[Alumni-chat] Lord of the Flies

[Jon Estes]

politically naive, poorly educated with inadequate analytical and writing
skills (which may be a function of the technology) and lack an understanding
of both the business and academic worlds.  I am very bothered by the fact
that they do not appear to be independent thinkers and seem to be easily led
due to their susceptibility to politically leftist rhetoric.

um. no. I stopped listening. I stopped caring. bye.

On 9/4/07, hopeless (debra_good at yahoo.com) <
alumni-chat_forum at antiochians.org> wrote:
>
> True to my word (see below), I bid you all adieu.  I'll not post here
> again.
>
> Deb '83
>
> >With the news of Steve Lawry stepping down, we must all be wondering
> what's going on.  I know I am.
> >
> >There are a number of possibilities.  Here are a few of them (in no
> particular order):
> >
> >1.  Steve was fired by the BoT and/or the Chancellor.
> >2.  Perhaps the BoT and/or the Chancellor recognizes there may be some
> hope with regard to reviving the College and want Steve to focus on helping
> the AB formulate their business plan and raise funds.
> >3.  Something happened that made Steve want to leave immediately.
> >
> >The list could go on and on.  At this point we don't really know what
> happened.
> >
> >WARNING: The rest of this post will be filled with my ideas and opinions
> and I'm mentioning this right now to avoid any further threats of
> litigation, etc.
> >
> >Steve Lawry has brought a well-defined clarity to the mission of saving
> the College.  It seems to me that the AB proposal to the BoT last weekend
> was well in agreement with some of the issues Steve has been addressing and
> speaking to and about since his arrival at Antioch.  Steve is an effective
> public speaker, a gentleman and a scholar.  He has a special gift in being
> able to assess the health and sources of dysfunction of an institution in
> very little time.  Upon his arrival, he wasn't given a warm welcome by many
> at the College.  Despite the hostility he encountered and the continual
> attacks on his leadership, Steve rose above it and has maintained a
> respectful attitude toward the people and issues at Antioch.
> >
> >Though Steve could have taken a back seat since the announcement of his
> resignation, which was to be effective December 31, 2007, he continued to be
> an active participant in efforts to save the college and disseminate
> information to various parties by appearing at chapter meetings in other
> locales and, from what I understand, making himself available on campus.   I
> don't know of many people in his position who would do so.  I think it
> speaks very well of him and his commitment to Antioch.
> >
> >For a host of reasons, Antioch College has been suffering for many
> years.  The College is constantly in a worrisome financial state and the
> academic programs have suffered because of it.  Antioch has also been having
> trouble attracting and retaining students for a very long time no matter
> what anybody says.  All of these things are connected.
> >
> >The BoT scheduled a web seminar (webinar) to communicate to all
> interested parties financial information in support of their decision to
> declare financial exigency.  This information was essential to our
> understanding of the situation and would have allowed us to make more
> intelligent decisions on how to proceed.  Unfortunately, the faculty
> prematurely filed a lawsuit against the Trustees effectively aborting that
> webinar.  The BoT were roundly criticized for waiting until the last minute
> to cancel the webinar.  I would like to remind everyone that in order for
> them to make that decision, they would have had to gather enough people to
> discuss the issue and consult with their lawyers.  They had less then two
> days to decide.  That being said, I don't like the way the initial decision
> to "suspend operations" was made or passed down.  One would have hoped the
> BoT would have at least consulted with some of the stakeholders before
> making that fateful decision.
> >
> >Last week, the BoT held an open meeting in which interested parties and
> stakeholders were invited to give input.  There was a great showing of
> support for Antioch College as measured by input from students, faculty,
> staff, alumni and former trustees.  I don't know whether the BoT was
> sincerely interested in hearing our input or if their lawyers or public
> relations consultants suggested it would be a good move but maybe it doesn't
> really matter.  They came and they heard.  Whether this will change anything
> remains to be seen.
> >
> >I listened to hours of podcasts of the BoT meetings in their entirety
> (with the exception of the latter part of the open forum held on Saturday
> morning which I am still in the process of finishing).  I found it
> interesting but also disappointing.  Much of the support is in the form of
> emotion and that's fine but, truthfully, I don't think the presentation of
> the AB proposal to the BoT was as powerful as it should have been.  When a
> Trustee asked the AB Treasurer exactly how much cash we had raised to date
> (as opposed to pledged donations), our Treasurer was unable to give a dollar
> figure.  He mentioned he knew what the number was as of "last week"
> ($250,000) but he still had a lot of checks in his briefcase and would be
> meeting with a representative of the bank on the following day.  That looked
> very bad strategically in that the AB doesn't appear organized or
> super-competent.  I'm not mentioning this to be needlessly critical. I
> understand the entire AB is working very hard
>   on
> >volunteer time and I think that's wonderful but I do think we need to
> appear and be more organized and professional.  Furthermore, I wish the AB
> would act a bit more like a representative body.  By this, I don't mean they
> should prepare a business plan online with us, but communications from them
> are sorely lacking and I cannot understand why they don't solicit ideas for
> visioning and the like from the vast number of brilliant and competent
> alumni who are not even participating on this chat, for good reason.
> >
> >I haven't been living in Yellow Springs since I graduated in 1983
> although I have visited numerous times.  I know the College wasn't in good
> shape when I attended and in my view, it hasn't really improved much since
> then.  On each of my visits to Antioch, I have made a point of trying to
> engage and reach out to faculty and staff members as well as students.  I've
> been donating money to the College, either through contributions to the
> annual fund, the library or the The Antioch Review for a few years after it
> lost its funding from the College.  I've encouraged many friends to do the
> same over the years.  I believe in what Antioch used to stand for.
> >
> >After participating on these chats, I don't know what Antioch currently
> stands for but if the chats are any indication, I don't like it.  Antioch
> College in its current morph seems more like an ongoing dress rehearsal for
> Lord of the Flies than a liberal arts college.  The culture seems stifling
> and I know this because when I post messages on the chat, I get private
> e-mails from people who say they agree with me but don't feel comfortable
> posting on the chats either because they work at the College or they don't
> want to be attacked as they think I have been for speaking out.  They are
> simply afraid.
> >
> >Don't get me wrong.  I am not blaming the students.  I don't even have
> much contact with current students but the students from the past 10 or 20
> years who are most vocal on the chats appear, with a few exceptions,
> politically naive, poorly educated with inadequate analytical and writing
> skills (which may be a function of the technology) and lack an understanding
> of both the business and academic worlds.  I am very bothered by the fact
> that they do not appear to be independent thinkers and seem to be easily led
> due to their susceptibility to politically leftist rhetoric.
> >
> >If, in answer to my prayers to the God I do not believe in, Steve Lawry
> does stick around to help the AB with the formation of an independent
> Antioch College Board and participate in fundraising and visioning with
> them, I'll pledge with my heart, soul and wallet and encourage everyone I
> know to the do the same.
> >
> >If not, I'll fade away from this exercise in futility and remember what
> Piggy said in Lord of the Flies, "How can you expect to be rescued if you
> don't put first things first and act proper."
> >
> >To quote William Golding, "What was the sensible thing to do? There was
> no Piggy to talk sense. There was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity
> of the conch."
> >
> >Sadly,
> >Deb Goodman, class of 1983
>
>
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-- 
Jonny Estes
!=marketing
p: 603.767.6357
e: jonny.no at gmail.com