I wrote the following on the ACAN mailing list last night regarding the current state of Antioch College. For anyone reading this who isn’t neck deep in this struggle this probably isn’t worth your time reading since it likely won’t make sense out of context. I’m including portions of the e-mail I was responding to in here. If you feel so moved you can read the whole thread this part of athttp://saveantioch.org/pipermail/acan_saveantioch.org/2010-October/thread.html . So that’s the disclaimer, this is long, boring, and not terribly relevant to most anyone reading this here but I wanted to save it here as a point in time snapshot on my feelings about Antioch.
>>Well, we do live in a market driven capitalistic society.
Doesn’t mean that all our decisions should be based on that though. If so then explain free open source software, community soup kitchens, community radio & tv stations, and basically a large percentage of non-profits. Explain why anyone would volunteer services instead of getting paid for their time. Clearly there are reasons other than the almighty dollar. If money’s our god, I want a new religion.
>>A manufacturer goes out of business, the employees are let go, the pension fund disappears.
>>It is seen as unfortunate, tragic even. When a new company buys the former facilities,
>>even one that may make the same kind of product, even if it resurrects the name of the
>>former manufacturer, is there an obligation to rehire all the former employees or repay
>>the lost pensions? Not by any business model in this country, nor any law of the land.
>>Is it fair or just? Hardly.
I don’t think this is quite a fair analogy though to follow it I’ll take some local examples up here in Maine where some more blue collar businesses go through the exact changes you mention. But while the new owners are not be obligated to rehire all the former employees the local communities pretty much expect that and to purposely not do so would be a huge PR nightmare. Certainly it happens, but should it? And should those observing and ostensibly advising/participating in things express their opinions and offer alternative solutions (and in some cases withhold support until this issue is resolved to their satisfaction)? Certainly (IMHO)
Basically I think this is what the college is debating internally right now behind closed doors. On one hand they want to be able to boast they have a ‘world class faculty’ and clearly some of them think the only way to get this is to do a national search..sure they can interview and hire one or two of the former faculty to give the illusion of continuity and ‘fairness’. The folks following this train of thought also will use following logic, ‘If the former faculty at Antioch were so good how come they haven’t gotten jobs elsewhere?’. I’m not even going to respond to this logic since clearly the idea of liking &/or having dedication to an institution & community isn’t of value to those that ask this.
On the other hand they could take the AAUP’s advice and rehire the formerly tenured faculty available in YS when positions become available that match their areas. If they just rehired them w/o a national search then this wouldn’t be the ‘new college’ they are trying to market, they’d have to defend these faculty’s qualifications and experiences. They’d have to.. shudder.. stand with and support and honor the former faculty and students of the college prior to closing and defend it’s merits publicly, instead of being able to imply that everything from 1970 on was ‘turmoil and decline’ (see http://www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/Bulletin/SendBulletinEmail.aspx?cid=4742 … Thanks Lee (for the record I already e-mailed Lee regarding this and he apologized that he was being ‘too flip’Â and that he defends students from all eras regularly ). If you imply the faculty of 2007 were inferior then you devalue the entire tenure granting & review procedure at Antioch, and how far back do you go
once you head down this path? 5 years? 10? 20? more?
It’s ‘easier’ for them to do the national search since that fits better with their marketing and spin that this is a ‘new’ college based on proud traditions. This statement is buzzword compliant, fits nicely on website headlines and admissions posters. If they hired the ‘old used faculty’ they have to be ready to defend the ‘old Antioch’ and that takes effort. After all, the university already set the stage thanks to Toni & Art Zucker having seeded all the press with insulting summaries of how bad the Antioch prior to closure was. Up until recently we’ve been providing counter narratives to this spin but at some point the gears seemed to have switched internally and we’re not hearing folks defend the ‘old Antioch’ anymore, instead they’re saying that we’re building the ‘new and improved’ version. Having the ‘old faculty’ around doesn’t fit with that spin. It’s easier for them to just say ‘Yup things sucked then, it died but we salvaged the good stuff and added some new specia
l sauce’. Having to stand in support of the former faculty, and readmitting the handful of former students who have bravely hung around waiting for a chance for an Antioch education would take extra effort and explanation.
I’m still completely confused how we went from having the first ACCC group being close to ‘winning’ in April 2008 where we would have kept all the faculty, staff and students to where we are now. What changed? Why did we (effectively) drop Nonstop instead of immediately merging it back into the college the day we got the keys back? Imagine if that had happened… that we pulled the ‘life raft’ back on board the moment the ship was back in our control? Imagine if the former faculty and nonstop students were around on campus and involved in the rebuilding & planning process. Imagine what would be happening on campus right now if they were there helping plan and organize events ? Imagine if the new college had a functioning equivalent of Adcil where major decisions were discussed and voted on. Imagine if our new curriculum was created in the open with a chance for all alumni who were interested to give feedback and suggestions. Heck, imagine it wasn’t 10/21/10 and the new curric
ulum wasn’t still a secret that hasn’t been shared with the alumni yet (but is being show at admission’s fairs etc)
But no.. none of this has (or likely will) happen.. instead we hire a few Morgan Fellows, not as faculty but as temporary hires to help us build a curriculum that meets the specs as prescribed by large donors, board members and college admins. This curriculum has been created behind closed doors and while some alumni helped with this it’s been by invitation only. Major decisions like what handful of majors to offer when we restart are made without any public discussion or explanation to date. To my knowledge, and mind you very little has been said about this, but former faculty & students weren’t even asked to participate in the curriculum planning process whereas alumni & emeritus faculty were. There is no ‘community’ on campus or in YS, outside of the handful of overworked and overburdened staff
But … Outside of all the ‘logic’ above they are trying to weigh how pissed off, vocal and annoying the alumni who care about this issue, the AAUP and the former faculty themselves are going to be on this issue. What I don’t think they realized is that younger alumni, heck even somewhat non-young alumni would care so passionately about their former teachers. I really am quite confused why there’s even a discussion or debate on this issue, it just seems terribly obvious to me what we should be doing right now.
I’m still.. desperately.. holding on to some hope that we can still fix things and build a ‘new college’ based on more than just proud traditions but built from the PEOPLE who lived, ate and breathed the college community and traditions prior to closing.that should be part of it. And yes, Mark, before you ask, I believe this includes the non-union and union staff too wherever possible. Antioch College is just a place, just a name associated with buildings and dirt. It’s the community and the people that matter here.. if the Antioch campus sank into a giant sinkhole tomorrow (but with no casualties) I’d still love and support Antioch College. But if you take the campus and shake all the people out and then start a ‘new’ college, well.. I’m gonna stand with the discard pile instead of the new deck. (ok the analogy needs work but it’s 2 AM and it’s all I got at this point)
So college is (finally) at a point where a major decision needs to take place… Two roads diverge in the woods, one involves embracing the former faculty and by doing so embrace the old Antioch and it’s more recent graduates, the other path leads to a ‘new’ college that’s been sterilized and quarantined.
I am pretty sure I know what path they are leaning towards, but I also know which one I’m standing on.
-Matt ’92