Students Pack Up, Donors Push Forward

By Eva Erickson and Kim-Jenna Jurriaans

Today the University Board of trustees is voting on a proposal put forward by the deeppocket donors in support of an autonomous Antioch College. As the community awaits the outcome of the vote that is likely to determine the level of operations at the college in future months, community members try hard to adapt to campus life under continuing insecurity.

A group of major donors, over the course of the last month, has taken a collective stance against the outcome of the October 25 summit between the University Trustees and the College Alumni Board, that outlines the future relations between the college and the university. After a preliminary meeting in New York City, last week Monday, donors and representatives of the Trustees met again on Sunday at a session of the Board’s governance committee in Dallas to discuss the donors’ demands. Now the Trustees are voting as a full Board.

Continue reading Students Pack Up, Donors Push Forward

Major Donor Meeting Ends Unresolved

A five-hour meeting in New York City on Monday between six major donors, the executive committee of the Board of Trustees and representatives of the Alumni Board did not resolve the impasse threatening the scheduled transfer of $4.6 million for the Antioch College revival due on December 15. The meeting, described by one attendee as “very serious,” produced a memorandum to the university that will be further discussed at the next Board of Trustees Governance Committee meeting in Dallas on Sunday, December 2.
Continue reading Major Donor Meeting Ends Unresolved

Dear Antioch Students – A letter from Yellow Springs Citizens in Support of Antioch College

Dear Antioch Students,

During these last difficult months, we have watched many of you hard-working, intelligent, courageous young people with delight and pride. We want you to know that you are not alone in your struggle. We, members of the Yellow Springs community, are also working in good faith (sometimes to exhaustion) to save our beloved Antioch College. Our commitment is strong, for our lives are deeply intertwined with the College. We, or our family members, have worked at the College; faculty and staff and their families are our friends; we, ourselves, are Antiochians or could have been, as we, like you, have a commitment to the historic vision and values of Antioch College.
We know in these last months you have found valuable friends and found from faculty and staff deep concern and inspiration. Many good and brave things have occurred even during this time of great duress. So we ask you, if you are able, to please hold on.
While it would be prudent to develop a backup plan, we want you to know that this important fight for the College is not yet over and that the struggle for its survival is dependent on many of you choosing to stay. By staying, you will not only learn in your area of study, you will also continue to learn what is possible when people work together towards a good and powerful vision. You must know how very important an Antioch College education is. Author Rita Mae Brown, when she spoke at an Antioch Commencement, called Antioch College the “point of the arrow” among progressive institutions of higher learning. To quote Antioch alumni, Dan Shoemaker, whose recent email is making wide circulation, “Antioch’s traditional educational model (based on the three pillars of community, academics, and co-op) has among the most robust and enviable outcomes of any college in the country.” Continue reading Dear Antioch Students – A letter from Yellow Springs Citizens in Support of Antioch College

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

Dispatches from Community Meeting

Antioch College, Celebrating 155 Years of Market Tested Toughness
By Billy Joyce

It’s only just begun. Community Meeting was charged with anger and uncertainty this week. With the decision to lift the suspension of operations obliterating the past and only halfway tracing the future, distrust of the university’s minions and its board of trustees runs high.
University Vice Chancellor and Spokesperson Mary Lou LaPierre jockeyed for Community Member of the Week honors this week by putting a heroic spin on this past weekend’s Board of Trustees decision to lift the suspension of operations. Continue reading Dispatches from Community Meeting