[Alumni-chat] [Why are we always poor?

[Travis Sanford (travissanford at msn.com)]

>Getting back on topic, my judgment is that the Antioch enterprise needs
>something like the University structure to (1) protect the Antioch brand and
>uphold its values globally; (2) coordinate activities between and amongst
>the independent units; (3) provide a vigorous marketing and public relations
>presence for all institutions and the University as a whole; (4) educate and
>recruit persons of wealth to join the various Boards or the University
>Board; and (5) set policies to be followed by all the independent units with
>regard to the legal and financial laws and regulations that govern a
>far-flung enterprise like Antioch. That leaves each unit with its own Board
>of Trustees, President, and Administration with all the powers and
>authorities not vested by the units themselves in the University. (The key
>power, in my view, is the absolute power to grant the use of the Antioch
>"brand" and to withdraw it for cause.)
David:
1) Well the university has done a terrible job in that regard so far. Whatever the merit of the satellite campuses the perception is not rising like a phoenix but rather Pheonix Edu Inc.
2) Like what activities?
3) Again, lousy at the national level very good at the local level. The campuses draw mostly from their locales, except the college. Administrators in each market know their target better than administrators in Ohio.
4) Again, since most of the Trustees now are alumni of the college once argue that the University/College relationship hinders the recruitment of Trustees dedicated to raising money for the whole university. Again specific alumni in specific geographic locations will donate to their local campus.
5) It is not that you are missing the point it is that you believe the point is the university as a whole, not the college as loci. If the units were given the option to start over again I am fairly certain that they would cede almost nothing to a central administration. This brings back the question I keep asking and no one has ever been able to answer (and maybe they can't, to my satisfaction anyway) why does any one unit need the University as a whole. Other than the fact that the other campuses relies on the Big O for their acreditation (though Seattle looks to be moving towards their own if that 2012 $25MM capital expenditure means anything) and the University relies on the college's endowment growth to stay in the black. As for the name Antioch, I wonder what the legal protections there are as there at least a couple of other Antioch's that are either in Antioch Ca. or are religious schools, it is actually a relatively common biblical (and once personal and geographic name).
They could be the University of Antioch Seattle etc or the Antioch Seattle Gradute Studies program etc, just not Antioch College. All the campuses could sighn an agreement regarding the names allowed.

>I haven't followed what transpired at Antioch when it morphed into the
>present University structure. I agree with the critics that the present
>structure is dysfunctional. I don't, however, believe there was some
>malevolent plot by the Trustees to kill the College and pick the skeleton
>clean. I believe that the University Trustees have the opportunity--and will
>take it--to help Antioch College in Yellow Springs arise like the Phoenix
>fully prepared and endowed for the 21st Century with a national and
>international University structure that derives its powers from the
>independent units and follows the real federalism theory more closely.
>
>
>J. David Coldren '65
I do not believe there was a malevolent plan on the part of the Trustees. Rather, as Laura and others have argued, the Administration of the University has been moving further and further away from a traditional liberal arts college administration (and the accompanying view of expense vs revenue) to a pay as you go approach that works fine for non-residential campuses that may not generate donations down the road. They do not see the value in the education you got at Antioch David. They think it is elitist and old world, inefficient, expensive etc. Ask Ormond Smythe, why would you spend 36K per student when you can do a nice non-residential degree for 9-12K per student. Its about philosophy and the leadership of the university does not share the philosophy that made our education. They do not believe in community governance, they do not believe in co-op and they certainly don't care about ossified academic classifications when they can get people to pay for PhD's in Fields that used
to be Topics for thesises in those old classifications.

Where the AUBoT has been... at fault, has been in fund raising and micromanagement combined with periods of indifference. The failure to raise a large endowment has been a systemic problem and I am sure you know there seem to be a lot of folks who will not give to the College so long as it is essentially managed by the U (I would like to see these people come forward with their pledges just like I want to see where the AUBoT is going to raise the money they say they need for 2012).

I think, David, that we all agree that the College needs to be improved. No one wants to stay with the status quo for long and we probably should not go back to the most immediate status quo ante. I believe that a beautified campus will help the students who are already there feel more secure and may just attract those new students that we so deserately need. We have talked a lot about how the college brand is not selling and I think the fact that even with all of this that we got 60 students to show up for the last year is remarkable. Imagine what we could have done if the University had told us seven months ago that a financial, close-down scenario was unfolding, could we have raised $10MM maybe $20MM before the fall class arrives? I don't think it unreasonable (of course that also supposes that anything less than a combatative authoritarian takeover would have sparked the backlash we have now. How many more young people could we have recuited? 100? 120? You see David the college
in the midst of collapse is still attracting students at the rate that the renewal plan thought was going to be the case. If the AUBoT has spent the years since the renewal plan bringing in more money and allowed the college the same kind of borrowing opportunities as McGregor got, we would not be having this converstation.