The board of trustees for Antioch University’s Santa Barbara campus has been abruptly disbanded as part of a nationwide shake-up at the Ohio-based college that reportedly also involved the termination of the college presidents.
The 20 volunteer members of the local board, including many prominent community members, received letters from Antioch University’s national board of governors advising them of the local board’s immediate termination.
“The current boards of trustees structure will end as of today,” reads the letter, which was dated June 27. “Antioch University will now have only a single, fiduciary board as it did prior to 2009.”
Trustee boards at other local campuses — in Los Angeles, Seattle and Keene, N.H. — were similarly disbanded.
The Keene Sentinel newspaper reported Friday that that the governing board’s action included the termination of the presidents of Antioch’s five campuses, but that could not be confirmed.
Calls by Noozhawk to the Santa Barbara president’s office were not returned.
“I don’t think it’s the right thing to do, and more clearly it’s the wrong way to do it,” said Lou Cannon, a veteran journalist and author who sat on the local board.
Cannon said he believes Antioch has made strides in recent years in Santa Barbara, boosting enrollment, adding degree programs and strengthening ties with local institutions such as Santa Barbara City College.
“I think it’s become a more open and effective place,” he told Noozhawk.
He credits Nancy Leffert, retiring president of the Santa Barbara campus whose last day was Thursday, with spearheading many of the improvements.
“I think there’s been a kind of a feeling now that we are heading in the right direction,” Cannon added.
Sources told Noozhawk that while the local campus is doing well, both financially and in terms of enrollment, Antioch University as a whole is facing serious budget challenges, which the letter from the board of governors alludes to.
Antioch University, which is based in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is separate and unaffiliated with Antioch College, the private college that was founded in Yellow Springs in 1852.
“The board of governors took several actions at its recent meeting to address the current budget issues, including significant changes in the university budget process and its business model, as well as an administrative reorganization,” reads the letter, signed by Charlotte Roberts, chairwoman of the national board, and Howard Coleman, vice chairman.
Antioch’s Santa Barbara campus offers a variety of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in areas including psychology, business, communications, environmental studies and marketing.
It has an enrollment of 450 students, and academic staff of 117, with a campus at 602 Anacapa St. in downtown Santa Barbara.
The shake-up comes as the campus was preparing to welcome a new president, William V. Flores, who most recently was the president of the University of Houston-Downtown.
The letter sent to local board members indicates that some will be asked to join the national board of governors.
It also indicates that the university plans to set up local development councils that would “promote and support the university and help the campus to expand its presence.”
The local board of trustees included Victoria Riskin, chairwoman; Marcia Cohen, vice chairwoman; Carol Forhan, treasurer; and members Lou Cannon, Patricia Chavez Nunez, Reneé Grubb, Susan Miles Gulbransen, Barbara Yanow Johnson, Chris Jones, Robert Kupiec, Lillian Lovelace, Jess Parker, Gabe Quiroz, Diana Raab, Jerry Roberts, Susan Rose, Bill Rosen, Susan K. Silver, Mary Ellen Tiffany and Luis Villegas.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.