[Alumni-chat] re: article about Antioch connection

Tue Feb 12 10:23:25 EST 2008

Dear Yazz '92:
Your maverick post has given this reader much food for thought.  Thanks for writing it down--it brings the mid sixties Antioch to life and provides a bridge.  I will be interested in hearing others responses.

I also agree with you from an earlier post that Birenbaum was a crummy president.  The only glimmer of appreciation I have for him was the chicken story someone shared about him this summer.  Our feisty female who wanted Birenbaum to come to her dorm room because she did not want to go to his office.  Our campus in late seventies into early eighties was filled with feisty females.  I remember many of them with awe and respect especially those cutting edge journalists and activists--even when they went overboard--they taught me it was OK to have my own perspective and voice and that women count in this world as active agents.  We don't want to go to your office Mr. President, you need to meet me on my turf too.  He sent her a roast chicken with no note.  At least he had a sense of humor if not very good leadership skills.  I would be open if someone has something good to say about President Birenbaum, I just never saw anything well demonstrated.  He always looked a little glassy eyed  like he had been staying up late in the high rise drinking skotch.  Not particularly a midwestern Liberal Arts sorta fellow, certainly not a leader. No handshake for him.

Antioch College does need a strong leader for the next generation.

Thanks for your posts.  Much appreciated.
Send my regards to your geezer Dad, Yazz '66.  Thank him for his honorable service in the call of duty.  
Lesley A. Pownall Bahr '83                                              
Les for short

> From: davidrogerallen at hotmail.com
> To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu
> Subject: RE: [Alumni-chat] re: article about Antioch connection
> Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:41:54 -0500
> 
> 
> The Dayton (Ohio) DAILY NEWS once (actually very often) praised Dave Coldren for his doctrinaire right wing mainstream Republican outreach and activism at Antioch College in the 1960's and proposed a statue be raised by Antioch ("erected" was the word, I think) in a "pro-Dave Coldren" editorial of those times.
>  
> I agree with that.   Coldren is a person of astonishing quality and ability, and his presence at Antioch College was one of the best things ever to happen at Antioch for the school and all part of it.
>  
> But...........I must state, in Volitaire fashion, that I still disagree with his political point of view and its relationship to Antioch, even though I like the guy, and I'm glad he's an Antiochian activist, still.
>  
> I'm a maverick Republican (ex-Antioch BOT Chair Malte Von Mattiessen was one, too...at least during his undergrad days when he advanced the cast of Nelson Rockefeller to horrified extreme left-wing Antiochians).
>  
> I agree with Coldren that the possibly coming Clinton/Obama team will screw things up, and hope they don't make it to the White House (but probably they will).
>  
> The Rockefeller Kids program was necessary and noble, and brought the reality of the street to Antioch in good ways.
>  
> The school went on, but not as before.....it stopped being a left-wing version of a "good Ohio private college" like Kenyon or Oberlin.  It STARTED, thanks to the Rock Kids, to look like Amerika, and face up to the problems those great kids brought with them to Antioch and insisted the "white bread" kids and administrators face up to.
>  
> The Rock Kids were NOT "user-friendly," not duplicates of famous (and worthy) preppie types like Rozel "Prexy" Nesbit '67, or A. Leon Higgenbothom '51, or Coretta Scott King '49.
>  
> The Rock Kids were ghetto kids.  Not from the Francis Parker Private Prep School like Prexy Nesbit '67 was.  The girls didn't conk their hair like Coretta King did.
>  
> They needed, wanted, and GOT (to Antioch's everlasting credit, and Jame Dixon's) THEIR OWN space for their own culture, a radically different one from "white bread college Amerika" as seen in ANIMAL HOUSE (1979 Paramount).  They weren't TRYING to "blend into" the white community, lose their identity and become white people  with white person speech and white person looks leading to white person jobs.
>  
>  
> They brought trouble to Antioch because they came from trouble in big city ghettos.  Antioch benefitted from that, and it was a win-win situation, even though people were inconvenienced.
>  
> Antioch, at its best, was NEVER a "convenient" school, and the Antioch Adventure was NEVER about "convenience.  THAT is what the great Antioch Adventure movies point out.
>  
> The Rockefeller Kid Program at Antioch was good, and ended, as so much of the Great Society years programs ended, and the world returned to the darkness of Big Money Amerika, and its domination.
>  
> Dave Coldren's lament about the LEFT "loving BIG GOVERNMENT" is cynical.   NOBODY loves big government, or abuses it and causes to grow bigger and more abusive to little people, than the RIGHT WING of the Republican party.  The Big Money part.  The Ronald Reagan part.
>  
> Reagan started his time in the White House attacking "big government," then TRIPLING it's debt and size.  He used his powers to put government money into the hands of fellow Republicans, and the current USA President did the same.  Started office with a surplus in the Treasury, and kicked the situation into MASSIVE debt which aided and enriched....Big Money Republicans.
>  
> The USA government since the 60's has been mostly Republican run and controlled.  Only Carter and Clinton were not Republicans in the time since Nixon took office in 1969, and the two "C's" Democrats were BOTH "quasi-Republicans," not at all the comic book "liberals" the right wing screams about.  We got NAFTA from Clinton, and Carter turned out to be what he started out to be......a conservative guy from Georgia educated at the Naval Academy with all the predictable lack of vision one gets from someone who once aspired to a lifelong career in the US Navy.
>  
> Dave Coldren's positive words about Jim Dixon's expansionism, and Coldren's support of that expansionism are words I agree with.  The "Network" was a good idea, and successful in its time and way.  
>  
> The War Of Poverty the Johnson Administration tried, and Coldren attacked, was the last noble and worthy initiative which actually helped mainstream Amerika (which is POOR....and NOT "middle class" and "Leave It To Beaver" or "Ozzie And Harriet" as claimed by right wing propagandists) in USA history.
>  
> We need the War On Poverty BACK!
>  
> I don't know about Jim Dixon's politics.  I never heard him talk politics, advocate any political position.  
>  
> He ran for Vice President with Dick Gregory as part of the "New Party," a third party effort.  Hardly "doctrinaire" Kennedy mainstream Democratic Party (always machine) stuff.  Jim Dixon was no political mainstreamer.   He was a maverick in politics, to his credit.
>  
> If the stupid mainstream Republican Party had the sense to choose Fred Dalton Thompson as its candidate (Fred is a Maverick Republican),  that would be good for America, especially if Fred won the White House instead of Hillary or McCain.  But I don't think that will happen.  Fred won't be chosen, it seems.  Too bad for America, and places like Antioch College, which need good leadership everywhere, even from Washington DC.
>  
> Best,
> Yazz (David) Allen'92
> 
> 
> ---------------------
> Contact "Yazz" (David) Allen directly via email at YazzAllen at Yahoo.Com, mail to 644 Shrewsbury Commons Ave., #239, Shrewsbury PA USA 17361...Phone (717) 235 - 1982!
>  
> See my pro movie actor photos and recent credits/resume by visiting WWW.IMDb.Com (world's largest movie info database, owned by Amazon.Com) IMDb RESUME.  Also WWW.SAG.Org "IActor" file.  Also WWW.CastingNetworks.Com and/or WWW.NYCasting.Com. > From: jdavid at coldren.net> To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu> Subject: RE: [Alumni-chat] re: article about Antioch connection> Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:53:33 -0600> > Sistersara,> > I agree with much of your analysis. Jim Dixon was a doctrinaire Kennedy> liberal who got all too enamored of the Johnson Great Society programs,> pushed in no small part by a bunch of Harvard liberal intellectuals who got> control of the major foundations, think tanks, and other positions of public> policy leadership. He and I had a good-natured banter back and forth about> the prospects of the War on Poverty and other Johnson initiatives that have> proven to have cost trillions in treasure with hardly any structural impact> on poverty. And with so much damage to the families who were misled by the> promises of that War and who subsequently fell into permanent dependency on> public welfare! > > Like many, I was horrified by the Rockefeller Program that helped create an> armed camp within the College's confines. And I agreed with Michael Meyers> '72, an assistant to Kenneth Clark for a time and who was reportedly> instrumental in goading Clark into some of his later statements about> Antioch's clearly segregationist experiments.> > On the other hand, I was an enthusiastic supporter--as a Development Office> staffer--of Dixon's bold "network" strategy and I worked hard developing> support and writing all kinds of stuff for Antioch-Columbia, the Antioch> School of Law, and a couple of other now forgotten pioneering disposable> campuses. Dixon was an expansionist much in keeping with the political winds> still blowing from the Great Society. When Nixon came into office and> tried--but failed--to reverse the growth of the Leviathan State, much of the> wind behind Antioch's sails disappeared.> > Now we'll see if the contraction from a mediocre University to a> free-standing College can be accomplished by the ACCC. Which is why I> maintain that we need much more long-range perspective before we can come to> any assessment of the Dixon era; Edla Dixon's wonderful book to the contrary> notwithstanding.> > I remain optimistic about Antioch's future but somewhat guarded about the> prospect that the higher education siren songs being sung by the promoters> of a Clinton II or Obama administration might lure Antioch once again into> the vortex of federal funding dependency. I think that some members of the> ACCC are alert to that danger and are building a foundation of private> support instead. > > > J. David Coldren '65> > > > > > > -----Original Message-----> From: alumni-chat-bounces at w3.antioch.edu> [mailto:alumni-chat-bounces at w3.antioch.edu] On Behalf Of Sistersara at aol.com> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 7:31 PM> To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu> Subject: Re: [Alumni-chat] re: article about Antioch connection> > > In a message dated 2/11/2008 12:21:13 P.M. Central Standard Time, > jdavid at coldren.net writes:> > It is still too early to assess whether or not the directions he led the> community were always healthy and correct choices; we'll know more when we> learn how the ACCC process turns out (if successful) in a decade. The fact> that there was a faculty mutiny led by the very venerable John Sparks and> disgraceful behavior by the Chair of the Board of Trustees in firing the> President does not, in my judgment, detract from his leadership skills or> his choices of new directions for the College.> > Dixon himself, favoring metaphors, might today use one his regulars and say> "Trying to assess Antioch's educational enterprises of the Dixon era now is> like trying to nail chiffon pie to the wall and hoping it will stick. It is> not a particularly useful exercise. Hmmph." > > > J. David Coldren '65> > > > What happened during the entire 60's period, including the quality of > Dixon's leadership, can only be comprehended if you run what he did with> Antioch > against the background of the other institutions in then Contemporary> America, > against which Dixon played. > > His expansion concepts as well as the means for financing them, made great > sense in the early and mid 60's -- but all too much of it was dependent on > Government grant programs partnered with Foundation grants, and once Nixon > became President, and changed policy in such a way that many grant programs> > Antioch was using were zeroed out -- the house Dixon was building started to> > collapse. > > I actually think this past experience useful in evaluating what we are> doing > now -- or planning to do. Dixon had a decent strategy for expansion given > one set of circumstances, but he either didn't have the flexibility or the > ability to get beyond the demands of new and negative circumstances, and > reconsider aspects of his strategy, or he didn't have the latitude given> the College > Culture to recognize the changes Nixon wrought, and thus his response was > counter productive. > > Does anyone here remember the scene on TV in the early 70's when Dixon was > called to testify before Congress on the College going along with racially > segregated (self-segregated) Dorms and defending or trying to defend this > policy, with the famous letter from Dr. Kenneth Clark condemning the policy> sitting > on the table? Clark, the psychologist who had provided the Psycho-Social > data for Brown v Board, and who had served on Antioch's Board of Trustees> for > some years, had publicly resigned from the board over this policy, and the > picture of our President unable to avoid that kind of public whipping, in> large > measure because the Community demands gave him little room for maneuver, > should be instructive. Above all we need leadership that can build an> excellent > strategy for full renewal, but we must give that person the freedom to lead> > even as circumstances change and adaptations need to be made, and at the> same > time root that freedom in the necessity for honest and open communication.> > > > > > > **************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy > Awards. Go to AOL Music. > (http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565)> _______________________________________________> Alumni-chat mailing list> Alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu> http://w3.antioch.edu/mailman/listinfo/alumni-chat> Visit http://www.Antioch-College.edu today!> > _______________________________________________> Alumni-chat mailing list> Alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu> http://w3.antioch.edu/mailman/listinfo/alumni-chat> Visit http://www.Antioch-College.edu today!
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