Kim-Jenna Jurriaans
“We have walked in your shoes,” reads the beginning of a letter sent by twenty-seven former trustees and chairs to current members of the Board that oversees Antioch College and sealed its fate during a meeting in June. The group of various vintages joined hands in an attempt to reach out to the current board offering their institutional knowledge and professional perspective to assure the future existence of the 155 year-old Ohio College.
This is the last issue of fall term, which means in less than a month I’ll be back at Antioch. I’m very excited to see all my Antioch friends and all the new first years. I hope your first term was wonderful. I’m sure next term brings many surprises and great parties. Let’s hope for a great spring term.
Today I’m coming out. Now I’m sure you are wondering what I, Niko, could possibly be coming out about this time. I’ve come out as so many different things like being queer, trans, and kinky. Now I’ve talked about this topic before, but not from a personal place. I’m not planning on telling my family for a long time, but I think my Antioch community will be supportive. I’m a sex worker and have been for almost a year now. Sex work is a broad term, for me I fall into the porn performer category. Let me tell you about how it all started. Continue reading Nookie with Niko
In its search for a new director, the Coretta Scott King Center (CSKC) for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom conducted its first interview on campus last Tuesday with candidate Dana Patterson. Two more candidates are expected.
The director’s job description is ambitious. He or she must serve as a special assistant to the president on institutional diversity. He or she must also sit on the presidential staff group in order to ensure that when the cabinet discusses campus issues, the importance of diversity is a part of the conversation. In addition to that, the director must raise funds for the CSKC. Continue reading CSK Center Candidate Visits Campus
By Paige Clifton-Steele
On Monday, October 9th, at 7:30 PM, a Jeep grand Cherokee carrying five Antioch students collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Leffels Lane and Dayton- Xenia road. Jessica Davis, Tony Colella, Vanessa Little, and Hannah and Emma Woodruff were heading back to campus when, according to witnesses, the other vehicle ran a red light and hit them as they pulled into the left turn lane. The other driver was a woman whom witnesses reported seeing talking on a cell phone at the time of the crash.
The car carrying the Antioch students was knocked in a semicircle by the collision, but all five students made it out. Vanessa, whose door was impacted, was helped out by a bystander. “If you saw what the car looked like afterwards, you would think we were all dead,? says Emma, third year.
Several people who witnessed the accident stopped to help people in both cars, and to call for help. The first ambulance arrived within minutes.
The students all suffered injuries and were taken to Community Hospital. Hannah suffered two broken ribs, Vanessa for whiplash, Jessica a bruised sternum, Tony a burn on his hand, and all were treated for various scrapes and cuts. The woman in the other car suffered a broken ankle. Though shaken, the student say that they are recovering quickly. All were discharged within hours of their arrival.
Asked how she is dealing with the aftermath, one of the student’s replied, “Pain. Drugs. Beer. Beer is really helpful, and I think it’s a lot better than taking opiates.? Vanessa’s mother came from Springfield to see her, while Jessica’s mother and brother, who live in Fairborn, visited her the next day.
“It was really surreal,? says Anthon. “I was like ‘that car’s gonna stop. That car’s not coming towards us. We had a green light, I saw it.’?
They have since interviewed and settled on a lawyer.
The students would like to thank the community for being so supportive. In particular, Emma would like to thank Vanessa and Jessica for letting her sleep in their rooms. Tony would like to thank Katie for coming to get them. Jessica would like to thank Hannah for washing her hair. Hannah would like to thank Jay for helping her get out of bed every day, and Steve Lawry for not disrupting her recuperation with any calls, emails, or get-well cards.
5 students lived together during their internships Cuiabá, Mato Grosso and worked at the Uníversidade Federal do Mato Grosso (Biolab).
Back – Left to Right: Jason Watts, Wesley, Jorge, Danielle Klinkow (’06) Front – Left to Right Anne Fletcher, Michelle Gardner-Quinn, Late Larabee (from COA)
By Anne Fletcher and Madeline Helser
Late on the evening of October 5th, 21 year-old Michelle Gardner-Quinn went out barhopping with her friends in downtown Burlington, Vermont for a birthday celebration and never returned.
Michelle began her academic career at the University of Vermont. After being enrolled in 5 universities in the past 4 years, Michelle finally thought she had found the school for her at UVM. A senior, she majored in Latin American Studies and Environmental Science.
Michelle went on Antioch’s Brazilian Ecosystems study abroad program last fall where she became close with a group of Antioch students. At the time, she was attending American University in Washington, D.C. and in the processing of applying to transfer to UVM. According to Anne Fletcher, a fourth year student who also was on the trip, Michelle clicked well with the Antioch students, who encouraged her to transfer here.
According to police, at around 2:15 a.m., Michelle left her friends at the bar to walk back toward campus. The Police believe that her cell phone wasn’t’ working, and she stopped to use a man’s cell phone; ironically to tell her friends she was alright. A six-day search followed Michelle’s disappearance. This caught the attention of both the national and local media. Dozens of University of Vermont students searched the greater Burlington area and the surrounding countryside searching for any signs of her.
On the afternoon of Friday, October 13th police found Michelle’s body on the side of Dugway Road, after receiving a tip from a concerned resident. In a press conference on the eleventh, Burlington Police Chief Thomas Tremblay said they found her on the side of a rural road in Richmond, about 15 miles southeast of Burlington.
A suspect, identified as 36- year-old Brian Rooney of nearby Richmond, is being held on unrelated charges of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child while authorities continue their probe into what they concluded was her homicide.
Anne Fletcher recalls that during the first week of orientation in Key Largo, Michelle and four Antioch students (Anne, Jason Watts, Leland Reilich, and Danielle Klinkow (’06) had a fun time drinking tequila and skinny-dipping in the lagoon they weren’t supposed to. Leland recalls, “She just had a pretty good spirit that we all related to pretty quickly. Real open and honest.? Anne remembers her as being laid back and intelligent, on top of her life and where she was headed, and very on point with her devotion to social change. “It seemed like the kids from Antioch were on a different from the kids from the other colleges in respect to our ideals and social interactions, and Michelle was a part of that,? said Anne.
For their internships during the last month of the trip, Michelle, Anne, Jay, Danielle, and Kate Larabee(a student from College of the Atlantic) all lived together in a house in the Brazilian city of Cuiabá in the heart of the Pantanal and worked at the Biology Department at the Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso. There, in that house, was where the students all connected. Anne even expected to be roommates with her some time in the future after college.
“I felt her values were real,? said Anne.
The media attention around her disappearance and death has brought a feeling of surrealism to the whole incident. Police are investigating her death as a kidnapping and murder, and have identified Brian Rooney, a 36-year-old construction worker who resides in Richmond as a suspect, said the October eleventh press release. Brian Rooney has been identified as the man seen in a video taken from a jewelry store security camera talking with Michelle at approximately 2:30 a.m. the night she disappeared. The court papers that were filed last Monday said that he denied having anything to do with the incident when police interviewed him. Judge Kathleen Manley set his bail at $150,000 until the full court proceedings take place. Rooney is pleading not guilty.
For those who knew her, the facts are still sinking in. Anne said, “It brings me back to the reality of our lives now, the beautiful people we have around us, and how much they mean in our lives. I really regret that I can never talk or organize or celebrate with Michelle again, but I am so happy to have known her and that we created the great memories that we did.? Michelle will be greatly missed by all who knew her. The world is missing a wonderful, beautiful woman, and we should grieve, but also realize the possibilities and beauty in life, in ideals, in passion, and in friends.