Antioch College Closing?

Alumni push efforts to save college

By Diane Chiddister

The fervor with which Antioch College alumni embraced the campaign to save their college almost two weeks ago has not diminished one bit, according to several alumni.

Town meeting support Villagers are also organizing in support of the Antioch College alumni’s efforts to keep the college open. A town meeting will take place Tuesday, July 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the First Presbyterian Church, 314 Xenia Avenue. The meeting, open to all, will offer Miami Valley residents an opportunity to “hear from key constituencies which would be most affected by the proposed closure of Antioch College,” according to organizers. The event will also allow participants the opportunity to ask questions about ideas and plans for the future of the college. Speakers will include representatives from the college alumni, administration, faculty, staff, students and local businesses, among others. The group initially came together during the alumni reunion “out of a deep concern that the closure of Antioch College would profoundly and adversely affect the economic, cultural and social fabric of the village.” For information, contact Lori Askeland, 767–8116, or Judith Wolert-Maldonado, 767–0118.

“It’s an explosion of people and tasks,” according to Catherine Jordan of Minneapolis this week. “The mood is determined and energized. This is not a group of people preparing for a wake. It’s a group absolutely dedicated to saving the college.”

The alumni campaign to keep Antioch College open began during the group’s alumni reunion in Yellow Springs June 21–24. At that event, alumni organized in response to Antioch University’s Board of Trustees June 12 announcement that Antioch College will close in July 2008, with the intention of reopening four years later. A financial crisis caused by low enrollment triggered the action, the trustees said.

But at their reunion, alumni refused to accept the trustees’ and university administrators’ vision of a renewed Antioch that will first close down and then reopen in 2012, without the current students and faculty. Rather, they vowed to keep the college open, and to do so, they started an Antioch College Renewal Fund. Over the weekend the alumni, challenged to raise $40,000, raised $424,000 instead.

And the checks keep pouring in, according to the Antioch Alumni Board Treasurer Rick Dailey of Denver on Monday.

“I’ve got a wad of checks that I’m still counting. I’ve got more checks than I can currently count,” he said. He estimated that the fund has passed the half million mark.

The alumni hope to raise $40 million, the amount that Antioch University Toni Murdock has said is necessary to save the college, according to Dailey, who said that there is no specific deadline so far for raising the money.

As well as collecting checks, alumni are busy with other tasks associated with saving the college. According to Jordan, their first priority is to find a charitable repository for the fund, so that contributions are tax deductible. Also, alumni are working on developing a business plan “to understand what it will take to keep the college going,” Dailey said.

At the reunion, alumni divided into many working groups, which were charged with enhancing communication both within and without the Antioch College community, exploring legal issues and looking at issues of college and university governance.

To take on these tasks, alumni are communicating with each other constantly, according to Dailey, who said that he receives “hundreds” of emails a day from other alumni.

Donations to the Antioch College Revival Fund may be made by writing checks payable to the fund, account #130 110 698 524, at US Bank, 266 Xenia Avenue, Yellow Springs, 45387.