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.
You may have noticed by now, that whenever you make your way to Kroger or maybe go for a delicious snack from the Wendy’s dollar menu, that a rather large building is taking shape with signs advertising a new McGregor University. It seems like everyone you talk to has an opinion about the McGregor expansion. Whether they feel like it’s an ecological nightmare comparable to the Exxon oil spill, an economic fi asco not seen since the likes of Jurrasic park 2, or the saving grace of the Antioch brand an ambitious dream project capable of transforming McGregor from niche institution to nationally revered graduate program. Rumors are fl ying and it seems like everyone has something to condemn, or defend about the project. Some big questions that come to mind upon seeing the construction include; what spawned the need for a new University building, where is the money coming from, and why doesn’t McGregor want to be our neighbor anymore? A development this big is bound to have great effects on the town, and our college so I sat down with our own Steve Lawry, and Barbara Danley the president of McGregor to discuss what these effects might look like, specifically what they would mean for Antioch college and our relationship to McGregor. Continue reading The McGregor Expansion: Gateway to Yellow Springs
By Paige Clifton-Steele
Twelve men and women met two weekends ago in the basement of Spalt to learn how to make a better democracy. It was the 105th Democracy School— an educational program created by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), author and legal historian Richard Grossman, co-founder of the Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy.
By Kathryn Leahey
Every Tuesday, I wait outside the door of a familiar room in McGregor and wait for a Keeper of the Keys to arrive. Every week, I proceed to sit down in the same chair, pen and paper at the ready, and wait for the other attendants to shuffle in. Nearly every time, I am amazed by how few people bother to show up. “Where is everybody?” has become one of Levi’s new catchphrases. This query is almost inevitably followed by repeated requests for each of us to take out our cell phones and text two friends demanding that they make an appearance. This week’s appeal, however, was only made once and half-heartedly at that. He did not even bother to plead with the stubborn minority present to move toward the front of the room.
After a handful of thank-yous, over half of which made by the CMs themselves, and Bob Devine was recognized as Community Member of the Week for his faithful service on ComCil, RAB, and innumerable subcommittees, the new director of the Coretta Scott King Center, Dr. Dana Patterson was introduced to the community. Some announcements concerning this weekend’s festivities – a mock Homecoming game and dance earlier Friday evening, a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show late Friday night, DIV on Saturday, and, most importantly, Quiz Bowl at 6 on Sunday – were made.
This week’s Pulse was brief, concerning the defacement of SOPP posters around campus. Mariel shared a positive interpersonal experience she had involving the checklists posted in the dance space. The topic of getting consent from everyone involved in an interaction, including those who have to watch it, was brought up once again, as was the existence of sober walkers. Ultimately, the meeting lasted less than thirty minutes. A group in attendance polled cited the vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce available as the most exciting and memorable part of the meeting.
By Kathryn Leahey
This week did not see a run-of-the-mill community meeting. Most noticeably, Levi B. was not joined by his usual cohorts. With one home sick and the other preparing for the Black and Tan bash, Hope and Melody were filled in for by the highly capable Ms. Sarah Buckingham. Beyond the obvious lineup change, more community members, that is, most of them, were conspicuously absent. McGregor 113 held a, sadly, farless- than-capacity audience when Levi called the meeting to order. Nagging Statement Number One: People, for the love of Pete, come to community meeting! By not going, you are only costing yourself some delicious berry-flavored ice cream and the opportunity to argue and make your voice heard. I have heard innumerable people around campus complain about community government being taken less seriously by this administration. If you want shared governance, take a flipping share in it. Do not submit to apathy.
The meeting began as usual with our weekly round of gratitude. Luke Brennan thanked the Record staff and all those community members who have contributed letters to the paper as of late. Levi B. thanked all those who volunteered in the CG office after the desperate plea for help was made on First Class. All those involved with Ann Shine’s piano recital, Community Day activities, the Pennell House art party, and Daniel Farrell’s speech were also thanked. Dennie Eagelson and Janice Kinghorn were thanked for the procurement of the aforementioned delicious raspberry ice cream. Additionally, two student-cum-nurses and an anonymous flower-bearing friend rounded out those on the receiving end of the community’s thankfulness.
As usual, Cil updates were not terribly extensive. As of the time of the meeting, AdCil had yet to meet for the week. However, we did learn the ComCil is continuing their discussion on REB versus RAB and are planning on establishing a RAB restructuring committee to meet the college’s present needs.
Most of the announcements made this week were repeat reminders of things announced at our last meeting. Once again, the Uprising Tour will be taking place on campus soon with a special performance by Drive By Shiavo, a speaker from the ACLU will be coming on the 23rd, and the Alumni Board will be here this weekend. Applications for CM and for Pennell House coordinator, Record editor, and C-Shop manager are still due on the 27th of October and 2nd of November, respectively. In new news, On Saturday at 8 pm, there will be a chem-free harvest-time themed party at the Wellness Center, and the Queer Center is having a meeting on Monday. We also learned as a community that Meghan Pergrem does, in fact, love Erin Winter, as was announced by the former this Tuesday. Then into the blender we went: it was time to Pulse. Our major topic this week was the issue of respect, especially that for CG, its officers, and its things. To begin, CG has office hours for a reason. We are all encouraged to use them. If no one is there during office hours and you need assistance, call the office at PBX 1050. More pressingly, as you may know, the old piano available for use in the Union, which may or may not have been slated to be thrown away, was destroyed at some point late last week. Levi commented that a general sense of entitlement may be cited as the reason why someone would do something like that. Nagging Statement Number Two: I’d like to send a big WTF to anyone involved in this senseless act of vandalism. What’s the point? Why destroy something that belongs to CG and, thus, in a sense, all of us? Step up. Take responsibility. Use this opportunity to change the bratty, privileged attitude that allowed you to do this in the first place.
After learning that a possible Cactus Liberation Front has stolen a giant cactus from Units 1, the conversation on this topic drifted to possible solutions to the problem. Jeanne Kay and Perry have started a fundraising effort to replace the piano. If you’d like to help, talk to one of them. Beyond possibly replacing the instrument, several schools of thought emerged about what ought to happen in regards to the situation. The idea that the pieces of the broken piano be turned into art was presented, although some felt that this should only occur if the piece of work would still be able to produce music. The idea that “people [the vandal(s)] must know they will suffer? was put forth, but others called for greater positive thought and action. Amanda felt as though the destruction of the piano can be contributed to a phenomenon referred to as the “tragedy of the commons? and suggested that a sign stating “My name is Betty. I’m a piano. Take care of me!? posted on the piano may have prevented such an occurrence, an idea that provoked giggles from the crowd but will have Levi looking into the idea of naming other things around campus. Finally, I think most people’s feelings can be summed up by what Nicole stated near the end of our short meeting: “We don’t have nice things. We don’t really have [pause] things…but don’t destroy ‘em, because we sure as hell aren’t going to get new things.? Until next week, Antiochians, to paraphrase Joe Cali, try not to break anything. And don’t fall down.