Council gets an earful over Aug. 25 special meeting

By Diane Chiddister

What should be the role of the Village Council representative at the upcoming Aug. 25 special meeting of the Antioch University Board of Trustees? Is taking part in the meeting as an invited, rather than elected, stakeholder necessarily supporting the university’s stated goal of closing Antioch College for four years? Should the Village Council representative request that the trustees put on the meeting agenda the possibility of keeping Antioch College open, an effort which has been embraced by many villagers?

Village Council and many villagers engaged in a spirited dialogue around these questions at Council’s Aug. 6 meeting. About 30 villagers attended the meeting, and most who spoke expressed discomfort with the university’s process of choosing stakeholders for the trustees meeting rather than asking local groups to elect a representative.

“When you select who will speak, you frame the discussion. They are clearly framing the discussion,” Neal Crandall said. He also criticized Council for taking “a passive, responsive role rather than a creative, interactive role” regarding the trustee meeting.

About five villagers have been invited to represent Yellow Springs in the Aug. 25 special trustees meeting, which will be held in Cincinnati and which will also include about 20 people from other stakeholder groups, including college students, staff, faculty and alumni. Council Acting President Karen Wintrow and Village Manager Eric Swansen are among the local people who were invited to represent Yellow Springs. See the accompanying article for other local representatives.

But Council members and villagers “should be offended” by what seems to be the trustees’ attempt to include in the discussion only those who agree with their plan to close the college, according to Tony Dallas.

“You are not stakeholders of the community. You are stakeholders of the board of trustees,” he said to Wintrow and Swansen.

Council member Judith Hempfling stated that, since many villagers have supported the alumni effort to keep the college open, Council should send two representatives to the Aug. 25 meeting, in order to communicate both viewpoints. However, Wintrow stated she does not see her role as supporting any viewpoint, but rather as gathering information.

“I’m there to listen and learn what their plans are,” she said.

Hempfling also suggested that Council communicate to the trustees that they should put the option of keeping the college open on the Aug. 25 agenda, especially given the amount of nationwide and local effort to that end.

But Council would be overstepping its role in doing so, according to Bruce Rickenbach and Kathryn Chase.

“It’s inappropriate to interfere in the internal operations of a private institution,” Rickenbach said.

While community member Sue Abendroth agreed with the majority of Council that “Council should not choose sides,” most who spoke stated that given the college’s enormous influence in Yellow Springs and its role as a major employer, Council should have a clear interest in helping the college stay open.

“None of us would be here in Yellow Springs today if not for Antioch College and the cultural and intellectual life” it has brought to the village, Dallas said. “For us to say we have no investment in the continuation of Antioch College is remarkable.”

While most Council members stated that Council should present a neutral face at the Aug. 25 meeting, Hempfling stated that just by participating in the meeting, in which only the option of closing the college is being considered, Council is being forced to take a position.

Council does have a clear interest in any planning regarding land use, according to Council member Kathryn Van der Heiden, and Swansen stated that he will communicate to the trustees the need for a “master plan” as soon as possible, to help with Village planning.

A statement in support of keeping the college open was presented by Antioch College alumnus Don Wallace, who referred to a letter from Alumni Board President Nancy Crow to Council (printed on page 4). Antioch faculty member Anne Bohlen presented a statement of the faculty support for the alumni efforts.

The Council representative to the Aug. 25 meeting should communicate to the trustees that they need to start working together with the alumni group, according to Michael Jones, who expressed his concern that the Antioch College closing has the potential to divide the Yellow Springs community, given the passion many villagers feel for the college.

“Whoever goes to the meeting needs to push these two parties together to figure out how to work together,” he said. If this happened, “a lot of the rancorous atmosphere will evaporate.”

While the morning session of the Aug. 25 meeting is open to the public, the afternoon session, in which the stakeholders will meet with trustees, is not open to the public or the press. Hempfling expressed her discomfort with the meeting’s “secret” nature, and asked Council to make a statement that its representative would not be bound by confidentiality.

Council members agreed to consult with Village Solicitor John Chambers regarding the legality of such a statement, and said they will further consider Hempfling’s request at the Aug. 20 meeting, which will take place before the trustee event.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com