Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
- Horace Mann, founder, Antioch College
A small, very progressive liberal arts college in rural Ohio (to which I have no connection at all) is about to die. Antioch College has been one of the leaders of progressive social change since its founding in 1852.
I think we need more Antiochs, not less, and I have called upon my liberal arts college's alumni association (one of the wealthiest in the nation) to help. I have sent in what little I can afford. Perhaps Kossacks can help too.
This school was among the first in America to admit women and people of color, never maintained quotas for Jewish students, and educated Rod Serling, Steven Jay Gould, and Coretta Scott King.
Antioch is also home of the Antioch Review, and has been a pioneer in democratic education.
Every Kossack who was educated in the liberal arts or cares about liberal arts colleges as an important part of our educational heritage should be concerned at the loss of this school. Think of what we would be saying if the country lost Reed, or Evergreen, or Claremont, or St. John's, or Colorado College, or Oberlin, or Smith, or Mount Holyoke, or Swarthmore, or Williams, or Amherst, or Bowdoin. Antioch is as important and in some ways more important because of its willingness as an institution to exist further on the cutting edge than some of its more conservative-minded brethren (well, not Reed, Evergreen or St. John's...).
Anyway, here is the link to Antioch's alumni site. I just sent them a check for what little I could afford as well as a letter to my alma mater explaining why I have never sent them a check (they don't need the $$) and asking them to get involved in the fight to save Antioch.
We need colleges like this to keep our democracy vital.
http://antiochians.org/...
http://antiochians.org/...