Tag: Antioch College

AdCil in Exile?

By Jeanne Kay

Many things were different about this week’s AdCil meeting: it was held in South Hall, it started a little late and there was no coffee thermos on the table; but the main difference was that Interim President Andrzej Bloch did not sit at the end of the conference table. Instead, it was Faculty member Eric Miller, who had called the meeting, who took stacks and chaired the session of AdCil in exile.

“AdCil is just not working and won’t work under the current conditions,” said Miller as an introduction, “and we need to see if there’s anything we can do about it.” After Andrzej Bloch, by announcing the University’s unilateral decision to reconfirm the suspension of operations at Antioch College on Friday February 22nd, positioned himself as a mere messenger of the University, several calls for his resignation were made by community members in the week preceding the ad hoc AdCil. The members present on Tuesday morning—though short of forming quorum, were thus faced with the delicate task of redefining AdCil’s mission. Continue reading AdCil in Exile?

Community Confused by Announcement

By Jeanne Kay
On Friday, February 22nd, Interim President Andrzej Bloch announced to the Antioch Community “the reconfirmation of the decision to suspend operations of the college on June 30th for at least one academic year.” Students, faculty, staff, alumni and Yellow Springs residents gathered, like they had many times since last June, for an emergency community meeting in McGregor 113. The Interim President had just flown back from Los Angeles, where the Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting was still being held, to present the college community with the resolution of the trustees’ discussions concerning the immediate future of Antioch College.
The discussions took place on Thursday the 21st, Bloch specified in a later interview; they started early in the morning and lasted until the mid-afternoon. The negotiating team, composed of Chancellor Toni Murdock, Chair Art Zucker, Chief Financial Officer Tom Faecke, and two attorneys, presented the trustees with a report based on their negotiations with the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (ACCC.) The trustees, Bloch said, “concluded that there weren’t sufficient material, sufficient grounds, to take action.” Therefore he decided, with the approval of the board, to come back to campus to inform the community. Continue reading Community Confused by Announcement

Cuban Arts at Antioch: Two Events

by Alaa Jahshan
        Listening to Jane Bunnet and the Spirits of Havana improvise through a fusion of Jazz and Caribbean beats is like watching a painter create a masterpiece before your eyes. Jane Bunnet and the Spirits of Havana performed for their third time at Antioch College. After playing a piece that got many heads bobbing, Jane Bunnet introduced the band, including her husband Larry Cramer on trumpet, Osmany Paredes on piano, Yunior Terry on bass, Jorge Najarro on timbales, and Arturo Stable on congas.
        Bunnet’s performance on the soprano saxophone was far more enticing than her solos on flute. She improvised and performed with fluid technique that was easily moving. Her squeals and reaches into the upper registers were very exciting to hear coming out of a soprano saxophone. Paredes’ hands could be seen from time to time jumping up and down, dribbling into many juice chords and arpeggios. Terry’s skill in playing bass was very integral to the performance of the group, as were the two percussionists. The three added a lot by being singers and improvising for short bits within the pieces they played. Solos by Cramer were wonderful yet sometimes felt pushed. As commented on by several audience members, the sextet did not perform so harmoniously together, yet still were extremely skillful.   Continue reading Cuban Arts at Antioch: Two Events

Health and Fitness: The Curl Gymnasium

By Miyuki Sese
Antioch College has a gym called “Curl Gymnasium”, which is located behind the McGregor building. 14 students as a part time job, and Judy Kintner who is a director and has been working at Antioch for 9 years, run the gym. Usually their tasks are customer service like renting something for playing sports and a lot of cleaning, including sweeping the basketball courts and vacuuming the pool. They are working for 5 hours a day with a shift system. According to gym staff member Michelle Wall, they are enjoying their work at gym; however they also have some troubles. As for the first problem, they are busy and have a lot of work to do because not only Antioch students but also people from town come to the gym. According to the staff, business depends on the day and especially the beginning of the semester seems hard to work. They want to share their tasks with their members efficiently in order to decrease their hardship. They also need the housekeeper to clean up the gym for sake of their focusing on more important works. “We balance chlorine and Ph levels in the pool 4 times everyday. It is difficult for us to control these levels”, said one of the gym staff, Derrick Lane. Continue reading Health and Fitness: The Curl Gymnasium

Report from AdCil

By Jeanne Kay
It was not easy, on Tuesday morning, for AdCil members to discuss the first items on the agenda as if Friday’s announcement had not happened.  The state of aggravated uncertainty brought to the community by the reaffirmation by Antioch University that operations at Antioch College would take an end under the University watch on June 30th made order of the day topics subordinate to dealing with the consequences of the new situation.
The Subcommittee for Campus Services submitted their report about the short-term needs of different campus services (including IT, Counseling and Wellness, Financial Aid, the Gym, the Theatre…) yet several AdCil members felt unable to take action to meet these needs given the level of uncertainty about the future of the college: “In order to meaningfully evaluate these issues we need to have a timeframe in our minds and we don’t have it” declared faculty member Hassan Rahmanian. Interim President Andrzej Bloch replied that although there was no clear picture of the future of the institution, the report pointed out “small things that could be fixed right away.” Union member Carol Braun, however, ventured that “The University is covering itself from a lawsuit by students… By going through a community institution like AdCil, so they can prove they’ve asked the community…and show that that they’ve tried to support students throughout the term.” Continue reading Report from AdCil