Steve Lawry announced to the faculty yesterday that the 4 tenure-track searches that are nearing an end (sociology, biology, music, and history) have been cancelled and converted into 2-year appointments, due to financial instability (as usual), as well as a need for flexibility in anticipation of the college's merge with McGregor. I heard this from faculty members, and not from a formal announcement from Steve.
Apparently, discussions regarding this merge have been underway for quite some time, though this is the first its been announced to any significant on-campus group (significant in numbers, that is). I have a lot more questions and speculations than answers and information. There also seems to be some speculation that this may have been something Steve only recently learned of, though based on other events, that seems unlikely.
Comments
from the president
The following statement reached the Record shortly after the paper went to
print this Thursday morning. It responds to a request to comment on
current rumors around a possible merger between Antioch College and
Antioch University McGregor. As the format of next week's special issue
will not leave room for community announcements we would like to share
this statement that would otherwise have been featured in week's paper.
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From: Steve Lawry
As you know, Antioch University's educational operations in Yellow
Springs--the undergraduate college and the graduate adult and graduate
programs at McGregor--are administered under separate management units,
with separate executives and administrative support offices, and separate
faculties. This is a rather unusual model, and from time to time,
University leadership consider whether the University's overall
educational mission in Yellow Springs can be better served by other
organizational models. All effective organizations periodically revisit
questions of structure. Doing so provides an opportunity to consider
whether the existing structure is providing the best possible service at
the most reasonable and sustainable cost.
The question of the structure of the University's operations in Yellow
Springs is currently being considered by University leadership. Among the
questions being considered is whether or not the College's financial
position, which has been weak for many years, can be put on a
fundamentally more secure foundation through unification of the two
campuses.
I don't know how this discussion is going to unfold or conclude. If some
kind of restructuring should eventually be seriously contemplated or
pursued, I would expect that community members at both institutions would
have opportunities to participate in substantive discussions about various
aspects of an adjusted structure.
The question of the virtue of the current organizational structure over
possible alternatives is a perennial topic of discussion in Yellow
Springs. I have yet to meet a person who does not have an opinion on this
question. I am pleased that community members care about the University
and its mission in Yellow Springs enough to accord these and other
questions importance.
That said, those greatly experienced and committed administrators and
educators involved in these discussions need to proceed in an atmosphere
of candor and collegiality, and without the pressure of being expected to
comment publicly at this very preliminary stage, and especially to comment
on every rumor that might be in circulation.
Steven Lawry,
President,
Antioch College