students - THE RECORD

Eating Chicago

By Majorie Jenson

My arrival in Chicago was preceded by an angry paper about Columbus’ subjugation of the Native Americans in the Bahamas and Cuba perpetuated by his lack of a national or familial history. I’m sure you can understand my concern that I would be the token angry indigenous-identified radical queer woman. How’s that for identity politics?

My arrival was also preceded by a former Antioch student throwing a book at a patron of the Newberry Library (ask Tom Haugsby for the whole story). Suffice to say, we no longer have a co-op here. I had to prove myself and my college as a Newberry Research Fellow living in the Gold Coast District (read “rich white neighborhood�?). Within the first week of the seminar, I found myself and my people being called “Indians,�? repeatedly, by the Director of Renaissance Studies and subsequently explaining to my fellow Fellows why the misnomer offended me. They call us “Indians�? because Columbus thought he was in the Indies. He also thought Cuba was Japan.

However, I have found my Columbus book useful. From beyond the grave, Columbus kills another indigenous group – the spiders that frequent my apartment. (These natives are abundant and fucking huge.) But seriously, the importance of semantics transcends being politically correct. It’s about accuracy and intelligence. We don’t call Cuba Japan because of Columbus’ ignorance. Let’s not misidentify an entire indigenous people because “Indian�? is easier to say. Coincidentally, my research topic is in the Renaissance and my professor encouraged me to talk with the Director.

“It’s okay,�? he said. “She didn’t mean anything by it.�?

Sure. Apparently, ignorance is bliss. Previous to this exchange, I challenged my professor’s analysis of the epic hero’s definitive “masculinity,�? which led to a long discussion of the fallacy of a gender binary. In the end, he agreed that the political and economic factors of patriarchy proved that it was a better term. Again, a question of semantics that is larger conceptually than just being “PC.�?

My time at the Newberry is split between research, class on travel writing and working part-time for the Development Office. My first task at work was to prepare for the General Consul of Brazil’s visit to the monthly “Wednesday Club.�? This included making signs and copies for the event, moving chairs and generally acting as any intern would- as a gofer (go for this, go get that).

As the crowd entered Ruggles Hall, I felt distinctly and incontrovertibly out of place. They were the elite, well-dressed, well-off: the bourgeoisie. Milling around, they spoke of opera tickets, were surprised they had to pour their own wine and were dismissive of the catering staff. I hung their coats and identified myself as “the intern�? when introduced.

I racked my brain for enough Spanish from my distant high school classes to speak with the catering staff when encouraged to eat by my boss. They seemed relieved that I tried to explain my vegetarianism (sin carne, por favor). I stood in the back, shrugging into my cardigan sweater, trying to blend in with the wall, feeling very much the underdressed and poor intern. I ducked out during the Q and A and gossiped with the security guard at the front kiosk. He was, at that moment, the only one I could relate to: a working-class POC that assured me that I would adjust to the extravagant, fivestory, marble-accented library and the mostly ignorant white librarians. I was still unsure, but comforted nonetheless.

After my distinctly Antiochian complaints, I worried what my weekend held. The other students were beautifully nerdy and, as most educated people are, liberal. They came from colleges such as Kenyon, Lawrence, Beloit and Hope. None had the radical reputation of Antioch. And no one thought poorly of our “confrontational culture�? (and many have visited Antioch). On Friday night we met on the fourteenth (read thirteenth and a superstitious architect) floor. The night began with Appletinis and Cabernet Sauvignon raised in praise of the semi-colon; “the sexiest punctuation mark ever,�? said Jason from Albion. We played the prerequisite game of Never Have I Ever and I explained the rules of Cliff.

Eventually, we moved to the seventeenth (read sixteenth) floor, put on trashy pop music and smoked too many cigarettes (or at least I did). The studio apartment was transformed in Club Newberry, and the remaining Fellows danced away several hours. After Nick from Denison danced on his kitchen counter, we decided to relocate.

In drunken impatience, Jason, Nick, Becky (also from Denison) and I left the others to bravely broach the Zebra Lounge, a dark, sketchy bar in the first floor of our apartment building. An older pianist played Beatles covers. Drinks were overpriced. We talked about the library, Milton, Shakespeare and erotica. Other bar patrons expressed their envy of our scholastic endeavors.

The city called and we walked two blocks to the shore of Lake Michigan. The buildings reached for the sky like fingers with many jeweled rings. Small, warm waves crashed around my feet. My dress winked back at the jewels of the city and I held black stilettos out of the water while Chicago’s much acclaimed wind tugged at my hair.

We talked about privilege. Our ramblings included this extravagant life as a temporary construct only to be taken from us by the real world. We marveled at how well we were living. We knew that we will never live this good again, being English majors. We promised to enjoy our impermanent existence. “For four months, Chicago is ours,�? Becky said to the skyscrapers.

“We’ll eat Chicago,�? said Nick, quoting an obscure song. I can only assure you that we will.

Vandals Supply Steamy Welcome to New Semester

By Kim-Jenna Jurriaans

A recent spree of vandalism that struck the campus last week leaves Antioch to pick up the $3500 bill to pay for the restoration of destroyed artwork and windows, general repairs and labor hours.

The events approximately started on Sunday, September 3rd with bricks smashing the windows of both the president’s and the vice president’s offices, and ended in the flooding of the first floor of the union building early Tuesday morning, after unknown vandals purposely clogged and repeatedly flushed the upstairs toilets. The broken windows in Main Hall were discovered on Monday morning between 11.30 and noon, when one of the bricks was found on the floor of the president’s office. Another was found in the surrounding area.

According to Darrel Cook working at the physical plant, the flooding at the Union didn’t occur till the following night or early the next morning. After clogging the toilets, the offenders urinated into the water, causing urine filled water to leek into the cafeteria. Four workers spent two hours non stop sanitizing the area in order for the cafeteria to open on time for Tuesday morning breakfast. Dean of students Jimmy Williams was especially alarmed about the effects the incident might have on the ability to feed the campus community. “We’re talking health violations here. Those requirements are quite strict. We were close to having to shut the Caf down.�?

In addition to the incident at the Union, vandals found a way into the science building where they left a $2500 trail of damage to artwork in the downstairs hall. The art consisted of digitally re-mastered photographs of the first generation of Antioch alumni from the 1850s. “Those Photographs had only been up there for about a year�?, says Darrel Cook, assistant manager of the Physical Plant in charge of the clean up. “Whoever it was took them down and tried to flush them down the toilet. All artwork was urinated on and smeared with feces.�?

According to Dispatcher Campbell of the Yellow Springs police department there are no official leads so far as to who is responsible. Given the nature of the vandalism, however, both campus crew and administration find it likely to be someone familiar with the buildings and the community.

The Science building is usually locked over the weekend, but with the number of keys in circulation among students that is hardly a barrier. Dean Williams goes on to say: “This is Antioch. This is not a place were we keep busy locking people out. If you want to get into a certain building, you will find a way.�?

Cook says he above all felt discouraged by the incident: “The maintenance crew had worked very hard for the last three weeks to get the campus nice before the new students arrived. It only takes a couple of people some hours to make our lives hell.�?

Dean Williams was similarly disheartened by the nature of the vandalism: “We’ve had vandalism before, but in terms of nastiness it has escalated�?, he says.

Like many students on campus he links the events to the recent policy changes that took place at the college and which threw a rift between many of the older students and the Antioch administration: “The community is broken right now. And all sides are convinced that they are right.�?

According to the Dean the atmosphere was tense at the end of last semester. With the arrival last January of yet another president to lead “the new Antioch�? into becoming a less ‘toxic�? community, debates arose over the use of authority and distribution of power on campus, leaving many students frustrated with the new status quo. “We’ve become a community suspicious of change, partly because we’ve had so much of it these last years�?, says Williams. “People felt devaluated, they didn’t feel they were heard. There was a vacuum and if there is a vacuum something always slips in.�?

Although the issue was addressed at last weeks RDPP orientation for entering students, the reaction of the community to the incident was surprisingly calm. Some interviewed students had heard of the events vaguely, others who were off-campus for several days last week, hadn’t heard of it yet at all. Second year transfer Mariel Traiman was quoted as saying: “When I first saw the broken windows on Monday morning I remember ‘thinking this will be a big issue on campus this week’. I’m actually surprised of how not a big issue it is.�? Indeed there didn’t seem to be much of a ‘whodunnit’- atmosphere amongst students. Lunch conversations tended to focus more on upcoming classes and everyday business than speculations as to the motive of the vandalism and whether the events that took place on separate days were the works of the same persons. “I know that the college portrays the events as one incident, but I’m pretty sure they’re not�?, continues Traiman, who has been living around Antioch the last months before entering as a student this fall. “For me the throwing of the stones was a political act. The rest was just plain stupid.�?

One of the reasons the administration has taken a low-key approach to the incident seems to be not to want to spoil the overall upbeat vibe on campus that came with the arrival of the 150 new students two weeks ago. “That’s why we were so disappointed when it happened,�? continues Williams. “We had had a really good week so far. And then Bam!�? At the RDPP meeting Williams encouraged students to step forward if they had any information, but so far none have. �?I do think it is a problem that people know about it and choose to stay silent�?, he says. He acknowledges that the atmosphere has changed over the previous years, with a low point being last semester. “The culture has gotten a little mean-spirited.�? Part of the problem he attributes to a lack of communication between administration and students. “If people don’t get answers, they find answers. Administrators need to know students. In a place as Antioch that should be really easy. We should fix that.�? The Dean of students nevertheless denounces the choice of action. First year Caitlin Murphy seems to agree: “This is simply not the way you get things done.�?

“The irony is, we used to brag about being really tolerant here�?, continues Williams. “Now we’re less tolerant. This used to be the place where dissenting opinions were discussed, petitioned. Somewhere along the line that got lost. We’re in a time of confusion right now, but I think our problems have an easy fix. This is not a student – faculty problem, but a student -administration issue. We need to get out more, be more approachable.�?

So far the events don’t seem to have put a damper on the new community vibe. Since the College itself isn’t planning a large-scale inquiry into the incident, the vandalism is likely to stay unaccounted for.

Antioch is currently looking into options to get the pieces of artwork restored, but it is still unclear whether that is possible. If not, the 2500 dollars reserved for the restoration will go towards new artwork for the Science Building.

Campus Life Gets a Life Guard

by Christopher DeArcangelis

It had been a groggy start. Head in the shower, clothes on the ground and no breakfast. The class had been one of irritation: “McGregor still has no elevator or handicap accessible entrance and its recent cleaning has unleashed a fierce mold.�? When class was over I couldn’t stop thinking about eggs and mayonnaise. My hunger was trying to take me for a ride.

I ran into Joe and he said “Listen: I cant get into Birch.�? I looked at him and rubbed my guts. I had consumed the coffee stimulant, but no food. I needed Birch for its kitchen.

“Come on, ole Joe. I’ve got a key. “ Joe looked back pensively, not letting me in on his inner understanding. We walked down the path past the dew and craters that compose one of Birch’s main pathways. Joe almost broke his ankle stumbling into the hole in the ground. Examining his reddening joints he remarked,

“Oh, I hope lunch is good.�? I helped him up and we made it up to the door. I reached into my pocket, stained from last night’s Gin, and fumbled for my keys. I found them buried beneath my coinage and whipped them out into the keyhole. Turning the key gave way to nothing; the sweat on my brow now ran down my eye sockets. I began to turn the key more aggressively, pulling on the door handles and muttering oaths.

I had not yet received my new Antioch ID. These new IDs include the ability to unlock the dormitory doors, standing for a new era in the General Safety of Antioch. This also means that until someone walked by with an ID card, my friend and I would be pressing our faces to the glass of the doors hoping to see a concerned face. And there she was.

It was Kim Deal, from the rock ‘n’ roll band The Pixies. She is also from Dayton, a nearby industrial city. She was making her way down the stairs and saw our flustered faces. She let us in through the door with the sympathy of a sailor, saying “Hey, we’re all on this ship together.�?

I said, “Why, with all this good nature about, I can’t help but wonder if you know something I don’t.�? Her eyes widened. Her shining teeth revealed themselves to me as she announced her new position as the Campus Life Guard.

“Campus Life Guard tell me more!�? Joe beckoned. The Campus Life Guard took us aside to the Birch Space Kitchen and began preparing some sandwiches a she explained the various changes occurring on Antioch College that require our immediate attention, as well as the aid of a skilled Campus Life Guard.

“This term is but another in a series of swift changes in policy towards the students of Antioch College. The college moves on with its Renewal Plan, and the Housing website still shows a picture of Birch while leaving it out of its Internet tour of Antioch’s student housing.

Changes that face returning students this term: The necessity of a written proof of illness in order to partake in the Cafeteria’s Food Exchange Program; the lack of a smoking friendly dormitory or hall; the reorganizing of financial aid, of the FWSP; the key card identification system that took years. The understaffed faculty. The Pepto-Bismol nightmare interior of the Antioch Inn Practice Spaces and Hailed Hallway of The Dance Space. The largest first year class in years is also welcomed this term.

This term Antioch will posses the following abandoned residence halls: West, Mills, G Stanley, and Norment. “

The sandwiches were served, along with the proper end of summer cordials. Kim peered out through the Birch Space windows as she elaborated.

Housing

“Gazing about the halls of Birch one cannot find a common space. Instead, the passageway, the hallway, is the common space. Folk hang about as if waiting for the bus or a ride, one leg crooked against the wall, cigarettes in hand.

Fuck not smoking, a bright second year says.

The rooms seem to be in fine working order. Aside from the closet full of ancient piss and the incriminating fleabites that spell “get out.�?

Though things seem to have taken a turn for the worse at Birch Town, its residents still have faith in the future. A fancy bench has made its way into one of the dorms halls, providing what would seem to be an attempt at the creation of a common space.

As for smoking, Ohio and many other states have decided to tighten their brassiere in a collective show of progression by banning smoking in some way or another. In Ohio it has been county by county, and while Green County remains indoor smoking friendly Antioch College does not.

The ratio of smoking detectors to smoking Antioch student has continuously caused unwanted smoke alarm detonations, particularly during the last few terms in Birch. It is rumored that tensions are rising between the Yellow Springs Fire Department and Antioch College. It seems that Antioch has been trying to save face, however, what with the sacrificial offering of the recently abandoned Torment Hall to the Fire Department for training exercises.

The RA of Willet Hall in Birch, Rob the Rev, says: “Over the last few terms their have been a lot of fire alarms going off which I think is straining our relationship with the fire department. I think that in the interest of maintaining the basic safety of this campus and the students it would be the logical course to ban smoking.�?

For the first year class, North has been rehabilitated with all the floors open and ready for business. Dorm life is being kept closely monitored. Near the entrance to Green Hall there is posted warning about the seriousness of underage drinking and drinking in North. Underage drinking and smoking will not be tolerated. Steve Lawry has voiced his personal concern with underage drinking in North.

Whatever you do, don’t buy any minors beer this term.�?

Campus Life

“The Financial Aid restructuring has continued to affect the Community Government and Independent Group’s on campus. The various groups provide resources and outlets for the diverse minds and bodies that compose Antioch College’s student body. These outlets show the true potential of Antioch College as a place for creativity and progress. With their diminished importance and volunteer status, they are threatened to disappear completely without student initiative. Even the Antioch Record itself has been struggling keep a hold of funding.

The first years are on a completely different curriculum from the upper classmen. Their days are spent in class. Most of the steady teachers have been usurped into the CORE program for the first years. For a while the fresh key cards given to returning students did not work in North.

Weekend Dance Space parties have long been a staple of Antioch College nightlife. This term, alcohol will no longer be sold at CG parties. It is sad to see the eradication of one of the most ancient forms of socialization. BYOB is encouraged, but still serves as yet another division between the older and younger students at Antioch College, a school with a very small student body.

The cafeteria has taken a new stance on the food exchange program limiting access to a great idea: take home some of the raw goods that the cafeteria uses. You must have a written notice from a doctor validating your need to partake in this program. At a school that is known for its progressive posturing, you would think the food wouldn’t put people asleep or straining at the toilet! But it does, and the cafeteria remains stigmatized.

Kim Deal really had taken this job full on. My stomach was full, but my head was filled with questions. These questions, like many, desire an answering. I leaned forward on the fancy table and asked, “But Kim, what does anyone think?�? I looked at her plainly, naïve to the whole thing. She reached an arm into her pocket and prepared a mini cassette record to myself and Joe. “In order to better understand the changes, I thought it best to speak with some upperclassmen. Here for your pleasure and understanding are the true testimonials of Rob the Rev, and Emily Thornton Wourms

Emily TW

Q: How has your housing situation changed?
A: When I entered I lived in north and it was cesspool of first year debauchery and I liked it that way. The biggest problem with housing is that they don’t differentiate from the people who do drugs and the people who don’t and because of that people are put in awkward positions where their lifestyle conflicts with people around them and I thought that was a very valuable thing and that school did too.

Q: With the changes in smoking and alcohol tolerance do you feel that the school is changing its stance?
A: Oh yeah, we used to have a semi official harm reduction policy when I first entered and now it seems more like z parental relation ship between the students and administration

Q: Do you feel distanced from the first years this term?
A: Yes, but not as much as last year, which I think is very important and a very good sign. I think the issues over housing last year caused a lot of animosity over the first years and older students. I think having the older students in Birch here they’ve always been since I’ve first got here was important.

Q: Do you think that the role of the older students as potential mentors and friends is being eradicated on campus?
A: I think they are trying to formalize that role. I know they have all these official mentor ship programs but when I arrived here there was a lot of informal mentor ships which in a lot of ways worked better because it entered people lives more it was just if you had a problem with homework you had a name you could hunt down, you actually had these relationships. Maybe they are trying creating this in a more formal way, great, but I haven’t seen that happening.

Q: How do you feel about the lack of a common space in Birch?
A: I’m trying to do my senior project, and someone just moved a couch literally a foot and a half from my front door and I think that is going to be very detrimental to me trying to do my senior project, and this was done to compensate for the lack of a proper common space.

Q :Do you feel that a common space is really better than a couch outside your door?
A: A lot better for me.

Q: Why do you think they took the common spaces out of birch??
A: Probably to try to get rid of the community atmosphere that many older students enjoyed here that was somewhat destructive and somewhat dirty but I think that people are just creating that atmosphere in a narrower place that only intensifies that atmosphere, literally narrower.

Q: How do you feel about the need for a doctor’s note in order to partake in the Food Exchange program?
A: I have a bigger problem with not being able to get a refund for your meal plan and take
the money you would have spent on it. The food exchange program is great and if people
can utilize it I think they should but you should be able to opt out of the whole thing.
Q: What would you prescribe to Antioch if you were a doctor?
A: Hmmm, some antibiotics and some Valium.
Reverend Rob
Q: Do you feel cut off from the first years?
A: I do indeed I feel that the first years are in a bubble within a bubble. At the same time when the first
years were put in Birch last years it was the same thing so, I don’t think its so much a spatial issue as
much as a generational issues, as the older generations tend to cut themselves off from first years
and the first years tend to put themselves in a cocoon, it seems this problem would be inevitable
Do we stand a chance?
“Well Kim,�? I started, “thanks for taking a good keep over the flock. I feel like my place in the community
is still pretty blurry though. I almost feel sick thinking about these changes. What do we do, Kim?�?

She stood up from her seat.
“The upperclassmen and first years are presented with some daunting challenges at a college
typically known for its strong community and support of radical thought. The leaves will all being
to fall and time will pass. A healthy diet and good sleep remains important, as well as dancing
and the occasional well supervised consumption of a cold beer and a book. It is up to us to get
what we want, or do what we want. As this term unfolds we will see just what’s in store for us.�?
She then jumped through the window, glass shattering in slow motion, and walked off to
stand post as the Campus Life guard.

Cores Emphasize Community Service

Photo by Aidan O’Leary

New program raises some concerns but provides needed assistance to disadvantaged communities

By Ed Perkins

Antioch’s introduction of Core Learning Communities last reach revolutionized education within our institution. The core communities mix three disciplines with three professors, but focus on a common theme, and ideally, cores relate fields of study not ordinarily connected. Members of the faculty feel that these communities have been a terrific addition to the Antioch experience and give students an opportunity not found anywhere else. For the fall of 2006, these core communities added a new twist. American Identities, Sense of Place, and Cool are requiring students to complete community service within the greater community of the Dayton area.~~Most of these community service sites are located in urban areas, such as Dayton and Springfield, OH. They deal primarily with Appalachian, African-American, and Hispanic communities. Examples include the K-12 Gallery in Dayton, the Precious Gifts Daycare Center in Springfield and the Adelante tutoring program in New Carlyle.. Antioch has always been a leader in hands-on learning and learning by doing. The community service programs are another example of Antioch students’ interaction with the real world and real people.

The community service programs also allow students to practice for the Co-op programs which are central to Antioch’s style of education. By figuring out the logistics of getting to and from a job site, and learning how to deal with a new workplace, Antioch hopes to give students a preview of their Co-Op experience. Hopefully, students will be able to learn problem-solving skills that they can apply on Co-op. Jean Gregorek, one of the professors involved with the service programs, says that they will “bring the complexities and difficulties of cross-culture interactions home in a way reading can’t�?.

Although the faculty has a lot of faith in the community service programs, problems persist. Logistically, some students will have a difficult time working out transportation to their sites. A student familiar with the Dayton/ Yellow Springs area who has an automobile will not have much difficulty getting to and from their service site. On the other hand, a student from out of state with no automobile will have to organize carpooling or other arrangements. While Antioch is supposed to coordinate such transport, there has been some confusion with doing so. Even with the schools help, organizing transportation seems to be an extra burden placed on students from out of state or a lower economic bracket who do not have the luxury of keeping an auto on campus. Professor Dennie Eagleson, one of the leading advocates of the service program, acknowledges that this might be a problem in an area with “no public transportation�? and feels that the “logistics are difficult, but not impossible, to overcome.�? It is also a problem that students without cars or money will face throughout life, and Antioch hopes that by forcing them to confront such problems, they will learn how to deal with them in the future.

Federal Work Study Programs, or FWSP, also put an additional burden on some students, depending on their economic background. Although some FWSP’s can also count towards community service, not all of them can. This means a student required by financial aid to do a FWSP will have less options than a student not required to. Some might say that all this puts students receiving less financial aid who own cars in an advantaged position. A student receiving more financial aid appears to have more logistical problems with their community service.

There persists the superficial concern of calling required service ‘community service’. It could be perceived as an incorrect characterization to call a student required to do community service a volunteer. This would seem to be a mild insult to someone who volunteers on their own, without a professor making them do so. Many people have full schedules and still volunteer out of the goodness of their heart, not to receive college credit.

In spite of these concerns, there are advantages to the community service program. Most of the sites in the program deal with disadvantaged communities. A host of them work with children or single mothers in these communities. These are people on the margins of our society, and sites doing their best to help them with limited funding and resources. While some might have issues with the program, few would doubt that the additional help is needed. Professor Eagleson said that one of the main goals of this program is to make students “understand what challenges these organizations face�?.

The high education value of the community service experience provides another benefit to the program. A student could read all the books and pour over all the statistics about a particular group or community, but they amount to nothing without firsthand experience. It is also hollow to read about a problem without having witnessed its effects. Hopefully, students who have never lived within these communities will learn about their day-to-day lives. As Eagleson says, “We are not studying people from a distant academic place, but instead coming face to face with their reality.�? The students will witness their problems, and how they cope with them. They may make lasting bonds to the community that will remain strong past their time at Antioch. Hopefully, they will become personally attached to the people and places they serve, and will feel emotionally tied to them. Therefore the students will have genuine concern for these communities. In this regard, the community service program will live up to Antioch’s commitment to make the world a better place.

Whenever an institution tries something new, there will be hopes as well as concerns. As this program progresses, it will be interesting to keep an eye on it. The Record plans on doing more articles about this in the future. They will be more focused on the specific sites, and the people working there, than on the program as a whole. Hopefully, these future articles will give us greater insight, and demonstrate first hand any problems or benefits that this program generates. In the past, Antioch has been referred to as a bubble. This program brings students outside that bubble, and in doing so some will bring the greater community back with them. After all, the planet is bigger than just Yellow Springs. As Dennie Eagleson says, “the world is our laboratory�?

1st Year Orientation: A Triumphantly Fisted Watermelon

By James Fischbeck

Small groups process content during RDPP orientation
Photo by Luke Brennan

Roughly 120 new students arrived to Antioch on September 1. Antioch students and faculty welcomed the first-years. Transition is the common theme of the day. After the students settled into their dorms, the integration process began. Students were shown a slide show about the history of Antioch and the Glen Helen Nature Preserve. It showed vintage photographs of simpler times at Antioch. The Antioch Campus was mostly open space until Antioch students planted trees in the late 1800s. At one time, Antioch had a football team and a baseball team; both teams are just fuzzy memories now. Before closing during the civil war, a special military division was stationed on campus for recruiting and teaching purposes. However, that didn’t last long because the military commanders were worried about continued contact with extreme members of the Antioch community.

After the history presentation, the president of the college addressed new students and parents about the updated curriculum and his plans for re-shaping Antioch college. President Lawry spoke of the new co-op communities in Washington D.C., New Mexico, and Southwestern Ohio. There are plans of building a new co-op community in Seattle and making it possible for independent students to utilize some of the same job opportunities that students of the old curriculum experienced. New progress is being made within the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual freedom. Lawry also spoke of various community outreach programs that he hopes will make the King Center burst into bloom.

The academic and CG orientation was next, and the first-year class barely fit into McGregor 113. Firstyears were presented with the analogy of a three-legged stool, each leg representing Classroom, Co-op, and Community respectively. Janice Kinghorn explained more aspects of the newly revised and expanded core communities. Gaia and Cool are the two new core classes. Gaia involves environmental science, peace studies, and ecology. Cool is a mix of physics, psychology, and music. The sequencing calendar remains the same from last year, with an emphasis on completing a degree path in 4 years, not 5. Clustered classes are one of the fresh ideas being worked into the new curriculum. These groupings of classes are intended to reinforce interdisciplinary learning, but this is still a new, untested idea. Co-op communities are intended to make co-op arrangements less chaotic and more secure. Under the new plan, communities will spring up in various places in and around the United States that will serve as areas where students have more support in times of need. Coop communities are a good idea from a business point of view because they signify a long-term investment of human capital. By focusing on a few areas, employers will be willing to provide work for more students on a more consistent basis. Community at Antioch is the most important leg of the three-legged stool. Our CG managers made the point that community governance is shared governance. Students, faculty, and administration are coequal parts of the community. In theory, it means that everyone has equal voice. In practice, it means that the community is responsible for facilitating dialogue that will bring meaningful, progressive change.

The SOPP is unique to Antioch and embodies respect, communication, and consent. Several returning students participated in the SOPP orientation by performing skits and demonstrating proper handling of sexual devices. The most memorable moment of the orientation involved a duck and a watermelon. At first, it is shocking to see that Antioch is truly comfortable talking about sexual problems so bluntly, but the SOPP isn’t meant to stir up uncomfortable feelings among the student body. Most people at Antioch have a high emo t i o n a l inves tment in the SOPP. The SOPP was born to combat a culture of sexual violence and foster a new culture of positive, consensual s e x u a l i t y. The SOPP is challenging the status quo. In a self-sustaining community, sharing of knowledge and communicating clearly are the most important on an individual level. The SOPP doesn’t dictate that any types of sexual interaction are “wrong�? or “immoral�?, it just stresses that people should know and respect their boundaries and those of others. Even though it started from a women-related issue, it is never about gender because it applies to all. To quote Levi B., “It’s fucked up that sexual issues become women’s issues automatically�?.

A new addition to the orientation process is a briefing on the RDPP, which stands for the Racial Discrimination Prevention Policy. It started as a similar policy to the SOPP and they have similar educational goals. The RDPP acknowledges that racism is a problem that often goes unaddressed in our larger society. You might find yourself asking the question “What is racism?�? well racism or racial discrimination is defined as any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment, or exercise, on equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, or any other field of public life. As you can see, racism is a complicated issue and the RDPP emphasizes that individuals are responsible for creating and maintaining an anti-racist environment around them. As with the SOPP, the RDPP stresses communication and conflict resolution over punitive action. The RDPP is an important addition to Antioch policy that will strengthen the community by encouraging education and examination of greater social issues both inside and outside of Antioch.

On behalf of the Antioch community, I would like to thank Amy Campbell, Beth Jones, Chelsea Martens, Anne Fletcher, Emily Dezurick-Badran, Luke Brennan, Sarah Buckingham, Tess Lindsay, Nicole Crouch-Diaz, Megg Fleck, Katie Archer, Travis Woodard, Keri Gregory, Phillip Wooten, Marissa Fisher, Josh Oliver, Corrine Frohlich, Megan Pergem, and everyone else that was involved in making first-year orientation memorable and enjoyable.