The Antioch community welcomes Dr. Dana Patterson, our new director of the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom. A graduate of Berea College, Dr. Patterson was chosen from among sixty plus applicants. She will replace Beverly Rodgers, who served as interim director of the center for the past year.
Category: Front Page
Articles from the front page.
Steak & Sustainability: Adventures with Steve Lawry in Berea’s Eco Village
By Paige Clifton Steele
After 187 miles and four separate conversational uses of the word “keenâ€, Steve and I arrived at the hotel. He parked his 2006 Toyota Prius (tan, with a tastefully colored console that told us how much energy we had consumed on the drive) and we stepped out into the crisp December air. Together, we were there at Berea College of Berea, Kentucky, to investigate the limitless possibilities of sustainable energy. Continue reading Steak & Sustainability: Adventures with Steve Lawry in Berea’s Eco Village
CSK Center Candidate Visits Campus
In its search for a new director, the Coretta Scott King Center (CSKC) for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom conducted its first interview on campus last Tuesday with candidate Dana Patterson. Two more candidates are expected.
The director’s job description is ambitious. He or she must serve as a special assistant to the president on institutional diversity. He or she must also sit on the presidential staff group in order to ensure that when the cabinet discusses campus issues, the importance of diversity is a part of the conversation. In addition to that, the director must raise funds for the CSKC. Continue reading CSK Center Candidate Visits Campus
Car Accident Injures Five Antioch Students
By Paige Clifton-Steele
On Monday, October 9th, at 7:30 PM, a Jeep grand Cherokee carrying five Antioch students collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Leffels Lane and Dayton- Xenia road. Jessica Davis, Tony Colella, Vanessa Little, and Hannah and Emma Woodruff were heading back to campus when, according to witnesses, the other vehicle ran a red light and hit them as they pulled into the left turn lane. The other driver was a woman whom witnesses reported seeing talking on a cell phone at the time of the crash.
The car carrying the Antioch students was knocked in a semicircle by the collision, but all five students made it out. Vanessa, whose door was impacted, was helped out by a bystander. “If you saw what the car looked like afterwards, you would think we were all dead,� says Emma, third year.
Several people who witnessed the accident stopped to help people in both cars, and to call for help. The first ambulance arrived within minutes.
The students all suffered injuries and were taken to Community Hospital. Hannah suffered two broken ribs, Vanessa for whiplash, Jessica a bruised sternum, Tony a burn on his hand, and all were treated for various scrapes and cuts. The woman in the other car suffered a broken ankle. Though shaken, the student say that they are recovering quickly. All were discharged within hours of their arrival.
Asked how she is dealing with the aftermath, one of the student’s replied, “Pain. Drugs. Beer. Beer is really helpful, and I think it’s a lot better than taking opiates.� Vanessa’s mother came from Springfield to see her, while Jessica’s mother and brother, who live in Fairborn, visited her the next day.
“It was really surreal,� says Anthon. “I was like ‘that car’s gonna stop. That car’s not coming towards us. We had a green light, I saw it.’�
They have since interviewed and settled on a lawyer.
The students would like to thank the community for being so supportive. In particular, Emma would like to thank Vanessa and Jessica for letting her sleep in their rooms. Tony would like to thank Katie for coming to get them. Jessica would like to thank Hannah for washing her hair. Hannah would like to thank Jay for helping her get out of bed every day, and Steve Lawry for not disrupting her recuperation with any calls, emails, or get-well cards.
ComCil in Crisis
Row Over RAB Leads to Tears and Tyranny
Like an endless Greek tragedy, last week’s Comcil was yet again fueled by the RAB discussion. In an effort to give the paper tiger its claws back, the council for the first time did not talk about REB, but fully focused on the revival and restructuring of the excising advisory board instead.
The meeting began with a quick update by the Subcommittee on Community Learning Structures, which was formed on October 12th in reaction to a memo that President Lawry had presented in Adcil several weeks ago. In the memo he outlined his views on the tasks and position of several community organs, including Comcil and AdCil. The sub-committee has taken on the job to research the history of all organs and find out whether the President’s standpoints reflect the function they were originally endowed with. In its first update, the committee briefly mentioned how it divided its chores and what sources it will consult, including Antiochiana and former presidents of the college.
The subject quickly moved on to the ongoing RAB discussion, in an effort to find workable solutions for some of the problems that were addressed by the initiators of the proposal for an editorial-board. ComCil shot down a revised REB-proposal authored by the Vice president, the Dean of Faculty and the CM two weeks ago. Instead the members voted in favor of a motion to restructure the existing Record Advisory Board.
The revised proposal had failed to win over hearts in ComCil, because the adjustments to the original were too minimal and general questions concerning the accountability of the board prevailed with the members. REB was thus off the table for the first time since the debate about the need for an editorial board started four weeks ago, leaving room to fully concentrated on ideas to bring more representation in to RAB without taking away to much of the power dynamics in the advisory body.
Some members were asking where the Dean of students and the Vice president were in this discussion, as they had been shining with absence since the original REB proposal was tabled 3 weeks ago. In the mean time the proposal had been rejected and a motion had brought about a constructive discourse to enhance the quality of advice presented to the Community’s newspaper. So far, the veto of REB elicited no reaction from the president’s office. Following the “no news is good newsâ€? motto, ComCil stoically continued its move towards reforming RAB, by further elaborating the tabled motion with concrete suggestions to add two extra faculty seats to the existing board and introducing staggered two year appointments for non-student members. Brainstorming and discussion, however, quickly turned into tears and anger after Record co-editor Luke Brennan returned from the President’s office with an unexpected letter from the Dean of Faculty. In the letter, (found on the back of this issue) both Brennan and co-editor Foster Neill are addressed personally, in what Bloch calls “a final admonition that the Antioch Record not be a platform for menacing and threatening speech.” In the letter, Bloch calls into question the extent to which both editors are taking seriously the educational purposes of their co-op experience and their obligations as a paid employee of the College. Brennan, who read the letter to ComCil calmly, took a minute for himself after putting down the paper. Vice-president Jurasek, who had just walked in to the meeting about half way into the letter, took seat in the back to listen. After a ! clear moment of silence, it is CM Levi B. Cowperwhite who first speaks up, addressing Jurasek personally: “I’m pissed! Why wasn’t this taken to RAB? Why is this system so unimportant to you? We fight for what we love, we think it’s important. We talk about it all the time. It means nothing to you. This is what we work so hard for every day. That’s what makes leaders, Rick. What are you teaching us?” He pauses for a second, but doesn’t get the desired answer. “You are skipping every educational moment here. By writing this letter and not bringing this to RAB. What makes you think you’re so damn important? And I mean you Rick! I know this is also you.â€? The CM takes moment, before he continues: “We’re trying to make it better, we’re trying to safe this unsavable thing. You don’t care. We’re just a bunch of crazy kids to you. You don’t care that we’re loving and thoughtful kids who care for this. I have no respect for you any more. Respect is something you have to earn. And you did nothing today to earn that. “
For a moment the room went silent, nobody knowing what to say. Many stared down at the table in front of them in silence, glancing up briefly at the person sitting on the opposite side of the table. The chairwoman cried, and she wasn’t the only one. After this unexpected speech concluded a somber silence filled the room. A member of the Alumni Board that attended the meeting as a guest was clearly affected by what she had just seen.
It was Jurasek’s turn to break the silence. “Well, I’m slightly surprised. I thought I was going to come here to reform RAB. I can’t comment on what’s in the letter, since I didn’t write it, but I guess it isn’t necessarily widely unrelated. Does that sound understandable? There are often separate tracks to things. And they sometimes seem to contradict each other, they don’t necessarily. We still have to work on how we manage editorial policy. I want to work to reconfigure RAB, parallel to the letter, that is separate but not widely unrelated.
This eloquence seemed to strain the heads of the burned out ComCil members slightly. It had been an emotional meeting and everybody was eager to leave and get some fresh air. Cigarette consumption was again at its peak after the meeting was adjourned. Several parties at the meeting seemed to be going into a private second round afterwards, as issues were clearly not resolved for all. “ComCil does RAB� act 6: in a theatre near you, as this paper goes to print.
On a more positive note, the RAB debate has opened up a wider discussion and growing interest for the Advisory Board meetings. In a meeting of the board held in the Record office last Friday, RAB appeared vigorous and eager. Community and ComCil members joined the dialogue with editors, writers and members of RAB about last week’s paper; an encouraging sight after the gloomy ComCil departure the day before. To keep the progress going, all community members are encouraged to join this weeks RAB meeting, Friday at noon in the Antioch Inn.