An Ohio state court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the dissolution of Antioch University’s board of governors by the Coalition for the Common Good, which Antioch launched with Otterbein University over three years ago.
A magistrate for the court found that an Aug. 28 CCG board resolution eliminating Antioch’s Advisory Board of Governors violated the coalition’s bylaws.
Such a move would first need approval by a contingent of CCG board members chosen by Antioch, known as the Antioch standing committee, the court magistrate concluded. The committee has been part of CCG’s board structure since the coalition’s inception in 2023.
In issuing a preliminary injunction, the court also concluded that CCG leadership lacked the authority to fire Antioch President Lori Varlotta without prior approval of the Antioch standing committee. CCG’s bylaws stipulate that Antioch’s committee must sign off on the hiring and termination of the university’s president.
However, the magistrate concluded that CCG's bylaws allow it to place Varlotta on paid administrative leave given that nothing in the coalition’s bylaws specifically forbids it.
“While this may feel like a distinction without a difference, under Ohio law, placing an employee on administrative leave is not the same as terminating them,” she wrote.
CCG leaders attempted to place Varlotta on leave in late August, but the Antioch board of governors quickly sued over the resolution to dissolve it and won a temporary restraining order. CCG again put Varlotta on paid leave in September after the court ruled the board of governors didn't have standing to sue and let the temporary restraining order lapse. A member of the Antioch standing committee refiled the case.
On Wednesday, the state court also ruled that CCG could access Antioch’s bank accounts, create accounts payable policies that might affect the university and request information from the university's accreditor — but not make accreditation decisions on Antioch’s behalf.
Varlotta in late September filed her own lawsuit against CCG. In it, she alleged coalition leaders retaliated and discriminated against her over complaints she made about CCG President John Comerford’s behavior after a conflict emerged over the coalition’s structure and future in February. Comerford is also president of Otterbein.
“We are thrilled that the Court has agreed with Antioch University that 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,” Antioch board of governors Chair Steve Crandall said Wednesday in an emailed statement.
At the same time, he questioned how the decision allowing CCG to put Varlotta on leave could affect the university’s accreditation status.
CCG did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Much of the legal and governance dispute between Antioch and CCG boils down to the legal structure of the coalition, of which Otterbein is the only other member to date.
Antioch agreed to reincorporate as CCG so that the new organization had a long enough financial history to win regulatory approval from the U.S. Department of Education, current and former Antioch leaders have told Higher Ed Dive. The arrangement was meant to be temporary, they said.
Throughout the dispute, Comerford and other CCG leaders have asserted that the organization has sole fiduciary authority over Antioch. In turn, Antioch officials have argued that authority is mitigated by the coalition’s bylaws and that the university retains operational independence.
