Address to the Board of Trustees February 2006

Editor's note: Chancellor Toni Murdock was both acting chancellor and president of Antioch Seattle when she gave this presentation to the Board of Trustees at its February 2006 meeting in Seattle.

By Toni Murdock

There is a section of Thomas Friedman's book The World is Flat that, when reading, I bracketed and wrote "Antioch — question mark" in the margin. Friedman explains that the measure of a society or institution is most often in classical economic and social statistics. But there is another measure much harder to gauge that is more revealing in Friedman's eyes. Does your institution have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories?

Friedman declares that he knows when an organization is in trouble and that is when they tell him how good they were in the past. When memories exceed dreams, the end is near. The hallmark of a truly successful organization is the willingness to abandon what made it successful and start fresh.

Arthur Morgan had a dream. He dreamed of a college such as never existed and felt that Antioch should be a lever to move the world. Here's what he said: "My hope for Antioch is that through great desire disciplined by knowledge, and through great commitment to fine purposes, its students may be a powerful force for remaking human life."

Morgan's dream is a transportable dream from generation to generation, down through the decades. The dream is sustainable, but only if Antioch is effective in adapting to the learning environment of each succeeding generation. In reality, this is what the "The Plan for Antioch College" accomplished. Although we originally called it a renewal plan, in actuality, the plan was not built on the old Antioch, but rather creates a new Antioch that realigns its curriculum to meet the needs of the world of tomorrow. 

What are the hallmarks of that world of tomorrow? It is a world that requires replacing the notion of "lifetime employment" with the notion of "lifetime employability" because no one can be guaranteed lifetime employment anymore. It is a world where the "individual worker is going to be more and more responsible for managing his or her own career…and economic security." A world that requires leadership skills and an educational foundation that encourages risk taking and adaptation. A world in which an individual no longer has the option to not engage in lifelong learning in order to survive and succeed. The world of today and tomorrow is not the world of Arthur Morgan 80 years ago, but Morgan's dream still remains and the College Plan is built around that dream. 

How now do we build the dream around the University? How do we abandon the memories of its original birth, painful as it was, and move toward a vision of our role and purpose as a University in the 21st century? It has been over 30 years since the seeds were planted for Antioch to become a multicampus system and eventually a university. Granted, its creation was chaotic and somewhat unintentional, but not without purpose — economical and educational. Economically it was to provide resources for an unendowed College by taking advantage of the growing adult market and educationally it was to spread the gospel of Antioch. 

It was created in a time when many multicampus systems were being birthed across the nation. To give some examples: The University of California began with the establishment of Berkley in 1868. From the 1920s to 1960s it developed into a nine-campus system, each campus enjoying considerable autonomy with little impact on the reputation and credibility of the original campus, Berkley. National-Louis University, private, nonprofit system, was established in 1886 as Miss Harrison's Training School for early childhood education. Over the years, it grew to four campuses in Illinois, plus campuses in five other states and one in Poland declaring itself a University in 1990. Many other systems have a similar history: Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, and University of Troy.

Each of these systems has developed and changed over the decades. Their structures differ in governance, number of boards, centralization, and decentralization, some like University of Troy have separately accredited campuses within the system, some such as National Louis have one faculty senate that governs the academic sector of all campuses within the system. Their different development patterns validate that it is not necessary for all of the constituent campuses to be part of every cooperative activity or consolidation of functions. Nor is it necessary for consolidated services to be centralized; frequently member campuses can serve as the lead campus, or service provider, for different system operations. 

Rule of thumb is that "the presumption should always be in favor of decentralization to the individual campuses or units." Why? Because we know that when the stakeholders, which includes the community, feel ownership they become more deeply invested. And, we know that particularly in an academic setting, the faculty stakeholders are the primary source of curriculum innovation, student recruitment and student retention.

So, given that we have a similar history to many public systems and even the nonprofit system of the National Louis University, can we be viable as a system in the world of tomorrow?

Interestingly, approximately 80% of the students currently enrolled in 2-and 4-year public colleges and universities (and that comprises 80% of the total national enrollments) attend institutions that are part of multicampus systems. The relevant question here is not whether we should exist as a system — we do — but rather how do we design and structure the system to "stimulate, support and sustain an outstanding, highly diverse and responsible higher education enterprise." Clark Kerr, president emeritus of University of California, reflected, "the freestanding campus with its own board, its own and only president, its identifiable alumni, its faculty and student body, all in a single location with no coordinating council above it, is now the exception whereas in 1945 it was the rule." And I would add now days, hardly a year passes that the closing or merger of a single college campus doesn't occur in American higher education.

I want to highlight two trends for tomorrow's world in higher education, at least in the public sector — multicampus universities and the requirement for sophisticated interconnection and delivery services through technology. There is a supposition by many educational leaders that the multicampus system is the model that will survive and thrive in the 21st century. Systems are unique in both their intellectual resources and their capacity to be more than the sum of their parts. However, for multicampus systems, public or private, to survive and thrive in the 21st century, they will need to be leaner and more agile, supported by information technology and a willingness to form partnerships. This will require a commitment to collaboration, to interconnectiveness — among campuses, and even sometimes, competitors — and will require the system to change its shape and structure over and over again. It is a necessity because higher education institutions no longer hold the monopoly on education or knowledge nor the distribution of it. Knowledge is as accessible as the closest computer connected to the Internet. The learning industry of the 21st century is global, pre-K through 99, and rapidly growing.

I believe that Antioch is positioned to be a player in this new world. We have the framework to be sustainable. Because Antioch is a system, we have more leadership brain power which can lead to higher levels of creativity and success than can be produced by one single college. We address the need for life-long learning and the trend that students 25 years and older have been increasing at a rate nearly four times as fast as the 18-24 year range. We have the ability to establish graduate programs desired by our Antioch College students and streamline their transition from undergraduate to graduate status through 3 + 2 programs operating at all our graduate campuses. We as an academic institution embody values that will contribute to Friedman's dream of a great society that operates on compassionate flatism, an approach he recommends to maximize the benefits and opportunity of tomorrow's world while providing a safety net for those who have difficulty with the transition. Compassionate flatism is based on leadership, education, social activism and parenting—all characteristics embedded in Antioch curriculum.

We are positioned, but we will be successful only if we are deliberate in how we continue to build and plan our system. First, we must create a system that promotes the sustainability of each independent campus, including the College. We as distinct campuses and as a system become sustainable when we are seen as a vital member in the communities in which we reside and a player in the state and regional higher education systems where we are located. Leaders on our campuses must serve on community boards and state and national professional boards. Our students must embrace their responsibility for civic engagement and community service locally as well as internationally. 

This means designing a system that is seen as not only contributing to the educational needs of the region, but also contributing economically through local banking, purchasing, and community-based research. The success of the individual campuses is in responding to the local and regional needs; the success of the university is a system designed to encourage each campus to greatness by providing economical efficiencies, support systems, and safety nets unable to be achieved by a single campus.

To achieve that kind of system, we must turn to the second challenge, the plan for the system itself. System planning is different from institutional planning because our system has different priorities than the individual institutions. System planning is focused on the optimal collective performance of its institutions. A recent survey of multicampus CEOs confirmed that the "full potential of the multicampus system is far from being realized. The goal of achieving 'creative tension' between the whole and its parts remains a continuing challenge. Higher education systems are loosely coupled organizations, which means that there is high autonomy for individual campuses and what happens in one part of the system does not necessarily have an effect on any other, let alone all other, parts of the system. At the same time, it may have great impact on the other parts — intended or unintended. The loosely coupled character of educational institutions requires a different approach to leading and planning.

More than anything, a loosely coupled organization needs interconnectiveness.  And the only way to achieve interconnectiveness and collective performance across a national institution is through technological development. This is why Antioch must invest in creating a sophisticated technology plan. It is so crucial that the ULC has committed itself to a thorough technology audit to be performed by Bill Graves and his team of SunGard Collegis. Dr. Graves has a national reputation in the role of technology in systemically and measurably improving institutional performance — based on mission — in higher education. He is one of the best. The audit is to be completed by March of this year. It will allow us to identify collective needs, address them more effectively and efficiently through prioritization, and establish a plan of implementation of funding resources. 

Later this morning, Laurien and I will share with you our new dream — a Virtual Commons concept that we feel will provide the technological structure to sustain the connectivity and collective performance we require and will also establish Antioch once again in the innovative realm of education. The purpose of the virtual commons will be to provide learning services and resources in a high quality, cost-efficient, scaled fashion to students, faculty and staff of the entire university regardless of geographic location — one shared library, virtual; one shared student writing and math lab, virtual; one shared foreign language lab, virtual; one shared faculty training lab, virtual — to mention only a few. Add to this the concept of a collective graduate study abroad program for both students and alumni, a university-wide WYSO and a university wide Antioch Review.

Can we dream? Can we dream of Antioch University becoming the preeminent national nonprofit private university system of the 21st century? To that end, ULC has engaged Tom Gilmore and two of his associates from the Center of Applied Research out of Cambridge, Massachusetts to guide us through a University vision and planning exercise. Some of you have already had the opportunity to work with Tom in the Structure Working Group. The planning will be focused on five areas (1) the university organizational structure, (2) university financial modeling, (3) university management procedures, (4) university technology, and (5) university personnel policies.

The place we stand today in our historical development, reminds me of Rainer Rilke's observation, "The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens." Though we acknowledge that this Antioch system was initiated with little intentional planning, we have evolved into a University that will serve us in the 21st Century. And, over the last three years the Board has been intentional in its actions to maintain a university system. Whatever we do over the next few months will determine what future we adopt to transform ourselves in order to serve the generation of students to come. That generation will include students who are entering a different world than we experienced. Undergraduate and graduate students who need a system to provide them an education for life-time employability. Minority students who need a compassionate system that provides the safety nets and quality education that allows them to succeed in this newly constructed flat world. 

The American higher education system needs the Antiochs in multiple forms and campuses to preserve and promote the values of an educated citizenry and to encourage social reform. To continue Arthur Morgan's work to enflame the passion and commitment of our students with the knowledge to make our world a better place to live — that is Antioch's mission. The recent NCA report confirms that Antioch has the capacity to perform that mission in a far broader context as a university system than as independent campuses operating alone.

I do not believe that we want to watch Arthur Morgan's dream become a memory. And, I do not believe that—when we speak of Antioch's greatness, its strength, its promise—we want to be speaking in the past tense. We have the opportunity to grow that dream in the 21st Century in ways that make everyone associated with Antioch proud. I am asking that we all standing together — and work together — to do just that.

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