Antioch College Closing?

Special board meeting set

By Virgil Hervey

Faced with student, faculty and alumni resistance to their decision to suspend Antioch College operations on July 1, 2008, until 2012, Antioch University Board of Trustees Chair Arthur Zucker and University Chancellor Toni Murdock have stated that the board’s decision is irreversible and it is time to move on to rebuilding the college as a “state of the art” institution.

To that end, Zucker last Thursday announced two events in the month of August: an interactive Web seminar at 8 p.m., on Aug. 16, and a special Antioch University Board of Trustees meeting on Saturday, Aug. 25, in Cincinnati, that will consist of two parts, an open “town hall” style meeting from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and a closed meeting for key stakeholders only, from 1 to 5 p.m.

“It was felt that starting this re-building process could not wait until the board’s regularly scheduled meeting in October; it is critical that we have the participation and support of Antioch College’s key stakeholders in this process,” Zucker said in a statement released on July 25.

Zucker and Murdock did not respond to requests for interviews. However, according to Antioch University spokesperson MaryLou LaPierre, Zucker asked her to talk to the News on his behalf.

The Webcast will address the financial facts and figures the board considered in making its decision, Zucker said in the statement, including information not previously made public. According to LaPierre, who was interviewed late last week, plans allow for e-mailed questions to the board, “before, during, and after the Webcast.” A PowerPoint presentation of the financial facts will be a major feature of the seminar, she said.

On Aug. 25, the morning session will be open to “alumni, current students, faculty, staff, Yellow Springs business and community leaders, donors and others to share their visions with the board and senior administrative leadership,” Zucker said in his statement.

The afternoon meeting is a closed session for invited guests only and the press will not be admitted, LaPierre said.

According to LaPierre, the stakeholder invitations went out at the end of last week. Each stakeholder group was invited to nominate a “key stakeholder,” to represent them at the event. Representatives from the Alumni Association, faculty, staff and students, and Yellow Springs Village leadership, make up the key stakeholders, according to Zucker’s statement. She declined to provide the News with the exact list of local participants, stating that she feared that if the newspaper published it, the stakeholder organizations would be flooded with requests from their constituents.

Those who would like to speak about their vision for the future of Antioch College will be afforded an opportunity to sign up, although the board will not consider the option of keeping the college open, according to Zucker’s statement. Since the reunion of Antioch College alumni in late June, alumni have spearheaded a fund-raising effort to raise money to keep the college open. According to Alumni Board Treasurer Rick Dailey this week, the group has raised more than $600,000 in pledges and is working on a business plan.

Asked why the board is not willing to consider alumni efforts to keep the college open, LaPierre repeated previous university statements that the college needs $40 million and the alumni will not be able to raise that amount of money.

“The Webcast will explain it,” she said. “The alumni will get to see the same documents the board saw.”

Speakers at the morning session will be limited to five minutes each and are asked to limit their remarks to the rebuilding of the school for 2012. However, LaPierre said, the board does not wish to engage in censorship. So, those who veer off topic will not be stopped until their five minutes are up, unless they are “disruptive or disrespectful.”

The focus of both meetings will be “What should the revitalized college look like and how can we work together to achieve it?” she said.

Of the 20 trustees, LaPierre expects about 18 to make the trip to Cincinnati, along with about 10 members of the leadership committee. She expects an equal number of stakeholders, including 10–12 alumni and the rest from other stakeholder groups to attend the afternoon meeting.

A number of details, such as the technicalities of the Webcast and the exact site of the Cincinnati meetings, still have to be ironed out, LaPierre said. She urges interested parties to keep checking the college Web site at www.antioch-college.edu for developing details. According to LaPierre, Cincinnati was chosen because there are more non-stop flights to its airport than there are to Dayton. Attendees are expected from all over the country.

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com