ULC / Campus Presidents and Antioch College
On June 5, 2008 the Yellow Springs News reported on the key role that Antioch University campus presidents (collectively known as the ULC) played in the rejection of the ACCC offer to save Antioch College. The full article can be read here . Key documents referred to in the article plus additional documents can be found below.
Quotes and Docs
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YS News states:
According to Treichler, not long before the trustees voted on the ACCC proposal April 28, they received a statement opposing the proposal from the campus presidents, which stated that a reconfigured board would favor the college at the expense of the university, and could create panic among the campus’ faculty and students.
“We [campus presidents] are very concerned that such an unprecedented action [the ACCC transfer] will cause… an exodus of campus senior leadership, faculty and staff, and students that could quickly lead to the collapse of the University…”
Comment:
It appears that Antioch University campus presidents conducted Captive Audience Meetings in order to craft the claims of employee panic and University collapse in the above quote. An article by Kate Bronfenbrenner in the Multinational Monitor (Mar97) defines a Captive Audience Meeting by stating:
“In some of these cases, the plant manager or company official stated clearly in captive-audience meetings (meetings which management requires employees to attend, at which management makes the case against the union, and at which no union representatives are present) that, if the employees voted in favor of union representation, they would lose their jobs. This kind of threat was made often in building trades and contracting jobs where the employer claimed it could easily hire non-union replacement workers.”
The campus presidents’ employee meetings perfectly fit the abusive labor model of a Captive Audience Meeting in the following ways: 1) the ACCC were not allowed to address campus employees, 2) employees were told the ACCC plan might cost them their jobs, and 3) an employee vote was taken at these meetings. Below is a link to a letter produced at a Captive Audience Meeting at Antioch University Los Angeles (similar meetings occurred at the other campuses including McGregor).
Download The Antioch LA Captive Meeting Letter (110 kb) (new release)
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YS News states:
Reached by phone, King of Los Angeles said that he was “not individually authorized to speak,” and Alexandre said she could not speak unless Murdock authorized her to do so. Other campus presidents did not return calls seeking comment.
Comment:
The combination of confidentiality, authorized speech prescriptions, and Captive Audience Meetings severely limit Intellectual Freedom and honest debate. On May 8th as Trustees voted down the ACCC offer, a letter appeared in support of Intellectual Freedom at Antioch. Edythe Scott Bagley, the sister of Coretta Scott King, sent a letter to the College Revival Fund stating “those of us who believe in Antioch College and its mission must fight to the finish to keep it alive.” Mrs. Bagley’s sister lent her legacy and name to Antioch College’s Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom , an institution severely harmed by the campus presidents’ inability to debate the future of the College and University in an open and fair manner.
Download Edythe Scott Bagley’s Letter (330 kb) (new release)
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YS News states:
“We [campus presidents] are concerned that during some of the more recent Board calls the discussions have not involved the statutorily required consideration of the purposes of the corporation or the discretionary considerations, including the consideration of the interests of all employees, suppliers, creditors and students, the economy, the community and societal considerations…”
Comment:
Missing from the campus presidents’ lists of concerns is the capacity to sustain and fund the expansionist plans of Antioch University. In a January 2008 document the campus presidents write about the possible need to reject College alumni efforts to save the College in order to preserve “debt capacity.”. The campus presidents say they want to use this “debt capacity” to ensure the University’s expansionist plans for “ acquiring other entities or campuses.”
Download The Campus Presidents January 2008 ‘Debt Capacity’ Document (1 mb) (new release)
Special Bonus – Down the Campus Presidents April 2008 Document (100 kb) (new release)
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YS News states:
The attorneys’ questions were not shared with the ACCC before the May 8 vote because they were ‘internal documents,’ according to Zucker in a previous interview.
Comment:
On Thursday, May 8, 2008 (a work day) at 11 am, Antioch University Executive Assistant Leslie Bates sent the legal memo (mentioned above) to Trustees for a meeting that would occur just a few hours later. The legal memo was sent to Trustees “at [University Chairman] Art Zucker’s request.”
Download The ‘Internal Document‘ Document (1.3 mb) (previously released)