I think that getting the Trustees to agree to lift the suspension is a great victory, and one that should not be downplayed. True, it’s not over yet. Perhaps the best way to articulate our situation is that we’ve cleared the first hurdle. But it’s also the hurdle we had to clear before we can get to any of the other hurdles.
As for the future of the college? I don’t know. There are a lot of factors—such as recruitment (a word I detest for its military connotation, by the way), curriculum, financial exigency, and where the power will go when the College has it’s own board—that could still cause us serious trouble. As I see it, it all comes down to how the Board of Trustees intends to handle these issues.
“But I’m also an optimist. I think we’ll manage it, with the Trustees and despite them”
In the best-case scenario, the Trustees act in good faith, and it’s just a matter of digging ourselves out of this hole we’ve found ourselves in. (And never mind who put us there.) Not an easy task by any means, but then again, isn’t the whole point of Antioch to challenge ourselves?
In the worst-case scenario, the Trustees act in bad faith, and this whole deal has just been a scam to appease the activists (and grab some extra cash for the University). In that case, the Board will mess things up so badly that they’re “forced” to reinstate the suspension. In which case, I guess, we go through this whole thing all over again.
My own personal opinion is that the reality of the situation sits somewhere in-between. I think the Trustees, as a whole, want to keep the college open. They just have their own ideas about the best way to do that, some of which may not be as great ideas as they think they are.
So yeah, I think we’re going to have even more trouble than is strictly necessary at this point in getting Antioch turned around. But I’m also an optimist. I think we’ll manage it, with the Trustees and despite them. And once we’ve done that, we should not be ashamed to die, for we shall know that we have already won a victory for humanity.
Lincoln Alpern, 1st Year Student