YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO — Lawn signs and bumper stickers around town still rally support for Antioch College -- an academic icon of the 1960s counterculture and the civil rights and antiwar movements that ran out of money and closed more than a year ago.
The dream of bringing the college back has never wavered among the residents of this Ohio village of 3,800. The school and its owner, Antioch University, were among the largest employers in Yellow Springs, and many alumni have never left: At least 1 in 5 people attended the college or had family that did.
"I haven't talked to anyone who doesn't want the college back," said Tom Gray, owner of Tom's Market, the village's grocery store. "It's a part of the town's identity. Losing it was like losing a limb."
A group of alumni has raised nearly $6.2 million to purchase the 1,300-acre campus and plans to open the school again in 2011 with a freshman class of 120.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the week. The college will retain the Antioch name but will no longer be part of the Antioch University network, which includes campuses in Culver City; Santa Barbara; Keene, N.H.; and Seattle.
"There's a lot of pride here in Yellow Springs being a college town, and a lot of relief that it's going to stay a college town," said Aimee Mayurama, 36, a village native who graduated in 1995 with a degree in environmental science. She's been named director of alumni relations for Antioch College Continuation Corp., the nonprofit group formed to take control of the school.
The group has raised $10 million more this year to help get classes up and running -- a sum gathered from change tossed into buckets at local fairs, donations from unemployed former students and heftier checks written by wealthy donors.
Still, there's much work to be done.
Faculty must be hired, and the school must be solvent enough to instill confidence among future donors and would-be creditors. Organizers want to raise an additional $40 million to help establish a strong operating budget.
"Everyone wants to know what's coming," said Matthew Derr, the chief transition officer for Antioch College Continuation Corp.
Derr, 42, who graduated in 1989 with a history degree, added, "What they really want to know is, can the institution be financially perpetuated? Or will it fail again?"
The campus needs to be physically overhauled. Even before the college closed in June 2008, it had suffered from years of neglect.
