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.

Privilege, Power, and Sharpies
To my fellow first years:

This is a letter to inform you that the anti-Toni/Andrzej propaganda that has been scrawled across the walls of North is not okay. It is not okay to vandalize the private space we share. Does anyone remember last term? Does anyone remember how upset several first years got because they felt that their personal space had been invaded? Then why is this hostile behavior toward our building happening again? I can guarantee that most first years don’t want to be fined several hundred dollars because some of us can’t keep the lids on our sharpies when we get frustrated.
I understand being upset. Antioch has been a haven to most of us. It is our home, and we want it to remain our home, and some big, bad authority is telling us to vacate. This is worth the yelling. It is worth real action. Let’s not cheapen our passion with scribbles of crudely formed sentences in our living rooms. How often does Toni take a stroll through North? When do you think she’ll see these opinions? The fact is that the only people who will ever see these displays of outrage are tenants and the people who have to clean it up.

by Alex Mette

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.” – Martin Luther King Jr., December 11, 1964

The following story comes from a book by Scott Sanders: Antioch: An Episode in History, it can be viewed along with many others, in their entirety, at the Olive Kettering Library.

The December 8, 2007 Record (recordonline.org) reports that Lynda Sirk used the computer of another college employee in her absence to remove the Common Application from Antioch College’s admissions website and alter the admissions webpage under that employee’s name. This clearly violates Antioch College computer policy. As members of the Antioch College Alumni Association Board, we express outrage at this unethical act that seems designed to undermine progress toward revitalizing the College. We demand that University leadership offer Antioch College faculty, students, and alumni a full explanation and take immediate steps to rectify harm that this has caused.

• Susan Opotow
• Terry Blackhawk
• Don Wallace
• Sheila Richmond
• Tim Eubanks
• Michael Heffernan
• Gary Houseknecht
• Ellen Borgersen
• John Dawson
• Ed Goldson
• Tendaji Ganges
• Martin Fried
• Joe Foley
• Kristen Pett
• Christian Feuerstein
• Dave Thelen
• Tim Klass

This term, the Record wouldn’t have come to life without our extroaordinary staff who worked with  a (nearly) unfaltering dedication to write articles on time on top of overcredits, busy schedules and other nonstop Antioch activities.

We thank warmly:
Sally for never needing a reminder, Alex for the amazing centerfolds,photos, and time, Sarah for her instituional knowledge, Levi for teaching us so much (!!) Paige for not letting us forget her, Eva for the hours  and the lastminute breakfasts, Zach for all his unpublished op-eds, Ben for the popularityscopes sometimes done in extreme circumstances, AJ for jumping on board so late and getting it so fast, Stacey for her efforts, Billy for managing to make community meeting reports actually entertaining, Kathryn for crossing state borders, Natalie for volunteering, Carl for making us see beyond the bubble, Tommy for being so reliable, Miyuki for her breathtaking bravery, Diana for her journalistic talents, Yuko for her literary mastery and delightul late night playlists, Bryan for his time in the office (Utley for Congress in ‘08!), and Mish for being so unbashedly herself and letting it show in her articles.

We also thank all the alumni who have contributed to the Record, by sending contributions, gifts, or letters of support

We thank passionately:
Rowan Kaiser for his unfaltering presence on layout nights
Laura Fathauer for knowing more about Antioch than the whole University Leadership combined
Jonathan Platt for his warm presence
Matt Baya and his webteam for getting the Record online every week
Christian Feuerstein without whom there would have been no first issue
Tim Noble for “being really great”
Michael Casselli, …he’ll know why.