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<channel>
<title>On Campus</title>
<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/</link>
<description>Stephanie Irwin Gottschlich writes about higher education.</description>
<dc:language>en-us</dc:language>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2008-05-09T10:02:48-05:00</dc:date>
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<item>
<title>Last-minute deal for Antioch College collapses</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/05/09/lastminute_deal_for_antioch_co.html</link>
<description> YELLOW SPRINGS &amp;#8212; The Antioch College Continuation Corporation, the alumni group that has tried to negotiate deals with Antioch University trustees to keep the college open next year, said today that trustees rejected its 11th-hour offer of money in...</description>
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YELLOW SPRINGS &amp;#8212; The Antioch College Continuation Corporation, the alumni group that has tried to negotiate deals with Antioch University trustees to keep the college open next year, said today that trustees rejected its 11th-hour offer of money in  exchange for board seats. This is the second time the board voted down an ACCC offer, and the second time it has &amp;#8220;reaffirmed&amp;#8221; its June 2007 decision to temporarily shutter the campus. The failed negotiations has both sides pointing fingers at the other as the culprit.

The ACCC offered a large donation &amp;#8212; $9.5 million immediately and then another $6 million for other university campuses &amp;#8212; in exchange for 10 seats on the 19-member board of trustees, which would have given it a majority vote, it said. The college could continue operating, the group said, while allowing the board more time to legally separate the college from the university.

Eric Bates, co-chair of the ACCC and an Antioch alum, said the following in a press statement:

&amp;#8220;It almost defies belief that the trustees could reject this extraordinarily generous offer by a group of major donors,&amp;#8221; he said. &amp;#8220;We were not only prepared to make an immediate contribution of $9.5 million for Antioch College, we offered to make an additional contribution of $6 million for the direct benefit of the University&amp;#8217;s five other campuses. This was a win-win opportunity for the entire University, and the trustees squandered it.&amp;#8221;

The university, in its released statement, said it voted Thursday, May 8 against the ACCC proposal because because it would have resulted in the forced resignation of existing trustees and create an &amp;#8220;untenable&amp;#8221; leadership structure for the remaining five-campus system. It seems to have hinged on one trustee. The university was concerned about ceding control of the university to the ACCC. It also said the ACCC plan still lacked a business plan with financial benchmarks - one of their original beefs with the first ACCC plan. 

Antiochians meanwhile accuse the university&amp;#8217;s chancellor, Toni Murdock, of running out the clock. And a group known as Non-Stop Antioch said Friday it will support faculty whose contracts  end June 30 and their efforts to keep teaching an Antioch education somewhere in Yellow Springs. Former Antioch College development officers are managing the College Revival Fund and about $16 million in cash and pledges for the effort. The group has opened an office in Yellow Springs and plans to slap the university with lawsuits.

Keep reading for the key points of the ACCC plan.

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<dc:subject>Antioch College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-05-09T10:02:48-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
<title>Gun-toting students want to bring weapons on campus</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/04/15/the_right_to_bear_arms_on_coll.html</link>
<description> (April 16, 2007: In front of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech, after shootings resulted in multiple fatalities. AP photo.) Gun-toting students legally permitted to conceal their weapons should be allowed to bring their guns on campuses in order to...</description>
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(April 16, 2007: In front of Norris Hall at Virginia Tech, after shootings resulted in multiple fatalities. AP photo.)

Gun-toting students legally permitted to conceal their weapons should be allowed to bring their guns on campuses in order to protect themselves against shooting rampages, assaults, rapes and armed robberies.

That&amp;#8217;s one idea, anyway. And it&amp;#8217;s being pushed by a lot of college students. And some Ohio lawmakers.

As the nation looks back to one year ago Wednesday, when 32 students, faculty and a lone gunman died in the horrific massacre at Virginia Tech, everyone is asking: How do we prevent this?

While colleges across the country have increased security focused on preventing and responding to future shootings, a movement fighting for the right to carry concealed weapons on campus is gaining momentum.

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<dc:subject>Higher ed oddities</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-04-15T22:45:00-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Master plan for Ohio colleges released</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/31/master_plan_for_ohio_colleges.html</link>
<description>The 10-year master plan for Ohio&amp;#8217;s public colleges and universities was delivered to Governor Ted Strickland on Monday that details strategies for the Governor&amp;#8217;s mandate that Ohio&amp;#8217;s colleges increase the number of Ohioans with degrees by 230,000 in the next...</description>
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The 10-year master plan for Ohio&amp;#8217;s public colleges and universities was delivered to Governor Ted Strickland on Monday that details strategies for the Governor&amp;#8217;s mandate that Ohio&amp;#8217;s colleges increase the number of Ohioans with degrees by 230,000 in the next decade.

The plan takes a consumer-friendly approach, saying the state will offer many educational options to students who can then choose the best programs at the 
best price to meet their needs.

One of the plan&amp;#8217;s main goals is to make available high-quality associate and bachelor&amp;#8217;s degree programs in core fields to students within 30 miles of their home, using the infrastructure of the state&amp;#8217;s 47 community colleges and regional branch campuses.  Community colleges will be linked through policies and a database that will enable each school to offer programs from the other schools. The first associates degree available to the entire state will be available this fall, Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut said in a press conference this morning in Columbus.

All colleges and universities will join the national Voluntary System of Accountability, a voluntary initiative for 4-year public colleges and universities to demonstrate public accountability by measuring students&amp;#8217; outcomes and making information about their institutions accessible, understandable and comparable to consumers. About 225 institutions around the country participate in the system.

Ohio&amp;#8217;s institutions will make available to students and their families data regarding price, financial aid, degree programs, retention and graduation rates, campus safety, 
student satisfaction and student learning outcomes. Two-year institutions will participate in a similar national initiative for community colleges.

The information will be available in an &amp;#8220;Ohio College Portrait,&amp;#8221; which will show campuses&amp;#8217; progress in 20 performance metrics in real time on a &amp;#8220;dashboard&amp;#8221; at the University System of Ohio website.

Keep reading for a summary of some  of the changes to Ohio&amp;#8217;s system.

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<dc:subject>University System of Ohio</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-31T11:43:12-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Cedarville caught up in speculation</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/30/cedarville_speculation_rampant.html</link>
<description>An anonymous phone call from someone in Cedarville, Ohio that something was amiss at the university there triggered my front page story and deeper explanation story on Sunday on the terminations of two professors arising from an apparent theological divide...</description>
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An anonymous phone call from someone in Cedarville, Ohio that something was amiss at the university there triggered my front page story and deeper explanation story on Sunday on the terminations of two professors arising from an apparent theological divide within its most important academic department, Bible studies. 

A note about the &amp;#8220;climate of fear&amp;#8221; statement quoted in the headline: That hardly summarizes the whole story. That statement comes from a group of 16 faculty - some current, some retired - called the Coalition of the Concerned, who are decidedly against the administration but are leading a very public campaign to call attention to the fired faculty issue. It should be noted too, that the headline makes it appear the faculty were suddenly fired this weekend - they were terminated in July, many months ago.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, the national newspaper for higher education, first wrote a similar story about the faculty firings in mid-March. I had just started to look into it when the call came in, signaling to me that people locally wanted to hear more about it.

A couple of thoughts on this: There&amp;#8217;s a lot of he-said, she-said going on in regards to what exactly caused the terminations and the extent of the divide. Cedarville can&amp;#8217;t say much about it, because they&amp;#8217;re bound by confidentiality. I talked to Mr. Hoffeditz, some current students for background, the coalition leading the effort to preserve fundamentalism and the AAUP - but the administration was very limited in what it could say. It did say that if it weren&amp;#8217;t bound by confidentiality and people could see what they saw, people might better understand why they took the actions they did.

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<dc:subject>Cedarville University</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-30T12:00:00-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
<title>Antioch University still willing to sell college</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/29/antioch_university_looking_for.html</link>
<description>In a last-minute offer Saturday night, Antioch University said it will re-open negotiations with the Antioch College College Continuation Corporation or any other party to sell the college for $12.2 million as long as the two sticking points that caused...</description>
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In a last-minute offer Saturday night, Antioch University said it will re-open negotiations with the Antioch College College Continuation Corporation or any other party to sell the college for $12.2 million as long as the two sticking points that caused an impasse between the two parties can be resolved.

In it&amp;#8217;s &amp;#8220;best and final offer&amp;#8221; this week the corporation offered to buy the college for $12.2 million in order to make Antioch College independent. But its offer of providing half the cash at closing and pay the balance over a five-year period was not acceptable to the university, both parties announced Friday, March 28. The university said it needs the entire cash amount up front, at closing. The corporation also wanted National Public Radio affiliate WYSO including in the sale. The university could not agree to that either, it said.

After that announcement, trustees then voted to re-open the negotiations and said it will agree to an offer from the ACCC or any other party as long as they can provide the cash up front. 

Lynda Sirk, spokeswoman for Antioch University, said that trustees &amp;#8220;feel that if they can work out the financing on 12.2 million, the rest is definitely workable.&amp;#8221;  So it sounds like they&amp;#8217;re willing, maybe, to let go of WYSO for the cash.

Here&amp;#8217;s why they opted to be a bit more flexible. From their press release:

In the wake of the ACCC announcement at noon on March 28, the Antioch University 
Board of Trustees met and expressed deep disappointment at not having reached an 
agreement with only 2 items remaining&amp;#8212;the need for underwriting appropriate security 
for the $6.2 million the ACCC proposed to pay in installments over five years, and 
ownership of WYSO. 

Recognizing that every day of delay is a day lost towards reaching the goal sought in 
common by all parties, the Board is prepared and willing to negotiate at any time with 
any party to the end of assuring a vigorous, progressive residential liberal arts college 
while at the same time protecting the viability and vitality of the University. 

&amp;#8220;We recognize the importance of Antioch College not only to the nation at large but also 
to the economic health and vitality of the historic village of Yellow Springs, Ohio,&amp;#8221; said 
Art Zucker, &amp;#8220;and to the dedicated faculty and students and staff and alumni who have 
championed Antioch College throughout its storied history and to the present day.&amp;#8221; 
In going forward, the Board will receive formal or informal inquiries made to the 
Chancellor of Antioch University or the Chair of the Board of Trustees at their corporate headquarters in Yellow Springs, Ohio.&amp;#8221;

Here&amp;#8217;s a recap from Friday&amp;#8217;s impasse. You can read the full story here.

Friday, March 28:
Antioch University officials said Friday they rejected an offer from an independent corporation of wealthy alumni to purchase the college for an agreed-upon price of $12.2 million because it needed the whole kit-and-caboodle up front, at closing to keep creditors satisfied.

The Antioch College Continuation Corporation, a Yellow Springs-based non-profit corporation of alumni and former trustees, proposed in December buying the college from the university to make it an independent institution. Negotiations took on a sense of urgency in late February, when the university trustees reaffirmed their June 2007 decision to close Antioch College for a year starting this June, after initial negotiations with the AC3 did not produce an agreement. The final impasse came today, after trustees evaluated what ACCC said was its &amp;#8220;best and final&amp;#8221; offer
Wednesday night.

The university said today the ACCC offered to pay half the purchase price at closing, and then pay the rest over five years. But an installment arrangement would not be acceptable to the university&amp;#8217;s creditors &amp;#8220;which must ratify the terms of the deal,&amp;#8221; the university said. That was the deal-breaker. If they agreed to the deal and for some reason ACCC defaulted on those last remaining payments, &amp;#8220;the university&amp;#8217;s only remedy wold  be to foreclose on the real estate,&amp;#8221; Bruce Bedford, chair of the trustee finance committee, said in the statement.

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<dc:subject>Antioch College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-29T22:01:04-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Antioch College takeover negotiations fail: University said it needed $12.2 million in cash up front</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/28/antioch_college_takeover_negot.html</link>
<description> (Art Zucker, chair of the board of trustees; Toni Murdock, chancellor.) 3:00 p.m. Antioch University said this afternoon it rejected an offer from an independent corporation of wealthy alumni to purchase the college for an agreed-upon price of $12.2...</description>
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(Art Zucker, chair of the board of trustees; Toni Murdock, chancellor.)

3:00 p.m.

Antioch University said this afternoon it rejected an offer from an independent corporation of wealthy alumni to purchase the college for an agreed-upon price of $12.2 million because it needed the whole kit-and-caboodle up front, at closing to keep creditors satisfied.

The Antioch College Continuation Corporation, a Yellow Springs-based non-profit corporation of alumni and former trustees, proposed in December buying the college from the university to make it an independent institution. Negotiations took on a sense of urgency in late February, when the university trustees reaffirmed their June 2007 decision to close Antioch College for a year starting this June, after initial negotiations with the AC3 did not produce an agreement. The final impasse came today, after trustees evaluated what ACCC said was its &amp;#8220;best and final&amp;#8221; offer
Wednesday night.

The university said today the ACCC offered to pay half the purchase price at closing, and then pay the rest over five years. But an installment arrangement would not be acceptable to the university&amp;#8217;s creditors &amp;#8220;which must ratify the terms of the deal,&amp;#8221; the university said. That was the deal-breaker. If they agreed to the deal and for some reason ACCC defaulted on those last remaining payments, &amp;#8220;the university&amp;#8217;s only remedy wold  be to foreclose on the real estate,&amp;#8221; Bruce Bedford, chair of the trustee finance committee, said in the statement.

That part about the creditors caught my attention. 

In a telephone interview this afternoon, University Chancellor Toni Murdock said that the university&amp;#8217;s credit situation isn&amp;#8217;t dire,  but it does have significant debt in the  form of bonds on the new Antioch University McGregor building, and buildings in Seattle and in Keane, New Hampshire.

Transferring the college assets to the ACCC  while the university still had outstanding bonds &amp;#8220;creates a huge negative impact on the university&amp;#8217;s balance sheet,&amp;#8221; the university said.

Murdock elaborated. &amp;#8220;Because we had so much debt in relation to the bonds we needed to have enough assets to&amp;#8230;It put us in financial jeopardy. If you take away all the assets of the college then it gives bankers pause.&amp;#8221;

Which begs an interesting question: How important are the college&amp;#8217;s assets to the bonds? College faculty, staff and alumni critical of the administration have questioned the university in the past on whether the college&amp;#8217;s assets have served as collateral on bonds. The university has always maintained that the bonds were financed based on each campus&amp;#8217; projected revenue, and the college assets were never at risk.

But it appears that nonetheless, the university&amp;#8217;s eggs are in one basket. Murdock on the phone said it needed some assets - either the college,  or the $12.2 million in cash - if it hoped to secure future loans on other campuses that need updates (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara). 

Another sticking point was WSYO, the NPR affiliate station based in Yellow Springs. The ACCC  wanted  WYSO as part of the $12.2 million purchase; the university said it wanted to keep  WYSO but would let the college use it. They couldn&amp;#8217;t work that out.

Members of the ACCC said in a statement today the rejected proposal was its &amp;#8220;best and final offer,&amp;#8221; and it appears their attempt to take control of the college is over.

&amp;#8220;Our offer would have enabled Antioch College to thrive and grow, while simultaneously infusing the rest of the university with millions of dollars in cash,&amp;#8221; said Frances Degen Horowitz, co-chair of the ACCC and president emerita of the Graduate Center of the City Unviersity of New York. Horowitz is a college alum.The AC3 said it had raised $18 million to operate the college in the short term, and was preparing to launch a fundraising drive to secure a total of $100 million for its long-term future. The group had hired a turnaround management firm to prepare a detailed five-year plan to increase the college&amp;#8217;s enrollment and staffing. 

It sounds like everyone involved is disappointed.

&amp;#8220;To have worked this hard - and be this close - and not have an agreement is truly heartbreaking,&amp;#8221; said Art Zucker, chair of the board of trustees in a statement.

&amp;#8220;This is a sad day not only for Antioch, but for all those who care about progressive education in this country,&amp;#8221; said Eric Bates, co-chair of the ACCC, who participated in the negotiations.

Murdock said administrators are going to rest for awhile, and then by summer will turn  to figuring out how to re-open the college after it closes for one year starting June 30. The university&amp;#8217;s headquarters will remain in Yellow Springs, she said. Antioch University operates five campuses nationwide in addition to Antioch College, including Antioch University McGregor also in Yellow Springs. Those campuses will remain open.

But there&amp;#8217;s another front in the multidimensional fight to keep the college from closing June 30. On  Tuesday, April 1, a hearing in Greene County Common Pleas court will hear evidence in a lawsuit Antioch College faculty filed against the university March 10, alleging the university broke its contractual obligation with the faculty in its decision back in June to declare financial exigency and close the school at the end of this academic year.

The faculty seek a permanent injunction requiring the university follow the faculty policies and prevent it from suspending operations. The faculty also ask the court to enjoin the university from liquidating or dispersing its assets, including buildings, land and its endowment.

I&amp;#8217;ll be covering the hearing here on the blog. 

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<dc:subject>Antioch College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-28T12:20:38-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Master Plan for colleges to be released Monday</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/27/master_plan_to_be_released_mon.html</link>
<description>I&amp;#8217;m sure the state&amp;#8217;s colleges and universities are anxiously awaiting to hear how the 10-year master plan for the University System of Ohio is going to dramatically change their plans in the next few years. I know I am. I&amp;#8217;ve...</description>
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I&amp;#8217;m sure the state&amp;#8217;s colleges and universities are anxiously awaiting to hear how the 10-year master plan for the University System of Ohio is going to dramatically change their plans in the next few years. I know I am.  I&amp;#8217;ve been covering this for 9 months.
I&amp;#8217;m sure the staff of the board of regents, who are working until 2 a.m. some nights this week editing the thing, can&amp;#8217;t wait either. One of the staff members said he was dreaming about the thing in his sleep. Definitely working too hard.  I hear V-8  juice is the secret antidote to getting through a long work day.

Details of the long-awaited 10-year master plan for Ohio&amp;#8217;s public colleges and universities will be released by Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut on Monday, March 31, his office said today. Fingerhut plans to release the 100-page plan online early Monday morning. That&amp;#8217;s right, 100 pages. Pretty meaty stuff, I hear. I&amp;#8217;ll have details here on the blog about 7 a.m. Better grab some V-8 juice.

Speaking of education reform: Before you read more on this,  head over to my colleague Scott Elliott&amp;#8217;s blog to read about a potentially controversial list of reform ideas from Gov. Ted Strickland&amp;#8217;s office for the state&amp;#8217;s  K-12 system  that Dayton Daily obtained today. One idea on the list: Eliminating the Ohio Graduation Test.

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<dc:subject>Higher education politics</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-27T18:34:16-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Bowties in space</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/18/bowties_in_space.html</link>
<description> The renown of E. Gordon Gee reached new heights this week: Space. The well-paid President of Ohio State University is known for his bowties, and now one of them is officially the first bow tie in space. Richard Linnehan,...</description>
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The renown of E. Gordon Gee reached new heights this week: Space.

The well-paid President of Ohio State University is known for his bowties, and now one of them is officially the first bow tie in space.

Richard Linnehan, NASA&amp;#8217;s first veterinarian and an Ohio State alumnus, brought one of Gee&amp;#8217;s scarlet-and-gray bowties aboard the space shuttle Endeavor (Mission STS-123) for  two-week trip to the International Space Station. Linnehan will present the bowtie to Gee upon its return to Earth, in a special commemorative frame.

Gee is known for holding several high-profile university presidencies, one of them making him the highest paid college president in the country. 

He is in his second tenure as the president of the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where he is earning  $775,000 in base salary and will be eligible for $225,000 in deferred compensation after five years. He was previously president from 1990 to 1997.
Before coming back to OSU, Gee was chancellor of Vanderbilt University from 2000 to 2007, where his total compensation hit more than $1.8-million in 2005-6, making  him the highest-paid university president in the country.

Here&amp;#8217;s another fun fact: Gee is also an Eagle Scout.

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<dc:subject>Higher ed oddities</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-18T16:30:08-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Antioch faculty won&apos;t go down without a fight</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/11/antioch_faculty.html</link>
<description> (Antioch College faculty members Anne Bohlen, Peter Townsend and Bob Devine.) YELLOW SPRINGS &amp;#8212; Faculty at Antioch College re-filed a lawsuit Monday against Antioch University, the college&amp;#8217;s parent corporation, as part of a larger effort to keep the college...</description>
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(Antioch College faculty members Anne Bohlen, Peter Townsend and Bob Devine.)

YELLOW SPRINGS &amp;#8212; Faculty at Antioch College re-filed a lawsuit Monday against Antioch University, the college&amp;#8217;s parent corporation, as part of a larger effort to keep the college open.

Seventeen tenured faculty members filed the suit in Greene County Common Pleas Court, alleging the university broke its contractual obligation with the faculty in its decision back in June to declare financial exigency and close the school at the end of this academic year. The faculty personnel policies and procedures calls for consultation with them before administrators or trustees cut the budget. 

The faculty seek a permanent injunction requiring the university follow the faculty policies and prevent it from suspending operations. The lawsuit asks the court to force trustees to pursue &amp;#8220;less drastic&amp;#8221; means for alleviating the college&amp;#8217;s financial crisis: Negotiating a deal with the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, a group of alumni and former trustees with deep pockets (about $9 million) who have hired a turnaround consultant to help it take over operations of the college. You can read more about how that transpired at the bottom of this blog post.

The faculty also ask the court to enjoin the university from liquidating or dispersing its assets, including buildings, land and its endowment. The lawsuit is not about damages or faculty compensation, said Bob Devine, college faculty member and a former president of the institution.

Faculty held a press conference today, March 11, to announce it had re-opened its August lawsuit against the university, which it withdrew in November after it appeared the university was striking a deal with the Antioch Alumni board (and then the ACCC) to keep the college open. 

But when university trustees announced Feb. 22 they were going ahead with its original decision to close the school at the end of this academic year for one year, faculty were back to square one.

&amp;#8220;One of the great concerns is that in this last period of time that the college is open that the university may start liquidating the assets of the college, because it needs that money,&amp;#8221; Devine said. Assets include land, WYSO radio license, Glen Helen Nature Preserve and its endowment. &amp;#8220;We think they should pursue those realistic, concrete, less drastic measures&amp;#8221; offered by the ACCC, he said.

Faculty are backed by the Alumni Association, which earmarked $1 million from its College Revival Fund for their legal fund. The alumni group &amp;#8212; which had previously raised $18 million for keeping the college open until some donors balked &amp;#8212; met on campus with faculty and students on March 2 and decided it would commit to a &amp;#8220;non-stop Antioch.&amp;#8221; The alumni are exploring their own legal avenues for keeping the college open, according to a statement last week.

From Ellen Borgerson, vice president for the alumni association and the fund:


If the ACCC deal succeeds &amp;#8220;we&amp;#8217;ll be ready to run the College on this campus without interruption. If they don&amp;#8217;t, we&amp;#8217;ll find someplace else in Yellow Springs to operate, and we&amp;#8217;ll to fight to reclaim the campus and the College&amp;#8217;s other assets from a University administration that seems bent on destroying everything Antioch has ever stood for.&amp;#8221;

&amp;#8220;But it&amp;#8217;s time to stop pretending that the University is negotiating in good faith with the ACCC,&amp;#8221; she added. &amp;#8220;The University is clearly trying to force people to abandon hope and leave, knowing that it will be impossible to bring the College back once that happens. This is not only bad faith, it is untenable, and Antioch alumni will not stand for this deceptive behavior.&amp;#8221;

Antioch University Board Chair Art Zucker posted a statement on a Chronicle of Higher Education blog post in the comments section saying members of the board are &amp;#8220;shocked and disturbed&amp;#8221; by Borgerson&amp;#8217;s remarks and that after working &amp;#8220;ceaselessly and collaboratively&amp;#8216;&amp;#8220;with alumni, it is still in negotiations with the ACCC.

Here&amp;#8217;s a rundown of what&amp;#8217;s happened in the last month to prompt this, and what&amp;#8217;s next for the lawsuit and a potential deal with the ACCC:

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<dc:subject>Antioch College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-11T15:17:14-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Antioch faculty, round two</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/11/antioch_faculty_round_two.html</link>
<description>The &amp;#8220;important announcement&amp;#8221; from Antioch College faculty that was supposed to happen yesterday is back on, for today at 3:45 p.m. in McGregor Hall on campus. Antioch College faculty sent out a notice yesterday, March 10, asking the media and...</description>
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The &amp;#8220;important announcement&amp;#8221; from Antioch College faculty that was supposed to happen yesterday is back on, for today at 3:45 p.m. in McGregor Hall on campus. 

Antioch College faculty sent out a notice yesterday, March 10, asking the media and others to come to Yellow Springs to hear their plans for the fight to keep the college open and save their jobs. They canceled it later in the afternoon. My colleague Scott Elliott, who writes about K-12 education, wrote about it here on his blog, Get on the Bus. I was out yesterday.

But today the faculty plan to give it another go. I&amp;#8217;ll be there and will post the news here right away. 

So do I have any predictions about what this announcement is all about?

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<dc:subject>Antioch College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-11T11:40:34-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Sinclair levy and voters over time</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/06/sinclair_levy_and_the_antitax.html</link>
<description>Bill Burges, the Cleveland-based political strategist who helped develop Sinclair Community College&amp;#8217;s campaign for its levy, just called me to make a point. A good one, actually. In my Dayton Daily News story about the levy passing at 52 percent,...</description>
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Bill Burges, the Cleveland-based political strategist who helped develop Sinclair Community College&amp;#8217;s campaign for its levy, just called me to make a point. A good one, actually. 

In my Dayton Daily News story about the levy passing at 52 percent, I compared the passage rate to its last levy request in 1998, when that levy passed at 73 percent.

It wasn&amp;#8217;t quite an apples-to-apples comparison. To get a clearer picture of what voters think of Sinclair levies over time, I should be including the 1988 levy too. It was a drop since the last time, yes, in straight math terms. But including the 1988 levy results adds some context to the supposed drop. That was Bill&amp;#8217;s point. He&amp;#8217;s right.

In 1998, the economy was sailing along - and that time around, Sinclair wasn&amp;#8217;t asking for new millage, like it did with this 3.2-mill levy on Tuesday. That one passed at 73 percent.

In 1988, two &amp;#8220;levy cycles&amp;#8221; ago, Sinclair went to voters asking for new millage, just like it did with this levy - and that one passed at 52 percent, exactly the same rate as this new levy.

So you might make a conclusion here: That if voters are inclined to pass a levy, they&amp;#8217;re more likely to go for one that isn&amp;#8217;t adding new millage. With a levy that adds new millage, they make choices about whether raising their taxes is worth it supporting the public good. You&amp;#8217;re probably thinking, &amp;#8220;Well, duh.&amp;#8221;  But that little sliver of context is important to consider when debating whether or not there is tax fatigue in this area.

I think Bill was trying to say that the levy&amp;#8217;s seemingly low approval rate didn&amp;#8217;t have anything to do with perceived tax fatigue, but more to do with the economy (people get nervous about a recession) and whether or not they wanted to choose to contribute to a public good. When the economy is better, people feel better about paying for a public good. Sinclair focused hard in its advertising on its link to area workforce development - which it argued is important to training people for attracting good jobs here. And Bill&amp;#8217;s statements in my March 5 blog post (about how he knew Sinclair was going to have to work hard to get the votes it got) had more to do with persuading voters to see Sinclair as a public good and go for it, despite troubling economic times.

Here&amp;#8217;s a question: When you vote on a levy like Sinclair&amp;#8217;s, what kinds of things do you consider before you check that &amp;#8220;Yes&amp;#8221; or &amp;#8220;No&amp;#8221; box?

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<guid isPermaLink="false">2173103@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/</guid>
<dc:subject>Sinclair Community College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-06T12:30:47-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Analysis: Sinclair levy squeaks out a winner</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/05/sinclair_levy_squeaks_out_a_wi.html</link>
<description> (Sinclair President Steve Johnson with his wife, Tonya, looking pretty exhausted and relieved at the post-election party Tuesday night on campus. Dayton Daily News photo.) With the largest campaign in Montgomery County behind it &amp;#8212; one that includes 17...</description>
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(Sinclair President Steve Johnson with his wife, Tonya, looking pretty exhausted and relieved at the post-election party Tuesday night on campus. Dayton Daily News photo.)

With the largest campaign in Montgomery County behind it &amp;#8212; one that includes 17 campaign co-chairs, $794,183 in donations and endorsements from at least 93 local groups &amp;#8212; Issue 39, the 3.2-mill levy for Sinclair Community College, barely met with voters&amp;#8217; approval Tuesday, March 4.

Final, unofficial results from the board of elections shows Sinclair&amp;#8217;s win squeaked by with 52.39 percent of voters approving it compared with 47.61 percent of voters rejecting it.

After an extensive advertising campaign (about $350,000 spent by Feb. 21) that included television and radio ads, personal appearances and 50,000 phone calls to Montgomery County voters, the levy passed with a smaller margin than its last levy in 1998, when voters approved that 2.5-mill levy at 73 percent. Voter turnout this election compared to that election was about the same: 47 percent of registered voters in Montgomery County cast ballots in both elections, so clearly the levy had less support this time around.

Keep reading to find out what may have caused the drop in support, and to learn what Sinclair plans to do with the extra money it will get as a result of the new levy.

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<guid isPermaLink="false">2129403@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/</guid>
<dc:subject>Sinclair Community College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-05T01:02:15-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Sinclair levy squeaks out a win</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/03/04/sinclair_levy_passes.html</link>
<description>11:30 p.m. With 95 percent of Montgomery County votes tallied, Sinclair&amp;#8217;s 10-year, 3.2-mill levy is passing with 52 percent of voters approving it and 47.25 percent rejecting it. Sinclair officials, after calling the race and announcing the win to employees...</description>
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11:30 p.m.

With 95 percent of Montgomery County votes tallied, Sinclair&amp;#8217;s 10-year, 3.2-mill levy is passing with 52 percent of voters approving it and 47.25 percent rejecting it. Sinclair officials, after calling the race and announcing the win to employees at a post-election party on campus, called it a squeaker

The passage rate was consistent with what Cleveland-based political consultant Bill Burges expected, he said after the calling the race a win. As the levy campaign&amp;#8217;s political consultant, he&amp;#8217;s been nervous for a year, he said.

&amp;#8220;This is the worst economic environment we&amp;#8217;ve been in probably since the rust-belt recession in 1979 to 1983,&amp;#8221; he said. &amp;#8220;I knew they were going to need every bit of effort they went through to get it passed. Considering recent economic news, this very, very good.&amp;#8221;

Sinclair&amp;#8217;s last levy, which passed in 1998 and expires at the end of this year, passed at a much higher rate, about  73 percent.

Issue 39, the 10-year, 3.2-mill property tax levy that passed today, March 4, will
replace that 1998 levy, which was 2.5-mills. It will cost Montgomery County homeowners $98 a year for every $100,000 in current property value, a $42 increase over the amount homeowners currently pay, beginning in 2009.

The new levy will bring in about $32 million per year each year in tax receipts from Montgomery homeowners, a $12 million increase over the $20 million the college receives from the current levy.

10:15 p.m.

Sinclair Community College&amp;#8217;s party for celebrating, officials hope, the passage of its 10-year, 3.2-mill levy in today&amp;#8217;s Ohio primary is already starting to dwindle a little as people here seem pretty confident it&amp;#8217;s passing and feel it&amp;#8217;s safe to go home.

With a little over 60 percent of Montgomery County precincts reporting, Issue 39 is staying above water at a 55 percent passage rate.

9:45 p.m.

With 42 percent of Montgomery County precincts reporting results, the approval rate for Sinclair&amp;#8217;s 3.2-mill levy has bumped up to 55.5 percent. About 44.5 percent are rejecting it.

Of Montgomery County&amp;#8217;s 368,500 registered voters, a little more than 62,000 have voted on the levy, according to unofficial early results at the board of elections.

9:00 p.m.

It&amp;#8217;s still VERY early, but first results from the Montgomery County Board of Elections &amp;#8212;  a tally of absentee and early voting ballots &amp;#8212; shows about 54 percent of 14,614 ballots cast approving Issue 39, the 3.2-mill levy for Sinclair Community College. About 46 percent are rejecting it. About 900 votes were blank, meaning those voters chose not to vote at all on the issue. 

The polls closed at 7:30 p.m., and the Montgomery County Board of Elections on Third Street is now a flurry of traffic and activity as poll workers start turning in the ballots from their precincts. As the board of elections starts tallying, it starts posting results at 9:00 p.m.

At Sinclair&amp;#8217;s Building 12 across the street, Sinclair officials and supporters are gathered in the Charity Earley Auditorium awaiting the results.

Sinclair is seeking a 10-year, 3.2-mill property tax levy to replace a 2.5-mill levy already on the books that was approved in 1998 and expires at the end of this year. It will/would cost Montgomery County homeowners $98 a year for every $100,000 in current property value, a $42 increase over the amount homeowners currently pay.

The new levy would bring in about $32 million per year each year in tax receipts from Montgomery homeowners, a $12 million increase over the $20 million the college receives from the current levy.

The board of elections expects to have final, unofficial results around midnight tonight, later than usual. Check back for additional updates as the results come in.

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<dc:subject>Sinclair Community College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-03-04T16:29:01-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>&quot;Little Rock 9&quot; Eizabeth Eckford to speak at Central State</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/02/27/little_rock_9_eizabeth_eckford.html</link>
<description> (Photographer Will Counts&amp;#8217; 1957 photo of Elizabeth Eckford trying to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. AP historical photo.) She was caught forever in a famous photograph of an ugly time in the nation&amp;#8217;s history, when white...</description>
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(Photographer Will Counts&amp;#8217; 1957 photo of Elizabeth Eckford trying to enter Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. AP historical photo.)

She was caught forever in a famous photograph of an ugly time in the nation&amp;#8217;s history, when white students assailed nine black students trying to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Wearing a crisp new dress and a pair of sunglasses, Elizabeth Eckford walked to school and tried to enter it with a crowd of tormenting white students on her heels. The photo shows the hateful expressions on the white students&amp;#8217; faces and Eckford&amp;#8217;s bravery amid a screaming mob.

She and the other students of the &amp;#8220;Little Rock Nine&amp;#8221; were stopped at the school&amp;#8217;s door by the Arkansas National Guard, ordered there by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. They tried three times to enter the school, the third with an escort of U.S. Army troops for protection.

Faubus, under a court order to desegregate the schools, closed Little Rock&amp;#8217;s public high schools in 1958-59 rather than desegregate them.

The photo became an icon of desegregation turmoil in 1957.

What a lot of people don&amp;#8217;t know is that Eckford, who finished high school through independent study and later moved to St. Louis, is a graduate of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. She earned her bachelor&amp;#8217;s degree in history in 1972.

Fifty-one years later, Eckford comes back to Central State on Tuesday, March 4 to be the school&amp;#8217;s guest speaker for its charter day celebration. Keep reading for details.

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<dc:subject></dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-02-27T11:17:25-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Antioch College alumni plan to fight closure, again</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/entries/2008/02/26/antioch_college_alumni_plan_to.html</link>
<description>(Dayton Daily News photo near Antioch College campus on Saturday.) YELLOW SPRINGS - Alumni of Antioch College and their supporters said today they plan to &amp;#8220;pick up the pieces&amp;#8221; and fight Antioch University trustees&amp;#8217; plan to close the college for...</description>
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(Dayton Daily News photo near Antioch College campus on Saturday.)



YELLOW SPRINGS - Alumni of Antioch College and their supporters said today they plan to &amp;#8220;pick up the pieces&amp;#8221; and fight Antioch University trustees&amp;#8217; plan to close the college for one year after June 30.

Their announcement comes after Antioch University trustees decided Friday, after two days of meetings in Los Angeles, that they reconfirmed their original June 2007 decision to close the college, this time for one year instead of four years as initially planned. The University board of trustees said negotiations could not be completed in time with the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, a non-profit corporation which wanted to take over the school and create its own board of trustees. 

The Antioch College Alumni board, the group that raised $18 million in pledges this fall for keeping the college open, sent out a statement Tuesday, Feb. 26, announcing a &amp;#8220;renewed commitment to its ongoing and unprecedented efforts to keep the College open.&amp;#8221; Their plans include possible legal steps or &amp;#8220;direct action,&amp;#8221; it said.

The alumni board is calling on its 17,000 alumni to make a pilgrimage to Yellow Springs this weekend, Feb. 29 to March 2, for a meeting on campus to organize its next move. 

From the group&amp;#8217;s statement:

&amp;#8220;The Board of Trustees&amp;#8217; announcement, released as the Antioch College Continuation Corporation was in the midst of good-faith negotiations with that Board, was ill-timed,&amp;#8221; said Alumni Board President Nancy Crow.

Alumni Board Vice-President Ellen Borgersen added, &amp;#8220;The announcement appears designed to break the resolve of the many dedicated alumni who support an open, independent Antioch College&amp;#8230;.This strategy has completely backfired. We will not let it die.&amp;#8221; 

They say they have an abundance of &amp;#8220;energy, vision, talent and commitments of at least $18 million&amp;#8221; that will be available to an open and independent Antioch College.

A separate grassroots group of alumni and Yellow Springs residents called the Antioch College Action Network also sent out a statement saying they supported a fight to keep the college open. ACAN describes itself as a coalition of Antioch College community members&amp;#8212;students, faculty, staff, alumni, villagers and friends&amp;#8212;dedicated to a vibrant, humane, self-governing and self-sustaining Antioch College.

A quick summary of recent events:

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<guid isPermaLink="false">1910602@http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/oncampus/</guid>
<dc:subject>Antioch College</dc:subject>
<dc:date>2008-02-26T17:24:18-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>sgottschlich@daytondailynews.com</dc:creator>
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