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November 19, 2007 Issue IX Welcome to the ninth issue of "Antioch Update," a weekly electronic newsletter that we are sending to the Antioch community to keep everyone updated on College and University news. It is being brought to you by the Antioch College Department of Communications & Public Relations. Trouble viewing this email? Visit the web version.
November 19, 2007Dear Alumni, Faculty, Staff, Students, and Friends, We have come a long way in five months, and now have a renewed opportunity to come together as a community to ensure a future for Antioch College that is worthy of its reputation and history. The Board of Trustees intends to rebuild the trust that is needed to accomplish this extraordinary goal, and is committed to working with the alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of the College. The Trustees voted to lift the impending suspension of operations under certain conditions and have taken significant steps to move the planning process forward. The Board of Trustees and the Alumni Board view the Agreements in Principle as only the first step in our joint endeavor. The Trustees regret that the quality and character of communication has not always risen to the level it could have. We want to avoid confusion and consternation in the future, and we wish to express personally our renewed commitment to improving in this area. In the spirit of rebuilding our community we also hope that you will understand that, on occasion, we may still fall short of your expectations. In order to move the dialogue forward and to provide more clarity, we have attempted to outline below a few items of immediate concern. 1) A SHARED VISION: It is the goal of the Board of Trustees that Antioch College should be a residential, liberal arts college, known for excellence in its academic programs, distinguished by its commitment to cooperative education and its determination to remain faithful to its historic values. Further, we believe that tenure is important for academic strength at Antioch College. 2) GOVERNANCE: The University Board of Trustees will move swiftly to organize a governance model that will create an empowered Antioch College Board of Trustees that will best serve the stated mission of the College. This process was begun by the Board of Trustees 18 months ago, and still requires careful study and reviews. In the interim we will appoint a College advisory body, possibly as early as December 1, 2007. The members of this body will help to design and establish the permanent Antioch College Board of Trustees and will be an integral part of the search process for recruiting a new College President of national stature. 3) ACCREDITATION AND ADMISSIONS: We are already seeking permission to extend our accreditation for current and transfer students to at least 2010 and are hopeful that this permission will be granted very soon. In the meantime, we can prepare to recruit transfers actively and enthusiastically. In order to gain permission to recruit first year students again we need more time to raise the funds to provide a program of which we are all proud. Two areas of greatest concern for the accrediting bodies during their recent visits included the financial health of the College and the condition of campus facilities. We are committed to addressing these two issues by participating actively with the Alumni Association in fundraising and by securing support for facilities improvement. To achieve our goals, we need to raise millions of unencumbered dollars, and restricted to the sole use of Antioch College, as outlined in the Agreements in Principle. We will work closely with all stakeholders, and are convinced that current and potential donors will grow in confidence and support our effort to resume the recruitment of first year students as soon as it is academically and fiscally feasible, and in accordance with the established standards of the accrediting agencies. 4) FINANCIAL CONDITION: Antioch College is still in precarious financial condition and our Declaration of Financial Exigency remains in place. In order to build trust, the University opened its records to designees of the Alumni Board and the Alumni Board concurred with our assessment of the financial situation. The Board of Trustees was moved to lift the suspension under certain conditions because of the prospect of generous financial support from alumni. We remain deeply grateful to all those who have expressed an interest in supporting Antioch College at this critical time. 5) CURRICULUM AND FACULTY: The Board of Trustees has asked the administration to begin to work closely with the faculty on a number of areas including curriculum. However, because we have just begun the process of building a budget for 2008-2009 and the College remains under a Declaration of Financial Exigency, the administration cannot yet provide definitive information about faculty appointments. It is clearly acknowledged that this is a highly critical issue. The administration will move forward with all due haste to address it in the next few months. 6) FACILITIES: The Alumni Board and the Board of Trustees will move quickly to make improvements to the Antioch College campus. We are confident that Antioch will again be a premier college, and know that College facilities must be attractive to prospective students and their families. In this area it is easier to project the long-term future of the College than the near term. Antioch College will be in operation next year in accordance with the conditions described in the Agreements in Principle; however, some campus facilities will be off-line for renovation and others will be closed in order to reduce costs significantly. It is impossible to be any more specific at this time. Alumni Board members, trustees and University leaders share your eagerness to seize the momentum of our common cause and to move forward quickly. For that reason, the Board of Trustees has asked the administration to move with all due haste in areas where progress can be made daily. Further, we recognize that we must work as a community in order to effectively address fundraising, curriculum, facilities, and enrollment. We will soon put structures in place to allow this to happen more easily, including our most pressing goal: to appoint the advisory body. Both the Alumni Board and the Board of Trustees will continue to work diligently to earn your trust. We know that we all have the same goal in mind and are well aware that we cannot secure the future of Antioch College without the support of the community. We cannot accomplish this alone. We need to all work together in pursuit of a common vision: a vital and vibrant Antioch College in 2017, 2057 and beyond. Please join us in the spirit of community,
P.S. Please visit and use the new link on the Antioch College website intended to solicit questions and input from the Community. Featured link for Community Input
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