Category: Letters

Letters to the Editor

An Open Letter To My Breakfast

Dear Continental Breakfast,

I wake up, or try to wake up, every day at 8 a.m. excited for the day. I put on some spiffy clothes; I brush my teeth, and wash my face. I meet up with my fellow early risers and head out to the Caf.
My mouth waters while I think of breakfast, images of sausage and eggs dance through my head. I tremble anticipation, but when I open the Caf doors my syrupy dreams run off the plate of my mind, my full service fantasy dissolves into a “Continental” reality.
I stand my tired face staring at the meager selection before me, I am far too drained of life to make my own waffles, I know fruit will not provide proper sustenance, and so I go for the safest option, cereal.
I slump down with my meal, black coffee, and fruit loops. My stomach growls angrily at me. My digestive system and I both know that this will not provide enough energy to prevent the onset of sleep during my first class.
So I guess what I want to say to you is “Why did you abandon me breakfast?” I depend on you for the sustenance required to make it to my next meal, which, with my overwhelming class load, is usually dinner. So I need you. I need you to fill me with protein, to give me the power to win my victories for humanity. I need bigger coffee cups, so I can acquire the caffeine I need to stay awake in my dimly lit art history class.
Our relationship used to be hot, now it’s just continental. What happened breakfast? Why can’t we go back to the way things used to be?

With Apprehension,
Ben Horlacher, 1st Year Student

Open Letter to Antioch students by College Alumna

I just returned from a weekend in YSO and attended the open forum session with the Board of Trustees. As an alum (class of ’77), I had not been on campus since the late 1990s when I tried to interest my daughter in attending. My experience this weekend reminded me of why I have always loved Antioch and why I stayed after the 1973 strike.

Everything I have ever accomplished of any significance is due to my years at Antioch College (parenting included). I’m often asked how I learned the skills of my profession and I always credit my years at Antioch College. (I own a healthcare consulting firm.) I explain that I learned active listening through participation in AdCil and long meetings held to debate whatever issue was the hot topic on campus (including the ’73 strike). My classes emphasized critical thinking and the synthesis of multiple theories and ideas. During my work study job in the WYSO newsroom, under the careful mentoring of Mark Mericle, I tested my communication and analytic skills. Finally, I gained confidence and independence through the coop program/AEA experiences in Mississippi, New Orleans, Washington DC, and Mexico.

Continue reading Open Letter to Antioch students by College Alumna

Letter from Jean Gregorek in response to Ralph Keyes

Jean Gregorek, Associate Professor of Literature, responds to Ralph Keyes’s “Present at the Demise” published in the Chronicle of Higher Education

Web Editors Note – Accessing Ralph’s letter at the Chronicle of Higher Education website requires a login but Ralph also recently posted this article here : ilfpost.org/?p=230 and this is the link provided above.

The comment thread on this article at the Chronicle is here: chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,39968.0.html

I would like to respond to Ralph Keyes’s essay “Present at the Demise,” which offers his observations on what has led the Antioch University Board of Trustees to announce the closing of Antioch College. I have been teaching literature full time at Antioch College since 1994. While Mr Keyes makes some comments that strike me as valid, on the whole my experience here has been quite different. Continue reading Letter from Jean Gregorek in response to Ralph Keyes

Letter – Paige Clifton-Steele, 2nd year, responds to LA Times article “Who killed Antioch? Womyn”

Paige Clifton-Steele, 2nd year, responds to LA Times article “Who killed Antioch? Womyn”

Hi Ms. Daum,

I’m an Antioch student who just finished her first year. I’m writing because I read your column “Who Killed Antioch? Womyn” in the LA Times, and I’m concerned about your comment on our SOPP, and the trend it (your comment, not our policy) represents. SOPP-era Antiochians are used to the assortment of media misperceptions that have, since 1993, asserted themselves in the face of all evidence and good sense. But in the wake of the announcement of our college’s closing, what used to be a puzzling phenomenon has become salt in the wound. You rightly note that the SOPP and public relations have had a shaky relationship. But you are incorrect to suggest that the policy is infantilizing, and offensive, if not strictly wrong, to characterize its historical context as “hysteria”. I’ll say groundswell, you can say hysteria, and we’ll still be talking about the same 200,000 some sexual assaults reported in ‘04-’05. Which, interestingly, is down 69% since 1993. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Continue reading Letter – Paige Clifton-Steele, 2nd year, responds to LA Times article “Who killed Antioch? Womyn”

A letter from Michael Brower ’55

To: Shelby P. Chestnut `05, Community Manager 2005-2006 and to Daniel E. Solis Operations Manager 2005-2006, and to those current students who may agree with your angry letter:
From: Michael Brower `55, Alumni Board Member

I saw your highly critical letter to Steve Lawry posted on SaveAntioch. org. I did not see the version you published in The Record a few weeks ago, nor the other letters in The Record supporting Jimmy Williams. So I can’t respond to other letters, but I do want to write to protest three things about your letter: Continue reading A letter from Michael Brower ’55