Yesterday’s ruling by the Greene County Court of Common Pleas provides welcome protections to Antioch University’s autonomy, and it is a striking repudiation of the hostile takeover attempt led by the leadership of the Coalition for the Common Good. For the last eight weeks, CCG leadership has asked us all to believe that they had the right to tear up the CCG’s founding documents, which were negotiated by Antioch University and Otterbein University and signed just three-and-a-half years ago. With this order, the court made clear that those agreements were not just window dressing; they are codified protections of Antioch University’s autonomy and self-governance. Notably, the court also ruled that Antioch University has a substantial likelihood of success on the merits at trial, and therefore blocked the key actions behind the CCG’s hostile takeover attempt. This injunction will protect Antioch over the course of the trial.
“We are thrilled that the Court has agreed with Antioch University that the CCG does not have the authority to abolish the Antioch University Board of Governors, take over our relationship with the Higher Learning Commission, or fire Antioch President Lori Varlotta, the leader we hired and fully support,” said Steve Crandall, the Chair of Antioch University’s Board of Governors. “This is a huge win for Antioch University. Equally telling, the court has stated that the Antioch University Governor and Standing Committee member who filed the Antioch University case has a substantial likelihood of winning this case on its merits. All of this is very good news for Antioch University and its many supporters.”
This is a clear victory for Antioch University and for our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Our 174-year-old university does not suddenly belong to the board and president of an institution we first partnered with three years ago.
Despite—or perhaps because of—the clear protections Antioch won in this injunction, CCG leadership is trying to spin the order as a victory, claiming that it “affirms the role of the CCG President over AU staffing and operational decisions.” This is entirely false. Per the court order, which we have posted on the Antioch Forward site, President Lori Varlotta remains the President of Antioch University and the designated contact for our relations with our accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission. The court affirmed that the Antioch University Board of Governors remains in place and continues to exercise oversight and guidance over the Antioch division. The court did not say that the CCG President has authority to place the Antioch University President on paid administrative leave, though it did suggest the CCG Board could take that action. The CCG Board has never considered or voted on a single action related to President Varlotta, and it never voted to put her on administrative leave. If the CCG Board does take such a vote, we believe that would violate other parts of the injunction.
The brazen and unlawful overreach of CCG leadership has already caused real financial and operational harms for Antioch University. CCG leaders have betrayed and fatally damaged the coalition that Antioch University co-founded three years ago. No future institutions will ever join this coalition after seeing CCG leadership attempt to seize control of one of the two founding institutions, betraying the coalition’s founding agreements and the ideals it was built on. Additionally, these hostile actions have shattered the trust and collegiality that are necessary for two institutions to collaborate on a project like a coalition. We have shared the court’s order with the mediator, and we look forward to the next steps in this process.
CCG leadership’s unlawful power grab has backfired spectacularly. It is now the time for calmer heads to prevail, to begin unwinding the CCG in a way that preserves Antioch University and Otterbein University and protects both institutions’ students, faculty, staff, and missions. It is time to stop the bleeding.