Month: September 2007

Letter From the Editors

Kim-Jenna Jurriaans and Jeanne KayDear Community,

“I’m sorry,” “you understand my position,” “I’d rather not,” “I don’t think it would be wise of me to speak, right now,” “don’t quote me on that, I will lose my job.” This is a selection from the repertoire of answers a reporter at Antioch has to work with these days.
With the firing of Steve Lawry, the college CEO was moved off campus and fear moved in. Some Non-unionized staff openly admit they are afraid to loose their jobs, others have been bullied to the point where they stopped caring.
This is not to say people have lost their voice altogether, but they have become selective where to put it. The last two months have seen a collective move away from the University server. .gmail replaced .edu. and mobile phones ousted the office land line. It’s sad, it has come so far that workers can no longer feel secure in their own office. And as much as I want to understand the responsibilities administrators like Milt Thompson have ”in these times”, this feeling of discomfort is not solved by hiring an extra security guard or locking buildings at night.

Continue reading Letter From the Editors

“I’m taking one day at a time”

The announcement by the Antioch University Board of Trustees to suspend the operations of Antioch College in 2008 has had resounding consequences across the entire college campus.  Staff reductions have created tension as the workloads of former staff members are distributed among those who endure, students find limited access to resources, and rumors about the closing or persisting float back and forth across campus.
During the three months following the announcement of suspensions, the staff of the school has been whittled down to a bare minimum.  Many areas of the Antioch College infrastructure have experienced staff cuts.  Offices such as the admissions office were the most obvious choices for staff reductions, but other areas of the college have been impacted as well.  Employees in the Academic Support Center, Physical Plant, Olive Kettering Library, and development office have also been fired.
The fact lingering in the minds of all of the college’s faculty and staff is that, under the current board decision, all are facing an uncertain future in terms of employment.  According to the U.S. Department of Education, the number of faculty jobs in higher education has increased by over 50% between 1981 and 2001, while the number of full time positions has actually decreased by 9% of the total positions.
Reactions among staff to the pending closure, and the effect it may have upon their career is largely cautious.
“It’s so up and down, I don’t know what to tell you,” said Carolene Minter of the Financial Aid Office at Antioch.  “I wish I had a concrete answer.”
Many staff members are unwilling to make solid plans for the future.  “Some things you control, and some things you can’t.  I’m taking one day at a time,” conceded Marcia Brim, college custodian and steward for the Local 767 of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine workers of America (UE 767).  “[Antioch] has educated me in a way no other place could,” the 37-year employee added.
Some staff members are entitled to severance packages upon the termination of their employment, especially those who are represented by labor unions.  Severance packages often include additional payment after termination, payment for unused sick days or vacation days, and insurance possibilities.
Staff without severance packages may find it increasingly appealing to search out new employment, as there is no economic benefit to remaining at an institution with an uncertain future.  Former Interim Director of Admissions Jennifer Rhyner has taken this approach.  Rhyner recently left the Antioch College admissions office to pursue a new position in the Financial Aid department of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  “I really enjoyed working with her for the last couple of years,” said Angie Glukhov, Director of Admissions for Antioch College.
Conversely, former Admissions Counselor Brad Choate was fired three months ago and has had little success in finding a new job.  Choate, an alumnus from 2005, joined the admissions team after discovering his love of academia while on co-op.  “I had made the decision that I wanted to continue to work in higher education.  I haven’t had much luck pursuing that end, though,” Choate said.  After applying for some ten vacancies in varying positions, he was turned down each time.
“I only wanted to work at small liberal arts schools with similar values to Antioch’s,” Choate mentioned.  Certainly, such institutions are a dying breed in a world of increasingly market-driven institutions of higher education. “I think my experience with Antioch was a bonus rather than a detractor,” he said.

College suspension creates Co-op quandry

Limited opening hours at the library, closed administrative buildings and overall “continental” meals at the caf stand out among the direct results of the downscaling of operations at Antioch College following the announcement that the school would close by June 2008. Less prominent in current community discussion, the co-op office too is taking hits that will take rebuilding if efforts to keep Antioch open are successful.
Over the past five years, the numbers of Antioch students employed across the country and abroad through the co-op office varied between 200 and 300 per semester. Now the number is less than 30 students.
With the pending closure of the college, student’s priorities have changed. Where the chance to work a term on an organic farm or assist a congress person on Capitol Hill would make upperclassmen pack their bags for New Zealand or Washington D.C, they are now concerned with graduating, having a more transferrable repertoire of classes, or they simply want to experience one more year of community life on campus. Although some schools can transfer co-ops into four to eight academic credits or a vocational internship, in many colleges they are not easily equated into the curriculum. Thus, most students decline the unique opportunity.
The decrease of co-oping students creates a problem for the colleges Co-op office, that in the current model has contractual obligations to the majority of employers featured on the list of annual job offerings. What happens now to all of the Co-op employers, communities, and students who would have normally taken part in the co-op program?
The immediate reaction of co-op employers to Antioch’s closure varied, said Eric Miller, Assistant Professor of Co-operative education and alumnus of the college. “Some simply hired the next volunteer on the waiting list, some expressed deep hurt and shock,” Miller recalls from his interactions with employers over the last two months. “Others decided to tentatively wait to see what will happen. This is the group we really need to encourage to stick with us because they’re the most flexible.”
Regardless of the adaptability of some employers, with just upwards of 30 students willing to fill positions on the current job list, it is likely the co-op office will lose co-op employers in the short run. Many employers are not overly dependent on Antioch, according to Miller, “but some full-time employers are always waiting for the next Antiochian to come along.”
For those who are just one co-op away from graduation, the college has decided to allow a pre-Antioch job experience to count as a co-op credit, and is also offering a limited co-op term next fall.
“If I have anything to say,” advises Miller, “it would be to stay optimistic – there are many Co-op employers who are doing more than just crossing their fingers, as am I, so we may all have another chance for a co-op.”