To read the full transcript download PDF: pavel_curtis_interview_transcript

Interview by Rose Pelzl

Why did you agree to be a Pro Tem board member?

[...] this opportunity to recreate what Antioch should always have been. [...] An institution that encourages young people to think for themselves, to backup their ideas with actual rigor and, and to appreciate the conflicting ideas of others. [...] We have this great combination of an institution with a great legacy and at the same time has a pause in which we can really catch our breath and do what’s right without having to keep it running day to day.
[...] I didn’t want to disappoint anybody with my being on the board. I didn’t want people to assume that I had great buckets of money that I could give the college. I didn’t want anybody to assume that I had great huge amounts of time that I could give on a day to day basis to the college. So I think those were the two biggest concerns. [...] And they insisted. [...] they basically reassured me that I wasn’t going to be disappointing anybody. [...] So I agreed because I am very excited about the whole possibility of what we’re doing. And I resisted because I didn’t want to let anybody down.

By John Hempfling and Jeanne Kay

Steve Schwerner’s Report on Visiting Team

The first Alumni Board meeting of the year opened morning of Friday the 6th with a presentation by Antioch Emeritus Professor Steve Schwerner, who was representing the delegation if educators who came to Nonstop and reported on their visit to the Board Pro Tempore. [link to Record article on visit] Schwerner said he expected that everyone had already read the eight-page report, [Link to the Report] and preferred to answer questions from the floor rather than reiterate the points made on paper. He specified that he would be unable to answer “questions of speculative nature,” since he was not in a position to answer them, and stipulated that he could only speak for himself.

Schwerner, however, stated that the Visiting Team was “impressed on every level; we were impressed by the seriousness of the faculty, by the excitement of the students, the innovations, the ability to make something out of nothing.” Yet he emphasized that despite the unquestionable value of Nonstop, it was too early to assess how it would be reintegrated into the new college; “to lose everything that Nonstop has done seems foolish, to incorporate everything is impossible.”

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Mente, Lauren Soldano, and Iveta Jusova about their experiences on the Summer 08 Antioch Education Abroad Women’s Studies Program. Emily is a third year student at Antioch / Nonstop from Pittsburgh. Lauren is a second year Antioch / Nonstop student from Hamilton, Ohio. Iveta Jusova has led the Women’s Studies Abroad Program for the past five years, and currently teaches at Nonstop.

About the program:

Iveta: This program was created by Antioch College Women’s s Studies faculty in 1984. Marianne Welchel and Jean Gregorek are some of the College faculty who have been involved in developing and improving the WGSE program over the years. The structure of the program is wonderfully conducive to combining classroom academics and experiential learning. I love the constant back and forth between theory and practice on the program.

Emily: It is a thirteen week program. You take four classes:
Situated Feminism, Feminist Methodologies, Feminist Theory, and an independent research project. This year, we started in Utrecht in the Netherlands. The program starts out wherever the NOISE Summer School conference is which is a two-week program on European Women’s Studies. From there we went to Krakow, Poland, and from there to Prague, then to Berlin, and back to Utrech for two weeks. Then we flew to Istanbul where we spent ten days, and then back to Utrech. It was quite a trip.

So what year and major are you?
I’m a fourth year and I’m going to get my BS in physics.

What are you doing for your senior project?
I’m designing a circuit that relates to resistance to temperature.  It’s kind of abstract right now because I haven’t really done anything on it. So I guess when that day comes that I have to present it is when I will know what my senior project is.  Until then there’s not much I can say on it.

Yea there’s a lot of people who are stressed out about their SP. People don’t seem to know what they’re doing.
I mean the school is closing and that puts such a burden on all of my academics. It just freaks me out. 

Dear Antioch Students,

During these last difficult months, we have watched many of you hard-working, intelligent, courageous young people with delight and pride. We want you to know that you are not alone in your struggle. We, members of the Yellow Springs community, are also working in good faith (sometimes to exhaustion) to save our beloved Antioch College. Our commitment is strong, for our lives are deeply intertwined with the College. We, or our family members, have worked at the College; faculty and staff and their families are our friends; we, ourselves, are Antiochians or could have been, as we, like you, have a commitment to the historic vision and values of Antioch College.
We know in these last months you have found valuable friends and found from faculty and staff deep concern and inspiration. Many good and brave things have occurred even during this time of great duress. So we ask you, if you are able, to please hold on.
While it would be prudent to develop a backup plan, we want you to know that this important fight for the College is not yet over and that the struggle for its survival is dependent on many of you choosing to stay. By staying, you will not only learn in your area of study, you will also continue to learn what is possible when people work together towards a good and powerful vision. You must know how very important an Antioch College education is. Author Rita Mae Brown, when she spoke at an Antioch Commencement, called Antioch College the “point of the arrow” among progressive institutions of higher learning. To quote Antioch alumni, Dan Shoemaker, whose recent email is making wide circulation, “Antioch’s traditional educational model (based on the three pillars of community, academics, and co-op) has among the most robust and enviable outcomes of any college in the country.”