[Alumni-chat] Antioch future vision

[Sistersara at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/7/2007 9:25:56 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
pas0705 at yahoo.com writes:

Sistersara, I know you love to tread out your baseless
history that  everything post guskin was evil and
should be given a merciful death, but  its simply not
true.



Laura -- my knowledge of Antioch's history personally goes back to the  
Presidency of Sam Gould, and I did independent study with Arthur Morgan.   Through 
my family there are connections that go back pre-Morgan.  I do not  make 
historical arguments on the basis of evil and good -- I try to look at  fairly long 
term trends, and I also try to use comparative methods, between  generations, 
and between Antioch and external institutions.  I am deeply  concerned with 
the health of Progressive Institutions in contemporary  America.  Antioch is 
not the only one in great difficulty -- but as I see  it, there is reason to 
hope because many are restructuring, and recognizing that  they cannot live on 
past laurels.  They look at the rise of things like  Regents University and the 
whole matrix of Right Wing Think Tanks, their take  over of so much of the 
media and public forum, and gradually the  Progressives are coming alive again, 
recognizing that institutions that  allow one generation to hand off to the 
next are very much in need of work, new  leadership, sharpened purpose, new 
programs.  Understanding how parts of  the Progressive tendency in America tend to 
have fallow periods, understanding  how over time they revive themselves, and 
understanding how difficult this is --  this interests me.  Antioch is one of 
these institutions, and as some put  it -- if you don't know where you've 
been, it is a little difficult to make a  choice of roads getting you to your 
destination.  
 
Anyway you slice it, a College is about the Academic Enterprise, and  whether 
you can do that with quality outcomes.  When you can't attract  sufficient 
students to support core Faculty and programs, yes, you have  failed.  No way to 
dress that up.  



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