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
Tag: Interview
Last Poets at Antioch
By Alex Mette
This Saturday night Antioch hosted the ‘Godfathers of Hip Hop,’ The Last Poets. The group’s name is a reference to a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, who believed that the era of poetry was at an end, soon to be replaced by that of guns. The group, originally Felipe Luciano, Gylan Kain, and David Nelson, was born on Malcolm X’s birthday (May 19) at Marcus Garvey Park, East Harlem, 1969. Today The Last Poets are: Abiodun Oyewole, Umar Bin Hassan, and Don Babatunde Eaton. Like Malcolm X himself, the Last Poets have changed their political ideologies over time, and today denounce much of modern Hip Hop music. An article by DuEwa M. Frazier entitled, “The Last Poets: Still on a Mission,” quotes Abiodun Oyewole as saying that “Hip Hop has become a circus. The vehicle is still the same, but the artists, the drivers are silly. We know they’re doing this because niggas are trying to get paid, but see a lot of people are on the line to be niggas and they’re being paid to be sleazy and greasy.” On Saturday, Oyewole spoke of the importance, or lack thereof, of rhyme in poetry. While their use of rhythm and rhyme probably had a significant impact on what would become Hip Hop music, Oyewole stated that rhyme should come second to substance and that “You can’t just talk because your mouth runs.” In terms of political philosophy, when asked in an interview done in 1997 how his ideas about revolution had changed, Abiodun Oyewole stated that “back then, I wanted to see everything burned and people hanged. I wanted to see riots. The one thing that stopped me in my tracks was this guy speaking at one of our forums. [He said] ‘You can’t really be a revolutionary until you know the kind of world that you want your kid to live in.’” Going on to say, “Now, my whole thing is, we have to see how we can be the greatest part of us, which is the healing part of us. This self-empowerment mode is where I’m at. I’d rather that folks learn how to save themselves before they kill themselves. That’s what I’m trying to do.” Continue reading Last Poets at Antioch
An Interview with Chris Smith
What will you be doing next fall (or when you start your new position)? And how do you expect it will be different from your work here at Antioch?
I begin my new position in August. I will be Assistant Professor of Psychology, Human Development, and Women’s Studies at University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Probably the biggest difference will be in class size. For example, my intro to Psychology course will have 125 students. I’m going to a state school, and many of the students are first-generation college students. I suspect they will have working technology, and if it doesn’t, they will actually have staff on hand to fix it. I also expect that there will be soap in all the bathrooms.
What do you think you will miss the most about Antioch and what do you think you will miss the least?
I will certainly miss the students. I love the fact that I can get to know my students because classes are small. I love the fact that students are generally quite aware of world issues and that most people are politically liberal. Students here tend to be intellectually curious for its own sake, which makes being a professor a wonderful experience. Antioch attracts a lot of great, funny, witty characters, and I mean that in the best sense. I was talking in my Social Psychology class about how we sometimes cannot easily come up with reasons why we like or love something because it is so difficult to put into words. This really is an amazing place and I will miss all the little things like knowing almost everyone on campus and being able to sit on committees with students. Continue reading An Interview with Chris Smith
ATONEMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW
By Barbara B. Davis, History, emerita
I love film, and I also love reading film reviews. It was most distressing to read Tim Peyton’s reviews of Juno and Atonement, two fine films. He seems not to understand that a critical review is NOT about himself and his own personal biases; he never defines some of his terms, either, such as what he means by “popular culture.” The Record is not a soapbox, it is a means of communicating news in an unbiased fashion; or should be.
One fateful day during Summer, 1935. The Tallis residence outside London, a lovely mansion set in a lush garden, with pools, fountains, grottos, all bespeaking the family’s wealth, taste, and social standing (Mr. Tallis is actually a minister in the government although we never meet him). It is a busy day with visiting cousins, a friend of the elder son, Leon, Paul Marshall, who is hugely wealthy and will become even wealthier from the impending war. All these minor characters are important, but the central figures are: Briony (pronounced Briney), a rather precocious thirteen year-old with a literary bend and an over-active imagination who has just finished writing a rather gothic, highly romantic play; her elder sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice) just graduated from Cambridge and wondering what next; Robbie (James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland) the son of a servant who is the protégé of Tallis senior, having also just finished his degree from Cambridge and thinking of becoming a doctor. A series of amorous incidents between Cecilia and Robbie culminate in a passionate assignation in the library. The problem is that Briony witnesses them, and, not really understanding love or sexual attraction, is free to distort them accordingly. So when her cousin, Lola, is raped, Briony is sure Robbie is the culprit. Part I ends with Robbie being led away by the police, and Cecilia, dressed in a billowing kelly green satin gown, watches helplessly. Director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) creates a luminosity of this scene that is both breathtaking and unforgettable. Continue reading ATONEMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW
Antioch College vs. Japanese College
Antioch College vs. Japanese College
By Miyuki Sese
Since last fall, Antioch has had several Japanese exchange students from Ryukoku University. This university is located in Kyoto with another campus in Shiga prefecture. It is the oldest Buddhist university and was founded in 1639. According to the Japanese exchange students, there are many differences between Antioch College and Ryukoku University.
First, the biggest difference is the number of students. Compared with about 170 students of Antioch College, Ryukoku University has about 100 times more students, and it seems common that most students do not know other students in their class. This can be good because it allows students to have a lot of friends with different opinions and personalities. On the downside, compared with Antioch College, the relationships between teachers and students in such a large university seem weak.
As for housing, most students in Antioch College live in dormitories. Most Ryukoku University students live in apartments by themselves. There are some dormitories but they are only for students who belong to the Baseball or Rugby clubs and overseas students. That’s because the number of students is so large that the university does not have the capacity to allow all the students to live in a dormitory. However, Japanese students seem to enjoy their own life styles in Antioch College. “It is difficult for me to maintain both my private time and official time in dormitory, but I am glad to talk with a lot of my friends anytime.”said Eriko. “I am enjoying staying in a dormitory with my friends”said Rie. Continue reading Antioch College vs. Japanese College