ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY ADOPTS 21st CENTURY BYLAWS

YELLOW SPRINGS, OH The Antioch University Board of Trustees voted today to approve new Amended and Restated Bylaws, effective February 2009, creating an entirely new governance structure for the University and its constituent campuses. This action culminates nearly two years of study and analysis, launching an exciting new future for Antioch University.

With the adoption of the new bylaws, the current Trustees, upon the recommendation of its governance committee, created a new Board of Governors to oversee the entire University, and new Boards of Trustees for each individual campus. The campus Trustees will oversee the operations of each campus, enhance community engagement, and focus on their philanthropic needs. The new Board of Governors will generally provide oversight, review and approval of the work of the campus Boards of Trustees as well as set overall policy and guidance for the University.

“The new structure,” emphasized Art Zucker, Chair of the Board, “will provide an effective oversight and fiduciary governing structure for the entire University. It also provides new and exciting opportunities for each campus to reach its dreams and aspirations by welcoming the engagement of many more local and regional citizens who are deeply committed to the values and traditions of a true Antiochian education and philosophy. At the same time, the new structure will continue to provide effective oversight and fiduciary governing structure for the entire University.”

In this new structure, the campus boards of trustees will become the operating boards, and the University Board of Governors will be free to lead as a strategic and visionary Board, not a managerial, board, while maintaining ultimate control over the decisions of the campus boards and ownership of University assets.

“Antioch University’s Restated and Amended Bylaws, are meeting two key challenges of
any academic institution,” explained Chancellor Toni Murdock, “to attract excited and
committed board members to guide each campus and to expand and encourage philanthropy for the campuses as has never been done before, which is especially important now in these difficult economic times.”

Antioch University has been assisted throughout this process by the expert counsel of R. T. (Tom) Ingram, President Emeritus of the Association of Governing Boards. Mr. Ingram is the nation’s pre-eminent authority on college and university governance.

According to Mr. Ingram, “this new structure is unique in private higher education, while being modeled in part after some public university systems with dispersed campuses.”
The proposed new structure is intended to grow and strengthen leadership and accountability at the campus level, giving the new local Boards a real voice in campus governance and oversight.

“With geographically dispersed campuses,” said Mr. Ingram, “a system of checks and balances works best when those directly responsible for effective governance and oversight are as close as possible to management and where teaching and learning happen. Antioch's challenge was to design a structure for campuses located in four states from the east to the west coast with semi-autonomous operating boards. It has been acknowledge by higher education experts that multi-campus systems have yet to achieve their potential for economic efficiency and shared resources. Antioch hopes to reach that goal.”

At the same time, the bylaws preserve the need for central coordination of multiple campuses, intercampus cooperation and efficiency, support and encouragement for university-wide programming and clear fiduciary authority for a single corporation. It will be freed to refocus on those strategic matters that it should and can do best from a distance.

The campus boards will now have operational authority over their campuses, subject to the review and ultimate approval of the Board of Governors. For example, the local boards of trustees have the authority to:

• review and approve the campus budget;

• select the campus president;

• review and approve new programs;

• review and approve new construction;

• perform the campus president’s performance review;

• welcome the engagement of many more local and regional citizens who are deeply committed to the values and traditions of a true Antioch education;

• choose future trustees for the campus board.

The Board of Governors has the authority to set University-wide policy and to oversee, review and approve the local Trustees’ actions: For example, the Board of Governors
will have the fiduciary authority for a single corporation and the authority to:

• review and give final approval to the selection of campus Presidents;

• review and approve the campus budgets submitted to them by the boards of trustees;

• set university-wide policies;

• support, encourage and approve all university-wide programs;

• maintain ownership of all assets.

With the vote today, Antioch University has again created a new and exciting cutting- edge educational structure, appropriate for its long-term role of excellence and leadership in higher education.

###

Antioch College was founded in 1852 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Horace Mann, Antioch College’s first president, was a renowned educator, architect of the American Public School System, social reformer and abolitionist. Antioch today is the legacy of Horace Mann’s original vision, and an example of the success of educational experimentation, innovation and diversity of thought. Antioch continues to break down educational barriers and rebuild them as educational opportunities. Since its creation in 1852, Antioch has evolved from a small liberal arts college to a multi-campus university system with five campuses located across the nation including Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire; Antioch University Seattle in Washington; Antioch University Los Angeles and Antioch University Santa Barbara in California; and Antioch University McGregor in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The multiple campuses of the University nurture in their students the knowledge, skills and habits of reflection to act as lifelong learners, democratic leaders and global citizens who live lives of meaning and purpose.