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YELLOW SPRINGS NEWS SI NCE 1880 YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO T HURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015 VO LUME 136, NUMBER 24 PRICE: $1.50 AU embraces Peace Corps By Lauren Heaton the first groups to serve in the Peace Corps, returned to earn a Ph.D. in social While Jason Rhoades was a student at psychology and started a career in higher Michigan Technical Institute in 2006, he education, eventually serving as president joined the Peace Corps and earned gradu- of Antioch College and then chancellor of ate school credit working on reforestation Antioch University from 1985 to 1997. and renewable energy projects in Armenia. “Antioch is very committed to experiential The experience was the best possible com- learning and service, and there is a natural bination of education, work and service alignment between the Peace Corps’ inter- for Rhoades, and it launched him into a est in creating a better world and Antioch Ph.D. program in environmental studies at University’s interest in educating students Antioch University New England. to be active in creating a better world,” said Leaders at Antioch University thought Guskin, who currently teaches in AU’s Ph.D. that kind of opportunity ought to be avail- program in Leadership and Change. able to other students as well, and last The partnership also makes sense summer joined ranks with hundreds of because the kind of people that are drawn other universities around the country to the three-month language and cultural to begin offering credit for Peace Corps training and two-years of in-country service service toward a Master’s International the Peace Corps requires, “tend to go back degree. At AUNE, the Master’s Interna- to school after they complete their service tional program is in environmental studies. to get master’s degrees to work in the for- Now AU is going ahead of the pack. Last eign service or for NGOs,” Guskin said. month, the university signed a partnership According to Guskin, AU Chancellor with the Peace Corps committing to expand Felice Nudelman deserves a lot of credit its Master’s International program to all �ve for forging the partnership with the Peace campuses across the country, start the �rst Corps. Nudelman saw the strong historic Ph.D. program with Peace Corps credit, and cultural connection between the two expand Peace Corps scholarship opportu- organizations as an opportunity for “a really nities, and be the �rst national university comprehensive collaboration,” she said in Employer of National Service by hiring an interview last month. Peace Corps and Americorps alumni. “As a university that embraces service and According to AU faculty member Alan integrates social, economic and environmen- Guskin, the partnership is the natural evo- tal justice themes into all of our academic lution between two organizations whose programs, expanding our offerings for SUBMITTED PHOTO BY KALEIGH HARRIS values so clearly intersect. When Guskin present and future Peace Corps volunteers Twenty-one students will graduate at Antioch College’s first commencement since reopening Saturday, June 20, at 10 a.m. on the was a student at the University of Michigan and becoming a Peace Corps Employer of campus lawn between North Hall and Main Building. The students were part of the revived college’s inaugural class, which entered in October 1960, then-presidential hopeful National Service perfectly aligns with our 35-strong in the fall of 2011. Shown here are some members of the Class of 2015, who gathered in March on the back steps of Main John F. Kennedy came to make a stump mission and vision,” she said. “Blending Building. From left, front row: Kaleigh Harris, Rufus the dog and Dustin Maple; second row: Diana Zavala-Lopez, Nargees Jumahan, speech about the need for international Peace Corps service with graduate and doc- Maya Lindgren, Megan Miller and Elijah Blanton; third row: Zebedee Reichart, Ethan Kellaway, Rachel Smith, Justin Moore; top row: collaboration and “things that sounded like toral degree studies and experiential learn- Guy “Jack” Matthews, Brendon Deal, Perri Freeman and Marianthe Bickett. the Peace Corps,” Guskin recalled in an ing opportunities prepares students to truly interview last week. Guskin liked the idea, be effective global citizens empowered to got hundreds of students to sign a commit- make a difference in the lives of others.” ment to volunteer to serve, and organized Last fall, AU New England launched the a student group to meet Kennedy three first Master’s International degree pro- First class faced, rose to challenges days before his election victory to hold him gram in the environmental studies depart- to his ideas. Three months into his presi- ment. According to Rhoades, the �rst three By Megan Bachman students are devastatingly effective, but students in the Class of 2015 will speak to dency, Kennedy founded the Peace Corps. when we work together we are even more their college experience, followed by the Guskin went to Thailand with one of CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 Pioneers. Risk takers. Antioch’s poster effective than that,” Matthews said. “Even traditional walk over the mound. children. “The chosen ones.” in the small numbers we have, we can The historical moment for Antioch, which There are many names for the revived change the world.” hasn’t held a commencement ceremony in Antioch College’s �rst graduating class, The achievements of Antioch’s first seven years, is pivotal, according to Vice and much to be said about them. They laid class after reopening will be celebrated President of Academic Affairs Lori Collins- Listen for stories of freedom the foundation of the new Antioch. They at a commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Hall. The �rst class did a lot of heavy lifting and continue the Juneteenth tradition. were constantly under a microscope. They Saturday, June 20, on the campus lawn in rebuilding the college, took a risk on an By Carol Simmons The annual celebration spread widely endlessly championed Antioch to potential between North Hall and Main Building. unaccredited upstart institution and didn’t across the South after the war and into donors and prospective students. They U.S. Congressman John Lewis will give the have many resources or facilities at their While the American Civil War contin- the early 20th century, but began to die relit the �ame of activism at the college. commencement address congruent with disposal, but nevertheless showed a lot of ued to rage unabated, President Abra- out in the mid-1900s, particularly as And they diminished; from the initial 35 the theme of reunion weekend, “From Civil ham Lincoln on Jan. 1, 1863, issued the waves of African-Americans from the students who entered in fall 2011 they are Rights to Social Justice.” In addition, six CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 Emancipation Proclamation, declaring South moved to urban areas in the North. down to 22, 21 of whom are graduating. “that all persons held as slaves” within More recent efforts to bring it back now Far from the typical college experi- the rebellious states “are, and hencefor- extend around the world as celebrations ence, the inaugural class of Horace Mann ward shall be free.” It wasn’t until April 9, of freedom, McGruder said. Fellows received an education in how to 1865, however, when the war ended with A member of Central Chapel A.M.E. rebuild a college. It wasn’t easy, but it was the Confederacy’s surrender in Appomat- Church here in Yellow Springs, McGruder formative. tox, Va., that the Proclamation became approached the church leadership about “Antioch was de�nitely a formative expe- real in the South. But even then, the new hosting a local Juneteenth program there rience, but in the most challenging way pos- reality was slow to manifest. two years ago. They repeated the event sible,” explained Sara Brooks, who gradu- More than two months would pass the following year, adding a meal to the ates with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. before enslaved people in Galveston, proceedings. This year, they’re “bring- “The opportunities for student leadership, Texas, learned from Union troops travel- ing it back” more closely to the original the grassroots nature of the project we ing through the state that the Civil War celebrations, McGruder said. stepped into, made us have to grow ... We had ended and that they were free. June “The history of this — it was a public had to do things we wouldn’t have had to 19, 1865, is recognized as the date the program,” he said. “When it started, it anywhere else.” news reached Galveston, and that date was an outdoor celebration, with food The �rst class restructured a community has come to be known as Juneteenth. and music.” governance model that wasn’t working, The remembrance of Juneteenth might He approached Basim Blunt, a friend pushed to overhaul the block course sched- have been associated with bitterness who is a member of First Baptist Church ule, successfully lobbied for transgender and sorrow, notes Kevin McGruder, an and an organizer of the annual Kwanzaa bathrooms, amended family leave policies, assistant professor of history at Antioch celebration at John Bryan Community set up recycling programs, pushed for dis- College. But formerly enslaved people Center, about First Baptist co-hosting ability services, molded majors, shaped the “chose to focus on the emancipatory” this year’s local Juneteenth event, which food offered and more — all while taking aspect and turned the day into a public marks the 150th anniversary of freedom classes, working co-ops, setting up clubs celebration centered on food, music and coming to the enslaved of Galveston.