Save Antioch College - The Portal

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.