Month: October 2006

From The Editors 10-13-06

20061020-luke.jpgDear Community,

Friday the 13th has reared its ugly head in October this year, 699 years to the day from the when this date first earned its infamy. Some of you may notice the shield of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon adorning this week’s masthead, and the last words of the Grandmaster above it all. You may also notice a strange, breasted goat somewhere within the pages of this week’s issue. The creature is a Baphomet*, which some contend is a representation of the Mother Goddess, and it is the worship of this icon which led to the arrest, torture, and execution of hundreds of Templar Knights in France on Friday, October 13th 1307.

I cannot elaborate to deeply on the mythos of Friday the 13th, but I thought it important to mention the original events behind the superstition we observe today, and to provide some context for the symbolism found in this issue. If you want to learn more, or if you want to wildly hypothesize about the fate of the Templar treasure, I’ll be glad to talk your ear off.

Good Luck today community,

Luke C. Brennan, esq.

20061020-foster.jpgDear Community, I want to start by apologizing for the end of last week’s letter. I understand how it is offensive, and for that I am sorry.

I also want to clarify that letters to the community to editors can be anonymous. Also, we do not censor DeClassifieds. The Haiku format does not limit what you can say, only how you say it – i.e. 17 syllable tercets. We do accept multiple, related Haiku and will do our best to print them in the order we get them.

I want to thank everyone who has been working for the Record this term. You’ve all been great. Also, I want to thank those students who have been elected to AdCil and ComCil for their dedication. Finally, thanks is due to the community for the support given to the Record.

Not much space left for me to fill here. I have laundry to do.

Foster Neill
Layout Editor

A New Acronym: CSKC Prepares to Open its Doors

By Madeline Helser 

Coretta Scott King once said, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members…â€? and it holds true today, especially when applied to our institution.

Construction is slated for completion on the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom, designed to enhance knowledge and awareness about cultural identity in our community and beyond. It aims to educate future generations about cultural struggles and focus on how, as a community, to increase the unity among the different cultural identities.

The CSK Center was the notion of Bob Devine and Team 7. Team 7 was part of the renewal plan for Antioch College given to us by the Board of Trustees. The idea for the center was motivated by an essay written by Dr. Everett Freeman on some of Dr. King’s writings on community. Dr. Freeman was then on the Board of Trustees, and is now the President of the University of Indianapolis. It was in the renewal plan that Team 7 would articulate some sort of center for cultural and intellectual freedom. Out of the plan and the mind of Team 7 and Bob Devine, The CSK Center was born.

After a few weeks on the project, Bob Devine resigned, and Beverly Rodgers became the chair of Team 7. Team 7 was one of the most diverse teams working on the renewal. The team had good community representation; students, staff, and faculty were all represented in a very diverse manner. The team created job descriptions for Diversity positions within the administration.

The positions created were Director/ Diversity Advisor to the President of the College and Administrative Assistant/Diversity Advocate. “The position of Director is loaded with responsibilities, including fundraising, which will be important to the Center’s programming and future staffing. The new director will also need to be visionary, and carry out projects and ideas to better inform and engage the community. They will also serve as a special assistant to the president on institutional diversity; this is crucial to the retention and recruitment of faculty, staff, and students of color. We are a very white campus, especially in the upper-administrative positions, and the Director will hopefully be able to assist with this problem as they sit in the President’s staff group and bring in resources to support faculty, staff, and students of color.� Says Lauren Hind, an upperclassmen working for the Center. As of now, they are in the process of interviewing and hiring an administrative assistant and are in the last steps of hiring a director, which includes visits to campus and talks given by the three candidates in the Inn during Lunch.

When Steve Lawry was hired as President, things were not flowing together very smoothly, so Beverly Rodgers was asked to step in as Interim Director for the Project. Beverly’s job is to oversee the entire renovation of the building that used to be used and known as the G-Space and Security. From overseeing the installation of the carpet to the programs hopefully being set into place, Beverly deals with it all. The main part of Beverly’s job as Interim Director is to organize. She is to get all of the little things out of the way so when the Director starts in early January, the little things will be out of the way and the director will be able to start their job right away. She also has staff meetings with the people that are going to be occupying the new offices in the CSK. Until now, the groups to occupy those offices have had no direct supervision. She is also to get a handle on the budget for the CSK Center. The CSK Center, until just recently, has had no direct monetary support.

The As far as physical changes to the building, the laundry equipment was removed, which included the floor having to be leveled, the electricity taken out, and the walls needing to be repaired and painted. The rest of the building was carpeted and painted as well. It is now being wired for Computers and Internet Access. There are new doors on the front and main entrance and the fireplace is being replaced from a wood burning type to one with gas logs. There are going to be 8 offices set up. The director, the administrative assistant will occupy two of the offices. The other offices will be for the Bonner program, the Makeit program, Vista Americorps, and the community engagement office. The office furniture has already been ordered and should be in by the week of October 16. Once the furniture is in the building, everything should be set within 2 weeks. The Lounge furniture for the common room, formerly known as the G-Space, won’t be in, however, until the middle of November.

As far as programs in the future, Beverly has positive outlooks. “Antioch has a lot to offer our community. But sometimes we get very hidden under a bushel basket. Let’s look at how privilege plays out in the outside world. We need to continue dialogue about it. It’s an important facet of education.� A goal is to be able to have a good developed program for next term. A positive step was bringing Allen Johnson to campus, as he opened up the arena for discussion on topics of cultural identity on a new level.

She has in mind a program educating about Youth Urban Violence, specifically in the Dayton area. It would be for volunteer work or for co-op. Beverly believes that it would be a wonderful way to expand students’ ability to connect with the area.

Another possible program would be focused on immigration. “ I feel like immigration is something that people just do not know much about,� said Rodgers, “we have so many opportunities to interact and focus on what we already have.� The aspects of things like availability of healthcare, work, and ESL courses are important to the immigration issue. There are so many struggles associated with it that it is very much linked to cultural and intellectual freedom. Beverly remarked, “Allen provided good grounds for discussion of that once again. To be able to express culture freely and respectfully, you have to be empowered. It doesn’t necessarily have to be regional or national, but we can look at it on a smaller level, because in some way, it all connects.�

Overall, The Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom is headed in the right direction. “I went to Atlanta to talk to Mrs. King, and I feel we have a serious responsibility that we do honor her name. She expanded on Dr. King’s ideology with the fight for the rights of women and gay’s as well as supporting HIV research. She was courageous and forceful, yet elegant. A truly amazing person,� said Beverly.

There will be an opening celebration for the center sometime in the spring of next year. The orchestra will play and alumni will flood Kelly Hall. It will be a celebration of cultural freedom and diversity. As Beverly said, “We may be small, but we’re pretty mighty!� We can accomplish anything we put our minds to, and the King Center is solid proof of that.

Letter from Elizabeth Collier

Dear President Lawry,

As a third year transfer I have not had the same experience with “old� Antioch but I know what has impressed me about this place for the last 6 years and what disturbs me about these changes. Personally I feel a sense of betrayal. Admissions compiles a group of students who are independent and looking to change the world, regardless of what political leanings they may have. The school has always been rightly advertised as a place that is different – not just academically but socially. It seems now that group is assembled and our voices are quieted in order to make the school more appealing to the general population. It seems that our talent, energy and idealism is stifled and that we are not trusted enough to guide the direction of our education. The self-designed curriculum is present, yes, but a college education is more than that. We grow and learn to “shape our surroundings,� to quote the current website.

My roommate brought to my attention that so much of this process has been marked with what is wrong with the school and how the culture is driving people away. Why isn’t the focus on what brings people to Antioch rather than reinventing a long respected process? Bastardizing the school to attract the masses is not the way to bring glory to Antioch. Great schools are not recognized because they have huge numbers attending, they are respected because of the quality of the education and the opportunities available to students.

Despite how idealistic I may sound I understand that schools are in fact businesses. I understand that to continue running and offer those opportunities that bring respect that school must be properly funded. However I believe that in the long run more value will come from being a place of continued principle. Students will be attracted to a school that recognizes their competence and alumni will be more likely to feel a connection to (and donate to) the school that continues to use the methods and values they learned from.

Finally, it seems to me that imposing your will upon a culture that is so thoroughly resistant is an unnecessary waste of energy. Perhaps you believe that future students will expect less involvement in their government so this conflict will be short lived. Why exactly are you so publicly defiant of these long held beliefs? Any business, Antioch included, must answer to those who pay the bills, or risk irrelevance.

Elizabeth Collier

@THE VIDEO STORE “A Prairie Home Companion�?

20061013-prairie.jpgw/ F/ Stop Fitzgerald

Shot in High-Def video by auteur director Robert Altman, A Prairie Home Companion is the big budget version of what Garrison Keillor has staged for years…his very last show. This time, though, he augmented actual folksy singers and performers with actors who do a better job. To be fair, there are several cameras on the set at any time during these performances performed “live,�? as it were, so the regular radio personalities had little chance at competing with the seasoned camera targets; GK himself appeared the most natural, even though he (maybe)played a caricature of himself.

Since the movie plays out as a false history (and not documentary style at al), it’s no wonder why certain fantastic and outrageous elements were incorporated. A woman in a white trench coat walking around backstage turns out to be a ghost, originally killed by Garrison’s maiming of a joke about penguins. She comes to symbolically kill off the show, as well as its oldest patron, and finally the Axeman who is responsible for the troupe losing its Theatre. This last hit is anticlimactic revenge, for in the end the show goes on and ends, the set is striked and Guy Noir plays a sad piano lullaby, which transitions to a diner scene with the main cast talking about “putting the show on road�? and such, when all of a sudden…

President Lawry Shows His Teeth

By Wesley Dawson

At the AdCil meeting Tuesday October Tenth School President Steve Lawry began discussion with a document entitled “Principles of a Community Learning Structure.� Presumably written by Lawry himself, the page subtitled as a “Draft for Discussion� had all statements and no questions. Community members present at the meeting found the document demonstrative of the President’s desire to change to a more top down school power structure that negates decision making shared governance once had.

The bite in the document seems to be that even though Lawry has been instigating what many older students see as unprecedented change on the school, it is written as an explanation of policy rather than a proposal for change. Lawry’s point is to say that the community government never had any real power beyond advising the real decision maker, himself.

The document asserts that the purpose of shared governance is purely educational, preparing students to “be effective in public life and to represent their views and values convincingly in public affairs after leaving college.� This is not unlike Student Government models in many other colleges where students hold no power beyond fund raising and throwing parties. One purpose this parallel serves to the perspective of a newer student like myself is to say that Antioch is, and always has been, structured the same way as any other college in the country.

Many students, some of whom who have been at the college longer than the President, disagree with the statements in his document. They say that while the President of the school holds the official power, they have historically taken heed of the community’s wishes and made decisions as a representative rather than an authority. This point of view shared by many members of the community asserts that until the current president, governing power was shared under shared governance.

Teachers present at the meeting were noted as saying that the ability to utilize real power allows students a better opportunity for learning to be “effective in public life� because it allows them to do so as students instead of just “after leaving college.�

The document does not refer directly to Steve Lawry but rather to a theoretical President but also includes statements like, “Faculty have in recent years gained greater direct responsibility for curricular matters. This is a welcome and healthy trend and it should continue,� which, aside from the date, is the only part that shows that Lawry himself wrote the document, and recently. The rest could have been a policy set out years ago by the school administration were it to always have the absolute power Lawry asserts it to have.

According to the President, “AdCil’s role is advisory to the President and the administration� and ComCil is “a place of discussion and debate on community matters� not “an alternative locus of authority to the President, the administration or the faculty.� Older students say that while the President’s statements may correspond to how the school policy is written, it is a new interpretation of that policy that does not take account of how school decision-making has historically worked at Antioch.

If that is the case, the student body faces the question of whether the decree of authority is more important than the ideals of community. President Lawry has already considered this question and made up his mind.