[Alumni-chat] A Case for Closing

[Rowan (rowankaiser at gmail.com)]

When I initially heard the news of the closing, I was leaning towards just such a position. However, I think you will find that the more details you learn about why there were few resources, the less valid you'll find it.

Chief amongst them are these: The closing of the College was pushed not as much by a general decline of the College as a series of poor decisions by University leadership, most notable, the Financial Stabilization and Consolidation plan of 01-02, and the hurried implementation of the Renewal Plan in 04-05. The first decision put the College into continuous crisis mode in every time the budget came around. The second, the Renewal Plan, was a push by the Board of Trustees to fix the problem they'd caused with a drastic shift in curriculum. Faculty and staff initially were given two years to implement it. The BOT changed that to one year, and admissions collapsed, leading to the direct financial crisis that led to the closing. The BOT also promised 5 years of financial support to make the Plan work, and did not deliver. 

That same University leadership and Board of Trustees also have no plan for reopening in 2012. There is no reason to believe that they will suddenly have new donors in place to build their "Antioch University Yellow Springs." The only new source of income they seem to have is the plan to sell off portions of the campus to developers to make their money (which can be seen in leaked confidential documents on http://www.theantiochpapers.com/) These documents also make it clear that they plan on saving money by eliminating tenure, and the four-year delay in opening has the legal justification of them not having to offer current tenured faculty their jobs back if it reopens.

in other words, while theoretically the idea of Antioch closing to get its act together might seem like a good idea, the more you delve into the practicality of the closing, the uglier it gets.


Rowan


>I have been both grieving the closing of Antioch College and following the discussions on the forum and the chat with a pained intensity. Reluctantly I am choosing to put before you the contrarian’s position of a middle-of-the road (conservative by the standard of the posted dialogue) alumnus who is entirely supportive of the decision to close the college at this time.
>
>I do not claim to know or judge the details of the present situation. I will tell some personal stories about my experiences over time with the college. I came to Antioch as a scholarship student from a small town in Oregon. It was a wonderful experience. I learned two important lessons.  I it was OK to be smart and there were a lot of students that were smarter than I was. (In the 1959 graduating class, six of us were NSF fellows and six of us were Woodrow Wilson fellows.)
>
>For those of you who may wish to investigate, I should note that I was interviewed and rejected for a faculty position during the winter of 1966.  The following is an excerpt from a message that I sent to Bob Devine and to a few classmates shortly after the closing of the college was announced. (I expressed an appreciation of Bob’s efforts to maintain the dialogue in a time of stress.)
>
>"I am speaking as a middle-of-the-road (conservative by Antioch
>standards) alumnus who mourns Antioch's decline more than its
>passing. I was there during the  college's golden age - the late
>1950s (Class of 1959.) I and more than a third of my classmates (well
>more in the sciences) went on to teach in colleges and universities.
>When I interviewed for a position in 1966, my youngest brother and
>most of his classmates were seemed deeply depressed at first-year
>students were too much on their own.  Dick Yalman, a favorite teacher
>and mentor felt isolated in opposition to some of the college's
>riskier experimental programs. When I discussed a salary with the
>provost(?), it was far more than I was earning at Sewanee or had
>earned at Smith. Fortunately for me, the students on Adcil thought I
>was far too conservative (teaching at an Episcopal school) and far too
>professional to teach there. I think that the demise of the college
>was initiated by the expansionary policies of the Dixon presidency.
>All else - often done badly - may be a Greek tragedy."
>
>Fast forward 
 . I was greatly distressed when two of my teachers at Antioch, both tenured - one in chemistry and one in mathematics, were dismissed for financial reasons in the late 70s. Earlier in my teaching career at Sewanee, our faculty had urged our administration to set the goal of having salaries reach the median of a select group of twenty liberal arts colleges. At that time, Antioch was high on that list. It plunged to the bottom of the list and then dropped out altogether.
>
>I would like to think that Antioch College did - and can again - play an important role in American education. I do not believe that the school has the resources or the support to do so at this time. Furthermore, I believe that effort to do so now will only drain resources needed for the reemergence of a strong and vital Antioch College.