YELLOW SPRINGS — Negotiations between Antioch University and an independent corporation of wealthy alumni to take over Antioch College have failed, the two sides announced Friday, March 28.

The college will close for at least one year on June 30 as originally planned unless faculty win a pending lawsuit against the school.

The Antioch College Continuation Corporation, a Yellow Springs-based non-profit corporation of alumni and former trustees, gave its "best and final offer" this week. But the university, after agreeing to a purchase price of $12.2 million for the college, rejected the offer because it needed the entire amount up front at closing to keep its creditors satisfied, it said.

The ACCC had been negotiating with university officials since December to buy the college 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 ACCC did not produce an agreement.

The university said 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's creditors "which must ratify the terms of the deal," the university said.

Chancellor Toni Murdock said the university has significant bond debt on the new Antioch University McGregor building in Yellow Springs, and buildings in Seattle and in Keane, N.H.

Another sticking point in negotiations was ownership of WYSO, the NPR-affiliated radio station based in Yellow Springs. The ACCC wanted WYSO as part of the $12.2 million purchase.

"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," said Frances Degen Horowitz, co-chair of the ACCC and a college alumna.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7404 or sgottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.