[Alumni-chat] Where is the "trust" in "trustees"?

[Laura Fathauer]

The Antioch University Board of Trustees voted ten
days ago to be party to a "historical" agreement.
We're told this agreement provided for continuing
operations of the College, with the hopes of putting
the College back on a path towards sustained growth
and 'stabilization.'  Antioch's history is filled with
many 'stabilization' efforts, however this is the
first 'stabilization' that was initiated and supported
by the alumni of Antioch College. The Trustees are now
partners to this effort, but curiously delegated much
of the work away from the Trustees, and even away from
the University itself.

When presenting this agreement to the College, Alumni
Board members stated that we needed to have 'faith,'
and that the hard work is ahead of us. This call for
'faith' was curiously enough made in the absence of
the leaders of the institution- the Chancellor and the
Chair of the Board of Trustees.

Can we have faith, when the Agreement in Principle may
not have even addressed the two major requirements the
Alumni Board brought to the table? 

1-While the Trustees have lifted the suspension in
name- what has actually been lifted in fact? Exigency
remains in place with no explicit conditions to lift
it. Faculty and staff contracts are not extended past
June 30th, 2008. A lack of recruitment ability means
that the student body in Fall 08 would most likely be
less then 100. 

2-With regards to the governance issue, it is on
record (and video) and that the Trustees were informed
of the conditions under which Donors pledged monies to
the revival of Antioch College. The Trustee's actions
of simultaneously accepting Revival donations while
failing to make a written commitment and concrete
steps to implement a board for Antioch College is
inexplicable, and one of the sources of the rumor that
this Agreement was set up to fail from the start.

Recent actions by the Executive Officers of the
Corporation to reiterate the termination of the
Faculty and Staff seem to push towards this failure as
well. These actions run counter to one of the
principles agreed upon- the commitment to a vibrant
Antioch College with tenured faculty. 

The major party to the agreement, the Trustees, have
shown a curious lack of faith in the College, at the
same time telling community that "this isn't a fight,
its a collaboration" and that "we're working
together." 

It is time for the Trustees to respond in kind to the
call for faith- to respond publicly with faith in the
future of the College, and to show their own
commitment to contributing to that future. 

Since June 12th, five months ago today, the
University's message to the world is that Antioch is
closing. If the Trustees intend for that message to
change, now is the time for their action.

Laura Fathauer '95, Staff '98-'02





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