August 20, 07
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Here's a report from the Yellow Springs, Ohio, NEWS describing the Antioch College faculty legal action opposing the Antioch University Board Of Trustees' closedown of Antioch College (set for July 2008):
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Antioch College Closing?
Faculty files injunction request to stop Antioch from closing
By Diane Chiddister
On Tuesday, Aug. 14, members of the Antioch College faculty filed for a permanent injunction against the Antioch University Board of Trustees. The legal action aims to prevent the university from suspending college operations, terminating faculty and disposing of college assets.
The lawsuit was filed in the Greene County Common Pleas Court by Evan Price, Columbus attorney in the firm of Bailey Cavalieri, which represents the faculty. The university has 28 days to make an official response, according to faculty spokesperson Anne Bohlen on Tuesday.
The faculty action comes after the trustees announced on June 12 that the college would close in July 2008, with the possibility of re-opening four years later. The trustees stated the college would close due to a state of financial exigency caused by declining enrollments and lack of fund-raising.
According to a statement released by faculty, Tuesday’s legal action was necessary because the board “failed to govern the institution properly.” The statement also says that the board’s public refusal to reconsider its decision to close the college prompted faculty to take legal action “to immediately prevent further damage to the nationally renowned college and the surrounding community.”
“Antioch College has offered a very distinctive, high-quality liberal arts education for the past 155 years and we, the faculty, are committed to keeping it going,” Bohlen stated.
Specifically, the lawsuit states that the board “breached their contractual responsibilities” by declaring the state of financial exigency when less drastic measures for addressing the financial crisis were available. The suit also alleges that the university violated contractual obligations that require consultation with college faculty, as set forth in the faculty personnel policies and procedures. The university also violated contract obligations by causing extensive external publicity regarding internal college financial affairs, according to the suit, which further states that university board decisions in 2004 and 2005 caused serious damage to college enrollment prospects, leading to a rapid decline in revenue.
The lawsuit asks that the university be prevented from liquidating or dispersing college assets, including “College buildings (three of which are historic landmarks), the College Endowment, its land holdings, Antioch Education Abroad, the recently-opened Coretta Scott King Center and the Glen Helen Nature Preserve.” according to the statement.
The Antioch College faculty of about 40 people stands behind the lawsuit, according to Bohlen. The group has been raising money for legal fees and has raised “thousands of dollars,” she said.
On Tuesday evening, Antioch University spokesperson Mary Lou LaPierre said the university had not yet received notice of the injunction.
Support from AAUP
This week the Antioch College faculty received formal support from the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP, in a letter to Antioch University Chancellor Toni Murdock, Board Chair Art Zucker and College President Steven Lawry, raising concerns about the university’s actions.
“The concerns are serious enough to warrant our specific thoughts and recommendations to the administration,” according to Dr. Jonathon Knight, AAUP director of the program for academic freedom and tenure, in an interview this week.
“We were deeply surprised and disappointed to learn that members of the faculty were not consulted prior to the board’s actions with regard either to the declaration of financial exigency or to the suspension of operations, and that, in fact, they were not informed of these actions until three days later at a campus meeting on June 12,” the AAUP letter stated. “Faculty members allege that the board’s lack of consultation is part of what they perceive as a pattern of disregard for the faculty’s legitimate role in institutional decision making for the past several years.”
The AAUP’s interest stems from the group’s “longstanding concern for sound academic government,” the letter states, citing the AAUP’s Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, which was co-written by the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Board of Universities and Colleges.
That publication cites the premise of an “inescapable interdependence” in the relationship among governing board, administration and faculty which calls for “adequate communication among these components and full opportunity for appropriate joint effort,” the letter states. Furthermore, procedural standards set out in the AAUP’s Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure clarify that the declaration of a state of financial exigency should be made only after consultation with and “meaningful involvement” with faculty.
According to Knight this week, the AAUP has never before heard of a situation in which a college closes down with the intention of re-opening in several years.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen this before,” he said.
The letter states that, should the college close and reopen, “we hope and expect that it will do so with a tenure system intact and with a sense of its continuing obligation to the current college faculty with regard to reinstatement. We also expect that the faculty will have a meaningful role in the governance of a reopened college.”
Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com
