[Alumni-chat] where's the beef?

[YAZZ Allen]

Jan. 16, 08
 
Hii from Yazz (David) Allen '66 (Email me directly at YazzAllen at Yahoo.Com):
 
Former Antioch RECORD student newspaper editor Jim Jaffee '64's great questions about selling Antioch and finding chime ringing questions to bring students to Antioch need answering.
 
When I got the 1959/1960 Antioch College catalog Irwin Inman '40 (then "College Editor") put together with great skill, I knew the day I got the catalog and read it cover to cover no other school anywhere would be as good for me as Antioch.
 
My father said "No!"  I applied anyway, got accepted with a scholarship, and he still said "No!"  So I took the scholarship to the University of Virgnia, stayed a year, then asked if I could transfer to Antioch.  He said "Yes" when it looked like I might join the Army and quit college forever.
 
The "chime ringing" terrific question Irwin Inman's great 1959/1960 Antioch College catalogue asked me and all who read it was......."What kind of and education do you want?"
 
A photo of New York City at night (Times Square area) was shown opposite the text page. I looked at the great NYC NY USA photo and knew THAT was "the kind of education I wanted!"
 
Other schools back then all sent dusty books with photos of the "Quad" and the most historic building on campus, usually called "Old Main."   Students shown didn't look animated.
 
Not so with the 1959/1960 Antioch College catalogue.  It looked animated!   Photos of co-op students in Washington DC with the WASHINGTON POST newspaper building in the background, photos of CHICAGO of Antiochians at the National Opinion Research Corp on the U. of Chicago campus,  photos of Antioch Education Abroad students in Holland standing in front of fields of tulips stretching on forever........!
 
Diagrams of how the work-study program works.....easy to understand at a glance.
 
Photos of Antiochians Folk Dancing on Red Square (which was called "the Patio") and participating in Community Govt. elections.
 
The catalogue showed an exciting place, an exciting life kids in their teens could have NOW!.........No waiting until the far distant future IF the student got lucky AFTER college, etc., etc.
 
And the catalogue was correct.  Antioch WAS exciting from the day students arrived, and the rollar coaster ride promised never stopped.   
 
Not everbody wants rollar coaster rides, but I did, and so did many others, and we got it.
 
The 1959/ 1960 Antioch College catalogue did a GREAT job of telling Antioch's "story" accurately and interestingly.   It competed with other college catalogues (all sales pieces "selling the product") and beat 'em all hands down!
 
The true "Antioch story" hasn't been told well in decades!
 
The job just hasn't been done skillfully and THAT is why the customers haven't come.
 
Antioch hasn't changed, and the Antioch results are still good!  Kids I've met from Antioch there in recent times are great, bright, accomplished, and well looked after by Antioch faculty and administrators.  THAT hasn't changed.
 
But the outreach STORY told by "official" Antioch media has not been told, has not been compelling, has been lackluster, and without animation.
 
This needs to change.
 
Here again,  the job WAS done well in the past and the fabled "Dixon Era" (1959-75) was "the Golden Age of Antioch College in the 20th Century) largely because the Antioch media originating from the College (Admissions and Marge Freed's great PR office) itself of those times is a role model to return to.
 
Let's do it!
 
Best,
Yazz (David) Allen '66

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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. > Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:12:03 -0500> From: jimjaf at gmail.com> To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu> Subject: [Alumni-chat] where's the beef?> > Antioch is justifiably famous for producing outliers and I'm one.> Messages fly on the topic of what's the beef, but we may miss the> point when we focus on transparency, money and governance, all of> which I believe are good things we should see more of. From my> perspective, Antioch College ultimately got in trouble because new> students weren't coming. I assume that's because they found what it> was offering less attractive that other options.> > If that's so, the trinity of reform mentioned above won't do the> trick. Within my small group I find it interesting that no one has> sent their kid to Antioch and, far as I know, none of our kids have> even applied. There's a message there and it isn't about tranparency> or governance. Its about having an attractive academic program.> > When I went that was the co-op program, which promised -- and> sometimes delivered -- a balance between the academic and real-life> experience. If it still exists at all, its but a shadow of its former> self. Maybe its an outmoded idea -- though it worked well for me.> But the question I'm raising here is what the Idea is.> > What's the pitch we want to make to prospective students -- the one> sentence description that'll ring their chimes. I know what it is for> Reed and St John's, both of which I have relationships with, and think> I know what it is for a number of places like Colorado College,> Swarthmore and Hood. But I'm at a loss of what Antioch's selling> beyond easy access to the Glen. Am I missing something here.> > Jim Jaffe, another proud product of the Dixon era.> _______________________________________________> 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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