[Alumni-chat] Legal Fund Needs - by Yazz Allen '66

[alanbenard (alanbenard at pobox.com)]

As well as being a man of stature, J. David is a dreamer. 

Here's J. David's redevelopment scheme for the college, complete with fresh ideas about union busting and outsourcing:

>Outsource as much of the food services, maintenance, security, landscaping, etc. to the new retail restaurants and other businesses as possible. One hand washes the other.
Students will love giving a cut of their room and board fees to multi-national corporations:

>The income streams for leasing space to the ALC management company (Marriott, Hyatt, and others are experts in this business now) and the rent from student residential housing in the ALC (which Marriott, at least can do) will both be part of a sustainable income stream to the College.
Here's the old-folks home and strip-mall part, because J. David will:

>Provide adequate, attractive retail spaces on long-term leases
>We also find a nationally recognized developer of assisted living communities. ... They are asked to imagine a clean slate of structures around the core described above and to build clusters of residential homes and retail stores anchored by a state-of-the-art residential assisted living center (services from adult day care, independent living, and assisted living, to Alzheimer’s care, nursing home and hospice) and, if necessary, a clinic. The assisted living center (ALC) structure would also house first-year students with all the dining facilities required for both populations: table service for the seasoned citizens and cafeteria service for the students and the seniors’ family and guests.
That'll make the little shits behave -- make 'em eat with grandma! Anyone's grandma. 

J. David, no, this is not passing "the snicker factor," nor the smell test. 


http://antirecord.org/node/590
>Words of J. David Coldren, Antioch '66, proposing a plan for re-opening Antioch in 2012 and providing particulars about his plan:
>
>" I think it’s great that we have an endowed chair in peace studies and that students can major in gender-specific studies, but I refuse to believe that the value of a liberal arts education--as defined in the catalogs of the 1960’s with an emphasis on writing skills, broad knowledge in the physical sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and languages—is out of date. It seems to me that specialization in a field of study comes way too early in a student’s “education” these days and that those students are being short-changed. They soon find out how limited are their intellectual underpinnings.
>
>"So I hope what Antioch will do is, yes, put together a social entrepreneurship program that requires at least two years of rigorous liberal arts classes before the students can get all charged up about turning a co-op job into a full-time activist job thereby aborting their education.
>
>"So I’m 'down for the struggle' with some minor issues that need clarification.
>
>"Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been challenged to come up with some theoretical idea of how Antioch Yellow Springs could quickly reinvent itself and come away in a few years quite alive and with a sustainable revenue stream. In the foregoing, I assume that the faculty’s search for an injunction to save their jobs (and tenure) will fail; the Alumni trying to raise $10 to $40 million will come up far short; and that the College will cease operations next July maintaining only skeletal security, library, and mechanical services.
>
>"I’ve gone thru quite a few iterations of this. And I want to make clear my idea is not based on one iota of data so I obviously haven’t “run the numbers” and am relying solely on my 65+ years as a participant/observer plus my passion for the founding spirit of Antioch College.
>
>"
>
>   1. We honor the landmark status of North, South, and the Main Building and make whatever repairs and remodeling is required to house the AC administration, CG, the auditorium, faculty offices, and some classrooms. I don’t know if the library needs to be totally rebuilt; same for the science building. Whatever we do it must be handicap (wheelchair) accessible.
>
>      "
>   2. We find a developer who has a proven track record in building environmentally-friendly and human-friendly communities. We also find a nationally recognized developer of assisted living communities. The process of finding them may involve brief competitions for concepts, etc. They are asked to imagine a clean slate of structures around the core described above and to build clusters of residential homes and retail stores anchored by a state-of-the-art residential assisted living center (services from adult day care, independent living, and assisted living, to Alzheimer’s care, nursing home and hospice) and, if necessary, a clinic. The assisted living center (ALC) structure would also house first-year students with all the dining facilities required for both populations: table service for the seasoned citizens and cafeteria service for the students and the seniors’ family and guests. The students are encouraged to eat with and get to know their elders and vice versa. In my
imagination, that would be good for modifying the behaviors of both groups (for the better) and be a real-world, up front look at old age, death and dying and an acquaintance with ALC residents who may well be former faculty, former students, former YSO townies, etc. who love YSO and the Glen and have lots of stories and wisdom to share. There should be some mandatory seminar for all first year students to help them process this experience and maximize the benefits to them.
>
>      "
>   3. The income streams for leasing space to the ALC management company (Marriott, Hyatt, and others are experts in this business now) and the rent from student residential housing in the ALC (which Marriott, at least can do) will both be part of a sustainable income stream to the College.
>
>      "
>   4. The remaining land is to be configured in ways to:
>         1. Minimize land footprints (go up, not out);
>         2. Maximize green space and water amenities;
>         3. Maintain an architectural coherence; NOT cookie cutter buildings; but also NOT a plate-glass 7-Eleven next to a Tudor structure;
>         4. Employ solar energy for common area utilities;
>         5. Use constructed wastewater wetlands for sewers and drainage as allowed by Ohio law;
>         6. Provide residential units for AC 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-year students and faculty for short-term rent and long-term lease, the student rentals coinciding with Antioch’s academic calendar;
>         7. Provide adequate, attractive retail spaces on long-term leases
>         8. Provide a performing arts center for AC drama, music, and dance departments as well as for “town-gown” theatrical productions, concerts, and visiting artist programs; funds for the non-academic portions of the arts center to be raised from private donors;
>         9. Minimize maintenance costs to the College; and
>        10. Maximize recurring income to sustain the College’s undergraduate education programs. 
>
>      "
>   5. Outsource as much of the food services, maintenance, security, landscaping, etc. to the new retail restaurants and other businesses as possible. One hand washes the other. 
>
>"My sense is that a greatly improved endowment plus tuition plus the sustained income from leasing the land could pay for the administration, faculty, student scholarships, and maintenance and improvements to the three core buildings plus the performing arts center.
>
>"To your point of social entrepreneurship, I believe that by linking an assisted living community with an academic institution you greatly enhance in students a natural empathy for America’s demographic imperatives. How do we as a society treat people who lead active lives long past retirement? How do we treat people enmeshed in the epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease? (Who knows? Maybe some entrepreneur will set up an accreditation program for assisted living personnel using Antioch College and the co-op program as a base. That could improve treatment of our elders in due time.) In the meantime, the academic and cultural activities that should take place at a true liberal arts college will greatly enhance the lives of all ALC residents. So we’re already doing good by doing well.
>
>"To bring my idea to fruition, it needs to pass the “snicker factor” among the Antioch constituency and then needs to run the gauntlet of endless meetings with the greater Yellow Springs community, alumni, business interests, government funding sources, the Board of Trustees and some major, major donors. (I think some of these recent software gazillionaires might like to start a new college with a social twist.)
>
>"As for the proposed student body, I would instruct the admissions people to trumpet the revival and to admit only the really smart, the reasonably mature (self-aware at present if still curious about the future), and those seeking a rigorous non-bullshit liberal arts education. We need to recruit a faculty that can deliver that and who can suppress any tendencies to revert to the 60’s or70’s as a cultural template. We may have to pay more for faculty and we may have to discount tuition for the first two years or so to prove the new Antioch Yellow Springs isn’t just smoke and mirrors..
>
>Thanks for getting touch,
>
>J. David Coldren ‘65