Tag: library

Hell, High Water and Hope

By Linda Sattem
It is hard to accept that Antioch College is in bad shape when daily we work with such wonderful students. The following are comments and feelings I have had since the closing announcement this summer that I don’t often have a chance to share.

Hell
This summer was very hard with the second round of layoff of staff. Then when I offered requested programming about grief, loss, searching for jobs, etc., there were complaints that I was “giving up” on Antioch, that I was undermining the good fight.
In fact we were acknowledging what had already begun to occur. We were both mourning the loss of friends and colleagues while still trying to prepare for a difficult year with a skeleton staff.
It is difficult to work, with ever increasing workloads for Student Affairs staff, especially with the criticism that we are not working to save the college. We all care deeply about the college and we are working to support the students still here.

High Water
This term has been equally hard. We are watching students struggle with their course work and organizing. They are struggling with decisions most people never face.
Many are struggling to keep their heads above the rising tide of fatigue, anger, hopelessness and feeling powerless. How do you feel good when you have done all you can, and it still is not enough?
As we work with students we have to help them figure out what is best for them. Maybe they have to leave, so that they continue to be strong and balanced. Only then will they ever be able to come back, as alumni, as faculty, as staff, as parents sending their children to Antioch College.

Hope
The recent efforts of alumni/staff/students/faculty and the faculty lawsuit are where I receive hope. There was genuine shock over the uproar about the closing. (And I firmly believe that the end game was to never reopen.)
At a church I once saw a hand printed sign that read:
The church is what is left after the building
burns down and the minister leaves town.
They can tear down as many buildings as they want, send away as many people as they can, and Antioch will still be here. When we reopen it will be with residential students and tenured faculty.
All staff in the various student services feel privileged to work with students day in and day out, in the dorms, in the café, in the ASC, in the gym, the library, Main Building, in counseling and wellness. For our amazing students — present, past and future — who are brilliant, compassionate activists, will not let us die.

Letter to AdCil and Q&A from Toni Murdock

November 13, 2007

Dear AdCil,

When I first met with you several months ago, I told you I would come across the street and spend more time with you. I have not done that as much as I have wanted. Instead we’ve sat across from each other and walls and barriers have grown between us. Now, I want to sit with you and solve problems together and I hope you will welcome me to do that. This morning, I hope, will serve as a first step.
As you read this and as we talk, I want to appeal to you to suspend a little bit of your disbelief that we can overcome our problems together. I know this process has been painful and frustrating – for all of us. I am sorry for my mistakes and limitations. I do want to build, or rebuild, your trust and confidence in me. I know that things have happened that have led us to deeply diverge in our views and approaches. Now is the time for us to figure out how to work together again.
I view this note and our conversation this morning as a discussion starter. I have addressed some of the most pressing problem’s. Please send me a list of other problems as soon as you can. Important decisions–important for you, students, and staff, the College, University and Village–need to be made soon. If we work together, I believe we will make sounder decisions and develop more successful processes. I will arrange to meet with you at your request whenever I possibly can.

Respectfully yours,
Toni

What is the College Advisory Body, when will it be established and how?
It is an interim body. It should be established within a month to help us transition the College through difficult months ahead. It will be charged with helping to design and establish a permanent College Board of Trustees. Also, it will help to design and launch a process for recruiting a new President. It will take on a significant role in fund-raising. The President of the Alumni Board and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees will appoint the body.

Is there a College debt to the University, what will be done about jt and when?
The college has a debt of approximately 4 million to the University. Of this, 2 million will be paid back by summer of 2008. The remaining 2 million will be paid over a several year period. To affirm these amounts and build trust, designees of the Alumni board will review books and records.
Nothing from the immediate $6.6 million that is to be transferred to the college before the New Year will be used to repay debts.

When will the College recruit?
i. Transfer students – The College will recruit transfer students as soon as possible. We are talking this week to OBR for permission to extend our accreditation for current and transfer students to at least until 2010. When this happens, and we are hopeful it will be very soon, we will start actively recruiting transfer students.
ii. First year students – The College will recruit first year students again when the College IS in better financial condition. Specifically, if we the alumni, the University leadership and the College Advisory Body, working together, are indeed successful in raising 18 million this coming fiscal year (from now until June), and we are assured of success in achieving the target of an additional 25 million next year, with the approval of OBR, the College should be able to start recruiting new students at that time. However, there is much to do regarding our facilities and learning environment before accrediting agencies will be convinced of our sustain ability.

What Faculty and staff positions will be retained?
You have my commitment: I will work with you, the members of AdCil, Andrzej, the Interim President, and the new College Advisory Body to try to keep as many faculty and staff positions as possible. Until we know about our student body – those who will stay and those who will join us ~ and our fund-raising success, we just don’t know what is necessary and realistic.
I know this uncertainty is extremely painful. My heart does truly go out to you all. I look forward to working with Andrzej and you as soon as possible to collaboratively figure out a sound process to determine needs and feasibility and then a process for determining who will be asked to stay.
For those faculty and staff members wbo will not be asked to stay, we know how excruciating this will be, even more so given how late in the year these decisions may be taken – perhaps as long as two or three months from now. We are currently looking in to various ways and options for assisting with transitions.

What Facilities will be available next year?
We are still unsure. As we all agree our campus needs nearly a complete overhaul. With adequate funding that we very hopeful will be forthcoming, this can become a marvelous opportunity. I look forward to working with the office of the President, the Alumni Board and orher appropriate stakeholders (for example the students and faculty group that has been studying the Greening of Antioch) to develop and implement a facilities plan that will help us transform this campus. In the transition time, we are going to need to be imaginative and creative about transforming classrooms, library, gym, office and living, eating and socializing spaces while still funning our colle

Resolution of DC Antioch Alumni Group Meeting on November 11

   Over 30 Washington area Antioch College alums met yesterday, November 11 to discuss recent events and plan future activities that can help Antioch College in this transitional period.  An almost unanimous vote of the 33 people in attendance agreed with the list below of concerns resulting from the recent Agreement in Principle between the Antioch University Board of Trustees and the Antioch College Alumni Association Board of Directors and the 11.2.07:2 Resolution of the University Board of Trustees.
As individuals, we will not give money to the College Revival Fund, Antioch College, or Antioch University, nor do we believe other large donors will fulfill their pledges, without the following conditions being created. Continue reading Resolution of DC Antioch Alumni Group Meeting on November 11

A Letter from the Antioch College Alumni Board

The statement below is supported by the majority of the Antioch College Alumni Board.

Since there have been different interpretations of what the Alumni Board intended in approving the agreement with the University Board of Trustees on November 3, 2007, and since recent actions by administrators contradict both the spirit and specifics of our understanding of how that collaboration should proceed, we hereby clarify our understanding of the terms of the agreement
We do so by indicating specific initiatives that fulfill our understanding. These understandings will guide our contributions to keeping Antioch College moving forward in the direction we all desire.
1. Immediate retraction of Andrzej Bloch’s letter of November 9, 2007, to the faculty. On November 9 the faculty withdrew its lawsuit in an attempt to encourage a more collaborative process–a gesture that should be welcomed, not dismissed. We believe that faculty employment should be assumed to be continuing, not terminated, with the understanding that a genuinely collaborative process may indeed recognize that some faculty positions need to be eliminated and that such a process will benefit the Antioch community much more fully if faculty are encouraged to suggest means for making such adjustments. Continue reading A Letter from the Antioch College Alumni Board

The Importance of Student Spaces in Creating Community

This text was originally published in The McGregor Voice, Fall Issue 1

I could complain about the small student lounge haphazardly located on the second floor. I could complain about our ongoing lack of “the library.” I could argue about the ways in which the new building does or does not meet my needs as a student.
But I would be giving “the building” too much credit. Running on an “if you build it, they will come” mentality has left us heavy on style but shy in substance. This building, the original buildings, any building is but a shell. It is not the building that shall define us, it is what we do with and within it that will determine the nature of our experience and the quality of our education.
Upon entering the main doors I would expect to see a student space of chairs and tables rather than a cluster of neat merchandising of spirit wear and accessories. A central space—together with the outdoor area—where students get to know each other beyond the classroom.
I would like a space reserved for our use until the library is ready—a room apart from the lounge for study such as an empty classroom or meeting room where those of us who use the time to work can do so—apart from the smell of microwaved leftovers. Most importantly, I would like to see Antioch University McGregor designate an Office of Student Affairs which could serve as a home for the McGregor Voice and other (up and coming) student organizations, and could fulfill other student needs as they arise, such as study groups or special meetings. Ideally, the University could create a FWSP job or staff position to develop the Office of Student Affairs as a resource for all.
I choose to attend a liberal arts institution, and I am seeking a certain level of engagement with my peers. Though many of us are busy working professionals or juggling some number of other full time commitments, I think most of us enjoy the learning process and are “fed” by our shared experience in the classroom.
My own McGregor experience has been excellent in many ways: my instructors have been top-notch, engaging, and truly accessible. My classes have a synchronicity that is often surprising, and I have reveled in the interdisciplinary focus of the curriculum.
But in terms of student services and student leadership, this branch of the University is in its infancy. What are the needs of the McGregor student body? Does each program have it’s own culture? What do we have to offer each other?
What are the things one typically associates with a liberal arts education from a private university?
How about in-house scholarships that decrease the cost of attendance while offering incentive for student leadership, community involvement, and academic excellence?
How about student organizations that offer opportunity for involvement that fosters our learning and helps grow our resumes for future endeavors?
How about advanced opportunities for internships, and the ability to take advantage of curriculum or special programs at the other Antioch University branches?
It just might begin with a central student space, not because it is pretty and modern, but because we commuters may begin to sense that we are a community of students with a potential for creating whatever opportunity we desire—for our own advantage and for those who will come after us.