I am a proud graduate of Antioch University and of Antioch College. I have earned a doctorate and master’s degree in Leadership and Change, as well as an undergraduate degree from Antioch College. I am also a former member of the Antioch University Board of Governors. My deep respect and love for Antioch University is rooted in its educational philosophy and excellence, based on the principles of one of America’s greatest educators, Horace Mann.
My Antioch education has been invaluable in my career as a professor, author, television and radio producer, nonprofit executive, and social justice activist.
This attempted hostile takeover of my beloved university by Otterbein is deeply unsettling and disturbing. Otterbein appears to me to be acting in bad faith and in violation of its assertion that it operates with “integrity, humane values and an inherently just, moral compass.” That Otterbein would act so quickly after the formation of the Coalition for the Common Good puts into question Otterbein’s intentions all along. Otterbein’s attempt to destroy Antioch University as a viable, independent institution and usurp Antioch’s history and stellar reputation is an abomination and must not be allowed to succeed.
Sincerely,
Janet Dewart Bell
Dr. Janet Dewart Bell
Founder/President of LEAD InterGenerational Solutions, Inc.
https://leadintergenerationalsolutions.org/ 501(c)3 nonprofit
Author:
Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement (NAACP Image Award Nominee)
Blackbirds Singing: Inspiring Black Women's Speeches from the Civil War to the Twenty-First Century.