Dream on...

Nice try Toni, but you helped tank the main campus and are scrambling to spin the damage done to all the campuses. You think you can reopen with adjuncts and market the name with the same value as the “old product” but it doesn’t work that way.

Slampt699, at 8:55 am EDT on July 3, 2007

Isn’t America great? Everyone can have their own personal opinion and be able to voice it no matter if they are wrong in their thought or not. Knowing all the information is the key. Is there anyone out there who can be positive about anything anymore?

The Cup Half Full, at 10:10 am EDT on July 3, 2007

Today’s Antioch University

None of the posters so far has engaged the issues presented by Toni Murdock. Over many years, Antioch University has been transformed into an adult learning focused institution of considerable renown. Meanwhile, the rural residential campus has (apparently) failed to excite the imaginations of recent high school graduates and their parents for some years. No one is celebrating the loss of those full-time faculty jobs in Yellow Springs (the indignation of some people about job losses does not also extend to the staff, too, it seems). The question now is how Antioch will make use of the capacities it has, and how it will continue to spur innovative experiential education and socially engaged citizenship. It is not clear that re-opening a residential campus for 18-yr-olds (the old product) is the way to proceed. Is there anyone out there who has the proven business model for success of a private non-sectarian liberal arts college in the rural Midwest?Glen – your claim of the blatant contradiction and violation of HLC standards lacks justification. Since HLC has its full policy manual online, kindly cite chapter and verse where HLC specifies a standard for its accredited institutions pertaining to full-time to part-time faculty ratio.

Tom Flint, Director of Accreditation at Kaplan University, at 11:40 am EDT on July 3, 2007

A little back scratching

Note that Tom Flint is Director of Accreditation at Kaplan University, a for-profit degree creation company. And note also the crazy argumentation Flack, er, Flint employs. Previous posts should have “engaged the issues” Murdock raises, but what are those issues? Antioch University has made people happy? Tenure does not exist there, just as it does not exist elsewhere? There’s nothing here to engage. It’s just a press release posing as an article.

As to the revoltingly pseudo populist line about “the indignation of some people about job losses does not also extend to the staff"—I would normally urge Flint to look at the College’s discussion boards, where there are dozens of posts lamenting the problems this is causing for the staff in particular, but his argument is too dishonest to bother with such urging. Of course “some people” feel X rather than Y. That’s not a meaningful claim. You and Toni get together and make a meaningful claim or two, then we’ll argue them.

Minatoby, at 12:40 pm EDT on July 3, 2007

And the fact that the Chancellor has already started to sell off buildings from the college campus can allow us to doubt her sincerity as to her commitment to the re-opening of Antioch College...

Antioch Student, at 1:55 pm EDT on July 3, 2007

Praising the campuses

There is one very important campus I have yet to hear you praise. Unfortunately, either the incompetence or malfeasance of the Antioch University administration has resulted in a drop in enrollment by half in the last two years. This is the problem that needs to be solved. If the University is unable to see the value of the College and convey that to the world successfully, it’s stewardship is defunct and should be replaced.

J. Greg Williams, at 1:55 pm EDT on July 3, 2007

Antioch Chancellor still playing down the college

Shock and dismay with Chancellor Murdoch over her polly-annaish praise of the “adult” campuses. Where is her defense of the college? If the University is so fabulous why has more attention not been given to the college and its development? If the Univeristy is succesful why can’t it continue to subsidize its literal and spiritual foundation; the College. If so many of the University’s students signed on because they loved the values of the Univeristy I should expect to see a mass exodus as the administration of the University and the BoT have clearly abandonded those values. Undergraduate education is the foundation of an educational institution, it incuclcates values to young people at the point in their lives when they form life long modes of thought and learning. From this dedicated, often idealistic base Universities flourish as those students move on to graduate degrees. With out the College as an ongoing, functional institution the Antioch name and history are reduced to a few quotes from Horace Mann, Arthur Morgan, Douglas Mcgregor and some bucolic photos (blurred slightly to hide the decay) of the brick gothic main building.

Travis Sanford, Principal at Red Cell Consulting, at 2:55 pm EDT on July 3, 2007

The “university” & the trouble

The “university” was begun as a bunch of street corner schools to bring education to the masses. I can’t comment on how the so-called 40 schools became five graduate programs — some may be very good, as are many community colleges. But they have never been as good as the college was and as the college should have continued to be had not the “university” taken it upon themselves to run the place, choosing the college’s president (who never had a seat on the board of trustees). What killed Antioch College was poor trusteeship and leadership, following the cleaning out of the coffers to build the street colleges.

Class of 1960, at 1:10 pm EDT on July 4, 2007

Some, even those saving Antioch College have moments of doubt where they see Antioch College closed 2008 in July.

Keeping it open? Reviving Home Campus and Community?

S-o-m-e s-m-a-l-l m-i-n-d-e-d

p-e-o-p-l-e s-a-y IMPOSSIBLE, w-h-i-l-e t-h-e p-a-t-h-f-i-n-d-e-r-s

q-u-i-e-t-l-y p-u-r-s-u-e t-h-e-i-r

g-o-a-l-s, p-r-o-v-i-n-g t-h-e

i-m-p-o-s-s-i-b-l-e t-o b-e t-h-e

INEVITABLE!

It is said in a comment, “Let’s have a CELEBRATION OF ANTIOCH COLLEGE’S SUCCESSFUL CONTINUANCE IN JULY 2008.

AGREED!!!

david dunlap, Celebration July 2008, at 8:15 pm EDT on July 4, 2007

smoke and mirrors

For decades before and since establishing the university of widespread campuses we have been treated to these wordy assurances about health of the university in response to our concerns about the unhealth of the College. We don’t care! I even wrote a long letter to Hall upbraiding him for responding to College alumni’s questions about Antioch College with University PR. Somehow I am reminded of how the Bush-Condi-Gonzalas crowd responds—words about everything but the real problem. I think this obfuscation over decades kept distant alumni deceived about dire straits at the College.

Paul R. Cooper, alumnus ‘49, at 3:15 pm EDT on July 5, 2007

Antioch and Berea Colleges

Soren M. Peterson pointed to Berea Colleges as a viable business model for a small, private, mid-western liberal arts college. What he didn’t mention is that Berea has an endowment of several hundred million dollars, whereas Antioch has about 30 million.

Gary W. Houseknecht, at 4:25 am EDT on July 6, 2007

a scandal waiting to become public knowledge

An article yesterday in the Dayton Daily News about an “accounting error” where 5 million dollars was misplaced by the CFO of Antioch University( http://www.daytondailynews.com/se...007/07/11/ddn071107antiochmeet.html) seems to indicate that the reasons given by the Antioch University administration for closing Antioch College were simply not true. Money was and is the problem but incompetance seems to be the main difficulty. Who were these people who misplaced all that money? Are they still employed there? What else have they done? This story is just the tip of the iceberg. The Dayton Daily News should be applauded for their investigative reporting. If you read today’s edition of the hometown Yellow Springs News, a weekly, there is nary a mention of the missing 5 million. Perhaps the DDN’s aggressive pursuit of what promises to be a riveting tale of potential malfeasance will spur the YS News to do a little digging in their own backyard.

Are those skeletons in your closet or are you just bummed out to be getting another phone call from a reporter?

unspun, at 11:10 am EDT on July 12, 2007

Antioch

The former Antioch trustees letter to the current Board of Trustees is a great contribution and response to the surprising avalanche of national press coverage [though the George Will diatribe only confirms the dancing of glee expected from the corporate establishment] as well as the encouraging plethora of alumni and other reactions to the shock of the current college crisis.

I expect few of my vintage Antiochians give much of a damn about McGregor or the other satellites. Nice but largely irrelevant. Sure, those of our age remember Douglas McGregor as president. But the college is the heart of Antioch, as the leading educator, college president of Bard College, Leon Botstein said, “It is the founding college of the American progressive movement.” The college is the problem, as well as the essential venue of the solution.

Almost all of the thousands of words about the current crisis focuses on dollars, very American I suppose. Almost nothing in all the whining and outrage deals with the more basic problem. Only the nasty and ignorant letters to editors across Ohio and the nation as well as the George Will told-you-so piece even hint at the crucial issue.

Neither release of the current $30,000,000 endowment [surely due to the college] through legal action over the next several years, nor the proposed increase to a $100,000,000 endowment, nor a couple of million in current contributions will solve the essential problem. Those non-endowment contributions may help with all the deferred maintenance, though such contributions and repairs only preserve options for possible reopening, and in fact may not be given unless the more basic question of reopening can be answered in the affirmative with some confidence.

The grotesque over-expansion to dozens of satellite operations decades ago surely distracted from vital attention to the viable and sustainable operation of the college. The current operational insolvency must surely be seen as a result of the more basic tragedy. Despite dark conspiracy hints of national government black operations through some non-alumni military-industrial complex related members of the Board of Trustees, more likely problems of critical recent college circumstances are at least hinted at in the New York Times OpEd column of a fairly recent graduate [June 17], the pathetic rant of Los Angeles Times columinist Megan Daum, [June 30], and the devastating extended account of the highly informed, on the scene over recent years alumni, Ralph Keyes in THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, [July 20], Present At The Demise: Antioch College, 1852-2008. Sure money can help, but the underlying problem is the collapse in enrollment and resulting decimation of tuition income on which the college lives, or dies. Enrollment must be at least tripled or no other action can succeed, short of a George Soros billion dollar gift. And a key trustee tells me George has already said he is not interested. Then why did alums and other informed parents and grandparents of my era not send their offspring to Antioch? Forget about the specifics of author Daum’s attack on Womyn at Antioch, the Times writer and Keyes hit the nail on its painful head. The college has been grotesquely out of control since it was given over to unqualified students without adequate staff to prevent/mitigate the chaos. The Rockefeller grant funds were totally mismanaged, not adequately apportioned to staff capable of managing the campus, if that was indeed possible with the students admitted with those funds. There was a time when Antioch accepted one out of ten applicants. When I ask what is the current/recent ratio of acceptances, the result is laughter. Similarly, it might be useful to know what the College Board score averages are now. Somehow a way must be found to increase applicants so Admissions can find students appropriate to the Antioch program. This is not just a question of finding more Rockefeller etc scholarships. First the chaos must end. In practical terms and public perception terms [including perceptions of potential students] this may well require that the current student body must be considered expendable. Tough love may be the only approach to Antioch survival. Perhaps that is the unspoken judgment of the Board of Trustees, with their four year closing. That is not a solution, but may be the essential first step, based on the first hand reports of the New York Times writer and Keyes. The absolutely crucial next step is the re-creation of the reasons many thousands of appropriate students applied to Antioch in decades past. My fellow grads surely hold the keys. Effort and/or money must be devoted to such an urgent survey. Results will include various distinctive appeals of Antioch education. Some are: 1] Based on the extraordinary press and educational establishment response to the current crisis and the success of the satellite university operations, Antioch is still a national [world?] brand name of enormous power; 2] The long track-record of the highly sophisticated Antioch liberal arts work-study program may now have some competition [another, small research project], but it is still a major draw; 3] The Antioch faculty-student administrative and judicial council system was a significant plus for many of us [I believe it was Arthur Morgan who observed the American movement for Choice Voting as an essential element of urban government reform in the 1920s, and accelerating across other American universities and cities now, 80 years later; 4] A phenomenal student body, drawn to these three and other qualities; 5] Perhaps only next, the academic education itself [enriched by the other four elements, and which elements also attracted a highly qualified faculty] and impressively demonstrated by high academic results in Graduate Record Exams and other alumni performance [I understand number 3 in McArthur Foundation genius awards and impressive awards even in science]; 6] An attractive campus, Glen Helen, and a small, appealing college town. Such a survey/research should include quotable/brief personal stories of grads about their experience, how it lifted their life, and even their fulfillment of Horace Mann’s dictum. My wife and I, as well as many classmates we have followed, found our life roles absolutely transformed by our Antioch experience, to enable manifestation of Horace Mann’s challenge in our public service careers and public policy activism. Our four children did not attend, were not encourage to enter the chaos of Antioch in their era, but now, well into their very different careers, they have also fulfilled that vision, likely stimulated by Antiochian second-hand ‘smoke.’ But we have to regret giving to each alumni fund drive when it now appears we were only Twelve Step style Enablers, postponing recognition of the unsustainable chaos that we must now face and hope to rebuild Antioch in a dying world that cries out for aware, educated, and involved citizens to push a return to constructive/democratic action.

Leon Botstein, also said in response to last month’s news, Antioch is, “a great, historic institution... [its closing would be] an unnecessary tragedy.” He also points out the special, under-girding mission of Antioch has been training graduates in leadership for participation in democracy, which he says is the basic justification for liberal education.

Bob K. Bogen

BobBogen, at 5:50 am EDT on August 3, 2007

Is this what we call a vistory for humanity?

As a graduate of the BA and MAP program at Antioch University Santa Barbara, I have to say it is hard to read this and feel the anger of people toward the satellite campuses. Antioch University Santa Barbara taught me so much and I was proud of the history behind the school, especially the history of Antioch College. I felt as if I were a part of something great and I told people all about the rich history of the college and the values I learned at Antioch University. There are some core values that the BA program taught me that I want to share with those who read this comment:

The first is the heart of service and the sense of social justice. At Antioch I learned what it meant to truly be great because of service. And I heard the words of Horace Mann echoed in many classes “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity".

The second is critical thinking. Some of the comments to this article lack not only critical thinking, but certainly lack the heart of service and social justice that Horace Mann wanted all Antioch graduates to possess.

The third value I learned is to understand diverse perspectives. I read these comments with the desire to understand and I struggled when I read things about the university being evil or that people in graduate programs should drop out of Antioch and go to a real graduate degree program. I want to understand the perspective from which these comments come, but all I read is anger directed at people who have nothing to do with the failure of the administration; who have nothing to do with the College closing. They just want to go to Antioch because it offers a valuable program.

When I read this article and many of the responses to it, I feel a little ashamed to be linked to this institution. I am saddened by comments about the university being evil. I am not evil and the faculty who taught me, and the staff who helped me while as I was at Antioch are certainly not evil.

There is no doubt that Antioch has issues now and needs some creative solutions. There is no doubt that the administration of the coll ege and some of the leaders of the university campuses, which also still struggle financially (Santa Barbara’s President certainly needs to learn some leadership skills and maybe take an ethics course as well), need to be questioned. As an alumna who follows the news of the AUSB campus closely, I am very unhappy with Toni. But the people behind Antioch Santa Barbara, the students, the dedicated staff and faculty, they are certainly not evil. If you talk to them you will hear that they feel your pain. There is sadness on the campus of Antioch Santa Barbara because of the closing of the college. The people who make up Antioch, (not the President who knows nothing about the values of the school’s history) they are not evil...they feel your pain.

I am saddened by all of this and hate that we are not able to unite and conquer this issue of poor leadership...I hate that others feel my education, the education that the students are claiming at the University campuses is not valuable, or is less valuable than the college... I hate that the mission of the school is not being fulfilled.

But I still feel fortunate because I got a great education and I continue to win victories for humanity.

AUSB Alumni, at 5:25 pm EDT on July 30, 2008