Dr. Comerford and CCG Board Members,
The faculty and staff of the Department of Clinical Psychology in New England are disappointed and concerned regarding the recent attempts to shift the shared governance structure at Antioch University to one that privileges the Coalition for the Common Good (CCG), alone, as holding the sole authority to make decisions, direct actions, and maintain accountability. We are deeply concerned that the actions taken by the CCG will cause direct and irrevocable harm to Antioch University and, particularly, our students and graduates. We have not experienced the CCG as showing any sustained interest in the work we do to train future psychologists, and our concern is that the governance changes will only further separate our department from the institution. Our department was founded to address the significant dearth of mental health providers in our region, and every year we successfully recruit cohorts to provide experiential training so that they may function as flexible, thoughtful, and values-oriented practitioners and leaders. Removing Antioch’s voice from the CCG is a direct challenge to our mission.
Since President Lori Varlotta joined Antioch, the CCG has sought to limit the voice of its founding members. We are particularly concerned about the apparent shift in the CCG's approach to Antioch since President Varlotta assumed her role. The actions now being taken stand in contrast to the collaborative, community-driven approach described when the Coalition was established. This shift has been quite apparent across constituent groups. On that ground, we feel that President Varlotta, in particular, and Antioch, as a whole, is being treated differently than when Chancellor Bill Groves led the University. While personality differences can always play a role in one’s perceptions of new leadership, the degree of change within a short timeframe seems at odds with mere differences in style and opinion. Our program values leadership focused on transparency, shared governance, and goals for a sustainable institution. These values are not at odds with listed goals of the CCG. Our faculty have not received any transparent communication from the CCG that would support the statement made in The Chronicle:
“The CCG board acted because it has both the authority and the fiduciary responsibility to ensure Antioch University has clear, elective governance focused on students, academic quality and long-term sustainability.”
There is a profound illogical disconnect regarding accountability and systemic governance. It is unclear how President Varlotta, who has only been at Antioch for little over a year, would be held accountable for decisions that predated her arrival. The decision to dissolve our Advisory Board (Board of Governors) and lay blame for perceived failures on her leadership, merely scapegoats President Varlotta and strips Antioch of its voice within the Coalition it founded. The CCG’s actions ignore the reality that the current governance crisis is the product of long-standing structural design flaws, rather than the work of recent leadership hires. As an example, the framework for profit sharing and scaling of the Otterbein University nursing program misestimated the required resources and projected revenue that would allow such a program to scale in a manner remotely similar to some of Antioch’s other educational programs (low residency, online). We are concerned that the current dispute risks treating complex institutional challenges as though they can be resolved primarily through changes in leadership and governance authority.
The faculty support the transparent and engaged leadership practices. In the time that President Varlotta has been here, she has visited our geographically dispersed locations on multiple occasions; she has met with and addressed our students and their concerns; and she has consistently engaged with faculty on a myriad of issues. Her town hall meetings with our university faculty and staff have had the consistent tone of collaboration. For instance, having open Q&A sessions during town halls is a stark contrast to the highly curated webinars and narrow Q&As common to our past Chancellor and his leadership team. Similarly, President Varlotta has focused on diversifying Antioch’s revenue streams, moving away from income solely based on enrollment; moreover, she has prioritized budget forecasting geared towards longer-term financial stability and sustainability—a first for many among our academic leadership who had become accustomed to opacity in all things related to present and future-oriented fiscal planning. Our support for these practices should not be understood as a claim that any university president should be beyond scrutiny. Rather, we believe that accountability must be grounded in a clear understanding of institutional history, established governance responsibilities, and the structural conditions that shape institutional outcomes.
The actions taken by the CCG are antithetical with its mission. At its origin, the CCG was not “… built [as] a top-down thing from the boards or the presidents or the chancellors. It is a ground-up thing being led by the people that do the work on both of our campuses and university communities.” The decisions being made now regarding the dissolution of the Antioch Advisory Board and attempts to fire our president represent everything that the CCG was intended not to be. We hope that you can hear our concern regarding these decisions and shift in mission. We ask you to consider the voices of our Department’s faculty and staff. We are in support of maintaining Antioch’s values, autonomy, capacity to train emerging psychologists as well as the spirit of transparency to and upheld our shared governance framework at our institution.
We therefore respectfully request that the CCG Governing Board:
- Reconsider the governance changes affecting Antioch University, including the implications for Antioch's representation and participation in Coalition decision-making, directly affecting the Antioch presidency and Advisory Board.
- Provide a clear account of the governance process and rationale underlying these actions, including how the voices and interests of Antioch's faculty, staff, students, and academic programs have been considered.
- Establish an opportunity for meaningful faculty participation in discussions about Antioch's governance, institutional autonomy, and future relationship with the Coalition.
- Respond formally to these concerns and communicate the process and timeline through which they will be addressed.
Sincerely,
Vincent Pignatiello, PsyD
Co-Chair of the Department of Clinical Psychology
Director of the Psychological Services Center
Jason Frederick, PsyD
Teaching Faculty
Haley E. Curt, PsyD
Teaching Faculty
Virginia Lemos, PsyD
Teaching Faculty
Monique S. Bowen, PhD
Professor and Core Faculty
Associate Director of the Psychological Services Center
Member, University Faculty Senate and Budget Advisory Committee
Katherine Russell, PsyD
Core Faculty
Karen Meteyer, PhD
Director of Practica & Core Faculty
Rebecca Stackpole
Program Coordinator
Rachel Chickerella, PhD
Director of Student Progress & Core Faculty