OT 07-59
News & views ...
Posted by b on August 30, 2007 at 14:00 UTC | Permalink
« previous pageDrat. Forgot to add the number and close tag for that. It was re:98. Sorry, all, and here's a tag closing to make sure I'm not being antisocial.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | Sep 3 2007 3:14 utc | 102
from monolycus's link
The party claims foreigners — who make up about 20 percent of the population — are four times more likely to commit crimes than Swiss nationals.
if it is anything like the US ie; driving while black (DWB)
foreigners — who make up about 20 percent of the population may be four times more likely to be charged/convicted of crimes than Swiss nationals.
Posted by: annie | Sep 3 2007 3:34 utc | 103
b real, call this a rough draft, perhaps. I'd like to get something like "Antioch College as the microcosm of the problems with America." That's ambitious, and ambitious is where my writing goals can fall apart. So the simple chronology here, which I'm also taking these back to the communications group we have for more editing.
Anyway - the Revival effort.
The Board of Trustees' suspension of Antioch College was announced, to the media and not the College community, on June 12th, 2007. Alumni who discovered this quickly gathered in shock, and spoke of their Antioch memories, and planned to organize whatever response seemed proper at Reunion, scheduled for the weekend of June 23rd. Two groups didn't wait: the faculty of Antioch College, and the Antioch College Alumni Association Board of Directors (Alumni Board). Both came to the Reunion with the beginnings of a plan: the faculty had their history of recent Antioch to counter the narrative the University was putting forth, as well as community meeting attended by hundreds. Suddenly, this efficient, effective grassroots turned the Alumni Board's ideas into an alumni movement. The goal for the weekend had been to raise $40,000. Ten times that amount was donated to the Revival, in cash and pledges, and the Antioch College Alumni Association passed a powerful resolution to dedicate themselves to reviving Antioch College.
The alumni dispersed, mobilizing nationally at Antiochians in several committees, such as Communications, Governance, and Fundraising, and also to set up or revitalize chapters in cities all across America and the world. The Board of Trustees, apparently recognizing that they had failed to convey their reasoning, promised two meetings: one a "webinar" to go over their financial information, and a week later an emergency meeting in Cincinnati, the last weekend in August. The Alumni Board responded by declaring the week before Save Antioch Weekend, and chapters all across the country responded by preparing social and fundraising events.
The Antioch College faculty, supported by the American Association of University Professors, filed for an injunction to keep the College open on August 14th. The Board of Trustees, apparently caught off-guard, canceled their financial webinar. Save Antioch Weekend continued, and thousands of alumni raised $5.3 million in cash and pledges, to combine with previous funds for over $8 million to take to the meeting in Cincinnati.
With the alumni carrot and the faculty stick facing them, a previously intractable Board of Trustees sat up and listened to the alumni, faculty, staff, students, and Yellow Springs residents talk about their dreams for Antioch College. The Alumni Board, and a group of former trustees, each presented proposals for mechanisms to separate the College from the University, and maintain its operations. The Trustees listened, and when they finally spoke, some even went to far as to say they'd changed their mind. They released a statement of support for the Alumni Board, said that they would reconsider their decision at the October Board meeting, and accepted the Alumni Board's proposal of letting the College development office work with the Revival movement.
All appeared to be well, until Friday August 31st, when University leadership forced outgoing College President Steven Lawry to resign immediately, and changed the locks on the development office, forcing the staff to leave early for the long Labor Day weekend. It remains unclear as to why this happened, and what it means about to the Trustees' promise to work with the alumni....
Posted by: Rowan | Sep 3 2007 3:50 utc | 104
The comments to this entry are closed.
@Monolycus, re :
I can't claim to be an expert -- or even particularly well-informed; I've never visited Switzerland -- but everything I have read indicates that the Swiss are (a) extremely conservative and (b) use immigrants as a convenience. I am told that it is almost impossible for the non-rich to gain Swiss citizenship, and that Switzerland regularly gets rid of its immigrant population if the economy is bad. If this is true, then although racism as a motivation may be new, it isn't actually any worse than other things they already do.
Posted by: The Truth Gets Vicious When You Corner It | Sep 3 2007 3:13 utc | 101