Tag: Letters

Dearest Antioch Family,

I have been at our Ecoleague exchange school this term in Vermont.
After my last 3 weeks of school here I have come to the 100% feeling that Antioch must stay open.
After being at a “real” college with “real” grades and classrooms with real desks in rows I have developed a much deeper appreciation and love for Antioch.
These years, the college years, are an extremely precious experience. There are so many people our age wasting this time away and learning little about themselves and just becoming new gears in the system.
I hadn’t realized until this moment how mature, anayltical, loving, self advocating, intricate and compassionate for learning Antioch has helped me become. I have become me at Antioch and when I graduate I will be so proud every time I say that my alma mater is Antioch College.
Not only on a academic and personal level have I felt the differences, but also at a community level. No community can compare to that of Antioch college.
I am completly mindblown how diverse, loving, smart, and competent our student body is. Anyone who is telling us (or has ever told us) we are toxic or lazy is wrong.
You are a part of something huge. We have all worked so hard, and if we continue to keep our hearts open and alive we will save Antioch College. That is gigantic.
It’s hard to keep the passion alive, and I know we are tired, but hold onto your hearts.
I miss you all,  see you at community day
Tons of love,
~Tess Lindsay

Recently, an editorial was published in the Dayton Daily News concerning the ongoing efforts made to keep Antioch College open.  The article is a good overview of this effort of the students, faculty, staff, and alumni involved.  However, there are certain misconceptions present in the opinions expressed towards the end of the article. The opinions address the changes and concessions the college needs to implement to remain open.

The writer suggests that “Antioch has a reputation for a certain repressiveness coming from the political left, an excessive dedication to political correctness.”  I think the biggest problem with this statement is a misunderstanding of the term ‘politically correct’.  Political correctness is a concept that the left created to poke fun at one another for their attempts at being universally inoffensive.   It was then appropriated by the right to discredit any ideas that were rooted in the idea that language is powerful, (ironically) using the argument of freedom of speech.  As an Antioch student, the relegation of consciousness to political correctness is personally insulting.  There is a difference between dishonest, restrictive language and the raising of consciousness about the role of language in oppression.  I do not believe there are many conscious students here who are making at effort at political correctness.  Rather, I believe their interests are in exposing the ways that language plays the oppressive role of abuse or even dehumanization.

I do not believe there is a repression of “genuine intellectual freedom” at the college.  Instead, I know that Antioch is one of the few schools in the nation providing a space for a truly progressive or radical opinion.  Antioch is a milieu for marginalized thought; this school is our refuge. I would agree that Antioch is a school of (largely) “left-leaning” students and faculty, but their “niche” as the article suggests is, instead, a space for radical discourse that most institutions do not tolerate.  The Antioch I know is not being saved in the interest of creating a homogeneous environment.  The Antioch community I know is interested in salvaging the “guts” of the school; its radical roots.

Andy Blackburn, 1st Year Student

Dear Continental Breakfast,

I wake up, or try to wake up, every day at 8 a.m. excited for the day. I put on some spiffy clothes; I brush my teeth, and wash my face. I meet up with my fellow early risers and head out to the Caf.
My mouth waters while I think of breakfast, images of sausage and eggs dance through my head. I tremble anticipation, but when I open the Caf doors my syrupy dreams run off the plate of my mind, my full service fantasy dissolves into a “Continental” reality.
I stand my tired face staring at the meager selection before me, I am far too drained of life to make my own waffles, I know fruit will not provide proper sustenance, and so I go for the safest option, cereal.
I slump down with my meal, black coffee, and fruit loops. My stomach growls angrily at me. My digestive system and I both know that this will not provide enough energy to prevent the onset of sleep during my first class.
So I guess what I want to say to you is “Why did you abandon me breakfast?” I depend on you for the sustenance required to make it to my next meal, which, with my overwhelming class load, is usually dinner. So I need you. I need you to fill me with protein, to give me the power to win my victories for humanity. I need bigger coffee cups, so I can acquire the caffeine I need to stay awake in my dimly lit art history class.
Our relationship used to be hot, now it’s just continental. What happened breakfast? Why can’t we go back to the way things used to be?

With Apprehension,
Ben Horlacher, 1st Year Student