The Antioch College Comeback

Antioch College,Yellow Springs, Ohio

I graduated from Antioch in 1953. It had a good academic program, a working co-op work-study program, and a governance system that empowered all parts of the community. Most important, while there was a lot of freedom there, we spent a lot of time building community, so that it was a safe place to be. As Antioch is being resurrected, it will be important to make sure that all 3 parts of its educational structure are of the highest caliber. In addition, Antioch should be a model for respect for one another. This means structures for accomplishing this purpose. No one group of students should victimize other groups of students. Constructive diversity can be controlled by admission policies and campus life can also be constructive if the policies and methods for accomplishing this are established and enforced. From my observation of the alumni who accomplished the feat of helping Antioch to become independent of the University and to work towards reopening, I believe it is possible to create a new college that will retain the positive aspects of the former Antioch and avoid the negative aspects described by the former students above.

Joan Staples, Chicago, Illinois

Antioch College and its philosophy

I attended Antioch 1976-79. The school was so unstructured that the only real accomplishments were found through the co-ops, and 2 of my 3 co-ops were fantastic, enriching experiences. Unfortunately, the on-campus experience was exactly the opposite. There were few course offerings, virtually zero extra-curricular activities, rampant drug use, epidemic apathy, and viral man-hating feminists. So many students could not handle the lack of structure, the repeated back-and-forth movement to the co-op locations, the easily available drugs, the almost complete isolation from the real world, and the fact that you regularly lost contact with friends, that the turn-over rate was tremendous. And even if you could handle all of the above you probably found many of the people you befriended were forever lost. I suffer no tears over Antioch’s closure. The school took a tremendous amount of my money and gave me only two 3 month co-ops in return. I still have foul memories of the feminists and their malicious propaganda of lies spread through the school radio and newspaper. I was sickened that so many people, student and faculty, were unwilling to stand up to the spread of obvious falsehoods fomented by the feminist whose only apparent agenda was to demonized males. The lack of moral backbone Antioch displayed during my time is the primary reason I left Antioch and why I will not contribute one cent to the perpetuation of the philosophy for which it stands. I fully support the philosophy of open ideas and frank discussion, but not an environment of suppression so as to allow a minority a louder voice than the numbers of its members are entitled.

My memories of Antioch

My bittersweet (I'm being very kind here) memories of Antioch College are worth mentioning to anyone who will listen. The academic challenges of the college and the potential learning experience were in a sense, outweighed by a school and a student body that offered little direction and even less moral guidance. It is true that a person from a structured and advantaged background could do well here; but Antioch's penchant for unstructured, radical and leftist type belief systems attracted a strange group of people with little emotional or intellectual honesty in my opinion and even less honor. This lack of honor seemed to be upheld by the administrative forces as well.

The movement towards a radical minority-driven campus is, in my opinion, a disingenuous move towards appealing to a disenfranchised element and holds little promise for intellectual achievement. Rather it seems another swing at the activist past--a past that was summarily rejected by main stream America from the beginning and a past that the institution cannot seem to distance itself from. Rather than move towards a market driven institution the radical forces of confusion are moving in a predicatably rejectable fashion towards politically driven, rhetorical, socialistic crap which students with any connections in mainstream America quickly distance themselves from and if not, wind up in the trash heap of social experiences. Antioch College needs to turn its vision around but then again even Wharton is proud of its transexual, lesbian and whatever combination except hetero you can dream of--representation. So maybe when your daughter comes back looking like a truck driver and your son comes back in a dress you will crow that he/she/it is on the cutting edge of social experiences. I still think you're just weird--in general.

Antioch University

I am a student of Antioch University, not the college. I think a lot of alumni of the college give the Antioch University students a bad name because of the relationship between the two groups directors. It should be noted however, that the universities' students do try to uphold the values established by the central campus. I believe it is in the best interest of both the college and the University to remain tied together. The satellite campuses could provide a kind-of domestic travel abroad opportunity to the college students, while the University students could gain a center for pride/History/respect. In any event cutting programs apart from one another does not solve the problems, only hurts diversity and opportunity for broader education. I believe a majority of the Antioch University student body favors reestablishing the central college, but we are likened to supporters of corruption or evil for our affiliation. The differences does not lie between the students or the education, but rather the administrations. It is time the student organization came together and and stood up for another, but this approach was never utilized, instead we just get hate mail from the Antioch College Alumni. Lets just face the music and see that we need each others' support, no one wants to go to a school with no heritage and likewise no one can go to school with busted out water mains and run down buildings. It would have been easy enough for Antioch college students to continue their education through Antioch university campuses while the school is undergoing its overhaul - but no ... just hate hate hate ... A hypocritical reaction from Antioch college students. Time for peace and cooperation.

Antioch Comeback...

I fear that re-opening for traditional undergraduate liberal arts programs on the Antioch College campus by 2011 may be a real challenge. During the past winter, the Antioch University administration neglected building maintenance to the point that cast iron sprinkler pipes in the landmark Main Building were allowed to freeze and flood the buiding. Frankly the Antioch College Alumnae who have wanted to support the college but who did not have as much confidence in or interest in the Antioch University have a lot of healing to do befoe they can be expected to step up the way many hope they can. An earlier fundraising effort called the Antioch Independence Fund which tried unsuccessfully to achieve what appears to be the outcome of the current process years ago before Antioch College was "run into the ground" by the conflicts over scarce resources between the regional graduate schools and the central campus ended up giving away millions to secondary beneficiaries because a "deal" could not be negotiated. My take on the history is that Antioch after about 1969 suffered mightily from a syndrome I call "too many chiefs and not enough indians." It will be a real challenge to keep administrative overhead to a minimum so that programs of the "New" Antioch College can actually be funded.

Antioch College

I am so happy to see Antioch coming back. For some reason the administration of Antioch University assumed that if you aid the demise of the mother the children will forget in due time. Well, we didn't forget and we will never forget.

The next step by the Antioch College alums should be as was suggested in 1978 is too sue the University to prohibit it from further denigration of the name "Antioch". Perhaps, we should contemplate this action once Antioch College is reestablished and taken her rightful place as the "mother" of the Antioch University's satellite centers or as I like to refer to them as the "lost children."

If it hasn't done so already the new Antioch College should ensure that it takes back all of its symbols, memorabilia and any other material that is unique to the college. The City of Cleveland did so after its football team slithered out of town.

Long live Antioch College!!

Famous alumnae

Great news about the resurection of the College. Don't forget another famous alumnus, Rod Serling of the Twilight Zone.

So much suffering and loss...

...for what ends up amounting to a paltry $6 million. I don't know whether to be angry or relieved. I'll choose the latter

Antioch College

Antioch gave me real life learning experiences, although it always seemed to be spreading itself too thin. I too think it went outside of it's scope way too much, and believe one should always "Pay attention to the knitting" first. That being said, I admire the perseverance and dedication of the group that has worked so hard to make this happen. It is also the first time that I feel that alumni are really involved in a broad way. Let's try to keep our energy directed on first things first, getting it solid, and thinking about what makes it special and stand out. Also, we do have to keep in mind that the 60's dorms I knew, with no ameneties, no a/c etc. are really not going to attract today's best and brightest students who have so many other options. We were a stand out in the 60's, when I was there, and need to think about what will make that happen again. What a majestic feat!

Great News

In times like these, we need colleges like Antioch more than ever. The challenges faced by the world today can only be met by the kind of education Antioch and other progressive institutions provide.