Category: Nonstop

“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.

Youth Council

A retail establishment catering to the purchasing needs of new or returning parents is perhaps among one of the last places parents in yellow springs might hope to find their teenage children. But anyone who happens to walk back through the racks of children’s books, stuffed animals and gently worn one piece pajama outfits hanging on the racks inside Dayton Streets’ Pass-it-on Kids on a Sunday afternoon will see plainly enough that the defenders of virtue have nothing to fear – the only body these teens are embracing is the democratically governed politik.

To be sure, there is passion enough to go around: the air is thick with frequent interruptions, urgent protests, heated debates, lengthy discussions and other assorted cacophanous mischief. But in this case a cliche application of literary devices will not suffice, because the passion displayed is not ill-founded; for what at first seems like chaos is truly self-organizing. It reflects the depth of the investment these youths have in their community. And if the expression finds its origin in the authentic experience of a definitive culture, it is neither ill-founded nor ill-placed. It is readily apparent that this group of youths realize that the issues they face in Yellow Springs today are numerous, and they believe that their organizing efforts will yeild positive and tangible results.

Thus far, public comment regarding the council has portrayed the scope of their activities in a manner that serves to equate their efforts with a single issue: namely, the protest over the introduction of canine aided, arbitrarily conducted searches for drugs being evaluated for translation into policy by the Yellow Springs Exempted School District’s Board. The actual agenda of the next meeting, as sent out to a 90 member facebook group and corrosponding mailing list, shows that the scope of their concerns is actually much greater.

Uncertainty, for a Change: Nonstop in Limbo

By Jeanne Kay

“A sense of deja vu” is how Lincoln Alpern, Nonstop returning student and Antioch class of 2011, describes the uncertainty regarding the future of his education in Yellow Springs. After the publication of the Letter of Intent (LOI) paved the way for the reopening of an independent college, many questions remain about the near future of the former Antioch faculty, staff and students.

The Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute (NLAI), a project of the College Revival Fund (CRF) to keep the DNA of Antioch alive until the college reopens as an independent institution, is guaranteed funding until June 30th, 2009. According to CRF Acting President Ellen Borgersen, the decision to provide funding past this date will be taken at the March 6th/7th Alumni Board meeting, but she specified that this could change; “It’s really gonna come down to the money,” Borgersen emphasized, “Raising money for Nonstop outside of Yellow Springs has been difficult.”

Meanwhile, the Nonstop community remains in a precarious situation. Borgersen enjoined faculty and staff to get a plan B: “I am not in a position to ask anyone to delay doing what they need to do to protect their careers, their families, their livelihoods;” she said, “I deeply regret that that’s the case but ethically, I couldn’t possibly ask people to make decisions about their lives based on the assumption that we’re going to be continue Nonstop.”

Staff and Faculty in Limbo

Beverly Rodgers was a member of the Co-op faculty at Antioch before she became Associate Professor of Anthropology in 2004. She now teaches at Nonstop but knows that after June 30th, her salary will no longer be guaranteed: “I’ve been applying for positions since the announcement and continue to do so;” she said; “I have to do that because I can’t live on 319 dollars a week-that would be my unemployment. We [she and her husband] have decided that by the 1st of April we’ll have to decide whether or not to put our house on the market … I know what our insurance would be and I know that we can’t afford it.”

Nevin Mercede taught Visual Arts for ten years at Antioch College before she joined the Nonstop faculty because she believed that “that the college was closed inappropriately,” as well as “in Antioch: its values and its mission.” She thus “wanted to make it continue in any way that [she] could.” She is also preparing for the worst case scenario, with limited optimism: “I’m looking at things because you have to, just like students have to … but the market is exceedingly difficult especially for people who’ve reached the ripe age I’ve reached and especially in the field that I’m in.”

Nonstop staff too are worried about their job security; yet, as Registrar Donna Evans pointed out, “A lot of the people in the United States today are all in that situation, so I guess I’m not any different than anybody else – not knowing whether or not their jobs will be present in six months time.” Evans worked in the Registrar’s office at Antioch College for 18 years and became Head Registrar in 2004. She finds Nonstop “a little less organized but honestly not that much different” from the college. “I’m looking at the paper, looking at job advertisements;” she said, “I would love to be able to find another job or know that I have some place to go come July 1st. I can’t go without insurance … I am hoping that I’ll have a future with the new Antioch College.”

Students’ Prospects

As to students, feelings and prospects vary greatly. Lincoln Alpern has made no plans to transfer: “I’m expecting that there’ll either be Antioch or Nonstop continuously assuming the negotiations for the college go through,” he said, “I feel like we’re going to keep going, and that things are going to be alright.” Caroline Czabala, class of ‘11, will be attending Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado if things fall through after June. She says Nonstop taught her to speak her mind, and most importantly to keep going: “Wherever I go I’ll be like: going to Nonstop was really crazy, this is so much easier!”

A variety of options are available to students after this term. “Since the number of students isn’t so large we can find out if there are other schools people are interested in applying to … and help them with that process-including … ways to get their credit equivalents accredited at another place” explained Coordinator of Student Services Joyce Morrissey. Ellen Borgersen suggested that students get “the basics of a liberal arts education” at surrounding colleges while maintaining a program in Yellow Springs “that supports community” until the college reopens in 2010. Executive Collective members Susan Eklund-Leen and Hassan Rahmanian are hoping that students will go to co-op in the summer and come back for a fall term in Yellow Springs.

Nonstop and the new Antioch: Collision or Integration?

As well as the personal stakes involved in the future of Nonstop, institutional questions stem from the possibility that the heritage of Antioch could be further dilapidated if a hiatus between Nonstop and the new college were to break down the community. Chelsea Martens, Class of 2008 and Community Manager from 2007 to present, strongly opposes such a separation: “I think the question that has to be answered is: what is Antioch college? And Antioch College, as of 2008, is the current faculty staff and students and that is what Nonstop is a home to.”

To Martens, keeping Nonstop alive until the college reopens would also be a strategic move on the part of the ProTem Board: “I don’t see how a curriculum could be developed, administrative systems developed, and culture continued if the current faculty staff and students do not have a place now to develop these things;” she said; she further suggested that all Nonstop staff faculty should be hired on, and the project funded until the transition; “I don’t see how you could recruit 150 students without them seeing classroom activity, student culture, and community be enacted.”

Nic Viox, a 1st year Nonstop student -and new ComCil chair- who has been helping to build the Nonstop Headquarters at Campus North, believes that there is hope for Nonstop to garner enough alumni support to continue until Antioch reopens: “I know that there’s a lot of people who are willing to fight for it; from what I understand on ACAN a lot of alumni are behind Nonstop, and a lot of Alumni Board members are behind Nonstop; so I hope that it will continue.”

Faculty involvement with the new college

After the publication of an online article by Charlotte Allen in which Lee Morgan was quoted saying that the former Antioch faculty were “not going to set the curriculum” for the college, questions arose about the extent to which faculty would be participating in the recreation of Antioch. Professor Nevin Mercede believes that “the board ProTem and others would benefit by bringing [the faculty] into the conversation.” “We’ve proved ourselves flexible enough, having had 4 curricula in five years,” she argued; “We don’t insist that whatever gets created there be what we created in the past but rather we’d like to bring the things that we found successful from the past and offer them as a possibility for the future and have that be part of a discussion.”

A “Transition Council” (TransCil) that would be advisory to the ProTem Board will be formed in the upcoming weeks, Matthew Derr announced at the January 27th Nonstop Community Meeting. ExColl member Susan Eklund-Leen recalls that “the promise was made that former Antioch faculty would have some involvement with the transition council.”

“Something called Nonstop doesn’t have an end-that’s in the name”-Gerry Bello.

The future of Nonstop will be clearer after the Alumni Board meeting of the first weekend of March, and even more so at the end of the 90 day period leading to the Definitive Agreement. Despite the existential uncertainty, Nonstop continues on its course and has set out for a term of classes, community and Nonstop Presents events. “The best thing that we can do this term is do this term the best we can” summed up Community Manager Chelsea Martens. Nonstop is not simply a bridge, it is also an educational institution with tremendous intrinsic value, according to CRF President Ellen Borgersen, who declared: “I think that the students who have taken the step of coming to Nonstop are some of the most courageous committed and intellectually serious students I’ve ever met. It’s a phenomenal group. The Antioch faculty is phenomenal, and the entire community, including the staff, have created a miracle here. I’m very much hoping that we can find ways to carry that forward to the new college. It’s a terrific foundation on which to build a revitalized Antioch College.”