Mtg minutes from 11/12
Meeting Minutes
NYC Antioch College Community Chapter
November 12, 2008
153 W. 119th Street New York, NY
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Meeting started at 7:30
Attending: Matthew Derr, Calista Hendrickson, David Ottaviano, Susan Opotow, Donald Davidson, Noreen Dean Dresser, Jeff Wood, Harold Calhoun, Janet Goldner, Lynda White, Victoria Hochberg (from Los Angeles), Aaron Gruenberg
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Matthew Derr — member of the Task Force and the Antioch College Board Pro-Tem — presented the latest developments to the group and took questions. Except where noted, the following is a summary of Derr’s comments.
“We [Antiochians] were all trained to support causes and Alma Mater was not a cause that we identified with…if anything has come out of this last year, the College is now a cause. We identify with it now in a way that we probably would not have if this terrible event [closure by the University] had not unfolded in the way that it has.”
OPENING
The Task Force is creating an agreement to separate Antioch College from Antioch University and has been working since July. Derr is confident the process will go well and thinks we may be mere weeks from an agreement, adding that if an agreement is reached soon that Antioch College should be re-opened and running by 2010 (“I can’t imagine any later than that”).
BOARD PRO-TEM
To avoid the snare of creating yet another corporate entity the Board Pro-Tem has assumed the incorporation of the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (AC3).
The Board Pro-Tem has said it will not speak until there is a college. There are 14 members presently, eventually expected to be 20-25 people. Lee Morgan is chairperson, and as of yet there are no bylaws. The Board Pro-Tem is geared to thinking post-separation, and recognizes that time is of the essence and so is prepared to act in a timely manner once an agreement is reached.
The finances of the separation must remain confidential at this time.
The College endowment has many YSO restricted covenants.
The University needs a solution as much as the College and has worked on a separation concept for some time.
THE NAME “ANTIOCH COLLEGE”
Several NYC alums expressed apprehension that Antioch College and the University might remain interlocked by virtue of sharing the name and firmly stated that the College should own the name as opposed to just licensing the name from the University. Concerns were expressed that the moral and financial confusion of sharing the name could sap our future efforts. Coordination/management of name sharing should be well thought out. Derr said he has never heard a University board member express an interest in not allowing us to use the name “Antioch College”. Derr mentioned that the Great Lakes College Association has been helpful here and that the University efforts to “protect” the name through threatening legal action is standard practice for those seeking to keep a name fully protected.
“After separation, the University will be the least of our problems,” said Derr.
OPPORTUNITIES AND GOALS FOR THE FUTURE
American higher education may now have a break-down moment such as the one Antioch College has experienced. However, Antioch College is now essentially free of debt. The nature of our style in the areas of academics, social change, work and community position us well for the future. Nonstop Institute faculty and students have found their way and are “in charge of their own fates.”
When the College opens, it will be small. “I remain concerned that the College cannot come back as an anemic place” so the Board Pro-Tem is disinclined to start with small faculty salaries because they are morally indefensible.
There is a “low cost niche” for a college like Antioch. Other colleges may have overbuilt (ie, in-suite bathrooms, academically unnecessary and extravagant facilities) and a crisis in higher education is imminent with the economic downturn. The future question will be where does frugality stop and poverty start. The Board Pro-Tem wants the new college to reflect the mission as it is traditionally understood.
The campus, Glen Helen, and name will be included in Antioch College.
The potential for lawsuits did not play a role in forcing the University to constructively negotiate. Derr said the University board is not monolithic and some are truly saddened by the events of the last year.
The separation process has lasted so long partly due to inadequate legal advice. “It would be very difficult for Antioch College if the University were to fail.”
Fund raising needs a business plan.
COMMUNICATIONS
Derr said he’d like to see NYC chapter communicate with other NYC alumni. Active communication bears significant meaning for University and the College.
Several NYC alums criticized the CRF and Alumni Association for failing to communicate with chapters as well as failing on the public relations front. Several NYC alums said it was often hard to get information and a response.
Derr in response said we have to change a “culture of criticism”, adding that there was no paid communications staff.
Several NYC alums continued to cite the insufficiencies in the communications area as a critical failure that is resulting in loss of interest of alumni and allies. Derr says that he will take these communications concerns to YSO on Monday 11/17 and the NYC Chapter should write directly to Nancy Crow and Ellen Borgerson requesting that a paid Communications position be created. Derr also suggested NYC raising money for a Communications position to make clear our concerns to the Board Pro-Tem.
Might publicity work be a future NYC effort? In the current holding pattern there is frustration for several NYC alums on this public relations front. Interest was expressed for contacting the Brian Lehrer show for publicity.
INVENT-A-COLLEGE
Alums expressed concern that there has been no reporting by the Alumni Association or CRF follow-up of the Invent/Create a College meeting at Earlham in the 5 weeks since it occurred. Derr said the GLCA completed its report on October 20, and it should be up on the website.
CLOSING
Derr’s 3 Most Important Things to keep in mind:
1) the imminent separation of the College from the University,
2) alums have to be prepared for the next stage,
3) money/fundraising will be crucial in the near future.
Meeting adjourned 9:50
Minutes compiled by Harold Calhoun & Jeff Wood