Category: Front Page

Articles from the front page.

Alumni Teach-in Brings Swagger Back to Campus

Last Friday evening a small group of community members kicked off a weekend of events geared to inform and share skills to engage students in current efforts surrounding the revival of Antioch College. Starting with “A Brief History of the Revival,” in McGregor 113, visiting alums Rowan Kaiser ’05, Tim Noble’02, and Beth Gutilius ’00 shared their experiences since the closing announcement in June. Yellow Springs resident and alumna Judy Wohlert-Maldonado, and Media Arts faculty member Chris Hill completed the panel providing a broad overview of the national and local organizing efforts that were sparked by the infamous Alumni reunion three months ago.

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12 million and counting

“Roughly 12 million dollars” is the number on Alumni Board Treasurer Rick Daily’s abacus this week. It’s the result of the most recent count of cash and pledges donated to the College Revival Fund, that was established less than 12 weeks ago. As the College’s development office prepares to launch a full-fledged fundraising campaign, the Alumni Board has hired a consultant to assist in creating a viable business plan that will encourage the University Board of Trustees to reverse its decision to close the school in June 2008.

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Mending Fences

Rick Daily“We have a hole in this triangle as far as trust is concerned,” Antioch College Professor Hassan Rahmanian fumed to a crowd of alumni and students and villagers last Thursday at the Yellow Springs Senior Center. The three points in the triangle, Antioch College alumni, the University, and the campus community, are engaged in the Alumni Board’s efforts to keep a viable Antioch College open past the announced closing date in 2008. The relationship between the three has recently been tested by direct intervention of the University Chancellor in the operations at the College.

The meeting, organized by the Alumni Board, was meant to facilitate dialogue about the future of the college in an informal, off-campus environment. Attendance was high, with many guests taking position against the wall or on the floor.

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Never mind the Pentagon, here’s The Antioch Papers

Today, theantiochpapers.org launched another batch of files disclosing information about financial measures taken at College and University level over the decade leading up to the current crisis.The files, among which letters from former College President to then Chancellors of the University James Hall and Jim Craiglow in 2001 and 2002, show that red flags about the college’s financial challenges and government structure have been raised for years. In a letter dated February 22nd 1999, Bob Devine wrote: “The top-down implementation of the plan to charge depreciation to each campus is, for the college, the crushing blow. It renders the challenge of building a healthy and viable college a Sysyphian nightmare, in that it means that the college’s revenue over expenses will never again be a positive number.”

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College faculty pass vote of no confidence against Chancelor Toni Murdock

Toni MurdockFor the second time of her administrative career, Antioch University Chancellor Tullise “Toni” Murdock has received a vote of no confidence. The resolution was unanimously passed by the 26 faculty members present at Tuesday’s faculty meeting.

The decision was a result of the events of Friday August 31st, when the news broke unexpectedly that Steve Lawry was stepping down immediately from Antioch’s presidency. Issues surrounding the Offices of Development and Alumni Relations were also raised after staff was sent home for a ‘long weekend’ and their offices’ locks changed. The announcement raised numerous questions within the community as the reasons surrounding Lawry’s sudden departure were unclear; in July he had announced his resignation as of January 2008. Moreover, the news that Lawry was under a gag order which prevented him from commenting on the situation raised further suspicion about the real reasons behind his “resignation.” Continue reading College faculty pass vote of no confidence against Chancelor Toni Murdock