Antioch College Open

Antioch trustees take step toward college independence

By Diane Chiddister

On Tuesday, the Antioch University Board of Trustees took a first step toward making Antioch College an independent institution by announcing that it will explore the feasibility of making the college independent from the university with its own board of trustees. If the move is judged to be feasible, the ownership of the college will be transferred to the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, an independent, non-profit corporation recently formed by a group of former university trustees, major donors, alumni and emeritus faculty.

The feasibility report, to be completed by a working group led by University Chancellor Toni Murdock, must be completed by the board’s meeting in February, according to a press release from the trustees, and if the ownership transfer occurs, it would take effect July 1, 2008, after which the college would be a free-standing liberal arts college with its own board of trustees.

The announcement followed two weeks of intense negotiations between the trustees and major donors, who had balked at what they perceived as the college’s lack of autonomy as stated in the Nov. 2 agreement between trustees and alumni board members to keep the college open.

“Antioch College is a very, very important institution in the landscape of higher education. I and many others want to see it thrive and this is an opportunity to make it happen,” said Frances Degen Horowitz, a former trustee who will co-chair the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, in an interview on Tuesday. Horowitz is president emerita of the City University of New York Graduate Center, and a 1954 Antioch graduate.

The group’s other co-chair is Eric Bates, ’83, the deputy managing editor of Rolling Stone magazine and also a former trustee. Other directors of the Antioch College Continuation Corporation are Laura Markham, ’80, a former trustee and clinical psychologist from New York City; David Goodman, ’69, a businessman; Catherine Jordan, ’72, of Minneapolis, president of Achieve Minneapolis; Steve Schwerner, ’60, Yellow Springs, emeritus Antioch College professor; Lee Morgan, ’66, president of The Antioch Company; Barbara Winslow, ‘68, associate professor at Brooklyn College and former trustee; and Terry Herndon, ’57, entrepreneur and businessman.

“This is a very strong group and I’m honored to be a part of it,” Schwerner said in an interview Tuesday. “It gives me real hope for the future of the college.”

$7 million if independent
The members of the new corporation have pledged to contribute more than $7 million to the college by the end of December, to be held in trust until a transfer of college ownership takes place. The $7 million will take the place of the $4.6 million due on Dec. 15, which was the second financial benchmark according to the agreement the trustees reached with the alumni board Nov. 2 to keep the college open.

The statement released on Tuesday supersedes the Nov. 2 agreement, according to Antioch University Board Chair Art Zucker, who said he is pleased with the recent developments.

“The goal, if feasible, is to reach an agreement that provides the college with a fully independent board exclusively devoted to continuing its financial stability, sustainability and academic excellence,” he stated in the press release.

Groups working to keep the college open reacted enthusiastically to Tuesday’s announcement.

“We are thrilled to join forces with the leaders of the Antioch College Continuation Corporation. Their efforts represent what the Alumni Association has been working so diligently to achieve over the past six months,” stated Nancy Crow, president of the college’s alumni board, in the press release.

Antioch College faculty members he had spoken to on Tuesday were “ecstatic,” according to longtime faculty member Peter Townsend, who said many faculty, like him, believed that the college had to have independence to survive.

Much work to do
However, members of the new corporation emphasized that there is much work to be done. According to the press statement, Murdock is to convene a work group of administrators and “others with the expertise and experience necessary to examine the feasibility of such a transfer of the College and to identify the major issues affecting the university’s interest in such a transaction.”

According to Zucker, Murdock will select the members of the working group. As soon as the exploration of feasibility has been completed, according to the statement, the chancellor will present a draft letter of intent laying out the proposed terms of any transfer to the trustees “as soon as possible but no later than its regularly scheduled meeting set for Feb. 21–23, 2008.”

While he could not on Tuesday identify specifically what feasibility factors the working group will address, the university’s lawyers are preparing a document identifying them, according to Zucker.

“It’s quite extensive,” he said. “This is a major change.”

If the trustees agree to transfer the college to the corporation, the university will still be in charge through June, according to Zucker.

The Antioch College Continuation Corporation faces many challenges, according to Horowitz. The first challenge, she said, is to “work cooperatively” with college alumni, staff, faculty and trustees to transfer the ownership of the college to the new corporation, and the second is “to raise the money we need to make it happen.”

“We will need immediate and substantial financial support from alumni and all friends of Antioch College,” she stated in the press release. “Working together, we have an unprecedented opportunity to restore the College to its roots and establish a substantial endowment for the College to ensure its long term sustainability.”

Begun 155 years ago, Antioch College became a part of Antioch University in 1977, after college administrators started campuses throughout the country. Since then, the college has been governed by the university board of trustees, a situation that many alumni and faculty feel has worked against the college’s best interests.

After the trustees in June announced that the college would suspend operations in July 2008 due to financial exigency, the college alumni board rallied to raise $18 million, along with a new business plan, to save the college. Almost all major donors stipulated that their donations were contingent on the college having its own board of trustees. While the agreement reached by the trustees and alumni board in November stipulated that the college would have an advisory board, most major donors balked at what they perceived as a lack of autonomy, and the recent negotiations began.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com