Author: ACAN

While this may sound out of left field, has anyone considered contacting The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? If they are truly committed to improving and providing education to the population at large, then perhaps they would be willing to assist in or provide a grant that would sustain the college through the proposed period of rebuilding. If this develops into a real possibility, then Antioch would certainly have to install a new president firmly vested in higher education, who would make decisions limited to the betterment of the institution and firmly committed to Horace Mann’s founding principles. The Gates Foundation requires a letter of inquiring prior to submitting any proposal. So, I am going to take it upon myself to come up with a something that I hope will pique their interest in getting involved. I’ll update you as things develop.

Respectfully,

Sid Blair

class of 1983

Trustees Must be Turned Around or Locked Out Vision & Stature

For many, and not just alums, Antioch College has been a crown jewel, perhaps even the crown jewel, of college education in this country and perhaps beyond. Number three among colleges in Macarthur genius awards. Long among the highest in Graduate Record Exam standings, among many other academic as well as broader standards of liberal arts education. Current postings show Antioch has even been very highly rated in scientific education. As the first, and perhaps still, the unique liberal arts college in use of work-study programs, it contributes in myriad ways to our nation and the world. Its gender and racial equality policies go back far beyond even the Arthur Morgan era of the 1920s and 1920s. Despite the disastrous over-reaching attempts over the recent decades to spawn off-shoots, there is not one sign of a replacement. Tradition & Decline

When some of us attended Antioch the ratio of applicants to admissions was one of the highest in the nation. The impact of the total Antioch experience on students and their life work has been imponderable. The production of broad-minded and vigorous liberals was without parallel. Only the mush-brained liberalism of those who oversaw the hijacking of the College, leaning far over backward for students who should never been admitted and apparently the professional avarice of Trustees who, we are now informed by former Trustees, disdain the College in favor of their satellite so-called University operations can explain the new Antioch College, a sad ‘ghost’ of its former preeminence. Social Ferment & Social Chaos

Since the 1930s increased concern for economic as well as social progress in the great advances for labor and civil rights expressed in the Franklin Roosevelt New Deal,
Antioch has been a national college, with substantial recognition from
California to New York and a student body to match. But families and their prospective students from major urban centers have not been conned by the mushy-brained liberalism of recent years and shifted their application focus to second choice colleges, as my sons did, one to Harvard and his brother to another Ivy League school. Proper investments in staff and facilities rehabilitation as well as balanced attitudes toward students is urgently needed to reverse that grotesque decline, graphically depicted in Michael Goldfarb’s Op Ed article in the New York Times yesterday, June 17. Outrage & Action

Time for whining about decay and maudlin recollection is over. The modest endowment was over $60,000,000 and it is still reported to be $30,000,000, not chicken feed, if enough to whet the appetite of carnivorous satellites. It must be used to restore the College, not continue to bleed the College dry in favor the questionable satellites, which cannot possibly compare in their significance to the College. It is vainly but devoutly to be wished that the current outrageous Trustee pronunciamento is merely a ‘clever’ bid for contributions. But more likely, effective action must be taken to reverse the decision, by court injunction if necessary, and replace the Board of Trustees with those concerned about the College, not just the so-called University. Very simply, it clear the Trustees failed both in their most basic substantive obligations as well as in decent and transparent process. Even in this era of indulgent corporate malfeasance, such actions bring jail terms. I’m getting a bit old for civil disobedience but surely some could hang and/or burn in effigy the malefactor Trustees. Or a court ordered injunction.

Perhaps all good things end, but the current national nightmare demands more, not less, Antioch education.

Surely the so-called Right Winger pols, pundits, and related Neros are celebrating this grotesque event. Is it possible there is more than money involved, or more behind the money problem? The abrupt action others document suggests guilty manipulation now common in our federal executive offices.

My wife and I, as well as classmates, found our life roles absolutely transformed to enable manifestation of Horace Mann’s dictum. Three of my children did not attend but now, well into their very different careers, they have also fulfilled that vision.

There may not be a lot of Arthur Morgans out there, but Bob Devine or perhaps some nominee of his must be drafted to restore some decency to this essential institution.

The hijacking must cease.

As our only elected Bush president, Bush 41, used to say, ‘This will not stand.’

BobBogen@hotmail.com

Dear Antiochians:

I am a 1983 graduate of Antioch College–the last class to receive a B.F.A. from a dying fine arts program–even then one of the best in its league. I attended the college from 1979-1983 and lived in Yellow Springs until 1992. It is strange, because in the spring of 1979, after I applied and was accepted; the hometown newspaper in Kent, OH reported that Antioch was not able to pay its faculty and may be closing its doors. It was the big joke at our commencement that Antioch actually made it to 1983, for our class to graduate. One of the speakers read letters from the archives in 1850’s about the financial struggles and that they may be forced to close the doors. Financial woes are in the DNA of Antioch’s institutional structure.

I have always seen Antioch as a Phoenix that rises from its own destructive tendencies. However, there has been a collective memory that keeps the place afloat, along with a freshness from all the comings and goings of the students and the stability of a faculty/staff who understood the place and held it together for each generation. I wonder is this base eroding? The historic/global and technical challenges loom larger than they did 20+ years ago when I attended. The baby boomers were dwindling, even then, and enrollment was down.

We are losing a sense of place–a scripted and generic world is replacing what is most unique in us as a country. Antioch has always been a champion of the terminally unique, for better and for worse, but it always managed to survive.

I do not see any great visionary leaders on the horizon. I wonder if Steve Lawry really gets the place? Obviously the doors are closing, so the right leadership has not been taken. How can you have Antioch without the College? It is the heart and soul of the organization. Monumental mistake to close the campus.

Antioch College is about this wonderful merging of ideal and place. There is an experimentation and a certain political banter, but there is a tradition of challenging, even renegade teachers (sometimes even administrators!) and characters that stay with you for the rest of your life. And there is the beauty of Yellow Springs, which has an air of the transcendental in its marrow. It is a tangible presence, connected to the natural world in which the campus and Village are merged. There is no Antioch without the Village of Yellow Springs and visa versa–I would hate to see them go their separate ways, if that were even possible.

Antioch has always been about character and place, not institutional conformity or curriculum or even academic rigor. It has been about exploring character and being challenged by characters to open oneself to character in oneself–for better and worse–and to the character of a place. It’s historical figures have taken on a certain, challenging, “epic” character. I have found it to be true that finding my own character, I can learn anything and reinvent myself over and over. This is the best that an American Liberal Arts training can offer. It is why all of us who have set foot on that campus do not forget it, even if we leave it, it stays with us.

However, to hear people talk about the same problems that we did in 1980’s–“the problem is the University” or the problem is the “never recuperating from the extremism of the late 1960’s and early1970’s”–I do not buy. This sounds like “dejavu, all over again”! We just keep spinning our wheels with the same old rhetoric. It seems there has not been the right combination of leaders to reinvent the place for the next generation. It is stagnating.

At the moment the news does not bode well. There have been other moments of bad news and the place survived. Bad news today. 28 years later, it appears the news has finally come, that the doors are closing. Sad for all of us whose characters have been formed in the crucible of Antioch College, it is our loss; and we know it to be a loss for American culture, as well.

I want to encourage the current students and staff to fight like hell to keep it open. Start your own campaign. Find your character and get it to stand up for its place. It is hard for me to imagine an American educational landscape without the place and character of Antioch.

I hope the board realizes that to cave into the current forces is a huge failure of charcter on its part and a poor excuse for leadership.

Sincerely,
Lesley A. Pownall Bahr, B.F.A. ’83
Ottertail, Minnesota

I have a really good contact with a McGregor/Antioch College student who would like to know what organizing steps to take to help with the Revival of the College. She says that many students at McGregor have other choices for degree completion/master’s degrees. They choose McGregor because of their connection to Antioch’s values. Let’s start the dialog.

Karen Kotiw

Announcement
Organizational Changes
February 28, 2007

I want to inform the Antioch College community of changes in the college’s organizational structure and leadership.

Early in the coming fiscal year, we will be combining the positions of Executive Vice President and Dean of Faculty. Rick Jurasek has served as
Executive Vice President since my arrival as President in January of last year. This was intended to be a transitional role. I announce today that
Rick will be leaving the College on June 30, 2007. I wish Rick the very best in his future endeavors.

Andrzej Bloch will continue to serve as Interim Dean of Faculty until June 30, 2007. Andrzej will be resuming his role of Director of Antioch Education Abroad from July 1, 2007.

Effective immediately, the College is consolidating the Offices of the Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Auxiliary Services under a single
Vice President for Student Affairs and Services. I have asked Milt Thompson, currently the Director of Auxiliary Services, to assume the role
of Vice President of Student Affairs and Services. Jimmy Williams is leaving his role as Dean of Students as of today. Jimmy has served the College with dedication in a number of roles over the years. I thank him for his service.

The College continues to vigorously focus on improving student recruitment, student retention and student achievement. These organizational changes underscore our commitment to these aims.

Steven Lawry
President,
Antioch College

Office of the President
795 Livermore Street
Yellow Springs, OH
45387
Telephone: 937-769-1260
Fax: 937-769-1288
slawry@antioch-college.edu

February 28, 2007

President Steven Lawry
Antioch College
Yellow Springs, OH

President Lawry,

We greet you in the name of reason and a shared concern for the
future of Antioch College. As past Community Managers, we have
invested a significant amount of energy into the development of the
College as one of this nation’s pre-eminent institutions of higher
education devoted to the critical education of young adults. In this
time of rampant militarism and threatened democracy, the historical
role that Antioch College has played as a refuge for non-
conformists, critical thinkers, and impassioned doers, is more
important now than ever. It is out of this deep love and respect for
our College, that we address you today.

Since your assumption of the Presidency of the College in the spring
of 2006, we have been increasingly troubled by the subtle and not so
subtle shift of the College towards a top-down corporatist culture.
Throughout your brief tenure, the time-honored traditions of open
community-wide deliberation and inclusion of the diverse segments
that make up the Antioch Community in the decision-making process,
have been radically assaulted and left gutted. As you claimed area
after area, issue after issue, as your sole executive realm, the
greater Antioch Community acquiesced in the hopes of a better
tomorrow. That tomorrow has not arrived.

Instead, the College is faced with continued financial instability,
an alienated student body, a faculty unsure of its future, and an
increasingly concerned network of alumni. Your latest decision to
restructure the area of Student Affairs, leading to the termination –
either temporary or permanent – of James Williams as the Dean of
Students, is indicative of the chronic mismanagement that has
characterized your young presidency. Time and time again, you have
either unilaterally or with the close counsel of an isolated and
inaccessible coterie of administrators, made decisions that not only
violate basic common sense, but that also hurt the College in whose
interest you are paid to work for.

This decision is also in line with a historical pattern at Antioch
College, namely the removal of persons of color from the College’s
employment. Antioch College has continuously failed to
systematically grapple with its institutional racism. This is a
shameful disgrace that no amount of pandering or misappropriation of
deceased alumnas of color can hide. The stark truth of who is first
to be fired speaks to the falsity of your words of racial justice at
the College.

Jimmy Williams has been an exemplar of a caring and nurturing
educator. At times, he has been the sole person universally trusted
by the Antioch Community. Very often, Jimmy was the only one willing
to go to bat for students. More importantly, he was always willing
to speak up for a fair and deliberative process. It would do you
well to reflect on the example Jimmy has left.

Once again, we find ourselves in the position of publicly denouncing
both your actions and the processes you used to reach your terribly
flawed decisions. Nevertheless, we appeal to what shred of reason
might exist within you, and ask that you reinstate not only Jimmy,
but also all of the valued community members whose very livelihood
you have threatened. We understand that the College’s finances are
in serious condition, but we firmly believe that the consequences of
financial mismanagement should be borne by those responsible for
those decisions. We ask that you personally take responsibility for
the financial situation of the College and reduce your pay. We also
ask that your fellow high administrators do the same. If the
direction of the College is the direction set by the President, we
ask that you be accountable for that direction, both in good times
and bad times.

To the dedicated faculty of Antioch College, we offer our support
and eternal gratitude for the invaluable guidance you provided us.
We hope that the College’s administration will live up to its
responsibilities and fully support your intellectual endeavors and
the teaching you do. We also hope that you will find your collective
voice and take the mantle of leadership that is rightfully yours.
The time for reflective action is now.

To the tireless employees of Antioch College, we offer our humble
thanks and acknowledge that you are the heart and soul of the
College. We hope that Antioch will continue to be an environment
that nurtures each and every one of you, which values your unique
contributions, and gives you the respect that you earn daily. We
also hope that you hold the administration accountable for their
disrespect and cowardice.

To the zealous student body, we offer you encouragement and
reflections from outside the bubble. The fight for the soul of
Antioch is yours to win or lose. Without you, there is no College.
We hope that each and every one of you will find creative and potent
ways to resist the erasure of Antioch’s unique culture. The time for
discussion is at an end. Only forceful and immediate action on your
part can stem the flooding purge of what we value and hold dear.

To the concerned alumni, we offer you our trust that you will
advocate for the values and culture that have made Antioch College
dear to our heart. We thank you for your continued service to the
College, and ask you to join us in holding President Lawry
accountable. We share your belief that positive changes are needed
at the College, but we do not believe that those sustaining changes
are possible with President Lawry or his band of insiders, at the
helm.

Despite our physical distance from Antioch, we remain bound to this
little college in Ohio by the sheer awe of what our time there did
to us. We are eternally grateful, and it is out of a fierce love
that we speak and act. We cannot and will not be silent as we see
everything we cherish and hold dear, stripped away from the College.
Our College. We hope that we can once again provide leadership to
our community, and begin an honest and serious conversation on the
future of the College. A conversation that is inclusive and not
driven by the narrow interests of the self-appointed guardians of
Antioch. If we truly value Antioch, if Antioch is worth keeping
around, then we must critically engage with the systemic problems of
the College. Let us begin that conversation now. Antioch is ours to
keep or lose.

In Love,

Shelby P. Chestnut `05, Community Manager 2005-2006

Daniel E. Solis `06, Operations Manager 2005-2006

Chad A. Johnston ’01, Community Manager 2001-2002