[Alumni-chat] A case for closing

[Pam Olsen]

To quote Jimlowe:

"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 will admit that in theory, I didn't think it was necessarily a big deal to
close the college for a few years, while it "got it's act together.'  But
now that I've hung around this forum for a few weeks and chatted with old
friends "back channel," I realize it is a very big deal.  Why?  (I'll know
I'll  be corrected if I'm wrong!)

1.  Because they don't want to re-open the college, they want to make it
another branch of the University, if they do anything at all with it.

2.  That might seem ok, except that they want to strip it of any smackings
of a small liberal arts college, without a secure faculty that can truly
participate as community.  I liked the way that the guy in that  article
posted a few days ago said it:  Antioch is not so much about teachers
teaching students, it's about teachers and students learning together.  Take
that away, and you take away the essence of Antioch, in my opinion.  Take
away a tenured faculty, and I think you take away an important sense of
security that enables faculty to participate in that way.  Maybe not. Maybe
a "core faculty" with "secure contracts" could do the same.   We don't know.
And there's the rub.

3.  If they don't want to, they don't have to do anything at all with it.
They can simply sell it.

4.  From what people are saying, the University is not making money, either.
In fact, it's almost bankrupt, and it would be kinda handy to sell of the
college to bail out the University.  It would appear that some on the Board
don't think that would be a big deal.  IN fact, it would be the easy way
out.

5.  Close the college and make it a part of the University, with "Antioch"
in name only, and they'll lose the support (I think) of the vast majority of
alumni.  Instead, they could learn better fund-raising techniques and get
much better support from alumni for the college.   I, for one, am now
committed for life, if the college survives.  A little every month from
everyone would keep it hopping.

so, although they're really trying to make it look like they want to save
and improve the college, that doesn't appear to be what's happening beneath
the surface.  The college probably needs to do some restructuring of
salaries, etc., as you point out.  I think they are currently working hard
on a business plan to do that and a variety of other things to make it
financially more workable.

I confess to having had my doubts as to whether Antioch today has been
providing the quality of education it provided in the 60s, and what I'm
gleaning here is that it's doing that at least as well, if not better, which
is quite remarkable, given that they don't have as much choice about which
applicants to accept, and don't have as broad a program due to financial
constraints.  

As for there not being enough room for moderates and conservatives, I, too,
would like to see Antioch get beyond the politics of confrontation and see
further ahead to the fact that we now live in a world where people with
different cultural and religious beliefs (and business practices ) are going
to have to learn to live together.  I would like to see a college where
there could be a model community, where conservatives, liberals, and
radicals could dialogue openly and respectfully, where Christians, Muslims,
Buddhists, Jews and athiests (etc.) could have lively and informative
discussions. I think advertising internationally for students is a super
idea.   But that's just me, and I'm just one small voice.

Antioch can always improve it's program and approach if it can govern
itself, and if faculty and students and administration (and alumni)
together can brainstorm and create.  But if it's ruled as part of a huge
system with a distant governing body that isn't really involved, that
probably won't happen.

Pam