[Alumni-chat] Visioning Antioch College

Fri Feb 15 23:22:14 EST 2008

Laura,

why do you even argue with this traitor?

Not even a year ago Sistersara was arguing that the school *should* close to sweep away that last 20 years.

Because she thinks YOU are worthless, and I am worthless

And any degree from Antioch since Dixon is worthless.  Objectively she is on the side of Toni.

But for some reason known only to the goddess in heaven we put up with her still.

And Sara... dont deny it.  I archive everything.  Dont dodge, dont play...remember, I know things.

----G

"We are going to inherit the earth . There is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie may blast and burn its own world before it leaves the stage of history but we are not afraid of ruins. We who ploughed the prairies and built the cities can build again, only better next time. We carry a new world, here in our hearts. That world is growing this minute." 
----Durruti

> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:14:22 -0800
> From: pas0705 at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: [Alumni-chat] Visioning Antioch College
> To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu
> 
> 
> --- Sistersara at aol.com
> 
> 
> While I agree with much of what you said, there is one point I
> continue to take issue with, and one perspective that I have
> that is different from what you espouse. 
> 
> Obviously, I continue to have issues with dismissing 20 years of
> Antioch College history as a "failure". "20 years decisions
> about the academic program have been made under conditions of
> shortage.  Decisions have been made by a political process in a
> community  
> and within a faculty with diminishing resources year by year,
> and with vast needs in terms of physical plant and all, left on
> the table...My hope above all is that we learn that the product
> of all that was failure. "
> 
> My degree in '95 is a "product of all that". Is that a failure?
> Should I list out the people that have graduated in the last 20
> years for you sweep aside? All of them "products" of the 20
> years of decisions about the academic program. Yes, there should
> be more of us. Does the fact that we're so few, and that we
> didn't have phones in our rooms because resources were so tight,
> mean that each one of our individual degrees is worthless?
> 
> Presuming that isn't what you meant, lets take another example.
> The '97 campus-wide development of the strategic plan. Have you
> read it? Should it be considered a 'failure'? Do we discount the
> product and decisions of any group working within the
> constraints of limited resources that must take into account
> political considerations?
> 
> The sad reality is you may well get what you seem to want; the
> board may well decide in 6 days to continue with closure, which
> would pretty much throw out whatever we have left of not only of
> the last 20 years of Antioch College, but the last 153 years. A
> clean slate to implement a 'vision' that donors could 'buy
> into'. Unfortunately, publicized documents show that the vision
> from the university that would control it is an "antioch college
> in name only."
> 
> Quite frankly, I'd rather buy into Antioch College.  There is no
> shortage of places that are clean slates where donors can invest
> in new 'visions'. There's only one Antioch College, and a
> "vision" for Antioch College is a vision not only of where we
> want to be tomorrow, but of how we get there from today, from
> what we have now. 
> 
> And to be honest, if the trustees vote this coming week to
> continue with closure, I would argue that the clean slate
> "vision" led by the University will have less resources
> available to it (i.e. from willing alumni), then would a
> "vision" led by College personnel that begins with what we have
> left. 
> 
> I would also argue that you need look no further then this
> university's own past to prove that point. The trustees & the
> University attempted a "clean slate" vision for the College: the
> Renewal Commission. In their reports and q&a's and board
> meetings they said the exact same thing you said- its easier to
> get people to fund something new. They proceeded
> undemocratically, without political considerations, and handed a
> plan over to the campus that physically and academically
> separated new students from returning students. You can see how
> successful that was. 
> 
> But I digress- getting on to my other response regarding having
> a leader to come in to lead a high-level planning process.
> Absolutely. With participation from Adcil, of course. But its
> going to take time.  You can't go out and hire tomorrow someone
> who you expect will be around for 5-7 years. And the person who
> you have in the short term to deal with the pressing financial
> issues isn't necessarily the same person you're going to want to
> deal with those long-term planning issues. And to find that
> caliber of person will not only require planning, but also
> notice to deal with moving, leaving your old job, etc. So,
> hiring a new president might happen in july, august, but I
> sincerely doubt it, unless we choose from the pool of people we
> already know.  
> 
> And its a waste of time to wait for that person to come in to
> start figuring things out.
> 
> I believe that we as alumni have a great body of knowledge of
> possibilities and experiences, of how things might work
> elsewhere, of the direction we're heading in markets and
> technologies and the environment and whatever else you might
> want to mention...; i think that in many areas we can assist in
> the planning, in identifying "this is what the college might
> want to think about" or "these are some of the resources that
> the college could draw upon that it might not know about." I
> think we can express what we would like to see in the future-
> for example a strong science program, semantics and logic course
> requirements for all students, bringing back sports into the
> program ( not me- that was a trustee that wants to see that). I
> don't expect that the College would choose to do all the things
> we'd want to see (maybe just logic, but not semantics and
> sports), which means that I don't expect that we'll dictate to
> the faculty what to teach and how to teach it. 
> 
> At reunion last year, former and current CM's sparked a movement
> based on the shared vision of an independent and continuous
> Antioch College that led us to where we are today. Just think of
> where we'll be in 10 or 20 years once all the stakeholding
> groups of the College can work towards a common goal in a
> similar way. 
> 
> -l
> 
> 
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