“Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat” -Jean-Paul Sartre Thewww.recordonline.org Record Volume 63 Issue 12 Thursday, November 8th 2007 Bittersweet Victory The Yes banner from the Collaboration Creation and Performance Class hangs down in front of the Union Inside Photo by Alex Borowicz Special Issue BOT “officially rescinds the suspension state of mind and only for part of the as- Community Voices: Suspension Lifted, of operations of Antioch College.” The sembled crowd. The critical queries and 22 Op/Eds and Let- announcement of decision caused an im- the answers that followed, revealed dis- ters from community Suspense Remains mediate outburst of cheers, happy-tears, crepancies, bullet-dodging and Bloch’s members and applause that could be heard from propensity to tip-toe from one safe stone By Eva Erickson outside the building. It was like popping to the next. AdCil takes Action on & Diana Starkweather a zit that had been festering on your fore- Many people questioned a statement p.12 Antioch’s campus was left a ghost town, head for a week. from the resolution that declares that last Saturday, as students filed in to a his- “The easy part is now finished. The dif- “Antioch College will accept qualified University mixes up torical community meeting in McGregor ficult part comes along,” proclaimed transfer students and will resume recruit- numbers on p.13 113. After impatiently waiting for a week, Steve Schwerner, Alumni Board member, ment of first year students when fiscally students, faculty, staff, and other com- former Dean and Antiochian since 1955. and academically feasible…” Currently, Do you recognize this munity members anxiously gathered in “There are a lot of details to be worked Antioch is not allowed to grant degrees faculty member? the one room on campus had signs of life, out. [But] it does not detract from the fact beyond December 31, 2008, due to a to hear Antioch’s fate after a week long that this is a historic moment.” mandate by the Ohio Board of Regents deliberation between College alumni and An audio recording of the Chan- (OBR), that followed the June decision. University trustees. cellor, Toni Murdock, chairman of the Recruiting students without first filing a After a quiet build up of suspense with University Board, Art Zucker, and Presi- petition with the OBR would be illegal, small interjections of applause, Andrzej dent of the Alumni Association, Nancy said Bloch. Bloch, the newly-dubbed interim presi- Crow, brought comic relief, as Zucker Find out our mystery fac- dent, announced that the Alumni Board announced his desire to be with us, and Continued on p.13 ulty of the week’s secret and the Board of Trustees had agreed Murdock declared, “We’re a little choked identity on p.17 upon a resolution in principle, and that the up.” Pure joy, however, was only a short Editors Editorials Kim-Jenna Jurriaans Jeanne Kay I wish I could celebrate. I wish I could parently not be recruiting an entering from the faculty but from the entire col- have called Bard College this week class for the upcoming year. Considering lege community in a referendum no later Our Beloved Staff thanking them for their patience but tell- that the graduating class for ‘08 is about than last month? Sally Alper ing them that I will never enrol, instead as big as half the current student popu- The worst in all this, is that the Uni- Culinary Expert of simply deferring again. I wish I could lation, it means that when I come back versity has done everything to protect have sent an email to my friends and next Fall, there’ll probably be less than itself from losing face, or being account- Alex Borowicz family back home that said “The good one hundred students on campus. What is able in any way. Instead of having to ex- Reporter/Photographer news is that you’re invited again to my the course catalogue going to look like? plain to the media, to Higher Education, Sarah Buckingham graduation ceremony in 2010. The bad What will breakfast in the Caf’ consist how they could possibly be dim-witted Reporter news is, it’s still in Ohio.” I wish I could of? I don’t want to imagine. How will enough to reject the Alumni Board’s have let my yellow balloon escape, I student morale, academic excellence, business plan, instead of having to ex- Paige Clifton-Steele wish the bell of main building had rung, and intellectual exchange be maintained plain to the world how they dare close Foreign Correspondant I wish I could have gone back to being a in these dimmed conditions? down Antioch College, they have now Levi Cowperthwaite normal student. I wish I could have felt Which brings us to the announced cuts crafted a system which absolves them of Sexpert relief. in faculty and staff. At this point, cutting responsibility in case of failure. Instead, I felt disappointed, betrayed, faculty is equivalent to closing down In these circumstances, how can we Eva Erickson disillusioned, frustrated, bitter. And whole departments. What excuse will not wonder whether we are being set up Reporter tired. I found myself, this weekend, in be given to students who cannot major for failure? A long, painful death, with Zach Gallant the situation I had found myself in last in the area of their choice because their all the appearances of a natural one. Political Correspondant June—the I-love-Antioch-but-I-still- faculty advisor has been laid off, and “We tried; we cooperated. But it failed need-to-graduate dilemma. their department consists merely of ad- on the other end, on the end of the cha- Ben Horlacher “You’re the most pessimistic person on juncts? And is it not deceitful to make otic alumni, the stuck in the 60s faculty, Layout Assistant the whole campus ” Rowan Kaiser ‘05 us current students stay today, in these the toxic students” That’s what the Uni- Alaa Jahshan told me. No, I’m just an Antioch student, circumstances? versity will be able to say, and get away Art Critic/Reporter and as an Antioch student I’ve learned And if we do, one day, start recruit- with it. to question authority, to re-examine, to ing new students, how appealing will Yes, this is a pessimistic view. I also be- Billy Joyce deconstruct, not to trust structures, and the “dimmed” version of Antioch be to lieve it is a realistic view of what could Reporter/ Editing Assistant not to believe in top-down processes. them? Who will apply to an agonizing happen if the community doesn’t take Kathryn Leahey That is why, when I read the Agreement college, that could re-suspend operations action. But I am already seeing this hap- Reviews in Principle between the Alumni Board at any time? And how will we recover pening. In true Antioch fashion, it has and the Board of Trustees, I cannot help from a downward spiral of declining en- not taken us more than a few days and Natalie Martin but seriously question whether I am ever rolments, and bring in tuition money to a couple glasses of Champagne to awak- ComCil Reporter going to be able to graduate from Anti- the college? en to the gravity of the situation and to Carl Reeverts och College. Will donors flock to contribute to such rise up, again, to the challenge. I am not Real World News The suspension is lifted, yes. But the an enterprise? How will they react to the only one to feel exhausted, burned contradictions between the intended the mixed messages sent by the Uni- out, betrayed, angry. We all deserved to Tommy Robertson message: “we want to rejuvenate the col- versity, who one side claims good faith, have the bell of North Tower ring, a real Reporter lege” and the content of the agreement but doesn’t wait a week before publicly celebration, and to go back to delightful Jessica Rapchik in principle are such that one cannot but deprecating our curriculum? What about normalcy (if Antioch life could every be Reporter wonder whether the sacrifices undertook promises of autonomy that have yet to be called that), to recover from the trauma during the negotiations were worth it. fulfilled, upon which pledges are condi- of the past few months. But no, it is not Miyuki Sese Let’s take the decision to “dim out tional? The continued operations of the over. The fight continues, and the com- Reporter operations”, for example. One might college are dependant on meeting very munity is empowering itself again, in Diana Starkweather wonder how that is possible considering specific fundraising targets. Is it still AdCil, in Community Meeting, in the Reporter that we are already running at minimal reasonable to believe that these targets pages of this week’s Record, hopefully operations with a student body of 200. can be reached when the Agreement in in alumni chapters all over the world and Yuko Tanaka Cutting student services? What student Principle empowers not a powerful, in- everywhere where our heart still throbs Reviews/Advertisement Manager services? Room and Board? Electricity? dependent, interim board of trustees, but when we think of our time at Antioch Bryan Utley Hot water? Chancellor Toni Murdock, who has not College. Political Correspondant Then there is the fact that we will ap- only received a vote of non confidence -JK Marysia Walcerz Mission Statement Advertising Policy Reporter/Reviews/Astral Seer To serve the information needs of the We welcome all inquires for advertising, but we reserve the right to make final community in a continuous fashion.