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The <http://chronicle.com/>  Chronicle of Higher Education

Deal to Save Antioch College Hits Snags, as Some Donors Balk

By GOLDIE BLUMENSTYK <mailto:goldie.blumenstyk at chronicle.com> 
Some of the key players crucial to the plan to keep Antioch College from closing in June€” alumni who have pledged millions to the cause€” are balking at the deal that their association's leaders reached with the college's governing board late last week.
The donors say the agreement announced with great fanfare on Saturday does not give the historic liberal-arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, adequate independence within the overall structure of Antioch University, of which it is part. Such independence was a condition of their giving the money, they say. The college is the only residential campus within the university, whose five other campuses specialize in adult education.
The trustees of Antioch University "seemed to have come away from that poker game with all the chips," Terry O. Herndon, a 1957 graduate, said of the negotiations between the boards of the university and the Antioch College Alumni Association. He had pledged a significant donation on the condition that the college be given more independence.
Several dissatisfied donors have been circulating drafts of a letter that they may send to the heads of the alumni association's Board of Directors and the university trustees stating that the signers "cannot in good conscience contribute" until their concerns about the "extremely vague" governance provisions and other matters are resolved.
Mr. Herndon said he probably would sign, if a formal letter is presented.
A group of more than two-dozen former trustees of the university, some of whom are also major donors, were also in discussions this week about a letter of protest that they may write.
The alumni group's directors and the university trustees jointly announced the deal on Saturday, after the alumni came forward with a business plan for keeping the college open (The <http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/11/595n.htm>  Chronicle, November 5).
The alumni also announced that they had raised more than $18-million in pledges in a mere four months.
As part of the agreement, the trustees revoked a resolution that would have suspended operations of the college in June. And the alumni board agreed to turn over $2-million in cash by Monday and an additional $4.6-million by December 15. (The alumni are expected to raise an additional $57-million by 2010.)
Now it appears many of the donors who had offered pledges won't release their money until they get greater assurances that a new governing board to oversee the college will have more authority. "Most donors are going to wait to see something more substantial before they write checks," said one alumna, Laura Markham, who has been working with donors and former trustees.
Ms. Markham, who was herself a trustee, said many of the donors are furious that as part of the deal, the university has asked that some of the money the college alumni are raising be used to repay $4.6-million to the university.
That sum covers subsidies provided to the college from other units of the university over the past several years. Many former trustees say the subsidies were never designed to be repaid, although the current chairman of the university's board, Arthur Zucker, says they were. The trustees and the alumni have agreed that the final amount due would be determined by an audit.
Ms. Markham says she suspects that enough alumni will come forward with $2-million by Monday "to keep the process going," but declined to predict how matters will proceed after that.
Nancy Crow, the alumni association's president, said on Wednesday that she had identified donors willing to provide the first $2-million, even though they were upset about the university's requirement to repay what some alumni are calling "the alleged debt."
As for the rest of the next phase of donations, she said, she recognized that donors who have made pledges wanted more assurances, and she said she was optimistic that she and others could provide them. "It's a very volatile situation," she acknowledged.
Mr. Zucker said he too was optimistic that the impasse could be resolved once donors had a chance to get past the "discomfort" they have. "There's education and information that needs to be transferred," he said. "If we've come this far, we'll find a way."
Ms. Crow said she knew that many alumni were disappointed with the deal, but she said "it's the best opportunity we have to rebuild Antioch College."
Besides raising $18-million in pledges, the campaign to save the college, which operated with the slogan "Be Ashamed to Let it Die," has rejuvenated alumni interest and led to the formation of 40 new alumni chapters around the country. (The slogan is a play on famous words from a speech at Antioch by its first president, Horace Mann, who said, "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.")
For some alumni who were active in the campaign, questions about the deal are now beginning to overshadow their initial enthusiasm.
"We want our college back, and we can't have it unless we have some authority in deciding who's our president and how our resources are used," said Karen Mulhauser, an alumna who is active with the association but not part of the team that negotiated with the trustees. The deal has an implicit understanding that a new board of advisers for Antioch College would eventually become a governing board, but "unless it's in writing," she said, "we're reluctant to take it on faith." 

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