By Jeanne-Kay

Research: Brian Springer, Kathryn Leahey, Jeanne Kay

Prelude: The Discourse of Toxicity

“Toxic Culture.” Steve Lawry’s infamous phrase is now part of the vocabulary of virtually all Antiochians. The year before the Antioch University Board of Trustees (UBoT) resolved to close the college, the key political issue on campus and the polemic that reached alumni revolved around the question of Toxic Culture–whether there was one, how it manifested itself, how to fix it or how to debunk its myth.

To alumni whose only contact with the community in years had been filtered through Media and University intermediaries, “toxic culture” meant a steady decline in academic excellence and increased political narrowness from their time at Antioch onwards; to conservative reporters, “toxic culture” came to be the perfect excuse to write diatribes against political correctness at liberal arts colleges; and to many observers “toxic culture” was a perfect shortcut to explaining how Antioch College had found itself in such an incomprehensibly dire situation: Antioch students were narrow-minded, unstable, out of control–they chased away new students, driving down retention and preventing Antioch from achieving financial stability. The toxic culture narrative made sense–and it was useful.

Antioch is a place that I will never forget and that I will always remember. As a spiritual person I now know that it is God (whatever name you choose to give him/her) who blessed me with the know-with-all to choose Antioch College and to complete my undergraduate education. It was an American education unique to liberal arts education in America. To this day I cannot thank my human ancestors who preceded me in the Civil Rights Movement and the Abolition Movement before it at Antioch College in little old Yellow Springs Ohio. I neither am prepared to let go or to say good-bye. It is a sincere prayer of mine that Antioch College remains open and that the Board of Trustees and the Antioch College Continuation Corporation agree to such an autonomous agreement.
I did not know as a teenager entering Antioch College that I’d settle down in Yellow Springs Ohio nor that I’d enjoy working with students, faculty, staff, and administration of Antioch College as an adult well into my thirties. Yet it is true. Here I stand having been impacted by and hopefully at my best impacted Antioch College in miraculous ways only God could conjure up. Now it is important to me that all you agnostics and people that do not believe in God out there not right me off as a televangelist or evangelical Christian with the Christian Right or something.

To My Beloved Community,

Here at The Antioch Record we have all
worked through sleepless nights and blurry
days to produce an assortment of articles that
will hopefully encompass the values, concerns
and spirit of the community. But, to make this
truly a COMMUNITY publication we are in
need of input for the entire community (this
means you staff and faculty). There are a lot of
tough issues we are trying to sort out with sour
or minimal conversation between different
sections of campus. I propose that we utilize
The Record to voice our thoughts and opinions
in a transparent, positive forum to work towards
fi nding a middle ground. In order to have the
ideal Antioch Community we always speak
of, we must fi rst start acting like a community
in general, which means equal participation.
Seriously, do we all enjoy running around
being angry with each other all the time? I
hope not. If we cannot speak constructively of
these confl icts then we surly cannot solve them.
Lets all talk, learn from each other, and save
Antioch for the love of god!

Love & Respect,
Kari Thompson
Content Editor
Spring 2007

David Bishkoff
Layout Editor
Spring 2007