ExCil

Committees Form to Tackle Transition Issues

On Friday, April 3rd, ExCil appointed to the Alumni Board Taskforce Molly Thorton of Class of ’10, staff member Carole Braun and Chris Hill of the Executive collective. The Alumni Board representatives have not been appointed yet. The Taskforce is a result of the March 7th the Alumni Board resolution “to foster collaboration and build consensus with representatives of the key stakeholders… Nonstop, the Board Pro Tem, and the Alumni Board.” The Taskforce was charged to develop the proposal presented by Nonstop to the Alumni Board so it could be presented to the Board Pro Tem. The Pro Tem Board has subsequently declared that they will not be sending representatives to the Taskforce, because “part of the board should not be involved in making a proposal to themselves,” according to Matthew Derr.

Matthew Derr, Community Meeting April 7th

Meanwhile, TAG (Transition Advisory Group) met for the first time Tuesday, April 7th. Appointed by Matthew Derr, TAG currently includes student Jeanne Kay, Community Manager Chelsea Martens, Faculty Jean Gregorek, Executive Collective member Hassan Rahmanian, staff person Joan Meadows, Head of Alumni Relations Aimee Maruyama, Alumni Board member Ellen Borgersen, and Yellow Springs Village Council President Judith Hempfling. At the Tuesday meeting TAG defined its charge: “The Transition Advisory Group will work to facilitate communication between stakeholders in Yellow Springs and in the larger Antiochian community during the transition towards an independent Antioch College. It will advise Chief Transition Officer Matthew Derr for the Pro Tem Board.”

“The next few months are going to be extremely difficult,” said Jeanne Kay the spokesperson for the group, “Nonstop’s faculty and staff’s livelihoods and lifeworks are endangered, there is a multiplicity of visions for the new Antioch, and rebuilding the college will take a lot of work. TAG, hopefully, will tend to the community’s concerns, open communication channels between the Pro Tem Board and the Yellow Springs community, and do creative problem-solving as a group of committed Antiochians that have been part of the struggle since the beginning.”

Jeanne Kay reports to Community Meeting April 7th on first TAG meeting that morning

Also on the 3rd, in accordance with a proposal brought by the Executive Collective, ExCil created a ten-person Advisory Group to help coordinate the efforts of Nonstop community members working in the Alumni Board Taskforce, TAG and Nonstop Community Goverment. The following were appointed to the Group: students Jonny No and Shea Witzberger; staff Donna Evans and Nancy Wilburn; Faculty Dennie Eagleson, Bob Devine and Nevin Mercede; Executive Collective member Susan Eklund-Leen and Beverly Rodgers; and Community Manager Meghan Pergrem. At the ExCil meeting ExCol member Chris Hill explained the history and rationale behind the advisory group: “One of the first ideas that the Executive collective floated was a larger, perhaps between 5 and 7 members of the Taskforce coming from Nonstop [but] Nancy [Crow] seems to want to keep the group smaller. So, we decided what might work, effectively, would be to have an advisory committee… that would serve as an advisory committee not only to the Taskforce but also to the folks that are going to be part of TAG.”

“We’re here to learn:” ProTem Board Delegation Visits Nonstop

The ProTem Board has asked this visiting team to come and learn as much as we could about Nonstop. We will write a report to the board. We will make no recommendations, we will make no judgments. Our goal is to understand, to observe and to learn. And Im Frances Horowitz, 54 graduate of Antioch. The basement of Lee Morgans house was packed on Friday, February 14th, as Nonstop students, staff and faculty gathered around ExCils table to welcome the ProTem Board delegation, chaired by Horowitz.

Discussion Continues as ExCil Session Comes to an End

After introductions, IT Coordinator Tim Noble proceeded to present the board with an overview of Nonstops technological prospects. He emphasized the possibility for Antioch to become the first private college [in the United States] to be completely open source, and explored avenues to develop partnerships with the village of Yellow Springs. ExCil members were then given an opportunity to talk about specific aspects of the Nonstop project. Professor of Philosophy and Politics Scott Warren talked enthusiastically about the integration of Yellow Springs community members to the classroom, and considered the wide age range of students from 18 to 87 years old as an asset. Media Arts Professor Anne Bohlen emphasized Nonstops fidelity to Antiochs tradition of shared governance. Associate Coordinator of Student Services Carole Braun pointed out that a Nonstop experience was a mix of co-op and academics, since students had to live off campus and work part or full time while taking classes.

The ProTem contingency proceeded through Nonstops rhizomatic venues. In the Presbyterian Churchs assembly Hall, they mingled with students, staff, faculty, alumni and villagers during the ComCil-sponsored Community Potluck. Students then gathered around an ad hoc table to answer the delegates questions and share their Nonstop experience. I would say Ive learned more at Nonstop than I learned at Antioch. Its been a brain strain for sure, said Ashley McNeely 11. First Year student Nic Viox declared: We really want to be here. We really want this education we really want to be taught by these professors theres so much value in the education that were getting here. We could be at other schoolsbut were here because theres value in this place.
ProTem Delegates meet with students (Photo by Jonny NO)

Students share their experience with ProTem Board

Delegate Steve Schwerner 60, who is not currently on the ProTem Board but served on the ACCC and claims to have attended more Community Meetings than anybody else in the history of Antioch, commented: Students havent changed, theyre all Antiochians. Its a very Antiochian place, dealing with a time of troubles.
Student Shea Witzberger (forefront) and Delegates (Photo Jonny No)

Shea and Zee Compete for Best Mesmerizing Stare Award

Chairs were pulled in a circle in the Alternative Library at Nonstops Headquarters at Campus North for another round of introductions, this time among the Nonstop staff. Staff members, -some of them having worked for the College for as long as 40 years- briefly described their Antioch background. ProTem Board Member Prexy Nesbitt 67 commented: You all shouldnt be thanking us. We should be thanking you. Registrar Donna Evans presented the board with enrollment numbers and statistics. Community Manager Chelsea Martens, who handled Nonstop admissions in the Summer talked about the effectiveness of student-lead recruitment. Tim Noble 02 emphasized how difficult it had been to recruit when Nonstops funding through June had only been confirmed at the end of October 08. Nesbitt enquired as to Nonstops diversity in terms of race and class. ExCils resolution to remedy institutional classism by implementing a partially sliding-scale tuition policy the previous term were mentioned as an example of the communitys efforts in this regard.
ProTem Meet Staff (Photo Dennie Eagleson)

Nonstop Staff meet with the ProTem Delegates in the Alternative Library at Campus North, Millworks

Isabella Winkler and Colette Palamar, who team teach Queer Animals at Nonstop, introduced their course as a philosophical enquiry into the preconditions and effects of identifications, their foundation for political foundering, and their implications for environmental ethics. ProTem delegates actively participated in the class, asking and answering questions, commenting on the studied textKafkas short story Jackals and Arabsand even joining in the reading circle. Delegate Everett Mendelson 53, who teaches History of Science at Harvard University, commented on his Queer Animals experience: I was fascinated by the way in which the material the teachers and the students were interacting with it in that it was not a one way movement-that the questions were going really in three ways from the material to students to teachers back and forth. I just found the use of that material very innovative.
Queer Animals Class

Pro Tem members visit the Queer Animals class

You heard the story of Nonstop from different perspectives: students, staff… this is our story and we thought that we can share with you our reflections and our experiences, said Executive Collective member Hassan Rahmanian, Welcome to Faculty Meeting. With a slideshow by Dennie Eagleson, Nonstop Faculty members gave brief presentations about remarkable aspects of their classes; Nevin Mercede presented students poems and visual arts work; Iveta Jusova stated that she saw Nonstop as a laboratory for studying how power works and hoped to create a space for students to examine various theories of power resistance and justice and to measure it against their experience with Nonstop and beyond; Jill Becker showed pictures of her dance class choreographing between the Presbyterian Churchs pews. If there is a thread through all these courses it is …our creativity as a group, our flexibility, our adaptability and our resilience as well as our dedication to dealing with each other in a humane fashion, Chemistry Professor Kab Butamina summarized.
Pro Tem meet with Faculty Photo by Dennie Eagleson

Faculty meet with Pro Tem Board Members

Im thinking about what can be learned from this experience regardless of what comes out of it, and I think a lot of things can be learned especially how to make do with less; sustainability underlies this idea, said delegate Z. Gameson, who hoped to capture the spirit and energy of Nonstop which is very impressive given the circumstances.
Frances Horowitz stated that the visiting delegation would report to the ProTem Board the following week during their Yellow Springs Meeting. She said it would be up to the board to decide whether the report would be made public. She further confessed she had no idea as to what would be the next steps in regards to the future of Nonstop. Im very appreciative of all the effort that everybody made. It was interesting and informative, she said.
ProTem trustee Prexy Nesbitt said he was glad to have pushed for this visit to take place, but could not make promises about the becoming of Nonstop and its integration into the college. The ProTem board faces so many challenges right now, he said, Its hard to predict anything but the value of today is immeasurable, whatever happens.

Meet Your New Cil Representatives

ComCil

Nic Viox (Chair)

Shared governance is a historically important part of this institution, and I am privileged to be a part of it. In Nonstop’s ever changing future, I hope to provide as much continuity as I can by sitting on CoCcil again this term. I intend to do my best to provide service and support to the community as a whole: staff, faculty, and students.

Lincoln Alpern

I think ComCil is important as a venue for the community to address important (if often dull and day-to-day) issues about how we sustain and improve ourselves as an institute and as a community. On ComCil, I intend to serve this community to the best of my abilities, and to do my bit to fill the student quota. In the unlikely event of a real controversy, I will attempt to be a calming influence and voice for reconciliation and constructive dialogue.

Eva Erickson

I am running for ComCil because I want to make sure that our actions line up with our values, and that these Antiochian values that we hold so dearly as apart of our identity are preserved in the future Nonstop/Antioch, regardless of what happens. I also want to try to make this semester be as good as we can make it. I’m looking forward to being involved in this facet of community government, and learning how ComCil is apart of the bigger picture.

Rose Pelzl

I intend to represent my constituency, with your consultation and input. I intend to keep you informed with what’s going on in Comcil and to focus on the success and survival of our organization.

Jonny No

I originally began attending and later sitting on both ComCil and ExCil because I had heard that in theory it was an essential component of the learning experience both at Antioch and now at Nonstop. I’m pleased to be able to confirm that this is indeed true. Sitting on councils allows one to participate in the formation, development and nurture of community structures and expectations. As luck would have it, it turns out that when you nurture community, you empower yourself and all those around you, and this is a crucial part of our struggle. I feel lucky to have been able to sit in on (and then sit on) these councils beginning shortly after the exigency announcement, and feel as if this provides a basis for seeking re-election. Not merely to pay lip service to the history of community, but to make sure we are still baking it fresh daily, as the saying goes. Recipes have to get passed down, you know? You can’t get this stuff from books or lectures or conferences, you can only learn as you go.

Jessie Clark

My choice to join Excil this term was made in awareness of the ambiguous yet critical nature of our present time, for Nonstop as well as the future of Antioch. I look forward to enjoining my intellect, enthusiam, and skills with the continuing efforts of the group. Excil is an essential place of our efforts. My wish is to apply my wisdom and good ideas to its worthy cause.

John Hempfling

I really want to be on ExCil. I intend to represent the students. Also I’d like to participate in the process of developing the relationships between ExCil, the Executive Collective, the CRF and Gommunity Government (to name but a few) since no one can explain to me what their relationships to one another actually are.