OCTOBER 2014 ALUMNI BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Attending:
Chestnut, Shelby; Church, Judi; Ellison, Laura; Esbin, Barbara; Evans, Christelle;
Guyer, Bernie; Hallam, Charlotte; Hobart, Jim; Klass, Tim; May, Glenda Cox;
Mayer,Susan; Mink,Tanya; Mulhauser, Karen; Ordman, Jilana; Pearl, Larry; Reynolds,
Mark; Rosenfeld, Megan; Spalt, Allen; Treichler, Paula; Vincent, David; Warfield,
Deborah
Expected absences:
Buckingham, Sarah; Fellman, Gordon; Wood, Shannon
Staff: Amanda Cole
Note: minutes from the June meeting were adopted during the Saturday session.
Overview:
There was consensus that board members would increase their annual giving by
5%; that the President would be asked to convene Executive Committee meetings
between full board meetings; that the next election for board members would be
organized in time to meet a Dec. 5 Antiochian deadline for materials.
The Board raised enough cash to purchase two bricks outside the Wellness Center
($600) and challenged the Trustees to do the same.
This board meeting included discussion of our purpose and vision and committee
meetings to discuss reunion 2015 and 16, fund-raising, Chapter development,
reconciliation with alienated alums, and the election. We heard from President
Roosevelt on the state of the college, from the editor of the Record, met at lunch
with the Board of Trustees and heard presentations from several students, toured
the new geothermal and solar facilities, and enjoyed the new Wellness Center.
Friday, Oct. 10:
Mark Roosevelt
Mark Roosevelt summarized the state of the college as good but “challenging.” The
major challenge is raising money from alumni. Visits to 5 foundations in New York
produced one possible donor, but people were skeptical about our retention rate
over the last 25 years. The annual operating budget is $19 million and we need to
raise $15 million of that. It was always expected there would be eight “really hard
years,” and we are halfway through. We currently have 240 students of whom 71
are first years. We were in the black last year thanks to the generosity of the 5
largest donors. Having won accelerated accreditation status, we are doing in two
years what other schools would do in four.
We are the only private liberal arts school in the country seeking accreditation; we
will also be the only school generating with solar energy the electricity needs of the
geo-thermal plant.
More students will balance economies of scale; we cannot absorb more students
until 2017 with another dorm.
There have been staff changes: Brian Williams, head of development, left and has
not yet been replaced. Luis Rosa will take over as Dead of Student Life as Louise
Smith returns to teaching theater, Mila Cooper is the new head of the Coretta Scott
King Center, Amanda is the new alumni relations director, replacing Maureen.
Big picture: in the last 12 years the top schools in the US have increased financial aid
in an effort to diversify economically, but the number of financially strapped
students has increased only from 10 to 11 per cent. The number of graduating high
school seniors who would be the first of their family to enter college is becoming the
majority; primarily Hispanic. We are more diverse than other schools and have
opportunity to appeal to this demographic. Foundations want evidence of success
before giving us money for this.
There is discussion about grouping WYSO, the Glen, Wellness Center, Theater, and
potential Village as ancillary entities, much as Arthur Morgan started businesses like
the Antioch Shoe Company to produce income.
In answer to questions, Roosevelt said that we have borrowed against the
endowment, that we are currently asking donors to give operating funds rather than
to the endowment, and that there are 10-12 Antiochians of “substantial wealth” who
are either on the fence or negative about giving large sums at this time. Also that
Main Building is not likely to be re-habbed for 10 years because of the cost.
Eric Miller:
He will not ask us to phone non-givers again because that proved a failure. Instead
we will be calling people who have given in the past.
He suggested we might want to look at the Work Project as a model for our efforts in
that they consult the college on needs, coordinate with college staff, and break the
work into accomplishable goals.
Last year 27% of alums gave; our peak is 31%.
Amanda Cole
She introduced herself and her plans for improving the alumni relations office. She
hopes we will 1) sign the pledge cards for annual giving, 2) focus on creating and
strengthening chapters, 3) help find or create coop jobs.
There is also a project for a volunteer to keep the list of Antioch authors up to date.
The issue of sharing email lists is no longer a problem.
Discussion of Purpose and Vision
Barbara and Jim led a discussion and encouraged us to think of accomplishing three
concrete goals before reunion when new board members will be inducted. Since
there was no formal action taken, I will simply note some of the points made.
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We should align our goals with the college’s strategic plan
The officers and committee chairs should have executive committee
meetings between our full meetings
One of our functions that we have been lax on is to bring ideas from the
larger alumni community to the staff, BoT, or faculty
Chapters could also adopt the work project model in their communities
Each committee should come up with three goals
Saturday, Oct. 11
Committee chairs reported back from meetings held Friday afternoon and Saturday
morning. Full reports are attached.
Development: Goals outlined
1. sustaining donations in the form of monthly gifts
2. work with class fundraising efforts
3. get other AB involved with phone calls
4. executive committee
5. work backward to recognize classes out of loop because of closure
One idea is to sponsor something on campus that will say funded by AB. Also, the
class of ’65, celebrating its 50th, has set a goal of raising $500,000 as a class gift.
Each class having a 50th could follow this example in the future.
Reunion: John Lewis has been confirmed as commencement speaker. The
graduating students had not heard of him (!) and wanted Mia MacKenzie, a poet and
blogger, (Black Girl Dangerous). If there is enough money to get her, she will speak
at a different time and fit in well with the theme of Civil Rights and Social Justice.
The Alumni awards are going to Richard Kaplan, Juanita Brown, Robert Davis,
Richard Lapides, and Julia Reichert.
The remaining significant issue is whether there is time in the schedule for each
award winner to speak for an hour as they have in the past. The Reunion committee
will have a conference call Oct. 19 to discuss and resolve this issue.
There was also a suggestion that there should be fireworks*&@6%$%! But Ohio
requires a licensed operator and it would all cost a lot of $$$$.
Reunion committee goals: 1.Encourage or demand good participation from
committee members on monthly phone calls (second Tuesdays). 2. Create a
timetable and 3. Create task forces or committees for this year.
Nominating:
They are looking for nominations to fill an anticipated 7 slots. Second goal is to find
more younger people, and third goal is to increase voting and participation. An
email soliciting nominations will be sent to AB and BoT members by Oct. 26.
Communications:
Identified need to get nominations for AB members completed by the next
Antiochian deadline, which is currently Dec. 5 but could be pushed to Jan. 5.
Agreed to help Nicole Wroten (editor of Antiochian) find volunteers to write short
pieces for the Antiochian about why we are on the AB (Tim and Megan will do one
each by Dec. 5), and to keep the Antioch Authors project going, and to forward
suggestions for interesting (not necessarily famous) alums to profile. Another goal
is to devise a way for Board members who wish to receive less email to do so.
Chapters: The committee defined 3 goals: to define how the Chapters Committee can
best help the College now and going forward; to create a job description for the
Chapters, and to collect some best practices – effective chapter activities that build
community and support Antioch College that can be shared to assist other chapters.
They discussed with Amanda (staff) the efficacy of a shared calendar that would
allow Chapters to plan new student receptions, co-op welcomes and other events.
There is also hope that a volunteer to assist Amanda can be found among local
alums; Jennifer Berman has agreed to help find one.
After committee reports AB members started phoning alumni who have given in
past years to encourage more. We returned to session for a brief discussion about
several items: a letter received from an alienated alum; board courtesy (a
subcommittee consisting of Christelle, Shay and Jim will discuss this is issue), the
pleasure of meeting current students and meeting, however briefly, with the Board
of Trustees, and acknowledging that things are changing so fast at the College it is
hard to keep up.
There was a motion to adjourn at 5: 40 pm and approved.
--Megan Rosenfeld
Secretary