Jimmy was an All-Conference football running back, and graduated in 1974 with a B.A. in American History and a minor in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art.

For the past 32 years, Mr. Williams has served at five colleges and universities including Middlebury College, Brown University, Davidson College, Antioch College and St. Lawrence University, where he currently serves as the Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Multicultural Recruitment. In the field of college admissions Jimmy is regarded as an authority on the recruitment and retention of students of color and speaks regularly on the subject at conferences around the country.

Mr. Williams came to Antioch College in September 1989 as the Dean of Admissions. Under Mr. William’s leadership, in the admissions office, Antioch experienced great success in recruitment and retention of students. Mr. Williams served as Dean of Admissions until 1995, when he was reassigned to student services.

Between 1995 and 2007 Mr. Williams held several significant positions at Antioch including Director of Multicultural Affairs; College Affirmative Action Officer; Special Assistant to the President; Associate Dean of Students; Dean of Student Life; and Dean of Students.

PROGRAM OF EVENTS
Friday, April 25

Senior Projects in Video and Film
12:30 – 3:00 p.m. in the Little Art Theatre

Reception for Graduating Seniors and their Families
3:30 – 5:00 p.m. in the Herndon Gallery

Family Cookout for Graduating Seniors, their Families and the Faculty
5:30 – 7:30 p.m. in front of the Antioch Union

Senior Party
10:00 p.m. in the Birch Space

Saturday, April 26

Commencement Exercises
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. outside on the north campus of Antioch Hall

Reception
An informal reception open to the public will follw the exercises in Herndon Gallery

Student of Color Graduation Celebration
2:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Coretta Scott King Center

Complimentary coffee will be available on the steps of the Antioch Union on Saturday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

No tickets are needed for the Commencement Exercises if they are held outside.

Other events for Commencement weekend are being planned. Upon arriving on campus you will receive details about events other than those included here and information regarding an indoor ceremony in the event of rain.