Antioch College Closing

There's nothing like starting your day bleary-eyed with bad news from Mom:

Antioch College is Closing

According to the official message from Antioch president Steve Lawry, posted on SaveAntioch.org:

The University will begin to plan for the eventual
possible reopening of the College by 2012.

Which sounds a bit less hopeful than the press release on Antioch's site:

The Chancellor will establish a Design and Development Commission to determine the long-term future of the College with the intention of opening a re-developed undergraduate campus. An Academic Design Team will be appointed to design a new undergraduate curriculum reflecting the College’s strong traditions and values while meeting the needs of today’s students.

Had anyone else heard anything about this? Jim keeps up obsessively with Southwest Ohio news. And his mom - who lives within dead-cat-swinging distance from Yellow Springs - would've said something to us if she'd heard about it.

If I'd had any idea, I would've tried to help - but the handful of times I'd been to YS in the last few years (and I do try to go, every time we're down visiting Jim's family), it seemed to be doing as well as it ever had.

Yellow Springs is one of my most beloved places in the world. It's a unique little village with a fragile civic "ecosystem" - will any of it survive without Antioch? I mean, talk about potential instant ghost town.

I'm depressed.