By Jeanne Kay

“A sense of deja vu” is how Lincoln Alpern, Nonstop returning student and Antioch class of 2011, describes the uncertainty regarding the future of his education in Yellow Springs. After the publication of the Letter of Intent (LOI) paved the way for the reopening of an independent college, many questions remain about the near future of the former Antioch faculty, staff and students.

The Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute (NLAI), a project of the College Revival Fund (CRF) to keep the DNA of Antioch alive until the college reopens as an independent institution, is guaranteed funding until June 30th, 2009. According to CRF Acting President Ellen Borgersen, the decision to provide funding past this date will be taken at the March 6th/7th Alumni Board meeting, but she specified that this could change; “It’s really gonna come down to the money,” Borgersen emphasized, “Raising money for Nonstop outside of Yellow Springs has been difficult.”

Meanwhile, the Nonstop community remains in a precarious situation. Borgersen enjoined faculty and staff to get a plan B: “I am not in a position to ask anyone to delay doing what they need to do to protect their careers, their families, their livelihoods;” she said, “I deeply regret that that’s the case but ethically, I couldn’t possibly ask people to make decisions about their lives based on the assumption that we’re going to be continue Nonstop.”

Staff and Faculty in Limbo

Newsbriefs from Yellow Springs

By Jeanne Kay

Pro Tem Board delegation to visit Nonstop

On Friday February 13^th, a delegation of Board Pro Tempore trustees will be in Yellow Springs to meet the Nonstop Community. The team will consist of: Frances Horowitz, chair, Zelda Gamson, Ev Mendelson, Steve Schwerner, Prexy Nesbitt, Matthew Derr and a GLCA representative. The contingency will report on their visit to the whole board.

Risa Grimes on Fundraising

The fundraising target for the 90-day period between the Letter of Intent and the Definitive agreement is $15 million, of which the University will get $5 million. “The 5 million is predicated on the 10-we won’t get the five unless we get the ten;” CRF Executive Director Risa Grimes explained, “This donor [has made] a challenge grant.” CRF fundraisers are asking donors to pledge over a 5 year period; “It’s pretty normal that you ask for 5-year;” Grimes said, “It’s not unusual to give people that much time to pay that much money. The economy’s pretty bad so we want to give people the opportunity to participate-not make it so hard on them. ”

Grimes said that no fundraising numbers were available yet but that the CRF would provide public updates in the near future.

As to fundraising strategies, Grimes said that they were consistent with past processes: “We’re sharing the future-what it could be. We’re talking about getting their college back… we’ve been building a strategy for a couple years now-as we’ve gone through all of this, it’s just good memories… share stories, hope that it touches them somewhere where they want to help support… you do that over and over again.”

By Erin-Aja Grant

This past weekend Antioch was alive with visitors. They were alums, town members, and the Antioch community’s first glance at the newest abbreviated in-group. The AC3, or ACCC, or Atrip, is officially named the Antioch College Continuation Corporation. This all-star alum group came to Antioch hoping to gain a community perspective on the College’s current situation. Students, faculty, and staff were provided the opportunity to interact with the ACCC Saturday in smaller groups. The AC3 members are: Frances Horowitz ‘54 (co-chair), Eric Bates ‘83 (co-chair), Laura Markham ‘80 (secretary), David Goodman ‘72 (treasurer), Steve Schwerner ’60, Catherine Jordan ’69, Lee Morgan ’69, Barbara Winslow ’68, and Terry Herndon ’57. Some of these people are familiar faces from the Alumni Board and some of them are just outright familiar names. There was no doubt that as Antioch Alums each member feels a responsibility and nostalgic love for the school, but the community still had its questions.

After breakfast planning, the day kicked off at 10am with a community meeting. It started with Andrzej Bloch, who made a few brief remarks concerning the recient power outage on campus. The meeting proceeded with an introduction by the ACCC members, and a brief presentation on the new corporation. McGregor 113 was packed with Yellow Springs residents, faculty, staff, and students. Many people said during the meeting, and after, that they were confused by the presence of Glenn Watts. Watts, the former CFO of the college, stated that he was only there to record the events happening and is no longer affliated with the University or its board.

By Kim-Jenna Jurriaans

As of yesterday, the Antioch community has one more acronym to add to their daily vocabulary; after two weeks of negotiations with representatives of the University Board of Trustees, on Friday a group of deep-pocket donors and former trustees established the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC), scheduled to take over operations of a fully independent Antioch College by July 2008.

“We have to raise a lot of money in a hurry to make this work, but we believe that we can, now that the goal is in sight,” says Eric Bates ’83, deputy managing editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, former trustee and co-chair of the new corporation.