Antioch College Closing?

2007–08 Antioch College enrollment—

More students than expected

By Virgil Hervey

On the surface it was hard to tell the first day of Antioch College orientation last Thursday from that of any other year. Dozens of cars were parked around the horseshoe in front of Antioch Hall. As they have done for 153 years, parents helped carry suitcases and their kids’ belongings into the dorms. And small groups of young people began to congregate around the campus, as strangers began the process of becoming friends. But of course, this incoming class is different from any other; its members are starting their first year in a college whose leaders have said there will be no second.

Given that daunting situation, the number of new students has surprised almost everyone. According to faculty member Janice Kinghorn, the college’s office of transition projected that 50–60 first-year students would enter in the fall, after the trustees’ June announcement that the college would suspend operations next year. On Thursday, according to Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Angie Glukhov, officials were literally counting the students as they came through the door. By Friday, they had determined that 73 new students had enrolled: 61 first year students; 11 foreign exchange students; and one student in the education abroad program.

What would motivate students to come to a college under these circumstances?

In a recent interview, Antioch Registrar Donna Evans attributed the larger-than-expected number to several factors: the announcement came too late for the young people to get into another college; their financial aid packages were already in place; and they would be able to transfer their credits when they enrolled in another college. However, interviews with students on campus Thursday revealed that many of them had more idealistic reasons for following through on their commitment to attend Antioch.

Entering student Kate Hardwicke of Norrisville, Md., said, “There is no place like Antioch. One year is better than nothing.”

Antioch was Hardwicke’s first choice. She applied and was accepted before the announcement of the college’s closing and was “upset” when she learned the news from an article in the New York Times.

“I think the alumni effort to keep the school open is great,” she said.

Jasmine Stokes, who is from Cleveland, said she had felt all along that Antioch was the kind of school she belonged at and the prospect of the school closing did not change that.

“Antioch is supposed to be really awesome,” she said. “If it’s going to close, I want to be here for the last year. But I will work to keep it open.”

Stacey Wood-Burtess of Bellbrook said she applied to Antioch after the announcement, because she was having difficulty getting in elsewhere. She was accepted last month and is hoping to transfer her credits to another college.

Hardwicke, Stokes and Wood-Burtress all agreed on two things: they dreaded going through the application process all over again; and they would spend their year fighting to save Antioch.

Andy Blackburn came all the way from Atlanta to attend Antioch because he has friends who attended and he heard it was “more radical” than other schools.

“I want an environment where I can talk about what to do about problems, rather than debate about what are the problems,” he said.

Blackburn said he was disappointed when he heard about the board of trustees’ decision and felt betrayed “that we weren’t told sooner.” He wavered about coming, he said, but felt it would be a good learning experience. He decided that he wanted to be a part of the efforts to keep the school open, after having followed them on the Internet.

Fourth-year student Phillip Wooten served as an orientation host this year, something he has done every year since he has been an Antioch student, because he likes helping and being part of the atmosphere of excitement, he said. He said he was especially excited this year “to see what group of people was so interested, when the school was closing.”

What he found, he said, was that the majority are “dedicated to keeping it open and spending more than one year.”

According to Wooten, many of the new students had been asking, “Do you think it will actually close?” He told them that there is always hope and a lot of people are working very hard to keep Antioch open.

Resident Assistant Zoe Julich, who will graduate this spring, was also helping at orientation. She said the new students seem optimistic.

“They’ve come here because they really want to, not because they couldn’t get in anywhere else,” she said. “Many of them are telling me, ‘They’d have to beat me off with a stick to keep me away.’”

Community manager and recent graduate Rory Adams-Cheatham, said the new students seem to be committed to being at Antioch for four years. She was surprised that even the parents are excited about their kids being here.

“This is going to be an exciting year, regardless,” she said.

According to Adams-Cheatham, one student who applied just a month before orientation told her that her grandfather, an Antioch grad from the ’40s, had urged her to experience Antioch, even if for only one year. “I came here to fight for my grandfather,” the student told her.

Adams-Cheatham said she expected alumni to be back on campus during the year for “teach-ins” about the effort to save the college.

“This has been an uplifting day,” Adams-Cheatham said. “A lot of people are hopeful after today. It’s nice to know that we are not just fighting for ourselves. There are whole generations of people who need this place.”

Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com