Antioch College

Antioch College

File:AntiochCollegeLogo.gif
Motto	Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
Type	Private undergraduate
Active	1853–2008 (announced)
Endowment	$36.2 million
Location	Yellow Springs, Ohio , United States
Website	http://www.antioch-college.edu/

Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio and founder and flagship institution of the six campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with Horace Mann as its first president. Its educational approach blends practical work experience with classroom learning and participatory community governance. The 2007 enrollment is about 400 students.

In June 2007, the University’s Board of Trustees announced that the college would be suspending operations as of July 2008, and would try to reopen in 2012. More than half of the Antioch College faculty filed a lawsuit in August of 2007 to bar Antioch University from firing the college's tenured faculty or liquidating the college's assests. The Antioch College Alumni Association has called for the continued operation of the college and has created a fund for that purpose.

Antioch College is a member of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, the Eco League, and the North American Alliance for Green Education.

History

On October 5, 1850, the General Convention of the Christian Church passed a resolution stating "that our responsibility to the community, and the advancement of our interests as a denomination, demand of us the establishing of a College." This resolution was passed unanimously by the 82 delegates, who represented 521 ordained ministers. The delegates further pledged "the sum of one hundred thousand dollars as the standard by which to measure our zeal and our effort in raising the means for establishing the contemplated College." The Committee on the Plan for a College was formed to undertake the founding of a college, and make decisions regarding the name of the school, the endowment, fundraising, faculty, and administration. Most notably, the committee decided that the college "shall afford equal privileges to students of both sexes." The Christian Connection sect wanted the new college to be sectarian, but the planning committee decided otherwise.

Early years

Horace Mann, Antioch's first president, ran the college from its founding in 1853 until his death in 1859. The young college had relatively high academic standards, and also emphasized good health, co-operation, and sound ethical and moral principles. The first curriculum focused on Latin, Greek, mathematics, history, philosophy and science, and offered electives in art, botany, pedagogy, and modern languages. Tuition was $24 a year, and the first graduating class consisted of 28 students. Although the founders planned for approximately 1,000 students, enrollment only exceeded 500 once in the 19th century, in 1857.

Horace Mann, Antioch's first president.

One notable character in Antioch's history is Rebecca Pennell, who was one of the college's ten original faculty members. She was the first female college professor in the United States to have the same rank and pay as her male colleagues. Her home, now part of the Antioch campus and called Pennell House, currently serves as community space for several of Antioch's student led independent groups.

In 1859, Mann gave his final commencement speech, which contained the sentence that has become the college's motto: "Be ashamed to die until you win some victory for humanity." Mann died in August and was initially interred on the Antioch College grounds. The next year, he was reinterred in Providence, Rhode Island, next to his first wife.

In the 1850s, two African American girls, residents of Yellow Springs, enrolled at Antioch Preparatory School, which was then an official part of the College. A member of the board of trustees quit in protest and removed his own children from the school, but the Hunster sisters stayed at Antioch. In 1863, Antioch trustee John Phillips proposed a resolution stating "the Trustees of Antioch College cannot, according to the Charter, reject persons on account of color." The resolution passed with nine trustees in favor and four opposed.

Admitting women to the same curriculum as men and admitting black students was highly controversial and the college faced financial difficulties early on. From 1857 to 1859, Antioch ran an annual deficit of $5,000, out of a total budget of $13,000. In 1858, Antioch was bankrupt. Mann died in 1859 and the college was reorganized, but deficits continued. Mann's successor, Thomas Hill, took Antioch's presidency on the condition that faculty salaries be paid despite deficits. Despite this stipulation, his salary was often not paid, and he supported his family with loans. Hill resigned in 1862 due to increasing financial troubles, sectarian conflict between Christian Connection and Unitarian trustees, and his election as president of Harvard. In 1862, the college was closed until finances improved and remained closed until after the end of the Civil War.

In 1865, the college reopened, now administered by the Unitarian church. Financial troubles continued, and the college closed again from 1881–1882. In 1899, finances were so restricted that faculty made between $500–$700 a year, very low for the time, and the president was paid $1,500 a year. In contrast, Horace Mann's annual salary was $3,000 more than forty years prior.

In 1869, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings began their inaugural season as history's first professional baseball team, they played a preseason game at the site of what is now the Grand Union Terminal in Cincinnati against the Antiochs, who were regarded as one of the finest amateur clubs in Ohio. The game was played on May 15, 1869, and Cincinnati defeated Antioch 41-7. Antioch had been scheduled to host the first game of this professional tour on May 31, 1869, but pouring rain and an unplayable field kept the Red Stockings inside the Yellow Springs House until they left for Mansfield. So, while Antioch was not a part of the first professional baseball game, the college does hold claim to hosting the first ever rainout in professional baseball.

The early 20th century

In 1919, Arthur Morgan was elected to Antioch's board of trustees. An engineer, he had been involved in planning a college in upstate New York that would have included work-study along with a more traditional curriculum. Morgan presented his plan for "practical industrial education" to the Antioch board and was authorized to develop it. He was unanimously elected president the next year and in 1921, the cooperative education, or co-op, program began.

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Arthur E. Morgan, circa 1921.

Students initially studied for eight-week-long terms alternating with eight-week-long work experiences. Male students generally took apprenticeships with craftsmen or jobs in factories; female students often served as nursing or teaching assistants. The college had no black students from 1899–1929 and only two from 1929–1936 (neither graduated), so it is unknown how racial discrimination among employers affected the co-op program. While Antioch itself had no religious quotas (elsewhere common until the 1940s), many employers discriminated against Jews, a fact that limited the number of Jewish students at Antioch.

In 1926, the college's Administrative Council was formed as an advisory body to the president. It was chartered in 1930. The Administrative Council was originally a faculty-only body, though a student seat was added in 1941. Over time, the Administrative Council became the primary policy-making body of the College. The Community Council was established a short time later, to advise on and manage what at other college campuses would be considered "student concerns". At Antioch, these matters, such as campus artistic and cultural life, have been regarded as community-wide issues, affecting students, staff, faculty members and administrators.

The mid to late 20th century

Beginning in the 1940s, Antioch was considered an early bastion of student activism, anti-racism, and progressive thought. In 1943 the college Race Relations Committee began offering Inter-racial scholarships to students to help diversify the campus. The first scholarship recipent was Edythe Scott, sister of Coretta Scott King. Coretta Scott King received the scholarship and attended Antioch two years after her sister. Antioch was one of the first historically white colleges to actively recruit black students. Antioch was also the first historically white college to appoint a black person to be chair of an academic department - Walter Anderson, chair of the music department for two decades.

In the 1950s Antioch faced pressure from the powerful House Un-American Activities Committee and faced criticism from many area newspapers, because it did not expel students and faculty accused of having Communist leanings. College officials stood firm, insisting that freedom begins not in suppressing unpopular ideas but in holding all ideas up to the light. The school, including professors and administration, was also involved in the early stages of the American Civil Rights Movement and remains a supporter of free speech.

Antioch became increasingly progressive and financially healthy during the 1960s and early 1970s. The student body topped out around 2,400 students, the college owned property all over Yellow Springs and beyond, and the college grew throughout the decade. It began to appear in literary works and other media as an icon of youth culture, serving, for example, as the setting for a portion of Philip Roth's most popular novel, "Portnoy's Complaint". At this time, Antioch became one of the primary sources of student radicalism, the New Left, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and the Black Power movement. The town of Yellow Springs became an island of liberal and progressive activism in southern Ohio.

In many instances, the environment of the school spurred its students to activism. Eleanor Holmes Norton, future congressional delegate for Washington, D.C., recalled her time at Antioch as one "when the first real action that could be called movement action was ignited", according to an interview now available in the National Security Archives.

The 1970s saw the college continue to develop its reputation as a source of activism and progressive political thought. Several graduate satellite schools around the country, under the Antioch University name (with the college as a base), were established as well, including the McGregor School (now known as Antioch University McGregor), located adjacent to the original Yellow Springs campus. Antioch University New England was the first graduate school offshoot in 1964. The university campuses are located in Keene, New Hampshire; Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; and Santa Barbara, California. Antioch College founded Antioch University in 1978.

Funding and enrollment at the college began to decline as the University system was created. In the late 1970s, the new Antioch University system partially collapsed, leaving Antioch College in dire financial straits by the beginning of the 1980s. Beginning in the mid 1980s and continuing through the 1990s, under the leadership of Antioch Presidents' Alan Guskin and Bob Devine, Antioch's enrollment figures and financial health improved, though college enrollment never surpassed 1,000 students. The campus underwent renovations and many buildings that had been boarded up were repaired and reopened including one of the colleges three original buildings- South Hall.

The Sexual Offense Prevention Policy

In 1993 Antioch became the focus of national attention with its "Sexual Offense Prevention Policy." This student-created educational process was initiated after two date rapes reportedly occurred on the Antioch College campus during the 1990-91 school year. A group of students formed under the name "Womyn of Antioch" to address their concern that sexual offenses in general were not being taken seriously enough by the administration or some on the campus community. Advocates of the policy explain that the original "Sexual Offense Policy," as it was then called, was created during a couple of late-night meetings in the campus Womyn's Center, and that "this original policy was quite questionable. It was not legally binding, no rights were given to the accused, and it called for immediate expulsion of the accused with no formal process." The policy, both as it then stood and as revised, uniquely viewed any sexual offense as not simply a violation of the victim's rights, but as an offense against the entire campus community. It was revised to focus more on education and less on punishment and clarified in a series of community meetings during the 1991-92 academic year. Once revised, it was endorsed by the entire campus and the Board of Trustees, and thus became the official policy of the college that year.

This revised policy only attracted national publicity two years later, during the fall semester of the 1993-94 academic year, allegedly when a student doing a co-op on the west coast mentioned the policy to a California campus newspaper reporter. An Associated Press reporter picked up the story in the early days of the term, and a media frenzy ensued, one that arguably garnered more attention to Antioch than anything since the student strike of 1973. Although the policy was often ridiculed and distorted by the mainstream American news media that fall, even becoming the butt of a Saturday Night Live sketch, in the intervening years it has become a model for sexual offense policies at several other progressive colleges and institutions. Indeed, even at the time, a few journalists and pundits offered more measured assessments of the policy. Syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, for example, asserted that most "sexual policy makers write like lawyers in love," and that, likewise, "at Antioch the authors could use some poetry, and passion." But, she was ultimately sympathetic to their goals of leveling the sexual playing field and making students think about what consent means, saying that the Antioch campus "has the plot line just about right."

The 21st century

In 2000, Antioch College was again subject to media attention, after inviting political activist and death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal and transgendered rights advocate and Jamal supporter Leslie Feinberg to be commencement speakers. Graduating students had chosen Jamal and Feindberg to highlight their concerns with capital punishment and the American criminal justice system. Many conservative commentators criticized the Antioch administration for allowing students to choose such controversial commencement speakers and the college administration received death threats. Antioch President Bob Devine chose not to overturn the students' choice of speakers, citing the ideals of free speech and free exchange of ideas, and likened the media reaction to the coverage of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1965 commencement address.

In the early 2000s enrollment declined to just over 600 students. This combined with a declining economy caused Antioch University to institute a "Renewal Plan" in 2003. The controversial plan called for restructuring Antioch's first year program into learning communities and upgrading campus facilities. Many students and faculty stated that they were shut out of planning. Antioch University's Board of Trustees committed to five years of funding for the renewal plan but discontinued this commitment to the college three years into the plan.

Simultaneously with the announcement of the renewal plan, the University's Board of Trustees announced mandated staff cuts at the college, including the elimination of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Student anger over the mandated renewal plan and program cuts led to a student-initiated protest entitled "People of Color Takeover". The protest garnered some negative media attention. In 2006 Antioch College created the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom.

With the implementation of the controversial renewal plan enrollment dropped from 650 students to 370 in 2 years, a decline that many feel was a result of the curriculum change mandated by the Board of Trustees. At an Antioch Community meeting in June of 2007 the Board of Trustees stated that while the college was only in its third year of implementation of the plan they had not raised the funds needed, and that the college would be indefinitely closed at the end of the 2007-08 academic year.

The Board of Trustees stated its intent to reopen in 2012. It will continue raising the money necessary for this. Many Antioch alumni and faculty, upset at the prospect of the loss of the college's legacy, are also organizing and raising funds in an effort to save the college, keep it open without interruption, and gain greater transparency in its governance. Some hope the college can become independent from Antioch University, blaming the university's Board of Trustees for the problems leading to the college's closure. In August, the college faculty filed suit against the Board of Trustees, charging that the Board was violating various contractual obligations.

Following a meeting between university and alumni representatives in August 2007, the Board of Trustees approved a resolution giving the Alumni Board until the October 2007 trustees' meeting to demonstrate the viability of the Alumni Board's proposal to maintain the operations of the College. The Board agreed to allow the Alumni Board access to the college's financial data, and to cooperate with the Alumni Board's efforts. Despite initially stating he would be stepping down in December, Antioch president Steve Lawry abruptly stepped down as president on September 1, 2007. The role of president was turned over to a three person group, comprised of the Dean of Faculty, Director of Student Services, and Director of Communications. While no reason for Lawry's immediate departure has been given, it has been reported that he was ousted by the Board of Trustees.<refname=IHESep4>Jaschik, Scott. "[Antioch College President Was Ousted http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/04/antioch]". Inside Higher Ed. September 4 2007. Accessed September 4 2007.</ref>

The other campuses of Antioch University are expected to continue as normal operations as possible, should they lose their founding and flagship campus.

Profiles and other recognition

The U.S. News & World Report college and university rankings classify Antioch College as a third-tier Liberal Arts College.

The best-selling guidebook Colleges That Change Lives by Loren Pope says of Antioch, "There is no college or university in the country that makes a more profound difference in a young person's life or that creates more effective adults."

George Will wrote in an editorial piece that there is only, he says, "a minuscule market for what Antioch sells for a tuition, room and board of $35,221 — repressive liberalism unleavened by learning."

During her remarks to the college in 2004 alumna Coretta Scott King stated that "Antioch students learn that it’s not enough to have a great career, material wealth and a fulfilling family life. We are also called to serve, to share, to give and to do what we can to lift up the lives of others. No other college emphasizes this challenge so strongly. That’s what makes Antioch so special."

The Twilight Zone aired an episode entitled "The Changing of the Guard" that is considered the "Antioch episode" for its references to Antioch that include Horace Mann and the school motto.

Noteworthy alumni

• Chester G. Atkins (Former U.S. Representative) (1970)
• Warren Bennis (Leadership guru, author) (1951)
• Lawrence Block (Author) (1960)
• Bill Bradbury (Oregon Secretary of State) (1960)
• Olympia Brown (Suffragist, women's rights activist) (1860)
• Don Clark (Clinical psychologist, author) (1953)
• Leo Drey (Conservationist) (1939)
• John Flansburgh (Singer/songwriter, They Might Be Giants) (1983)
• Herb Gardner (Playwright) (1958)
• Clifford Geertz (Anthropologist) (1950)
• Stephen Jay Gould (Scientist) (1963)
• David A. Horowitz (Historian, author)
• Peter Irons (Legal historian, author) (1966)
• Nick Katzman (Blues musician)
• Coretta Scott King (Human rights activist) (1951)
• Robert Manry (Nautical explorer) (1949)
• Sylvia Nasar (Author, A Beautiful Mind) (1970)
• Cary Nelson (Higher education activist, author) (1967)
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (Congressional Delegate, representing the District of Columbia)
• Allan Pred (Geographer) (1957)
• Americus V. Rice (Civil War general, U.S. Representative)
• Cliff Robertson (Academy Award-winning actor) (1946)
• Marion Ross (Civil war hero) (1864)
• Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone (1950)
• Mark Strand (Poet) (1957)
• Mia Zapata (Lead singer of The Gits) (1989)

External links

Websites affiliated with Antioch:

• Antioch College
• Antiochians.org
• Antioch University
• Antiochiana, the department of archives and special collections at Antioch College
• The Antioch Record, the College's Newspaper
• Antioch University McGregor
• Antioch University New England

Unaffiliated websites:

• Yellow Springs News
• Antiochians.org--Main website of Alumni Association's effort to save the college
• The Antioch Papers
• Antioch Students and Alumni
• Antioch College Faculty Legal Fund