Save Antioch College - The Portal

by Dayton Daily News, Editorial, Wednesday, August 29 2007

The trustees of Antioch University have done the right thing in giving Antioch College alumni a chance to raise enough money to keep the college going next year.

But the road from here is sharply uphill — and treacherous.

The university had little to lose in offering this chance. But it’s talking about only a two-month window. The alumni have until October to come up with a credible plan and a credible bankroll.

The university trustees came in for a lot of criticism when they announced their decision to close the college from 2008 to (at least) 2012. They did that for financial reasons. And they did it without letting anybody know beforehand that such a decision was in the works.

Some contributors complained. Members of the family of Horace Mann, the founder, complained. (See their letter at antiochians.org.) Former trustees complained.

Alumni and faculty were particularly quick and vocal in complaining.

The alumni association almost immediately began an effort to raise money. It has come up with about $8 million. One figure often used for what Antioch really needs is $50 million.

Obviously, that’s not set in stone. But if the school is just barely scraping by, it will have special difficulty attracting students. As it is, Eric Fingerhut, Ohio’s chancellor of higher education, has publicly wondered how small the school can get and still meet the basic standards required for it to have the state’s blessing.

The good news is that a striking degree of agreement has emerged within the Antioch community on steps the university should take. The alumni association agrees, for example, with college President Steve Lawry that the college needs its own board of trustees. And many see a need to recombine the college with Antioch University McGregor, the continuing-education school.

Another matter generating much agreement is the school’s physical condition. Authorities and others believe that among the most common reason that students choose not to attend after having been accepted is that they visit the campus and realize that it just doesn’t measure up to other schools. The problem is not simply that it lacks certain amenities, but that what it does have is not in good shape.

One area that all who are working to save the school should agree upon is in the political realm. Antioch has a reputation for a certain repressiveness coming from the political left, an excessive dedication to political correctness. Some don’t see this as a major problem in attracting students; they believe Antioch’s political niche is big enough for a small school.

To adopt that mindset would be wrong-headed for two reasons:

• The school’s appeal is fragile enough that any potential problem must be confronted.

• A public commitment to free inquiry and genuine intellectual freedom should be made and enforced just as a matter principle.

At any rate, it’s good to see everybody pulling in the same direction, at least for now. Relations between the alumni and the trustees seem to have improved, after much communication, including a Cincinnati meeting over the weekend. Now there’s mainly a lot of work to be done.

Maybe it’s too soon to be using the phoenix metaphor, about the mythical bird that is reborn from its own ashes. Antioch, after all, has neither died nor been reborn. And yet the announcement of the college’s death has sparked some life.