November 5, 2007
(Guy Fawkes Day)
For the sake of all current Antioch students, I am pleased to hear that the planned suspension of operations has been lifted. However, as an alum, I am deeply disappointed with the bargain that has been struck between my elected Alumni Board representatives and the Antioch University Board of Trustees.
“When will we learn that treating with the University is like courting the embrace of a strangling vine?”
Banners, signs, and golden balloons all over Yellow Springs announced the arrival of the Antioch University Board of Trustees last week Wednesday. In addition to the meeting between Trustees and the Alumni Board, around 130 alumni from around the country flocked to campus to await the decision they had been working towards since June: the lifting of the suspension that is scheduled to make the College go dark by July of next year. The weekend, however, ended without a decision.
Resolute and chanting the Antioch community descended upon the Bryan Center last Thursday for the presentation of the alumni business plan to trustees, villagers and Antiochians.
Spirits were high, when alumnus Matthew Derr revealed the $18 million in cash and pledges the alumni have raised to encourage Antioch University to deliver significant autonomy to the college. Continue reading And Then We Wait…
“I feel like it’s absolutely wretched,†commented third year student Rachel Sears, “but I hope it means that they’re considering a yes.†With the announcement on Saturday October 27th that the Board of Trustees’ decision in regards to the future of Antioch College would be delayed, the Community has been, once again, left hovering in uncertainty.
Homecoming weekend, with its flood of alumni—some of them coming from as far as Slovenia—its media momentum, and the yellow decorations extravaganza, had a climactic quality that led many to believe that the decision would come “now or never.†On Saturday afternoon, students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered on the Stoop, expecting an imminent announcement. “Have you heard anything?†echoed back and forth while wild rumors and sophisticated interpretations of alumni board members’ facial expressions went around, and test rounds for the Main Building North Tower Bell made everyone jump. The announcement at the John Bryan Center that no decision would be reached at the end of the weekend, and that trustees would be flying back home that same evening broke the illusion that October 27th would be a historic day. Continue reading Jury Still Out, Courtroom Left Wondering
During five days of on-the-road fundraising across the country, representatives of the alumni association and college development offices have brought the College Revival Fund up to a current total of “between 14 and 15 million dollar,†says treasurer of the alumni association, Rick Daily.
The money raised over the past week, according to Daily, consists of pledges that will become available by the end of the academic year. “There’s a lot of cash coming in, part of which is from people making good on their pledges,†he explains, “which makes a it a bit difficult to count right now.†Although money coming in from various fundraising teams and initiatives makes it difficult to announce an exact number, he is positive the total amount is “around 15 million.â€
Daily himself is part of the team of fundraisers that hit the road last Friday, which includes head of development for the College, Risa Grimes, as well as alumni Ina Frank and Matthew Derr. The group is working in different combinations throughout the country, depending on who is available in the various target areas that day. “On Monday I was on the road with Ina [Frank], today I’m with Dave Goodwin, class of ’55.†Grimes said in a phone interview while on the road in Oregon. “Dave’s from Oregon and he did a lot of fundraising for Glen Helen.â€
Grimes so far has visited five major donors and is energized by the outcome: “We’ve just sat in a man’s office for 20 minutes telling us how Antioch changed his life; things are going very, very well.â€
The team has another week to raise an additional $5 million to round the total up to $20 million. This is the amount the Alumni Board wants to bring to the negotiating table at the decisive meeting with the University Board of Trustees, on October 24-28, that will determine whether the suspension of operations, scheduled for June 2008, will be lifted and recruiting for new students can begin.
The development office of Antioch College has two weeks to raise an additional $8 million that will be readily available by June 2008, in order to convince trustees to lift the suspension of operations at the school that is scheduled for the end of the academic year. This is the benchmark established during a closed meeting held in Denver last week between members of the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Board, said Director of Institutional Advancement Risa Grimes on Wednesday.
“It’s now or never,†Grimes stressed from her new office in the recently reopened Weston Hall on the college campus. According to Grimes, the alumni initiative, thus far, has raised 12 million dollars in cash and pledges, of which $4 million are expected to be liquefiable by the end of the current academic year. This currently leaves the college around $8 million short of achieving the benchmark of $12 million in funds that will become immediately available for spending at the end of the current academic year in June 2008.