staff - THE RECORD

Dispatches from Community 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.

Vital Affirmations at a CG meeting

To the Community:

I appreciate Community Government’s strong affirmation of students’ right to freedom of expression. By unanimous vote at last week’s meeting, ComCil rejected a proposal by the Lawry administration to appoint an editorial board to oversee the Record.

In my view, the administration proposed this board to further its plan to censor and control what is printed in the Record — and thus to censor and control the students of Antioch College. As adjunct faculty mentor for the Record staff, and as a longtime friend and admirer of Antioch College, I applaud ComCil’s defeat of the administration’s proposal.

ComCil’s meeting was also an affirmation of the great value of Antioch’s unique system of shared governance, in which students play such a vital role.

This was the first ComCil meeting I’ve attended in several years, and I was deeply impressed — as I have been so many times in my 25-year association with Antioch — with the quality of the work that was done. And the way it was done: a room full of students deeply committed to Antiochian values interacted cohesively, respectfully and responsibly to serve the best interests of the college. Like the Record, shared governance is a both an important service to the Antioch community and a deeply significant educational experience. How can it be that this administration is so bitterly opposed to both?

Sincerely,

Don Wallis

From The Editors

Dear Community,

First, I need to apologize for being AWOL on community day, I would have loved to spend the day with you all, but the whirlwind of Black and Tan (which culminated in a postdawn trip to Kroger to purchase doughnuts for the Queer Center’s Black and Tan Recovery) really tuckered me out, and I barely made it out of bed before dark.

This week has been pretty stressful for me. I continue to struggle to credit my spring ’06 co-op (Organic farming, as it turns out, is for hippies.) Also, because of my general malaise, I did not make the deadline for turning in my time slips, and so am fast approaching broke. Unpaid speeding tickets have the state of Pennsylvania threatening to revoke my driving privileges unless I pay them $140 within the week, which because of the time-slip business, I may not be able to do. I’m scheming about possibly running to a DMV tomorrow to get an Ohio license in hopes that the trouble will disappear. I should do laundry, my room’s a mess, and somebody stole my beloved cactus from the living room of Unit 1.

There are a couple things I’m pretty pleased with though, one of them being this very fine issue of the Record that you’re holding. Our talented staff really knocked it out of the park with this one; I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. The community day pictures make us look especially wholesome, and I like that. I’m also gauging my ears. After losing some of my gaudy bling on the floor of Peach’s Bar and Grille, I decided it was time for a change. What I’m most pleased with though, is my community of vibrant, beautiful people that has shaped my character in a very profound way. I can say very surely I am a better person now than when I entered almost two years ago. My politics have changed, my understanding of our world has changed, and although our school doesn’t have state-ofthe- art facilities, a prostudent administration, a wide range of course offerings, a night-life to speak of, or a smoking tolerant dorm, at least we have each other.

And you all amaze me every day.

-Luke

Dear Community,

Wonderful active people, please continue in your diligent efforts to bring about the change you yearn to see. Today at the Record, we have worked very hard into the morning to bring you this paper. I think that our dedication to the Record, as Community Day exemplified, is uniquely typical of this community. Of course, there is no end to the struggles we wrestle with and we cannot let down our guard, but a strong community of such workers as ourselves also plays hard. In that vein, hats off to Events Manager Melody and everyone who worked to put Black & Tan together.

Everyone get ready, this is the end of seventh week, which for those of us who have been here more than a couple of months know, means Eighth Week Crisis is right around the corner. Don’t let your guard up folks, not for one minute. Things are about to come crashing down on us, but our routine workout, if we have been good (which I think we all are ) will help us carry the load. Yes, we are pack animals of sorts, able to lift weighty burdens and carry them across the desert of academia.

I’m sorry. It’s 7:30 AM. This is, as usual the last thing left to do before we send out the paper. 7:30 AM means we have a half hour to get the PDFs to the printer. Not much time left. This is burden gets heavier. So, take a lesson for us in Main basement – Don’t procrastinate.

I swear, next week I will get to reviewing the Antioch Review.

Enjoy the paper.

Foster Neill

Layout Editor

Letter from Callie Cary

“In our society the two institutions commissioned to provide the substance of a democratic public sphere, as a place for critical nquiry, are the news media and academia.�?
This quote comes from a review of David Horowitz’s book “The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America�? by 1979 alumnus Robert McCheseney entitled “David Horowitz and the Attack on Independent Thought,�? “ in which both McCheseney and Antioch alum Gordon Fellman ‘57 are included.

Robert McCheseney is a Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Changing campus culture in the name of intellectual freedom is certainly not a new theme in the higher education community. The larger question is how is the term intellectual freedom being defined and by whom? Are the standards universally applied to everyone in the community, and who or what are the arbiters of those standards? And finally, what are the intended educational outcomes of these cultural changes?

It was made clear by President Lawry in his first address at Community Meeting last spring, as well as at subsequent meetings with the Alumni Board and alumni groups around the country, that he seemed to arrive with an agenda, a preconceived opinion about the campus culture and the governance system.

According to the President’s assessment, as stated in “Lawry Challenges Campus Culture; Students Troubled�? (Yellow Springs News, 10/5/06), students are too confrontational, lack mutual respect and social maturity, are self-indulgent, use menacing language, and speak irresponsibly, and all these behaviors lead to an anti-intellectual, closed community that prevents students from being able to “embrace the full spectrum of ideas and opinions, without prejudgment….�? The article goes on to say that Lawry feels that “A less threatening campus…will help the College retain some of the students who tend to leave Antioch because they feel attacked by other students.�?

Where did the President’s perspective come from after such limited exposure to the student body, or anyone else in the community? Is this based on anecdotal information provided by those who oriented him before his arrival? In his presentations, Lawry sites a conversation he had with a student while he was on campus being interviewed for the presidency- a student who had said that he might transfer out of Antioch because he felt uncomfortable with the campus culture. Lawry has also mentioned how a student wearing Nike sneakers got attacked for not being more sensitive to the scourge of sweatshop production. OK, but is there some concrete data to support the theory that the campus culture is the main reason we lose students, or why students don’t come to Antioch? Past data from the exit interviews conducted by the Dean of Students Office over the years has shown that students leave for a variety reasons, including financial, social, academic, developmental, and finding a dream co-op, but very rarely because of campus culture and climate. According to existing data, there has never been one overriding reason for student attrition.

And so, it’s been almost 10 months since this message was first delivered. What steps have been taken to change the campus culture? Apparently, the governance system has been targeted as an axis of confrontation and is described as “out of control�? and combative with the administration.

I am puzzled by this assessment. I served on Community Council (ComCil) in 05/06 and was extremely impressed with the high and civil level of discourse between faculty, staff and students, the student chair’s oversight of the meetings, the humor and creativity of the members, and the overall sense of responsibility members felt for the community. We debated, persuaded, challenged, changed our minds, built consensus and agonized over some difficult and frustrating situations on the campus. We also made every effort to engage with the administration to orient the new President to the Council’s purpose, and to express concern over some of the decisions that were being made without any consultation with Comcil, decisions that had historically been brought to Comcil for deliberation and input.

Although at times a very frustrating experience, for me as an alum, it defined one of Antioch’s core values and part of its mission – to create informed risk takers through participation in a laboratory of democratic decision- making. It would be a mistake to define Antioch’s system of governance as a locus of power for all decision- making, but it would be equally misguided to discredit and ignore the significant educational implications of the decision-making process that happens within this system.

Community governance at Antioch provides one of the most unique educational experiences the College has to offer and, if properly facilitated, allows all community members to feel some ownership and responsibility for the community in which they live and work. For students, these skills are further developed and tested in the various co-op communities they enter around the globe. It is this praxis that, with trial and error, teaches students some sense of humility and cultural mobility. It is the ingredient that helps to turn out so many interesting, entrepreneurial, and, yes, outspoken graduates. Last year Antioch College had three graduating students receive Fulbright awards. That sort of intellectual inquiry doesn’t happen in a vacuum!

I have never understood the concern that oppositional perspectives, be they conservative or radical, are somehow oppressed at Antioch.

Antioch alumni, young and old, have always been represented throughout the political spectrum. I know for a fact that Republicans and radicals (some now democrats) actually sit side-by-side with each other as Trustees and Alumni Board members! The alumni work in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, many are organizers, artists and educators, but regardless of their path, most feel passionately about their values. The alumni take Antioch’s first President Horace Mann’s dictum “Be ashamed to die until you win some victory for humanity�? very seriously.

There are some very real challenges facing Antioch right now, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with working on creating a campus that promotes open dialog, the administration needs to be sure to walk the talk and to create a forum that builds consensus around what the walk is…and maybe what shoes should be worn. I would also hope that energy is quickly shifted to other institutional priorities with specific steps being outlined on how best to address the recruitment and retention of students and faculty of color, improving the physical plant, supporting faculty moral, professional development and the integrity of tenure, and building a culture of mutual respect and labor incentives for the union workers, exempt staff and middle managers.

Top-down decision-making rarely has any educational value and it generally doesn’t promote a climate of mutual respect or intellectual freedom. If retention, recruitment and fund raising are the priorities right now (as they have been for decades), the entire Antioch community should be embraced as ambassadors, future alumni, future donors, future leaders, and advocates of an extraordinary educational experience that has held a truly unique place in the landscape of higher education.

Callie Cary ‘84
Second-generation alum and former Director of Alumni Relations

Nookie with Niko

Hello. . Before I my start my over-sexed advice column I’d like to take a moment to thank Danny Solis. He took the time to post a beautifully written letter on Pulse, even after moving away and graduating. Danny was a leader in this community; it’s good to see him still involved. We need more people to set it up. I’d also like to thank those having a dialogue about it. So many people are afraid to voice their opinions now, but it’s what we’ve got to fight with. Staff, the students, faculty, and we are Antioch. It is our responsibility to preserve our college. Not to mention we are in a crucial point in our history and we have the chance to shape that. Step up, fight back, and hold on to the Antioch that the generations know and love.

Okay, okay onto the sex…

This week I bring you scary sex urban legends and rumors, and the truth behind them in celebration of Friday the 13th. As someone born on the 13th and had many wonderful birthdays on this so called unlucky day I hope to use this as a time to dispel the myth of danger that will ensue on the 13th. I understand the creepiness, but it seems to me our society perpetuates fear of Friday the 13th. Paraskevidekatriaphobics is the name for those irrationally afraid on Friday the 13th. Yeah they even have their own name. Did you know that some building even leave out a 13th floor? 13 is considered a creepy number all over. Before I get carried away though, here cum the top 8 sex urban legends!

#8
Male-bodied people getting pregnant? Ever seen the movie Junior? It’s a comedy about Arnold, California’s governor,, who gets knocked up. I’m sorry but I just don’t think he could actually handle it. This well-known hoax traveled through cyber space and fooled thousands. Thought they aren’t considerate enough to say male bodied over men. Check out www.malepregnancy.com to get the full scoop. The site is pretty convincing, but still a fake. Needless to say male bodies can’t get pregnant, yet. Maybe one day, but for now only female-bodied people can carry children.

#7
May I have your attention please! Ogling breast does NOT increase men’s life spans. An email referencing a fake article in the New England Journal of Medicine started going around in 2000. The article spoke of study that confirmed that men who ogle breast have increased life spans. Come on, couldn’t they think of a better way to make this behavior seem okay? Needless to say it wasn’t too hard to figure out it was a fake. The email can be found at: urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/ aa072600a.htm?once=true&

#6
I heard lots of bad ideas about different types of contraceptives, like reusing condoms. Though this one is about Mountain Dew. Yeah that super sugary Pepsi product. Apparently sugar and caffeine can keep you from getting pregnant. If that were true you would think my two cups of coffee in the morning would do the trick. The idea is that Mountain Dew decreases men’s sperm count thus making pregnancy impossible. It’s only take one sperm to get someone pregnant. This one’s been around since the 90’s. I know I heard it growing up. Millions of youth and young adults actually bought this. Here’s another blaring reason to have comprehensive sex education in high schools. But that’s a whole other rant.

#5
Another internet rumor was about getting head. A rumor popped up claiming that women who suck cock on a regular basis have lower rates of breast cancer. So basic idea is women get out there, suck a lot of cock, now! Obviously men wrote this and the breast article. Another fucked up way to justify objectifying and using women. I heard this rumor in school and different variations, such as semen is very healthy for you. When it comes to giving and getting great head the only benefits is reduced stress, pleasure, and hopefully an orgasm. Personally I think those are more than enough.

#4
Did you happen to see the fake Puma ads that came out a while ago? Check them out. This sprung up and caused quite a ruckus. Nice shoe’s, but what’s that on your leg?

#3
People love their butts. People love sticking things in their butts. Despite there being a big anal taboo, many people love to stick things in their assholes. If there is one thing I hope people will learn, it is that if you are going to put anything in your butt it MUST have a flared base. The anus will literally suck in a toy, and you’ll have no way of getting it out without going to the doctor. Despite many rumors doctors have found over 140 different objects inside people’s asses. Such as light bulbs, plantains, curling irons, baseballs, shampoo bottles, a cattle horn, a frozen pig’s tail, and a tobacco pouch. For the sick and twisted perverts, like me, who want to see the whole list go to: www.well.com/user/cynsa/newbutt.html

#2
Would you believe it if someone told you that there are actual people fighting against breast-feeding? Stating it’s an “incestual and immoral perversion.�? At least a good portion of America bought this prank. Could you imagine? Seems to me we have better things to rally against, especially at Antioch.

#1
Masturbation will make you go blind or grow hair on your palms. Who hasn’t heard these rumors? For the record this is absolutely not true. Masturbation is great and healthy; everyone should do it all the time. Literally. Maybe Antioch would be a better place if people just got off more often!

See you next week!