Aug 15 2007
Click here to download an electronic copy of Faculty lawsuit against Antioch University (PDF format)
Court Docket : www.co.greene.oh.us/pa/pa.urd/pamw2000*docket_lst?316215
Full text of this is included below except for faculty members home addresses which were removed to conserve space. Continue Reading »
Aug 14 2007
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday August 14. 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ANTIOCH COLLEGE FACULTY MEMBERS FILE LAWSUIT TO KEEP HISTORIC 155-YEAR-OLD OHIO COLLEGE OPEN
Today members of the Antioch College Faculty filed for a permanent injunction against the Antioch University Board of Trustees in the Greene County Common Pleas Court. On June 9, 2007, the University Board decided to suspend Antioch College operations, terminating all faculty and staff as of June 30, 2008. The legal request for injunctive relief asks the court to enjoin Antioch University from suspending College operations, from terminating the College Faculty, and from disposing of any College assets.
The lawsuit alleges that the Board failed to govern the institution properly. First and foremost, the Board breached their contractual responsibilities by declaring a state of financial exigency and suspending College operations when less drastic measures were available. The Faculty complaint also alleges that the University Board of Trustees violated contractual obligations set forth in the Faculty Personnel Policies and Procedures that require consultation with College Faculty, and that require minimal external publicity about internal College financial matters. The Faculty asserts that decisions made by the Board of Trustees in 2004 and 2005 seriously damaged College enrollment prospects, which led to a rapid decline in revenue, and that the June12, 2007 public suspension announcement further damaged the College.
Last week the College Faculty received support from the American Association of University Professors, the leading advocacy organization for higher education faculty and the defense of academic freedom. The AAUP issued a “statement of concern” to the University Board of Trustees, the University Chancellor, and the College President, citing problems with Antioch University governance policies and “a pattern of disregard for faculty’s legitimate role in institutional decision-making.”
Today’s injunction request asks that the University be prevented from liquidating or dispersing any 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. Legal action by members of the Antioch College Faculty is one effort in a broad based campaign by the College Alumni Board, twenty former members of the University Board of Trustees, and the many citizens of Yellow Springs who are working to keep the College open as a viable liberal arts institution. Given the University’s public refusal to reconsider their decision to suspend operations, members of the faculty found it necessary to initiate legal action to immediately prevent further damage to the nationally renowned College and the surrounding community.
Antioch faculty, alums and current students are determined to save their school. “Antioch College has offered a very distinctive, high-quality liberal arts education for the past one-hundred and fifty years, and we, the faculty, are committed to keeping it going,” says Anne Bohlen, Professor of Media Arts. “The College buildings and grounds, including Glen Helen, are justly famous Ohio landmarks and the College is a major employer in Yellow Springs–there are numerous jobs at stake here. “
Aug 14 2007
We the faculty of Antioch College support and appreciate the efforts of the Antioch College Alumni Association and the former members of the Board of Trustees to keep Antioch College open as a viable independent liberal arts college. We are joining them in these efforts.
Aug 10 2007
News Release
The latest breaking news on the struggle to save Antioch College
The American Association of University Professors, the largest and most prominent advocacy organization for higher education faculty in the United States, acting on behalf of the faculty of Antioch College, has submitted a statement of concern to Tullisse A. Murdock, Acting University Chancellor, Art Zucker, Chair of the Antioch University Board of Trustees, and Antioch College President, Steven Lawry.
The Antioch University Board of Trustees voted in June to suspend operations at the historic liberal arts college in Yellow Springs as of July 1, 2008. The AAUP raises serious questions as to whether long-established and widely-practiced principles of academic government, laid out by the AAUP Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, were adhered to by the administrators and the Board in the process of deciding to close the college.
The AAUP, “deeply disappointed” at the Board’s lack of consultation about the alleged budget crisis, calls the Board’s plan for suspension “highly unusual.”
Please see the full text of the letter below.
For further information:
Anne Bohlen, Professor of Communications
atbohlen@gmail.com
Susan Eklund-Leen, Associate Professor of Cooperative Education
susaneklund@gmail.com
American Association of University Professors
aaup@aaup.org 202-737-5900
Aug 07 2007
August 7, 2007
Dr. Tullisse A. Murdock
Acting Chancellor
Antioch University
150 E. South College Street
Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
Mr. Arthur J. Zucker
Chair, Board of Trustees
Antioch University
2012 Prescott Pl
Raleigh, North Carolina 27615
President Steven Lawry
Office of the President
Antioch College
795 Livermore Street
Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387
Dear Chancellor Murdock, Chair Zucker, and President Lawry:
Members of the faculty at Antioch College have sought the advice and assistance of the American Association of University Professors regarding the actions taken by the Antioch University Board of Trustees on June 7, 2007, to declare financial exigency, and on June 9 to suspend Antioch College’s operations effective July 1, 2008, with the stated intention of reopening the college in 2012. They have shared with us a considerable amount of information about these recent events, which have also received a good deal of coverage in the media. We understand that all faculty appointments are to terminate by the end of June 2008. 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. 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.
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