Category: Front Page

Articles from the front page.

Community Called to the Polls

On Monday October 8th, roaming ballots will cross campus to allow Antioch College students, faculty and staff to vote on a double-referendum.

The student-initiated community referendum was first presented during September 25th Community Meeting by ComCil member Erin-Aja Grant and AdCil member Julian Sharp. They insisted that the drafts were temporary, and open to everyone’s input. “The process of holding a community referendum shall be transparent, collaborative, and efficient” read the Referendum Schedule poublished soon thereafter.

The documents were made freely available for community members to edit and offer suggestions for revisions. A schedule was produced specifying the timeline and process of the action and giving deadlines for editing suggestions. Throughout the past week, there have been regular updates on FirstClass Announcements as new drafts of the referendums emerged. On Tuesday October 2nd, the final referendum language has been presented to both governance councils and moved forward by JointCil.

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University Files Motion to Dismiss Faculty Lawsuit

Calling on precedents spanning the last half-century, Antioch University formally filed a motion to dismiss in response to a lawsuit collective brought forward by tenured faculty of Antioch College.
Filed 15 days before a deadline set by the Green County Court of Pleas, the motion demonstrates the university’s alacrity for a fight, presenting the first, if preliminary, obstacle to the faculty’s bid for an injunction to force the university to follow faculty employment contracts. As a second point of contention, the injunction seeks to prevent the university from liquidating assets the college currently uses.
The class action, filed in mid-August, would require the university to keep the college open by “implementing the least drastic means” of dealing with the current financial crisis.

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YS Town Council Hears Plan on Development Alliance

The Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce, together with the Community Resources board and the soon to be dissolved Community Information Project, plan to establish an umbrella organization to become “the new economic authority in the area” by January 1st, 2008. This is the bottom line of a proposal that Community Ressources member, Dan Young, presented on behalf of the three boards at a Village Council meeting on Tuesday.
In addition to seeking approval to establishment the Alliance by 2008, Young and co-signers to the Alliance proposal, CoC vice president Ellen Hoover and CIP representative Ron Schmidt, ask the council to allocate recently raised economic development funds to the amount of $250.000.
“It’s multi-year spending. And its primary purpose is finding someone who can spend half time, maybe full time, promoting economic development in the village.” commented, Glenn Watts, member of CR on Wednesday…

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Chancellor Toni Murdock Visits AdCil

Toni Murdock at Adcil“You asked me to visit, so here I am” declared Antioch University Chancellor Toni Murdock as she sat down at the AdCil table at 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Murdock was responding to an invitation sent to her two weeks prior by the Administrative Council –which was also extended to Board of Trustees Chair Art Zucker and College President Steven Lawry. The invitation’s purpose was “to discuss the process by which the current leadership of Antioch college was appointed.”

Student Representative Julian Sharp opened the discussion. “Question number one is why AdCil wasn’t consulted in the change in college leadership.” Murdock said that under more “normal conditions…, a more thorough process,” would have been followed. When Steve Lawry “resigned,” he recommended Andrzej Bloch to run the college under the suspension of operations. “Since we are under suspension there was really no need to have a new president,” she further explained. “It’s very normal, when a president is [out of office] that the Chief Academic Administrator takes over in that interim type of position.” Murdock confirmed that Lawry was currently under Administrative Leave until December 31st, when his resignation will take effect. When Sharp insisted to know whether Steve intentionally “stepped down” or was forcibly “placed” under administrative leave, she refused to make any comment. “That’s a personnel issue,” she argued. “I would subscribe that indeed when you have a situation of lack of normalcy and crisis you need to act with more legitimacy and credibility in order to heal the crisis,” remarked faculty member Hassan Nejad, “and that has been lacking and I don’t know why.”

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McGregor Welcomes Students on New Campus

James Russel from Kettering is browsing the book store on his first day of class at Antioch University McGregor. It’s usual preparation for an entering master’s student, only this time, it’s not just the students that are new to the turf. Last Sunday, McGregor welcomed incoming and returning undergraduate and master’s students to its new 25 Million dollar building on Dayton-Yellow Springs road.

At 55, Russel is above the average age for degree candidates at the adult learner campus, which lies at 40 for master’s students and 38 for undergraduates. With years at the same position working for Montgomery County, it was time for a career change. “I was attracted to the accelerated full-time Management program,” Russel says on his way back into the classroom on the first floor, for the second portion of the day. “It’s 22 months. I want to a little more control over my life.”

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