The College Faculty

Here’s the latest update: Court Decision – PDF

DEPOSITION OF PAULA TREICHLER – TXT

DEPOSITION OF PAULA TREICHLER – PDF

Below are the PDF & TXT versions of Robert Devine’s deposition on March 26, 2008.

The text version is an export from the PDF and thus is formatted a little strangely.

DEPOSITION OF ROBERT DEVINE – March 26, 2008 – PDF

DEPOSITION OF ROBERT DEVINE – March 26, 2008 – TXT

Message from Professor Peter Townsend

Hi Folks,

From the lead plaintif in the faculty court case:

As most people know, the faculty have delayed the April 1 (April Fools) court hearing.  We did the delay because the judge allowed ACCC to not be deposed (questioned), and our case was dependant on the ACCC testimony.  However, given the rapid events of this past few days, it is a good thing we are not going to court in the middle of such rapid changes.  It is hard to tell who’s on first, and in a successful court case, our lawyer has to know who’s on first in order to win.  Stay tuned for developments next week.

Peter

Office of the Chancellor
150 E. South College St.
Yellow Springs, OH 45387
TEL: 937-769-1 351
FAX: 937-769-1 35
www.antioch.edu

March 21, 2008

Anita Levy, Ph.D.
Associate Secretary
American Association of University Professors
1012 Fourteenth Street, N.W. – Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005-3465

Dear Dr. Levy:

This letter is in response to your March 14,2008, letter to Antioch University. While I appreciate the AAUP’s concern, it’s obvious from the letter that your organization is operating on inaccurate second-hand information without bothering to seek sources that might be better informed, beginning with my office. The sources on which you and your president are relying for information, whom or whatever they may be, are giving you either inaccurate or misleading information, and revealing a very limited knowledge of the University’s financial situation as well as a legal and administrative naivete.

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By Peter Townsend

First, a disclaimer – I am not an alum and I am not a lawyer. But I am the lead plaintiff in the faculty lawsuit, so I’m going to try to bring you abreast of where we are and how we got here. Please forgive me if my lack of legal expertise causes any mistakes in this communication.

The Antioch College faculty have a clause in our contract requiring that in the event of a financial crisis at the College, the College Faculty must be consulted and Antioch University must work with College Faculty and ADCIL to find the “least drastic solution” to the fiscal crisis. Last summer it struck a few faculty that AU administration and the AU BOT precipitously announcing the college’s closing did not constitute “consultation” with the faculty, and that closing the place perhaps did not represent the “least drastic solution” to the problems at Antioch College.

Consequently the faculty formed a small legal group that selected Evan Price, of Bailey Cavalieri, Columbus, Ohio to represent us. Evan is doing a fantastic job for the faculty and, because our legal case is about keeping the college open, Evan is doing a great job for everyone who wants Antioch College to continue.

The faculty filed for a preliminary injunction to force AU to abide by our contract and work with the faculty and ADCIL to find a “least drastic solution”, and in the meantime to not sell any College assets. To see the actual court filing by the faculty, click: collegefaculty.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/faculty-lawsuit-edited.pdf

Our case is in the Greene County Ohio Common Pleas Court, which is the lowest level State Court. Elected Judge Stephen Wolaver was assigned the case. Sometimes Magistrate Judges are also assigned to a case. Recently Magistrate Judge George Reynolds was assigned to our case.

On March 18, 2008, Magistrate Judge Reynolds scheduled an Evidentiary Hearing for April 1, 2008, from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. at the Greene County Ohio Courthouse.

At the April 1 hearing both sides will call witnesses, and the witnesses will testify in open court. I am predicting the courtroom will be packed with extremely interested folks.

The April 1 hearing was not expected by either side, and it has both sides scrambling. On the county WEB site:http://www.co.greene.oh.us/pa/pa.urd/pamw2000*docket_lst?316215 there a list of people our lawyer was going to depose. That list is for the case going forward, not for the April 1 Evidentiary Hearing before Judge Reynolds.

Last week lawyers for the faculty and Antioch University agreed they would take depositions before the April 1 hearing. Both sides are still scrambling to decide whom they will call for witnesses, and both sides are working frantically to schedule the depositions. The people being deposed are not necessarily the same people we indicated in our filing. This case is now moving forward at warp speed.

On March 17, 2008, the University’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the case. Because of court rules on timing of responses to a motion to dismiss, the motion to dismiss cannot be ruled upon by the court until after the April 1 hearing. Which means that, even if the case were to be dismissed, there will already have been testimony in open court, with reporters and witnesses present. Woohoo!

The Antioch College faculty believe that after looking over our lawsuit, you will agree that our suit is not for personal faculty gain, it is about trying to save the college. We are well aware of the efforts of ACCC to save the college. In fact, ACCC represents our “least drastic solution”. The University has sworn ACCC to total secrecy, but we do know that many millions of dollars have been offered by generous alumni to keep Antioch College open and free. It is our contention that this generous outpouring of money represents a “less drastic solution” to shuttering the College, and our suit is urging the AU BOT to strike a deal with ACCC.

Legal stuff is not cheap. So far the Antioch College faculty have raised $60,000 for the case through both personal faculty donations and through generous non-faculty donations. We are a small and poorly paid faculty, in jeopardy for our financial futures, and $60K represents all the $ we can muster. We need help, if we are going to move the case forward. We hope you will donate to our legal fund to help keep Antioch College going. If you wish to donate to help us, please send a check endorsed to the Antioch Faculty Legal Fund to:

YS Federal Credit Union
217 Xenia Avenue
Yellow Springs, OH 45387
Telephone 937-767-7377

www.yscu.org/1.php

The wonderful staff at the Yellow Springs Credit Union will ensure the check gets deposited to the faculty legal fund account, and we thank you so much. This is not tax deductible.

Or you can make donations directly via PayPal on our website:

collegefaculty.org/

However, Paypal takes a small percentage of all donations made via this method so mailing a check to the above address is better for large donations.

Yours for the future of Antioch College,

Peter Townsend
Professor since ‘71

March 14, 2008

Dr. Tullisse A. Murdock
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

Dr. Andrzej Bloch
Chief Operations Officer/Chief Academic Officer
Antioch College
795 Livermore Street
Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387

Dear Chancellor Murdock, Chair Zucker, and Dr. Bloch:

In our letters to you of August 7 and September 19, we set forth our concerns arising from faculty complaints that the manner in which Antioch University had decided to declare financial exigency and determined to lay-off tenured faculty was inconsistent with widely accepted AAUP standards.  Your decision not to respond substantively to our queries has heightened our concerns.

In our last letter of March 4, we urged the Antioch University trustees “to keep working with the ACCC [Antioch College Continuation Corporation] to reach an agreement that will allow the college to continue its operations uninterrupted.”  We understand that the ACCC has since submitted to the trustees a draft letter of intent for its immediate consideration.  We understand further that the university’s board of trustees is scheduled to meet this coming week to review the proposal and to formulate its response.  We urge the trustees to give the utmost serious attention to the ACCC proposal with a view to reaching a decision that will permit the college to remain in operation beyond June 30.

We will be watching further developments closely, and hope to learn that an agreement has been reached that will ensure the college’s continuing and uninterrupted existence.  Absent such an agreement, we shall determine our further course of action consistent with our established policies.

Sincerely,

Anita Levy, Ph.D.
Associate Secretary

cc:    Professor Tom Arysman, Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Professor Jill Becker, Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Professor Susan Eklund-Leen, Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Professor Pat Mische, Faculty Senate Steering Committee,
Professor Paul Davis, President, Ohio Conference AAUP

PDF of this letter available here

March 4, 2008

Dr. Tullisse A. Murdock
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

Dr. Andrzej Bloch
Chief Operations Officer/Chief Academic Officer
Antioch College
795 Livermore Street
Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387

Dear Chancellor Murdock, Chair Zucker, and Dr. Bloch:

We continue to watch developments regarding the future of Antioch College with keen interest, and have read the statement recently issued by the Antioch University’s board of trustees reconfirming its June 30, 2007, decision to suspend the college’s operations effective June 30, 2008. The recent decision has apparently sparked renewed efforts by the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC) to keep the college open with its current faculty carrying-out their teaching responsibilities. This office has not of course been a party to the discussions between the board of trustees and the ACCC, and therefore we are in no position to propose specific recommendations to help resolve the college’s serious financial problems. In view, however, of Antioch College’s historic importance in American higher education, and noting that the AAUP has long called on governing boards to consider all feasible alternatives to terminating faculty appointments when faced with dire financial problems, we urge the trustees to keep working with the ACCC to reach an agreement that will allow the college to continue its operations uninterrupted. We do not doubt that this is a daunting challenge, but one worth making every effort to overcome.

Sincerely,

Anita Levy, Ph.D.
Associate Secretary

cc:    Professor Tom Arysman, Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Professor Jill Becker, Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Professor Susan Eklund-Leen, Faculty Senate Steering Committee
Professor Pat Mische, Faculty Senate Steering Committee,
Professor Paul Davis, President, Ohio Conference AAUP

PDF of this letter available here.

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.

IN THE COMMON PLEAS COURT OF GREENE COUNTY, OHIO,
GENERAL DIVISION
Continue Reading »

Faculty Voice Unqualified Support of “Non-Stop Antioch” To Keep Antioch College Open

Recording of this press conference is available here

For Immediate Release
March 11, 2008
3:45 PM

Anne Bohlen
937-760-7834
atbohlen@gmail.com

Susan Eklund-Leen
937-361-8092
susaneklund@gmail.com

March 11, 2008—Members of the Antioch College faculty today announced that they have re-filed their original lawsuit against Antioch University and its Board of Trustees. They had withdrawn their lawsuit without prejudice in November of 2007, which meant that it could be re-filed at any time.

Ninety percent of tenured faculty members who are currently teaching and wish to be part of Non-Stop Antioch filed for a permanent injunction against the Antioch University Board of Trustees in the Greene County Ohio Common Pleas Court. The legal request for injunctive relief asks the court to enjoin Antioch University from suspending College operations, from terminating the employment of the College faculty, from disposing of any College assets, and engage with the ACCC to amicably complete their negotiations allowing the ACCC to take responsibility for the college.

After the Antioch College faculty withdrew their lawsuit in November, an alumni group known as the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC) formed to negotiate with Antioch University for ownership of Antioch College.

Two weeks ago, the University unilaterally announced that they would be suspending operations of the College for the 2008-2009 school year, even though negotiations to keep the college operating continued with the ACCC.

Antioch College Professor of Philosophy Scott Warren said “It’s clear that the University Board of Trustees is not negotiating in good faith. That leaves us no other choice but to re-file our lawsuit.”

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 suit also asserts that decisions made by the Board of Trustees in 2004 and 2005 seriously damaged College enrollment, and that the June 12, 2007 public suspension announcement further damaged the College. Finally the lawsuit alleges that Antioch University currently has a less drastic solution than closing the College, in the form of an offer to take responsibility for the college and keep it running. The lawsuit alleges the Antioch University Board should honor their financial and contractual obligation to operate the College responsibly, by relinquishing ownership of the College to the ACCC who will keep the College operating.

Former College President and current Professor of Communications Robert Devine said that announcements from the University leadership were “messages of dubious origin and of dubious meaning” and that the Interim Antioch College President “has consistently obfuscated, distorted and misrepresented the situation.”

Last weekend two alumni groups, the Antioch College Alumni Association and the College Revival Fund, met with students, faculty, staff and Yellow Springs townspeople to discuss next steps. The College Revival Fund committed $1 million to support “Non-Stop Antioch.”

“Non-Stop Antioch means just that,” says Anne Bohlen, Professor of Media Arts. “We hope that the negotiations between the Board of Trustees and the ACCC are ultimately successful, but the Antioch University administration and the Board of Trustees have repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to resolve the situation despite an Alumni fundraising effort that raised 18 million dollars to alleviate financial deficits. They have consistently refused to negotiate with the College Faculty and our institutional governing bodies as required by their contractual obligations. They have regularly engaged in demoralizing tactics and have been especially eager to publicly defame the College faculty and students and we are taking legal action to redress the situation. Non-Stop Antioch means we are not going away, and with the support of the Alumni are planning to continue to offer Antioch’s excellent liberal arts and experiential education program into the near future.”

Since the University Board of Trustees announced the suspension of operations in June 2007, faculty, alumni, students, staff, and Yellow Springs townspeople have mobilized to keep the historic 155-year-old institution from closing. More information about the faculty lawsuit can be found on the website collegefaculty.org/