Hello from Yazz Allen (aka David Allen), Antioch '66! Email me direcly at YazzAllen@Yahoo.Com.

A 1997 Antioch College graduate named Ed Koziarski wrote a letter to the editor of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE which they published, and gave great prominance to. He protested the TRIBUNE's wrong coverage of the Antioch 2007 reunion, and stated Antioch College isn't dead as the TRIBUNE reported, but is very much alive with good chances of surviving the current crisis.

His words, his manner of expressing his point, were and are quite brilliant and wonderful. Koziarski succeeded in making a short, easy to read statement which at once states the overall case for the great value of Antioch College, shows a plan is underway which will relieve problems Antioch faces, and also disowns the Antioch University BOT and subordinate administrators who perpetrated this whole mess to begin with.

The "Koziarski Statement" could really be used to rally and unite the various disconnected Antioch alumni groups around the country and outside it now meeting. If it is circulated and adopted as the Antioch College alumni "Declaration Of Independence," the present disunity and confusion among the many who object to the closedown announcement might be overcome.

Here is the "Koziarski Statement" from Ed Koziarski as published in the Chicago Tribune yesterday

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

"Talk of Antioch College's demise premature"

by

Ed M. Koziarski, Antioch College
Class of 1997
Published July 10, 2007

Chicago -- I am writing to correct the impression some may have had of Antioch College's imminent demise after reading Tribune staff reporter Julia Keller's "College's different drum to fall silent; As iconoclastic Antioch prepares to close, an alumni reunion feels like a wake" (News, June 24) article.

The alumni reunion weekend was not a wake for a dying institution.

Beyond the contentious Friday meeting that anchors the article, there was a much more inspiring story.

The alumni of Antioch College, along with faculty and community residents, are doing everything in our power to assure that the college remains open well beyond the 2008 "suspension" date announced earlier this month by the administration of Antioch University. We will not let Antioch die.

The college is small, and its financial crisis is real. But it holds a vital place in American higher education as a training ground for free thinkers and innovators in art, science, media, social service and other disciplines, as well as the activism for which it is widely known.

Alumni of Antioch College mobilized during reunion weekend to formulate a plan for the rebirth of the college. We have established a College Revival Fund, managed by the Alumni Board independent of university administration, to cover the budgetary shortfall required to keep the college open and start it on its path to recovery. Fundraising goals are $1 million in a month and $40 million in a year.

Within its first 18 hours, the fund raised $424,000, or 1 percent of its annual goal. We're laying the foundation for an independent board of trustees to steward the college beyond the neglect of the university administration and the insufficient support of the university board.

I was inspired by the show of solidarity and by the impressive sight of 700 committed people bringing our diverse skills to bear on a shared mission.

American college students are more engaged than ever, on the forefronts of struggles against war, sweatshops, environmental degradation and bigotry. Antioch continues to produce leaders in all these movements.

There are thousands of students who seek the kind of education that Antioch provides, rooted in independent thought, imagination, pragmatism, compassion and a willingness to challenge the status quo.

The problem is that the present university and college administration have lacked the confidence in these values that they need in order to successfully promote the college to prospective students, donors and the media. The announced closure is a wake-up call to revitalize Antioch and make it financially self-sustaining once again.