[Alumni-chat] Re: The Renewal Commission

[Laura Fathauer]

--- Pam Olsen <theodora at imbris.com> wrote:

> In hindsight, it didn't work, did it?  It made
> things worse.  let's learn
> from it.  Bringing in plans from outside doesn't
> work as well as the faculty
> and students building them themselves.    Growth
> might be slower than
> hoped-for.  But growth is still growth.

It didn't 'renew' the college because-

-it forecast a drop in enrollment, and budgeted 5
years of deficit spending before the College would be
back in the black. (avg $2mil/yr deficit)
-Both the secrecy in which the commission worked along
with the lack of time to develop the upper-class
curriculum, severely impacted recruitment efforts
happening concurrent with the commission; which led to
a larger then anticipated drop in entering class sizes
-the tail end of years of expense cuts limited the
available faculty and resources to support two
curriculi, and efforts were made to get upper class
students out the door more quickly then normal
-which all culminated in larger then budgeted deficits
in the 1st & 2nd year of the plan, and no reserve from
which to fund even the originally budgeted amount of
deficits for the remaining 3 years.

The Renewal Commission decided what the new curriculum
was going to be, and handed it over to the faculty for
'implementation'. The faculty, having no other choice,
put in long hours to implement what was mandated to
them. The final product after faculty implementation:

-was approved by the NCA IIRC (and possibly the OBOR,
since that happens following the NCA IIRC)
-was showing signs of success, according to even the
chair of the trustees..
-had a basis on successful programs in peer
institutions
-while integrating values unique to the Antioch
education (i.e. co-op). 

Other aspects of the plan that were not horribly
succesful, and that were not really under faculty
control:
-separating out entering students from upper class
students, in part as a desire to change the campus
'culture'
-dedicating new resources (i.e. construction, housing)
to entering classes while not improving the
environment for upper class students
-the use of adjuncts and how that impacted being able
to offer a 'course' again.
-IIRC it attempted to limit co-ops to select
'communities'

I'm not arguing that it was the best.. i'm just
pointing out which aspects of the "Renewal Commission"
might be safely tossed out. 

There is one similarity between the '97 community
developed Strategic Plan, and the 04 university
developed Renewal plan- promised funding never
materialized. Ten years ago the Strategic Plan
identified building renovation and capital
improvements as a necessary part of the plan, but by
the time the Capital Campaign started, things
implemented because of the Strategic Plan were
starting to be cut. 
 
-l







__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com