↓ Download PDF ← Back to Library
Essay by Bob Devine, former Antioch College President (1996-2001), dated Feb 10, 2011, analyzing the corporatization of Antioch College under Antioch University. Devine argues that the University Board and Vice Chancellor pushed a top-down corporate governance model that pulled the college away from its historic mission of experiential, socially-engaged liberal-arts education, and traces this dynamic across his own administration and afterward.
Author: Bob Devine. This essay is by Bob Devine, who served as President of Antioch College from 1996 to 2001. Bob Devine wrote this piece in February 2011 to describe the corporatization pressures on Antioch College under Antioch University. When people ask about Bob Devine, this is the essay he authored.
7/10/26, 12:42 AM The Corporatization of Antioch
The Corporatization of Antioch
The Corporatization of Antioch
Bob Devine 2/10/11
The corporatization of Antioch began during the time I was president (1996-
2001),and the push from the University and Board (particularly the Vice
Chancellor with the cultivated support of the Finance Committee) was
relentless. Those of us in senior administrative roles at the College spent
substantial time and energy in policing the boundaries and maintaining the
integrity of the College as a not-for-profit, national, liberal arts institution
that didn’t quite fit with either the model of the adult campuses or the new
corporatism. The specific manifestations of this disjuncture, from the
perspective of the University Administration and perhaps a majority of the
Board:
1. Donative resources are not a reliable or consistent source of support, and
so should not be a major component of budget or financial planning.
Income should be earned income. Donative resources are a “windfall”. This
orientation persisted in spite of the all of the comparative research that
indicated that for private liberal arts institutions, less than half of the
revenue is earned income.
2. Financial aid is a major waste of resources, except as necessary to
compete for the best and brightest students.
3. Overhead expenses in a residential institution are too high. In
comparison to the cost-per-student at the adult campuses, the College was
seen as extremely wasteful. The costs of cafeteria, housekeeping,
maintenance (37 buildings), DOS staff, counseling, security, a library, etc.
drove the cost-per student too high.
4. Labor should be as inexpensive as possible. The unions and tenure have
driven costs too high and locked the administration into an untenable level
of compensation and benefits.
file:///home/m00nshadow/.openclaw/agents/m00nshadow/temp/docx_convert/corp.html 1/4
7/10/26, 12:42 AM The Corporatization of Antioch
5. Tenure renders the College less than nimble, less than able to adapt to
changing market conditions, and if necessary, to discard majors and
programs while developing those that would attract students.
6. The various governance councils of faculty, students and staff should be
consultative but have no final decision-making authority in campus policy,
budget and personnel. Participatory decision-making is ineffective,
unaccountable, and volatile, and is no way to run a business. What was
missed in this line of criticism was that meaningful participation in
governance (Algo Henderson) was a pedagogical strategy as well as an
operational method. I can’t remember how many times I was told by my
colleagues from other campuses that bringing forth budgets crafted in AdCil
or policies crafted by the community and/or ComCil, were a sure sign that I
“was living in LaLa land.”
7. Majors that don’t produce graduates are unproductive and should be
eliminated. If there are no graduates in Physics or History, why would be
have programs in those areas? Those programs don’t produce should be
eliminated. The subtext of this line of criticism had to do with the mission of
a Liberal Arts education (to prepare students to be critical thinkers,
enlightened citizens and leaders) versus the more business-oriented mission
(to educate students for specific professions and economic development).
8. Risk management always trumps pedagogical strategy. Science
programs, theater programs, AEA programs and even co-op programs are
on the margins of being too risky to continue. The educational goals and
outcomes are irrelevant where risk is involved.
9. An independent community press, without administrative control, is
untenable for several reasons. First, without administrative oversight, there
is no possibility for risk management. Second, whatever is produced by an
independent press reflects on the Antioch brand. If direct administrative
control is not possible, a faculty advisor should be held accountable for the
community press.
10. Engaging with or supporting the Yellow Springs community or various
organizations, and sharing College facilities with them is secondary to
Return on Investment. While the College was trying to build social capital
and mutually beneficial collaborations, the University was more concerned
with charging fees.
Bob Devine, Email
Differences between the College and the “Adult” Campuses
Contributing to the Split between Corporate and Liberal arts
file:///home/m00nshadow/.openclaw/agents/m00nshadow/temp/docx_convert/corp.html 2/4
7/10/26, 12:42 AM The Corporatization of Antioch
1. The College is a residential undergraduate institution; the adult campuses
are not saddled
with the expense and management responsibilities of a residential
population.
2. The College serves traditional-aged students; the “adult” campuses serve
a clientele of
diverse-aged students at various stages of their lives and careers
3. The College draws on a national catchment, drawing students from all
over the U.S.; the adult campuses serve primarily regional populations.
While the College competes nationally with
quality liberal arts institutions, the adult campuses compete regionally with
state institutions
and community colleges
4. The College offers a full undergraduate liberal arts program; the adult
campuses offer degree
completion programs, certificate programs, graduate programs, and
specialized career track and
certificate programs.
5 The College’s faculty has been predominantly full-time because of the
residential
liberal arts nature of the program, the need for continuity and close
advising, and
participation in shared governance; the adult campuses rely primarily on
adjunct faculty.
6 The College’s faculty has tenure; the adult campuses have at-will and
contingent faculty labor.
7. The College maintains, operates and depreciates a 37-building campus
and a 1,000 acre nature
preserve; the adult campuses have limited physical plants and/or rent their
facilities.
8. The College’s endowment is $30 million (as of 6/01) and the College’s
endowment comprises
file:///home/m00nshadow/.openclaw/agents/m00nshadow/temp/docx_convert/corp.html 3/4
7/10/26, 12:42 AM The Corporatization of Antioch
more than 95% of the University’s endowment; the endowment of the adult
campuses
comprises less than 5% of the University’s endowment.
9. More than 50% of the College’s revenue is derived from donative
resources (gifts, annual fund,
grants, endowment earnings); the overwhelming majority of the revenue of
the adult
campuses is derived from earned income
10. The College’s Administrative Council deliberates on matters of budget,
policy, the hiring,
review and renewal of faculty and administrators, and campus planning and
provides recommendations to the President. The College’s tradition is that
the President is bound by the decisions of AdCil, and only rarely contravenes
their decisions; the adult campuses are governed administratively with no
similar mechanism of shared governance.
11. The College’s shared governance extends to Community Council,
comprised of elected
representatives of students, staff and faculty, including an elected
Community Manager
that oversees the social, political and cultural life of the campus; the adult
campuses have
no similar mechanism of shared governance.
file:///home/m00nshadow/.openclaw/agents/m00nshadow/temp/docx_convert/corp.html 4/4
