[A-List] Antioch College Closing!

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

I was wondering what can be done for Norman Finkelstein -- Can he win
a lawsuit?  Will another institution hire him?  Can the movement
support him financially? -- and then I heard this terrible news. --
Yoshie

<http://www.antioch-college.edu/news/releases/index.php?id=178>
Antioch News

Release Date: June 12, 2007
Antioch College Suspends Operations to Design 21st Century Campus
State-of-the-Art Campus projected to open in 2012

YELLOW SPRINGS, OH- On June 9, 2007, Antioch University's Board of
Trustees voted to suspend operations on July 1, 2008 of Antioch
College, the University's undergraduate residential program in Yellow
Springs, Ohio, with the intention of reopening a state-of-the art
campus.

The Chancellor will establish a Design and Development Commission to
determine the long-term future of the College with the intention of
opening a re-developed undergraduate campus. An Academic Design Team
will be appointed to design a new undergraduate curriculum reflecting
the College's strong traditions and values while meeting the needs of
today's students.

The College will continue to serve its current and newly accepted
students with a strong academic program for the 2007-08 academic year.

For the 2008-09 academic year, all students will be offered degree
completion opportunities at Antioch University McGregor which is
moving to a new facility in Yellow Springs in September, 2007. In
addition to the McGregor opportunity, students who have successfully
completed the first two years of their bachelor's degree will be
offered reasonable opportunities to complete their degree at Antioch
University's other degree completion programs in Seattle, Los Angeles
and Santa Barbara. Students wishing to transfer to other colleges and
universities based on the requirements of the other institutions will
be assisted in doing so.

Over the past several years, Antioch College has experienced a
continuing decline in its student enrollment. Given its small
endowment and heavy dependence on tuition revenue, this low enrollment
has threatened the College's survival. Efforts to balance the
College's budget over the years through faculty and staff reductions,
programmatic changes and deferred maintenance of the physical plant
have eroded the confidence students and parents have in the College's
academic program. After careful analysis the Board determined that the
College's resources are inadequate to continue providing a quality
education for its students beyond July 1, 2008.

The College's low enrollment and lack of adequate funding led to the
decision to suspend operations and declare financial exigency as
required by the faculty personnel policy.

About Antioch University: The University is founded on the principles
of a rigorous liberal arts education, innovative experiential learning
and socially engaged citizenship. These campuses all nurture in their
students the knowledge, skills and habits of reflection to act as
lifelong learners, democratic leaders and global citizens who live
lives of meaning and purpose.

In addition to the College, Antioch University is comprised of five
nonresidential campuses in Keene, NH; Yellow Springs, OH; Seattle, WA
and Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, CA, all accredited by the North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools. These campuses attract
students wishing to complete BA degrees, seek graduate degrees and/or
prepare for new careers.

Antioch College, founded in 1852, is part of Antioch University, which
includes Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire;
Antioch University Seattle in Washington; Antioch University Southern
California in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara; and Antioch University
McGregor in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The University's administrative
offices are also located in Yellow Springs. For more than 150 years,
Antioch has been a leader in higher education, long known for its
commitment to educational innovation and social justice.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6704600,00.html>
Antioch to Close Amid Money Woes
Wednesday June 13, 2007 2:01 AM
AP Photo OHDAY101, OHDAY102
By JAMES HANNAH
Associated Press Writer

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) - Antioch College, known for its offbeat
approach to education, will close in 2008 because of a money shortage
and will try to find enough funds to reopen four years later, the
school said Tuesday.

Enrollment at the private liberal arts college has dwindled from more
than 2,000 students in the 1960s to 400 this year, and a small
endowment and heavy dependence on tuition revenue combined to hurt
operations, the school said.

Efforts to balance the budget over the years through faculty and staff
reductions and programming changes have eroded confidence in the
academic program, said officials at the college, founded in 1852.

``At this point in time, Antioch does not have the financial
wherewithal to continue as it is,'' spokeswoman Linda Sirk said. ``It
will be a much healthier thing to do if we close it now, stop the
financial difficulties that we have, go through this process, and then
open as a strong institution. You're going to see us again.''

Students will be offered a chance to complete their degrees at Antioch
University McGregor, an adult education school in Yellow Springs.

The school hopes that alumni will provide financial help, that it will
attract investors and that it can develop more partnerships with the
Yellow Springs community, said Mary Lou LaPierre, vice chancellor for
university advancement.

Antioch doesn't grade classes, encourages students to develop their
own study plans, and combines academic learning with experience
through a co-op program in which students leave campus to work in
various fields.

The school in southwest Ohio counts the late Coretta Scott King,
``Twilight Zone'' creator Rod Serling and evolutionary scientist
Stephen Jay Gould among its graduates.

In 2000, death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted in the
1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, gave a
taped commencement address. Hundreds protested nearby, including
Faulkner's widow.

The college drew national attention in 1993 with its ``Sexual Offense
Prevention Policy'' that required students to ask permission from one
another if they wanted to have sexual contact, including holding
hands.

The top reason students who are accepted decide not to attend is the
poor facility conditions, said Antioch president Steven Lawry, who
concluded the school's $30 million endowment was insufficient.

``That kind of investment in endowment-building just had not been
done. The modern liberal arts college has to do that to survive,''
Lawry said.

The school will create commissions on facilities improvement and
curriculum design, he said. Officials hope to recruit a class of at
least 300 students for 2012.

``There's not another school like Antioch,'' said Rory Adams-Cheatham
of Washington, D.C., a 21-year-old who graduated in April with a
literature degree and is working for the school as events manager.
``This was where I had to be. It's really devastating.''

The school has been a fertile ground for social activism, with
protests from the Vietnam War era up to the Iraq war. In 1994,
students took over a building for 32 days to protest plans to turn it
into an admissions office instead of a student-activity center.

The school will have one more academic year, then suspend operations
July 1, 2008. The school said it will work with students who want to
complete their degrees at Antioch University McGregor; at other
Antioch schools with degree programs in Seattle, Los Angeles and Santa
Barbara, Calif.; or at other colleges.

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Associated Press writer Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Antioch College: http://www.antioch-college.edu/
--
Yoshie