Statement of Opposition to the Recent CCG Governance Actions and No Confidence in the Leadership of John Comerford and the CCG Board of Directors

October 7, 2026

We, the undersigned employees of Antioch University, express our opposition to the August 28, 2026 actions of CCG President John Comerford and the CCG Board of Directors to attempt to dissolve Antioch’s Advisory Board of Governors, remove authority from Antioch’s leadership, and assert greater control over the University’s governance and financial operations without meaningful consultation with the people who carry out the mission. These actions have created deep uncertainty and fear among our students and colleagues and raise serious concerns about institutional governance, accreditation and regulatory obligations, operational continuity, and Antioch’s academic mission.

The Coalition for the Common Good was founded as a system of affiliated nonprofit colleges and universities, bound by a shared mission of educating students not only for their careers but to promote the common good. Its charter speaks of collaboration. Antioch’s founders described co-equal, independent universities. The CCG Board’s actions abandon both. They strip Antioch of the independence the partnership was built on, and they subordinate the common good to the Board’s own control.

Beyond the recent, alarming CCG resolutions, we have no confidence in the ability of either John Comerford or the CCG Board to effectively govern Antioch University directly. To date, the CCG leadership has not presented the Antioch community with a clear vision, transition plan, or set of priorities explaining how their recent actions will strengthen the University or address the challenges those actions are intended to resolve. This concern extends beyond the present dispute. Since 2023, for those of us who have worked directly on CCG projects, our experience has too often been that CCG’s leadership, which includes John Comerford’s presidency of that body, lacked strategic direction and planning, which delayed initiatives, complicated institutional work, and slowed progress that Antioch leadership, faculty, and staff were prepared to move forward. The one attempt to merge CCG operations, the adoption of a shared Brightspace instance, failed as intended and ended with Antioch and Otterbein launching separate implementation projects, leading to significant delays and increased costs due to lack of leadership and a poor understanding of the distinct needs of the two institutions.

Linked is a report on that failure that explores how the lack of strategic guidance negatively impacted the ability to implement the desired vision. 

At a time when the University is actively working to improve its systems, strengthen its financial position, and build greater institutional effectiveness, further disruption without a clearly articulated path forward risks sacrificing needed momentum rather than advancing it. Major governance intervention should be accompanied by a clear explanation of the problem being addressed, the intended outcomes, and a credible plan for achieving them.

In contrast, we do have confidence in the direction our current Antioch leadership is taking and in its willingness to confront difficult institutional challenges directly. President Lori Varlotta has been at Antioch for only 14 months and has taken significant steps to increase transparency, strengthen fiscal and operational effectiveness, and reorganize several areas of the University. She has also assembled a leadership team that includes several recently appointed Cabinet members who have already begun addressing longstanding institutional practices, systems, and processes in need of review and improvement. Many of these changes are still relatively new, and their full impact has not yet had sufficient time to be realized or reflected in measures of institutional effectiveness and financial sustainability. Disrupting this work now risks undermining progress before its results can be fairly assessed.

The Antioch Advisory Board of Governors plays an essential role in connecting university governance to the realities of Antioch’s students, faculty, staff, programs, and communities. As a geographically dispersed, multi-campus institution with substantial online education, Antioch requires governance that is informed by institutional history, local context, academic priorities, regulatory obligations, and the distinct needs of the populations it serves. The Advisory Board provides an important source of institutional knowledge, continuity, and accountability and helps ensure that decisions affecting Antioch are made with a clear understanding of their consequences for the University and its mission. Diminishing or eliminating that role risks creating greater distance between those exercising governing authority and the institution they are responsible for stewarding.

The founding institutions are not being governed the same way. Otterbein remains a separate corporation with its own fiduciary Board of Trustees. Meanwhile, John Comerford and the CCG Board of Directors actions would dissolve Antioch’s Advisory Board of Governors and delegate its duties to the CCG Board. Otterbein keeps a board of its own. Antioch is left without one. If the Coalition was a partnership of equals, Antioch cannot be the only founder whose dedicated board can be eliminated. 

These actions could also put at risk Antioch's national accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission, which expects Antioch to be governed by a board that acts independently and in the best interests of the University.

In summary, we are gravely concerned that the CCG's recent governance actions ignore Antioch's distinctive culture, academic community, and shared-governance traditions. Indeed, it treats Antioch as something other than a partner. Shared governance is not an obstacle to efficiency; it is how we are able to serve students effectively across a variety of regions, demographics, and circumstances in service of our mission.

We call on John Comerford and CCG leadership to:

1. Rescind the August 28 resolutions. That means restoring the Antioch Advisory Board of Governors, leaving Antioch’s accounts under Antioch’s control, and ceasing to interfere with Antioch’s relationship with the Higher Learning Commission including any move that would jeopardize Antioch’s accreditation standing.
2. Stop the related actions that were not in those resolutions but serve the same end. Keep in place Lori Varlotta as Antioch’s president. No redirection of staff. No order to take down Antioch Forward or other internal communications about the dispute.
3. Engage in transparent, good-faith dialogue with Antioch's governance bodies, faculty, and staff to address areas of concern from the CCG Board.

We remain deeply committed to Antioch’s students, its people, and its 174-year history and continuity of mission. We stand with the Antioch Advisory Board of Governors, President Varlotta, and our leaders who serve on the Cabinet.

We have chosen to allow anonymous signatures on this letter because of the significant threat and fear that John Comerford and the CCG Board of Directors have caused through their actions. 

Respectfully,

This letter reflects the views of the undersigned employees who serve Antioch University.