September 10, 2009

editorial

The heroes of Antioch College

More than two years have passed since the Antioch University Board of Trustees announced that Antioch College would close. After the announcement, college alumni took only two weeks to move from anger and despair to launching what seemed the impossible task of saving the college. Many added to their already demanding day jobs a second job, working for that revival. Since then alumni leaders suffered more than their fair share of dashed hopes and broken dreams. Through it all, they never gave up.

Something about an Antioch College education must be amazing. While there’s already evidence that Antioch graduates emerge as critical thinkers and passionate dreamers, we now know that they are also models of tenacity. The alumni leaders, along with the Nonstop community, inspired many of us with their courage and devotion. These people give new meaning to hope, to perseverance, to simply refusing to take no for an answer. They serve as the strongest possible advertisement for the power of an Antioch education.

There’s much hard work ahead. But the creativity, talent and vision that alumni leaders harnessed to bring back the college will serve them well in getting the college up and running again. And, of course, it’s not just up to them. The great benefit of the past two years has been villagers’ renewed sense of how much Antioch College means to this town. We need to continue the collaborative relationship sparked by the threat of the college’s closure, and continued by Nonstop. To succeed, Antioch needs each of us, just as we need its traditions, its young people and its towers rising over the village, visible from a distance, leading us home.

—Diane Chiddister