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1010 High Vista Trail
Webster,New York 14580
August27, 2001
RobertH. Devine,President
AntiochCollege
795 LivermoreSt.
YellowSprings,Ohio45387
Dear Bob,
We’ve nevermet, but from your many contnDutionsto the collegechat line we feel that w.e know
somethingaboutyou and the ways you respondto well-meaningcriticismsof the present
conditionof AntiochCollege. On the otherhand, you don’t know us at all, so perhapswe needto
updateyou on why we are giving our supportto AlP.
W~’re glad that you readthe letteJ we sent to tfll”; class of’Sl. J:,1oreUlw’ hkely,you lia’veread
most of AlP’s mailings,whichare reallyvery few becauseeach one costs hundredsof dollars
from our own pockets. We contributewhat we can in the hopethat it will go towardrestoration
of whatoncewas one of the best small collegesin the country.Antiochusedto be a well
respectedacademicinstitution,knownfor excellenceand innovation,with a co-opplan that was
the envy of otherschools.You say that it still enjoyssome of that reputation;we will grant that it
still probablyholdsprominencefor “innovation,”but academiceminenceand the enviableco-op
plan appearto have witheredaway.
We havea few years on you as Antiochians,years that includedraising our childrenon stories
about Antioch… about a superb faculty,a focused,hard workingstudentbody, and the pride we
aU felt to be part of such a great educationalendeavor.We told them about co-opjobs we loved
and thosewe hated,and about grittyhousingin citieswherewe werestrangers,and about what a
great adventureit was…. most of the time. When it was timefor them to choosetheir colleges, .
our childrenresearched,spoketo guidancecounselorsand a few current students,and ~en
.’– –·r-efused·even·to considerAntioch. We’ve talkedto many other Antiochianparentswho have.had
the sameexperience.
We’d been somewhatout.of touch with Antiochduringthoseyears when our family and ourjobs
took all of our attention,and the Antiochour high-schoolerswere tellingus about was not at all
the same one we’d been readingabout in theAntiochian.Little did we know·how badlythings
had gone, and hOVi little we’d been told.. But others knev, and cur ,vish that our children l.vould
benefitfrom an educationalexperiencecomparableto ours was gone.
However,we were motivatedto find out what had happened,and so in 1986 we visited the
campusand talkedto many people… students,facultyand the very few remainingstaff members
we knew. Frankly,we were appalled.And althoughwe continuedto makesmall contributions
each year thereafter, we had littlefaith that Antiochwould ever again be comparableto what it
once had been. In our time, deliberatedestructionof campusproperty was unheardof, and respect
for oneself,as well as for other people and their property, was part of the way we lived. Young
adultswith enormouspotentialfor achievementwere graduatedevery year, and many have
becomenotedand notablein the years since. Undoubtedly,some oftoday’s studentsare also
doingwell, and are creative,intelligent,people.Unfortunately,from what we have learnedabout
too many of them, we anticipatenotorietyas well.
That moneyis neededis apparent, but how do you expectto get it from those of us who see’no
improvement,or any plans for majorchange,in the very nature of what Antiochhas become?
You’re askingus to investin an organizationthat, in the opinionof many of us, is unlikelyto
grow againinto a vibrant,highly.civilizedacademiccommunity. Pleas~ believe,Bob, that none
of us is pining for an Antiochjust like it was ” in the goodold days.” We simply want it to be
as first-rate as it was then. Unfortunately,judging from the quality of someof the student
contributionsto the chat line, part of the presentstudentbody is barely literateand a great many
are incapableof participatlngin logicalargument
AIF offersAntiochbothmoneyand ideas:restorethe college’sstatus as a degreegranting
institution,and let it decidewhat it shouldtake to earn an Antiochdegree.Our peer institutions
do that, and their degreesare in great demand,as are placesin their freshmanclasses. You
omittedthat fact from your letter. You also neglectedto mentionthat you, AntiochCollege’s
president,as well as the Chancellorof AntiochUniversityand the Chairmanof its Board of
Trustees,are steppingdownin the near future. Potentialdonorsare likelyto find those coincident
~~en+~ inter~fdjg. .
We doubtthat your claimof a diminishingpool of applicantsto liberal arts collegesis accurate,
or to blamefor Antioch’spoor share of that market. The other collegesthat educatedmembersof
our family… Ober~ St. LawrenceUniversity,SUNYBinghamton,ComeIlUniversity…. seemto
be turningaway well-qualifiedapplicants.
As for the sadlyemasculatedco-op program,we find it hard to understandhow, in recentyears
when employerswere desperatefor talentedand intelligentpeopleto filljobs, co-op placement
opportunitiescouldpossiblyhave disappeared.And you wrote,”students are not contentmerely
to enterthe adultworldof work, but seekopportunitiesthat are meaningful.” Perhapsyou will
explainjust how they can do anythingmeaningfulif they cannotsupport themselveswhilethey
search for “meaning”. Pleasetell us why nobodyat their collegeis makingthis pointclear to
them?
— —.–~-_._~—- -~We .are-sorrythat you seemto be intenton blamngevery problem-OILr.egrettableexternal forces.
We are sorry,too, that our hopethat your leadershipof AntiochCollegewould bringabout
substantivechangehas not been realized. Perhapsit was not possible,giventhe constraintsthat
may have been forced upon you by the universitystructure.
Yours truly, ,,0 0L (0 I rf
~~ ~ (“”-t.;..t-‘WJ~,,-·
Jan ’53 and.Chuck~Sl Wellers
Copy: AJF clo Katy Jako ’54, Richmond,CA
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Dear Antiochian,
ANTIOCH COLLEGE
795 Livermore Street
Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387-1697
Phone: 937-769-1260
Fax: 937-769-1288
July 25, 2001
An alum recently passed along to me an appeal on behalf of the Antioch Independence Fund (AIF)
that was sent to members of the class of 1951. The letter from Chuck (’51) and Jan Lehman (’53)
Wellers included materials describing the AIF and its mission. Since I rarely have the opportunity
to see the literature of the AIF, I was pleased to have the opportunity to see and reflect on the ideas
and proposals that have been put forth by those with whom I share a commitment to the vitality and
well-being of the College.
Chuck and Jan’s letter noted the impact that Antioch College had on the lives of classmates of their
era. “Not one of us left Antioch unchallenged or unchanged,” they write, and go on to recount
how the educational program of the College challenged basic assumptions and cherished beliefs,
while offering a strong liberal arts education, a respected degree, and “a chance to enter the work
world with experience that gave us an important edge.” Th~se words have great resonance for me.
From my perspective, these observations are as true for the class of 2001 as they were for the class
of 1951. Chuck and Jan go on to say, however, “It isn’t quite like that at Antioch anymore. It
could be that way again, but right now it isn’t.”
I feel compelled to disagree. I’m just beginning my 40th year as an Antiochian, and 30 of those
years have been spent on the campus, experiencing the College at close range. Please permit me to
share my thinking regarding the ways in which the College has, indeed, changed since you were a
student here in the early 1950s, as well as some of my perspectives on the ways it has remained the
same.
The GI Bill was the major force driving the enrollment at the College during the Post-WWII era,
and had a great deal to do with the College’s growth and prosperity at that time. This was one of
two spikes in the College’s enrollment history, the other being associated with the baby boomers
of the 1960s. In the post-war era private institutions were educating one half of all college
students, with liberal arts colleges accounting for 40% of that number. As the late Ernest Boyer
reminded us several years ago, it was a period of time during which the l1ationmoved from elite to
masS higher education, and Boyer writes, “Enrollnlents exploded and campuses were built at the
rate of one a week.” College enrollments increased from 2.3 million in 1950 to 8.6 million in
1970. With the baby boomers arriving on the heels of GI bill·students, Antioch managed sustained
growth during this boom period in American higher education.
We are no longer in a time of prosperity and enrollment growth. Economists (and liberal arts
college Presidents) Michael McPherson and Morton Schapiro tell us that today, although half of the
work force pa~ses through college, only 250,000 of 14 million students are in small private
residential colleges, and the percentage of those students majoring in liberal arts disciplines, at both
public and private institutions, continues to decline. While the 18-year old population is once. again
on the upswing, the demographics of this college-age increase will be significantly different than
those of previous generations. This population will need lTIOre financial assistance, will be more
Antioch College Antioch New England Graduate School Antioch Southern California Antioch Seattle The McGregor School
bicultural and bilingual, will be more inclined to attend schools closer to home, will have very
different expectations, needs and learning styles, and will be more likely to attend public and two
year institutions.
An associated change that Antioch has experienced since the 1950s is in the process, dynamics and
expense of recruiting students. With a diminishing pool of students headed in a liberal arts
direction, the competition among private liberal arts institutions has become fierce. Our peer
institutions spend between $3,000 and $5,000 per student to recruit matriculants, and then award
on average $17,000 in financial aid to entering students. Meeting the twin goals of accessibility
and merit, the College struggles each year to provide $3.2 million in unfunded institutional aid.
While other institutions draw merit aid from endowment earnings to compete for high quality
students, Antioch discounts its tuition and fee charges, and in effect, has $3.2 million less to work
with in providing facilities, faculty compensation and the like. Given the steady decline in Federal
aid over the last two decades (Federal aid in 1982-83 accounted for 79% of an Antioch student’s
aid package, while last year it accounted for only 53% of the package; the percentage of Antioch
institutional aid in a student’s package climbed from 19% to 44% during the same time period), the
College has assumed a level of responsibility for the accessibility of an Antioch education that was
unimaginable in the 1950s. Currently just over 90% of Antioch students receive some form of
financial aid, with almost $8 million in Antioch scholarships and grants, loans, federal, state and
work study aid flowing to our 650 students each year.
One very remarkable change in the College since the 1950s is that we currently have the highest
retention in Antioch College history. For the past two years our retention of both first year and
continuing students has held at 87%, a record-breaking number for an institution that has only
rarely in its history graduated more than 50-53% of its entering students.
Current Antioch students share many qualities, characteristics, values and aspirations of your
generation of Antiochians, but there are also some essential differences. While the entering class
of 2000 perhaps had a slightly higher relative ranking on standardized tests than did your
generation, they have been shaped by a very different set of life experiences. In a recent Atlantic
Monthly article on “The Organization Kid,” David Brooks notes:
Most of today’s college students were born from 1979 to 1982. That means they were less
than ten years old when the Berlin Wall fell, and have no real first-hand knowledge of global
conflict or Cold War anxieties about nuclear war. The only major American armed conflict they
remember is Desert Storm, a high-tech cakewalk. Moreover, they have never known anything
but incredible prosperity: low unemployment and low inflation are the normal conditions; crime
rates are always falling; the stock market rises.
The current generation of Antioch students is bright, industrious, enterprising and morally earnest.
Whereas on the national level the traditional view of the purpose of liberal education in preparing
public citizens and developing a meaningful philosophy of life has been eroded since the ’50s,
having been replaced by a concern with.increasing earning power, career advancement and private
benefit, Antioch students tend to maintain a focus on the public benefits of education, the learning
that comes from participation in governance and community life, and the necessity of addressing
the moral and ethical questions that derive from Horace Mann’s challenge to “Be ashamed to die
until you have won some victory for Humanity. ”
One of the more dramatic changes that the College has experienced since the 1950s is in the nature
of work and its implications for the co-op program. Many of the entry level jobs that were the
bread and butter of the co-op program have been automated out of existence, and the shift of jobs
from industry and commerce to the non-profit and social service sector has meant significant
change in our program. The cities where jobs have traditionally been concentrated have·also
changed, and issues of cost-of-living and security have come to playa much more substantial role
in student decision-making. Complementing the shift away from the in loco parentis role that
institutions played in the ’50s and ’60s, has been a change in the motivations and attitudes of
students toward work. Current students are not content merely to enter the adult world of work,
but seek opportunities that are meaningful — in which they can make a difference.
What has remained the same? A great deal about Antioch College is as you remember it.
Apart from the continuing difficulties deriving from a very old physical plant and a very small
endowment, there are a number of areas that reflect persistence of mission and values:
-Antioch College’s distinctive liberal arts and co-op program continues to set the national
benchmarks for quality undergraduate education. In the recent Carnegie and Pew sponsored
National Survey of Student Engagement, the College ranked at the top of the list of 276
institutions in categories of “Level of Academic Challenge” and “Enriching Educational
Experiences,” and in the 90th percentile in two of the other five categories of benchmarking.
-Antioch College continues to produce graduates who go on to distinguish themselves in
graduate programs. The Franldin and 11arshall study on the Baccalaureate Origins ofDoctorate
Recipients affirms that among 914 colleges and universities, Antioch College ranks 19th,
in absolute numbers, in the number of Ph.D. degrees earned by alumni. Given our small
size, this ranking is truly exceptional.
-Our Co-op program continues to provide a national model for “situated learning,” and with
new leadership in the department, and Dr. Linn’s ongoing research on the lifelong impact of
cooperative learning, Antioch continues to lead the field.
-The Antioch Education Abroad program continues to have two of its many programs ranked
in·the top 25 international programs, and has recently developed new programs in Japan,
Egypt, and is currently developing a program in African art in Mali.
– The College’s system of shared governance and community life is as vital and pedagogically
central as it has ever been. Administrative Council continues to make decisions regarding
faculty and administrative personnel, budget, policy and direction for the College. Community
Council continues to wrestle with the very serious issues of campus life and civil culture. Our
weekly community meetings continue to provide an exemplar for engaged community-building
and problem-solving. Over half of our students are involved with community service in the
surrounding community. Antioch was.recently singled out for praise by the John Templeton
Foundation among its Colleges that Encourage Character Development, and by the Bonner
Foundation with a community enrichment grant in support of our leadership program. While
the scope of shared governance and community life is perhaps broader than it was in the
early ’50s, Antioch’s distinctive approach continues to lead the way nationally.
In a recent e-mail correspondence, Richard Tolken (’51) spelled out some prominent reasons for
contributing to an educational organization. In addition to successful educational outcomes (we
have many to point to), and support of innovative approaches to education (Antioch continues to be
a trend-setter with its interdisciplinary curriculum and focus on educating public citizens), he listed
among his reasons, “Belief in the management of the institution as recorded in its recent history. ”
I’d like to share, and amplify somewhat, the response that I made to Dick’s thoughtful assessment.
The administrative team and faculty that labors in the trenches at the College right now, has
accomplished a great deal in the past five years. This team, and it has truly been a team effort,
(a) has increased enrollment by 25%; (b) has cut attrition by 60% to an all-time Antioch low of
13%; (c) has increased the faculty, increased the number of tenure-track positions, increased
faculty salaries by 18% (hopefully by 26% if this year goes well), and has put an additional $1
million each year into strengthening the academic program; (d) has increased the endowment from
$11 million to $30 million; (e) has wired the library, and put it on line to OhioLink; (f) has wired
the calnpus, moved the technology infrastlucture from the level of Mac Classics (the standard
desktop five years ago) to the level of iMacs, and has installed 3 computing labs across the
campus; (g) has implemented a new year-round calendar and a revamped interdisciplinary
curriculum; (h) has revisioned, revitalized and strengthened the Co-op program; (i) has put three
new AEA programs on line; (j) has put an innovative summet program in place; (k) has completed
a number of campus renovations and improvements and put the campus in the best condition it’s
enjoyed in the last three decades, and (1) has restored a measure of social capital in our town-gown
relationships with the Village of Yellow Springs.
Antioch Independence Fund literature at times portrays the College as diminished and floundering,
weakened fiscally and academically by its position within Antioch University, with a withered or
. ·non-existent self-governance system that has been gutted by the University, and with no control
over its own future and direction. Nothing could be further from my experience during the last
five years. The Board has kept the long-term health and well-being of the College central in all of
its thinking, and our progress during this time was directed and charted by the College’s own
bottom-up Strategic Plan. The University has provided a safe harbor and support for that
progress, as well as providing programmatic development that enriches the College’s programs.
For example, at the present time College faculty are engaged both in the developing Antioch
University Ph.D. program, and in participating in a University-wide training for electronic delivery
of coursework — to enhance their ability to mentor students on co-op across the world.
We recently commissioned a feasibility study in preparation for a campaign for the College’s
endowment. In interviews conducted with alums, donors, Trustees, some faculty, students and
administrators, the study indicated that ninety-five percent of those interviewed said they would be
giving to the upcoming campaign, roughly seventy percent said they wanted to be involved~ and
roughly half indicated that they’d be interested in taking leadership roles in this strategic effort for
the College. Best of all, the interviews indicated an understanding on the part of our constituencies
that the quality and reputation of the institution are linked to the resources that it has available.
Ultimately it will require the support of alumni to secure the College’s long-term vitality and
reputation.
In recognition of your almost 50 years as an Antiochian, I would strongly urge you to visit the
campus, talk with some of our extraordinary students and faculty, and make your own
determinations about the state of the College, its quality, direction and autonomy . You are also
welcome to contact me directly with any questions. I look forward to seeing you on campus.
SOiL
Robert H. Devine (’67)
President
