I’m slowly but surely working on sort of a part III of these Antioch posts. It should be up here in a bit.

In the mean time, it’s good to see the issues at the core of these posts getting some real consideration.

Keep up the good work!

Mainly, I’m surprised it hasn’t been said more often.

Art- as I said in the piece, I don’t think ‘building forward’ needs to be the ONLY focus here.

I see it more as dual tracked- build an independent- distinct from the University in every way- institution to carry forward the core of what Antioch College was. Particular focus in creating such has to be on reincorporating those who were displaced and directly affected by the closure of the college- and yes, this means former College staff as well. The union busting was a critical component of all of this.

But the second track has to be a full and independent exploration leading to an accounting of what happened. Back last June I was calling for “INDEPENDENT forensics” on the finances and the process.

We still don’t have that.

Supporting those who have standing, in their efforts to make there be legal consequences for what the University did seems an equally important endevour- and quite possibly the only way we’re ever going to get hard evidence of how this happened.

I don’t view the murder of our college as something to just ‘let slide’ and build forward the next.

We need to understand why this happened, how it happened, and WHO made it happen. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that this was a focused intentional process.

We need to fully understand why those who acted the way they did did what they did- and what they stood to gain by doing so- be that monetarily or ideologically. (Yes, people can ‘gain’ in ways other than ‘mere’ money.)

Unfortunately other than supporting those who have legal recourse, we are left with few other means by which to make there be consequences for those who murdered Antioch College.

As I said in the piece above-

“Perhaps eventually, I will write about what my Antioch College education meant to me. I am not an Antioch graduate, but I do hold the distinction of being an Alum, having dropped out not once, but twice.”

I will say that I was an Antioch student in 1987-88, and again for a second round in 1991. Most of my friends from that period would probably remember me as “Mouse”.

Just a quick point or two;

Art- actually, it took roughly 156 years for Antioch to “die” (yeah I know, not counting the previous periods it was out of commission, I’d have to dig out the dates.)

Folks can date the seeds of destruction to various crucial points along the way, but ultimately, varying forms of Antioch College stood firm for more than 100 years.

I take issue with the term “die” though, as this was not a natural death. This was intentionally put down- by people. And before moving on, I think it’s important to do the autopsy- it’s important to learn the lessons of how this was done, why, and by whom. ‘Salvaging’ without pausing to learn from this would be a crucial error in my view. Sounds like on that, we might agree.

Dawn- on taking issue with the notion that the College is dead,

I can only say Antioch College as it existed before June 30th is no longer with us, it was murdered.

The University may someday open a new college, but it will not be the Antioch College we knew.

As for those keeping the flame so to speak- non-stop (Antioch,) as I said in the paragraph I’ll quote below- whatever comes next (re- bourne of that spirit of the genuine Antioch College like a ‘Phoenix Arising’) will have certain core differences- the loss of our name and Antiochiana to name but two.

As I said in the piece-

“Non-stop (Antioch), see below, is gearing up for next Autumn, but whatever comes next, it will be under an entirely different set of circumstances. Apparently everything from the ADA grandfathering of the College facilities, on through to institutional accreditation now changes. Whatever comes next, with or without the horribly abused and neglected campus, by its own University (mis)management, will face a very different climate in which to work.”

But yes, that which lives on in us is by no means dead or murdered- no matter how hard some would try to kill it.

After I walked out of the meeting with Murdock and the Board of Trustees (those who could be bothered to show up) at reunion a year ago, I got cornered by a Dayton local news crew. They interviewed me and I said plainly that Antioch lives on through us. We are Antioch now.

That said, I think these people DO know what we’re made of- and that’s precisely WHY they did everything they could to make Antioch College as small and weak and broken as possible, so that they could (to turn Neocon Grover Norquist’s words back against them) drown Antioch and Yellow Springs in a proverbial bathtub.

They want Antioch College and Yellow Springs, dismantled, overrun, and changed out from under us precisely BECAUSE they understand it as a point of genuine resistance- thus to their minds it must be co-opted, dismantled, or defunded into oblivion.

To go forward, we need to not let them set the terms and the agenda, but instead to do the end run- if they want Antioch for their own purposes because it was a ‘hard point’, then it’s time to go build the REALLY hard point. If the ‘bootcamp for the revolution’ was what they feared, then let’s start getting serious about what we lost in the previously existing Antioch College.

Time to build our way forward on the real values of what Antioch College was to its core.

Being free of the (corporate neocon) University has certain advantages- provided we can understand that and act accordingly going forward.

But as I said above, it takes understanding what happened here, and learning from it, to genuinely carry that community in our ‘hearts, minds, deeds, and actions’ going forward.

It’s also as I alluded to above, an opportunity, to re-evaluate things like terminology. “Be Ashamed to Let it Die” for some in the narrow view means “Antioch College” under that title those buildings, etc.

But “Be ashamed to let it die” also carries the broader meaning- the heart and soul of what Antioch meant, the challenge to community (with all that entailed, participatory democracy, etc), and it’s radical (to the root) core of social justice. Horace Mann’s parting words,and how we live that out.

THAT is what we must be ashamed to let die.

Not words like “Antioch”, nor structures that have been co-opted to the point of meaninglessness.

Now being an architecture buff, it breaks my heart what these fuckers have ALREADY done to our campus. The historic and unique architecture deserves so much more. Gross, (perhaps even criminal?) mismanagement. Not at all in accord with promises made in order to secure the support for the new McGregor across town.

That said, it’s critically important not to lose sight of what matters most here.

Keeping that which lies at the core of the community is the fierce dedication that yes, keeps students on in Yellow Springs, and people working towards ‘non-stop’.

Antioch University can slogan up “Because the world needs you now” but for those of us who ARE Antioch College we never needed a slogan to tell us such, we felt a deep and abiding personal responsibility to do what we could to make the world a better place. We were willing to tackle Horace Mann’s challenge winning a “victory for humanity” because we were ALREADY involved in that work in various forms and fields.

A “Victory for Humanity” is and continues to be a lofty goal. But for many of us our day to day is already occupied by the ’struggles’ on so many fronts, from Queer viability in societies, to fighting for science education, from housing for people with AIDS to media reform.

That is what they can’t kill unless we let them, and that is what we must be ashamed to let die- our commitment and ongoing work.

And that is what must lie at the core of any non-stop going forward, far more than fighting over mere words like “antioch college”, what we must be afriad to let die is the very ’soul’ of what Antioch is- a daily resistance in our lives to the world so many would create.