I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Mente, Lauren Soldano, and Iveta Jusova about their experiences on the Summer 08 Antioch Education Abroad Women’s Studies Program. Emily is a…
This is only a summary, folks. Visit The Record online at http://recordonline.org for the full story!
The Antioch College Alumni Board of Directors announced that it has named the first 5 members to the College Board of Trustees Pro Tem. This initial group includes Matthew Derr ’89, Atis Folkmanis ’62, Frances Degen Horowitz ’54, Lee Morgan ’66, and Barbara Slaner Winslow ’68. These first five members represent a broad range of skills, but share steadfast dedication to Antioch College.
More members will be named shortly. While naming the first members of the Board Pro Tem is an exciting step, it is a step that is done in tandem with the Task Force working to effect a separation of Antioch College and Antioch University. Last week, we reported that the Task Force had hired consultants to assist with legal and financial issues.
The initial members of the Board Pro Tem have been idenitified by the Committee on Trustees. The Committee on Trustees included representatives from the Alumni Board, the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, Nonstop, and the broader alumni community. It drew on the previous work of the Governance Committee to identify candidates for the first Board of Trustees to focus solely on Antioch College in over thirty years.
Faculty Voice Unqualified Support of “Non-Stop Antioch” To Keep Antioch College Open
For Immediate Release. March 11, 2008 3:45 PM
March 11, 2008—Members of the Antioch College faculty today announced that they have re-filed their original lawsuit against Antioch University and its Board of Trustees. They had withdrawn their lawsuit without prejudice in November of 2007, which meant that it could be re-filed at any time.Ninety percent of tenured faculty members who are currently teaching and wish to be part of Non-Stop Antioch filed for a permanent injunction against the Antioch University Board of Trustees in the Greene County Ohio Common Pleas Court. The legal request for injunctive relief asks the court to enjoin Antioch University from suspending College operations, from terminating the employment of the College faculty, from disposing of any College assets, and engage with the ACCC to amicably complete their negotiations allowing the ACCC to take responsibility for the college.
After the Antioch College faculty withdrew their lawsuit in November, an alumni group known as the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC) formed to negotiate with Antioch University for ownership of Antioch College.
Two weeks ago, the University unilaterally announced that they would be suspending operations of the College for the 2008-2009 school year, even though negotiations to keep the college operating continued with the ACCC.
Antioch College Professor of Philosophy Scott Warren said “It’s clear that the University Board of Trustees is not negotiating in good faith. That leaves us no other choice but to re-file our lawsuit.”
The lawsuit alleges that the Board failed to govern the institution properly. First and foremost, the Board breached their contractual responsibilities by declaring a state of financial exigency and suspending College operations when less drastic measures were available. The faculty complaint also alleges that the University Board of Trustees violated contractual obligations set forth in the Faculty Personnel Policies and Procedures that require consultation with College faculty, and that require minimal external publicity about internal College financial matters. The faculty suit also asserts that decisions made by the Board of Trustees in 2004 and 2005 seriously damaged College enrollment, and that the June 12, 2007 public suspension announcement further damaged the College. Finally the lawsuit alleges that Antioch University currently has a less drastic solution than closing the College, in the form of an offer to take responsibility for the college and keep it running. The lawsuit alleges the Antioch University Board should honor their financial and contractual obligation to operate the College responsibly, by relinquishing ownership of the College to the ACCC who will keep the College operating.
Former College President and current Professor of Communications Robert Devine said that announcements from the University leadership were “messages of dubious origin and of dubious meaning” and that the Interim Antioch College President “has consistently obfuscated, distorted and misrepresented the situation.”
Last weekend two alumni groups, the Antioch College Alumni Association and the College Revival Fund, met with students, faculty, staff and Yellow Springs townspeople to discuss next steps. The College Revival Fund committed $1 million to support “Non-Stop Antioch.”
“Non-Stop Antioch means just that,” says Anne Bohlen, Professor of Media Arts. “We hope that the negotiations between the Board of Trustees and the ACCC are ultimately successful, but the Antioch University administration and the Board of Trustees have repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to resolve the situation despite an Alumni fundraising effort that raised 18 million dollars to alleviate financial deficits. They have consistently refused to negotiate with the College Faculty and our institutional governing bodies as required by their contractual obligations. They have regularly engaged in demoralizing tactics and have been especially eager to publicly defame the College faculty and students and we are taking legal action to redress the situation. Non-Stop Antioch means we are not going away, and with the support of the Alumni are planning to continue to offer Antioch’s excellent liberal arts and experiential education program into the near future.”
Since the University Board of Trustees announced the suspension of operations in June 2007, faculty, alumni, students, staff, and Yellow Springs townspeople have mobilized to keep the historic 155-year-old institution from closing. More information about the faculty lawsuit can be found on the website http://collegefaculty.org.
Anne Bohlen
937-760-7834
atbohlen
Susan Eklund-Leen
937-361-8092
susaneklund
Susan J. Eklund-Leen, Ph.D., Wednesday, August 15, 2007
We the faculty of Antioch College support and appreciate the efforts of the Antioch College Alumni Association and the former members of the Board of Trustees to keep Antioch College open as a viable independent liberal arts college. We are joining them in these efforts.
Press Release, Tuesday August 14, 2007
Today members of the Antioch College Faculty filed for a permanent injunction against the Antioch University Board of Trustees in the Greene County Common Pleas Court. On June 9, 2007, the University Board decided to suspend Antioch College operations, terminating all faculty and staff as of June 30, 2008. The legal request for injunctive relief asks the court to enjoin Antioch University from suspending College operations, from terminating the College Faculty,
and from disposing of any College assets.
The lawsuit alleges that the Board failed to govern the institution properly. First and foremost, the Board breached their contractual responsibilities by declaring a state of financial exigency and suspending College operations when less drastic measures were available. The Faculty complaint also alleges that the University Board of Trustees violated contractual obligations set forth in the Faculty Personnel Policies and Procedures that require consultation with College Faculty, and that require minimal external publicity about internal College financial matters. The Faculty asserts that decisions made by the Board of Trustees in 2004 and 2005 seriously damaged College enrollment prospects, which led to a rapid decline in revenue, and that the June12, 2007 public suspension announcement further damaged the College.
Last week the College Faculty received support from the American Association of University Professors, the leading advocacy organization for higher education faculty and the defense of academic freedom. The AAUP issued a “statement of concern” to the University Board of Trustees, the University Chancellor, and the College President, citing problems with Antioch University governance policies and “a pattern of disregard for faculty’s legitimate role in
institutional decision-making.”
Today’s injunction request asks that the University be prevented from liquidating or dispersing any College assets, including College buildings (three of which are historic landmarks), the College Endowment, its land holdings, Antioch Education Abroad, the recently-opened Coretta Scott King Center, and the Glen Helen Nature Preserve. Legal action by members of the Antioch College Faculty is one effort in a broad-based campaign by the College Alumni Board, twenty former members of the University Board of Trustees, and the many citizens of Yellow Springs who are working to keep the College open as a viable liberal arts institution. Given the University’s public refusal to reconsider their decision to suspend operations, members of the faculty found it necessary to initiate legal action to immediately
prevent further damage to the nationally renowned College and the surrounding community.
Antioch faculty, alums and current students are determined to save their school. “Antioch College has offered a very distinctive, high-quality liberal arts education for the past one-hundred and fifty years, and we, the faculty, are committed to keeping it going,” says Anne Bohlen, Professor of Media Arts. “The College buildings and grounds, including Glen Helen, are justly famous Ohio landmarks and the College is a major employer in Yellow Springs–there are numerous jobs at stake here. “
By Nancy R. Crow, President of the Antioch College Alumni Association. Tuesday, August 7, 2007
To: Chairperson Art Zucker, Members of the Antioch University Board of Trustees and Members of the University Leadership Council
From: Nancy R. Crow, President of the Antioch College Alumni Association
Date: August 7, 2007
I write to you on behalf of the Antioch College Alumni Association Board, the elected representative body of the 17, 000 or so Antioch College alums. We are looking forward to the August 16th webcast and of course to the August 25th special Board of Trustees meeting. Many of us have received our notices and have responded and are making our travel plans. Like you, we want this meeting to be productive, to move the agenda of rebuilding our Antioch College forward, and to find ways to raise funds and other support for our alma mater. We also agree wholeheartedly with your statement published in the Yellow Springs News that “it is critical that we have the participation and support of Antioch College’s key stakeholders in this process.”
However, we believe in order to garner the support and participation of the “key stakeholders in this process,” “key stakeholders” have to be both invited and allowed to participate in every step of the process, and as of now this has not taken place. Therefore we propose the following:
1) A conference call should be scheduled between now and the 19th of August to review and refashion the agenda that the Antioch University Board of Trustees has proposed. In addition to the Antioch University Board of Trustees Executive Committee, which sets the University Board of Trustees agenda, both the Executive Committee of the Alumni Board and representatives from the key stakeholder groups you have identified, that is, faculty, staff and students and Yellow Springs Community, should be invited to this discussion. If you want stakeholders’ participation and support, the agenda must reflect the interests of all the stakeholders and not just one group.
2) In order for the August 25th meeting to have a positive outcome, we strongly urge you to rethink a number of your statements and agenda items:
a) It is not conducive for a productive meeting to begin by saying in advance that any position taken by this Board of Trustees is “irreversible,” and to warn invited participants that only certain discussions at this meeting will be allowed. Why not let all the stakeholders discuss the parameters of the Board agenda before the August meeting begins?
b) The two hour open mic does not seem likely to lead to a positive outcome. Two hours, with five-minute time limits allows for 24 speakers, that is, if there are no pauses, time between speakers, technical glitches, people going over their time allotment and so forth. An open mic, with board members listening to one speaker after another, with no organization and no coherence will just lead to greater frustration and alienation. Furthermore, Mary Lou LaPierre’s remarks about the possibility of “disruptive and disrespectful” participants did not set the best tone. Perhaps we could think of other ways to use this two-hour framework. For example, why not allow the alumni representatives to present their ideas? Why not allow a former board chair or former trustees to present a proposal? Why not allow the faculty and the student representatives some time to present their points of view as well? And if there are other stakeholders who have presented you with proposals, have them be invited as well. In this way there can be a range of proposals for all of us to discuss in the afternoon session.
c) Finally we urge you to rethink the idea of a closed meeting. It is our heartfelt belief that had this board notified all stakeholders, alums, major donors, faculty, staff, former college presidents, former trustees and board chairs, the Yellow Springs community last fall, when there was the first realization of the depth of the financial crisis, and called upon all of us to work together to find a solution, there would be greater unity, participation and most important solutions to solving the college’s problems. The more the University Board shrouds itself in secrecy, the greater the alienation from the very stakeholders it needs for the future of the college.
We look forward to working with you. We want a positive outcome at the August 25th meeting, as well as at the October joint University Board of Trustees and Antioch College Alumni Board meetings.