The Antioch College Alumni Association announced today that it had raised $12-million in its effort to keep the college open. Officials of the five-campus Antioch University system have said they would need at least $50-million to fix up, redesign, and reopen the college after a planned four-year hiatus, which is to begin next year.

The alumni group has completed a draft business plan for “revitalizing” the college and may hire a financial planner to work on the final version. The plan is likely to be submitted to Antioch’s Board of Trustees for its October meeting, which is the deadline the board gave for the submission of such a plan.

With a business plan and big money, the alumni group appears to be working well with the board. But relations are rocky between university administrators and some groups that want to save the college. Antioch College faculty members have sued the board, and earlier this month voted no confidence in the university’s chancellor, Tullisse A. Murdock.

The alumni group is also making a few demands, some of which may raise hackles with trustees. For example, the group says the $12-million is “to be used only for the continuation of Antioch as a residential undergraduate college with a tenured faculty that is moving toward a system of self-governance.” —Paul Fain