Category: Letters

Letters to the Editor

Letter from Ed M. Koziarski ‘97

Fight Our Own Battles

Thanks to the historic Nov. 2 agreement between the Antioch College Alumni Board and the Antioch University Board of Trustees, the Alumni Board is now an official part of the college’s power structure. That’s a very good thing. The college has desperately needed someone with real authority in its corner these past years, as it has weathered neglect, autocratic mismanagement, and the bleeding of its resources, at the hands of the University administration and Board of Trustees. Now that the Alumni Board has bought its $18 million place at the table, the fox will no longer be guarding the henhouse. But the Alumni Board made some serious concessions to persuade the trustees to lift the suspension of operations.

“Lifting the suspension has bought us some time, but we have to fight hard or they will kill the college by slow suffocation. “

Continue reading Letter from Ed M. Koziarski ‘97

Letter from Bob Devine ’67

   I am more than a little disappointed that continued financial exigency is a part of the agreement.  The original declaration of financial exigency was based on (a) rapidly declining enrollments (in which the
Board played a major role), (b) large deficits (made larger by Board policy with regard to depreciation and COLLEGE endowment growth), (c) projected continuing decline in enrollment and revenue (cast as pessimistically as possible), and (d) cash flow problems. Continue reading Letter from Bob Devine ’67

Letter from Jude Demers ‘97

   My name is Jude, Antioch College class of ‘97.  Recently I was able to display some of my art work in the fishbowl in the student Union. It was part of the Antioch College prayer flags display set up by Louise Smith and the Artist in Residence.  Now I am grateful to be an Antiochian.
This evening I was reading the bios of noteworthy alumni I retrieved from the alumni office in Weston during the time we were supposed to have received the decision to lift the suspension.  Better late than never. Is it anticlimactic to have the decision a week after we were led to believe we would have one when we were all here, before alumni and media went home to New York, LA and Chicago and others places?  Continue reading Letter from Jude Demers ‘97

Letter from Lincoln Alpern, 1st Year Student

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” Continue reading Letter from Lincoln Alpern, 1st Year Student

Letter from niko kowell, 4th year student

   This is not a response to the lifting of the suspension. While I believe that this is an incredible move forward I consider important to reflect on exactly what Antioch is so important to preserve. This is part of my Antioch love story.

I entered Antioch a nervous, excited, and ambitious queer woman and will leave Antioch as a queer trans boy excited to tackle the challenges of the world. Antioch has made me tough, unafraid, realistic, full of hope, committed to my community, and ashamed to die before I win a victory for humanity. Continue reading Letter from niko kowell, 4th year student