Antioch College closes; Former profs keep on teaching - Page 2

bartleby · 07-11-2008, 05:49 PM

George Will writes:

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WASHINGTON -- During the campus convulsions of the late 1960s, when rebellion against any authority was considered obedience to every virtue, the film "To Die in Madrid," a documentary about the Spanish Civil War, was shown at a small liberal arts college famous for, and vain about, its dedication to all things progressive. When the film's narrator intoned, "The rebels advanced on Madrid," the students, who adored rebels and were innocent of information, cheered. Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, had been so busy turning undergraduates into vessels of liberalism and apostles of social improvement that it had not found time for the tiresome task of teaching them tedious facts, such as that the rebels in Spain were Franco's fascists.

That illustrates why it is heartening that Antioch will close after the 2007-08 academic year. Its board of trustees says the decision is to "suspend operations" and it talks dottily about reviving the institution in 2012. There is, however, a minuscule market for what Antioch sells for a tuition, room and board of $35,221 -- repressive liberalism unleavened by learning.

Founded in 1852 -- its first president was Horace Mann -- Antioch was, for a while, admirable. One of the first colleges to enroll women and blacks, it was a destination for escaped slaves. Its alumni include Stephen Jay Gould, Coretta Scott King and Rod Serling, whose "Twilight Zone" never imagined anything weirder than what Antioch became when its liberalism curdled.

In 1972-73, Antioch had 2,470 students. In 1973, a protracted and embittering student and employee strike left the campus physically decrepit and intellectually toxic. By 1985, enrollment was down 80 percent. This fall there may be 300 students served by a faculty of 40.

In 1993, Antioch became an international punch line when it wrote rules to insure that all sexual conduct would be consensual, step by minute step: "If the level of sexual intimacy increases during an interaction ... the people involved need to express their clear verbal consent before moving to that new level." Does consent to a touch cover a caress? Is there consent regarding all the buttons?

Although laughable, Antioch was not funny. Former public radio correspondent Michael Goldfarb matriculated at what he calls the "sociological petri dish" in 1968. In his first week, he twice had guns drawn on him, once "in fun" and once by a couple of drunken ex-cons "whom one of my classmates, in the interest of breaking down class barriers, had invited to live with her." A true Antiochian still, Goldfarb says: "I do think I was made stronger for having to deal with these experiences."

Steven Lawry -- Antioch's fifth president in 13 years -- came to the college 18 months ago. He told Scott Carlson of The Chronicle of Higher Education about a student who left after being assaulted because he wore Nike shoes, symbols of globalization. Another left because, she told Lawry, the political climate was suffocating: "They all think they are so different, but they are just a bunch of conformists."

Carlson reports that Lawry stopped the student newspaper's practice of printing "announcements containing anonymous, menacing threats against other students for their political views." Antioch likes to dabble in menace: It invited Mumia Abu-Jamal to deliver its 2000 commencement speech, which he recorded on death row in a Pennsylvania prison, where he lives because 26 years ago he shot a Philadelphia police officer first in the back, then three times in the face. Antioch's invitation was its way of saying ... what?

In an essay in the Chronicle, Cary Nelson, Antioch class of 1967 and now a professor of English at the University of Illinois, waxes nostalgic about the fun he had spending, as Antioch students did, much time away from campus, receiving academic credits. What Nelson calls "my employee resistance to injustice" got him "released from almost every job I had until I became a faculty member." But "my little expenditure was never noticed" when "I used some of Lyndon Johnson's anti-poverty money" to bus anti-Vietnam war protesters from Harlem to Washington.

Given that such was Antioch's idea of "work experience" in the "real world," it is unsurprising that the college never produced an alumni cohort capable of enlarging the college's risible $36 million endowment. Besides, the college seems always to have considered raising money beneath its dignity, given its nobility.

"Ben & Jerry could have named a new flavor for us," says John Feinberg, class of 1970 and president of the alumni board, with a melancholy sense of unfulfilled destiny. His lament for a forfeited glory is a suitable epitaph for Antioch.

Yeah, when you take a bunch of intellectually mediocre, idealistic kids and create a college out of them, you'll create little but a thick haze of smoke.

ejr1 · 07-11-2008, 07:33 PM

Idealism is wonderful, but I wonder how long this will last. Where is the $ coming from to pay the profs? Surely the kids aren't expected to pay $35k for a discussion in a coffee house? And housing? And the accreditation? Unrealistic and impractical.

tokenadult · 07-11-2008, 09:15 PM

Quote:

They all think they are so different, but they are just a bunch of conformists.

That would indeed be a suffocating atmosphere. I think smart students who seek colleges in the Midwest know well enough to pass over mismanaged colleges.

DaFunk · 07-11-2008, 09:23 PM

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You've never been to Yellow Springs have you? It's a Haight-Ashburyesque time warp in a tiny town in the middle of Ohio. You'd be surprised what you see. The hippy culture was alive and well the last time I lived near by about 15 years ago.

It's like growing money. And if the cops don't get you someone's bound to steal it.

JASMac · 07-12-2008, 09:48 PM

Having been through Yellow Springs recently, Antioch's closing is long overdue. The campus was a shambles. No amount of money could revive it or restore it to its "glory" days of the late fifties and sixties, or even seventies. The Antioch Shakespeare festival was world renowned and its former venue is a shambles. It's abundantly apparent no one was minding the store.

jkojkl · 07-13-2008, 02:45 AM

I think it's sad that in a country of 3oomn people there's no longer room for alternative education. The pressure to conform is, evidently, unstoppable. I guess these days wearing a flag pin in your lapel is what passes for idealism.

gprime · 07-13-2008, 04:19 AM

jkojkl, there are plenty of "alternative" schools, depending upon your definition of the term. Take New College in Florida, or Deep Springs as examples. Both are dramatically out of step with the standard, yet show no sign of going anywhere. And they have dozens of peers that are also abnormal yet not on the verge of collapse. The problem with Antioch is that given the poor educational quality and reputation of the school, the cost of attending makes it an unsound option for most. Being alternative simply for the purpose of non-conforming is not a good strategy. And that is exactly what was going on at Antioch. At most of the other non-traditional schools, such as the great books only St. John's, there is a clear purpose and logic to their different nature. They don't seek to stand out from the mainstream as much as they do cultivate an environment that facilitates high academic achievement through abnormal emphasis. Frankly, I hope Antioch never re-opens. And I'd like to see a few of other schools (ex: Bennington, Warren Wilson) follow suit.

interesteddad · 07-13-2008, 01:43 PM

Wow. Lot of hate on this thread. None of it really gets to the heart of Antioch's problems: the decision to dilute their endowment by creating branch universities all over the country. Always follow the money.

little_galaxie · 07-13-2008, 04:07 PM

Ah, the original story of those professors nearly brought a tear to my eye，but after reading bartleby‘s article，Antioch sounds kinda gross

joshnewcollege · 07-13-2008, 04:26 PM

gprime, while I agree with what you said, I'm not sure what you meant by
Deep Springs and New College "not going anywhere." This could be interpreted in two ways. If you meant it in the sense that they are here to stay, then you're right. Both are fantastic colleges, as evidenced by their feeder rates. Deep Springs grads tend to transfer to the most selective colleges in the country. When I was a student New College, I met a graduate from Deep Springs who was quite brilliant.

Let's remember that alternative curricula and grading systems exist even among the most elite schools: Berkeley, Yale, and Stanford law schools do not use traditional grading systems. When a professor of mine (who was also a New College alum) did his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton, he was not assigned letter grades. Reed College is arguably unmatched in its Ph.D. production rates, and they are quite alternative as well.

Antioch's collapse, as interesteddad noted, seems to have more to do with their sloppy financial decisions than their contrarian approach.

gprime · 07-13-2008, 05:52 PM

I did indeed mean in the "here to stay" sense. While neither school is quite my cup of tea, their results speak for themselves. They are fantastic examples of "alternative" institutions, and deserve far more credit than is typically given to them.

leah377 · 07-13-2008, 06:02 PM

Have you actually ever visited Warren Wilson College, gprime (to back up your claim that it should be shut down similarly to Antioch)? The college isn't a perfect fit for everyone, but I was pretty seriously considering it, toured, and talked to faculty. I was impressed with what I saw there.

xiggi · 07-13-2008, 07:13 PM

Would anyone shed a tear if one of the ultra conservative colleges that do not accept federal HAD to close?

Aren't the ultra liberal professors not supposed to be the smartest? Was it that hard to decipher the signals that the days of the hippies are gone?

bartleby · 07-13-2008, 08:50 PM

"Would anyone shed a tear if one of the ultra conservative colleges that do not accept federal HAD to close?"

Definitely. Patrick Henry College is a credit to this nation.

gprime · 07-14-2008, 12:02 AM

Leah, since my funds are limited, I've only really visited two non-local schools, and only after I'd agreed to matriculate there. So no, I've not physically been to Warren Wilson. I just happen to, having read about it, come to the conclusion that I dislike it, and would not give a damn were it to cease operating. Of the WCC schools, it is the only one that still costs $30k a year. Couple that with their extreme eco-liberalism and there is very little to applaud. I'm sure it has some things going for it. But it must be judged on the whole, in which case it fails to pass muster.