It stunned all of us at the College as well. We only learned this "plan" at 2pm this afternoon. No-one was involved in the decision-making other than University administrators and the Board of Trustees. The only College rep was the President who was trying to sell a merger with McGregor as a way to deal with the financial situation. No conversations, no consultation, no consideration of alternatives. As I understand it, the Trustees did not have a lot of time to consider this plan, did not have alternative plans on the table, did not consult with major donors (who might have helped close some of the fiscal gaps), the faculty, the Alumni Board, the students or the Village. Reading between the lines, it seems to me that the University, in consultation with a few Trustees, had decided on this course of action long before the Board meeting.

The Trustees forced a "Renewal Plan" on the College several years ago, to move the College beyond "incremental growth". As Joe Cali would say, "The Idea Boys are working overtime...." They gave us five years to implement it, and promised the resources for the transition. The faculty worked their butts off, speeding up the implementation by a year. We're now two years into the plan, but the Board has not contributed nor raised the funds for this transition, so they're pulling the plug. The faculty did their part in attempting to implement what was essentially a bad plan, and did so with modest success. The Board failed in their stewardship role, and did not provide the 5-years of support for the transition. And so we have a Board that (a) rolled the dice with the College's legacy and all of our livelihoods in an "all or nothing" Renewal plan of dubious merit, (b) failed to support its own imposed plan or to raise sufficient money to implement it, and (c) seeing the results of the Plan in terms of recruitment and retention, precipitously decided that closing the College -- rather than raising additional funding, closing another campus, liquidating the endowment, merging the College & McGregor, etc. etc. -- was the only avenue to deal with the financial difficulties.

The other notable dimension of this story is that since 1999 the University has been focused on usurping College resources, first by pursuing policy changes that made it impossible for the College to break even and then by framing the College as a constant financial problem in the minds of the Trustees. As a result, the Trustees have removed more and more autonomy and decision-making from the College President (while gutting the systems of shared governance), and have given the University more and more discretion for fiscal and programmatic control. The University has used that control to raid College resources and consolidate their hold on the College and its directions. A "reorganization" eliminated the College's own VP of Finance and Administration and HR and moved them across the street. Likewise, Technology Resources was dissolved on the College side of the street and the College is now served by an IT department that reports to the McGregor School. This latest move is a logical next step. The University will walk away with Glen Helen, AEA, the campus and all its buildings, the endowment and the brand, while getting rid of all those pesky, critical, and "toxic" students.

As for re-opening in 2012, that's probably either a fantasy or a fig leaf.. It's a nice thing to say when you're closing the doors and putting 160 people out of work, but my sense is that IF the College closes (and I'm optimistic enough to believe that is not yet a given if people rally support and press contacts and bring appropriate pressure to bear) it will be closing its doors for good. If the College could not raise money to keep its doors open, why would be believe that it could raise the sort of money required for a ground-up re-invention -- including a new high-tech physical plant????? If Antioch College re-opens, my prediction is that it will be a shallowly normed version of what the adult campuses are doing, NOT an institution that bears the legacy of the College.

My 2 cents.

Bob