Antioch College – I could write a book of all the thoughts and ideas I have had about what could/should be changed at Antioch College so I’ll try to be brief (since no one would want to read that book anyways?)
I currently (Summer 2002) have very mixed feelings about Antioch College, and I’ll try to explain why here, if nothing else for my own reference.
1) There is no longer a Computer Science major at Antioch. There
is just a ‘Physical Science’ degree that can have a computer science
concentration, but that just makes it that much harder for a graduate
applying for a job that requires a BSCS. Also, there is only one
Comp Sci professor, CT Chen, is left teaching with adjunct professors
filling in here or there. It REALLY pisses me off they dropped/altered
this major, both because I think its a poor move for Antioch in
a competive field and a very dynamic field of study, and because
I feel it devalues my CS degree from Antioch (’92).
2) The office of Technology Resources that I worked in for a
few years, has been ‘centralized’ into the univeristy. While I’m
not one of the nuts who thinks the University embodies all that
is evil, I do think in this case it was a bad move to do this.
I, along with many students, staff, faculty and alumni put hundreds
of hours of work into this office, and campus IT policies. Having
the university take over this offices responsibilities effectively
erases any of this work, since they came in with the ‘its broken,
throw it all out and start from scratch’ attitude. I’m not there,
so I don’t know how this is working out, but I cant believe combining
the McGregor school, college and university computer support staff,
and cutting some positions, will result in better service for
the Antioch College community. I also don’t think very highly
of Antioch’s current president, Joan Straumanis because she didn’t
investigate this decision at all and just let it happen, even
with information that pointed out that it at least should be reviewed.
I even wrote her a note expressing my opinions and expected at
least a ‘Thanks for your input’ response but got no response at
all. Hey, maybe I’m petty, but it just left me with a bad taste
in my mouth for the Antioch of today.
Addition to this, I just found out a few weeks ago that Cheryl K is the new Dean of Students. (i’m not putting the full name here to avoid this being googled, not that I really believe she’s smart enough to ever find this, but just in case some well meaning student in here Antioch 1O1 class outs me)
This depresses me to no end. I worked for 3 years in the Dean of Students office as the Asst. To the Dean of Students. I care about that office, it can make a big difference in the lives of students with the right people in there.
Suffice to say, I don’t believe Cheryl is a good match for this position. In fact, all my experiences with her left me with the impression that she was n’ar completely clueless, and very manipulative. She scares me, not because she’s powerful or a threat, but because she has tenure, so no matter what she does at Antioch, no matter how much damage she does to the student body and Antioch’s reputation, they have to keep her there. So she’s now my poster child why tenure is a really bad idea in some cases, especially when it comes to administrators. How she ever was allowed to be given tenure in the first place goes down in the books as one of Antioch admin’s all time stupidest moves (thanks Crowfoot!).
Note – i dont know much about Jim K, so I have no opinion about him, Cheryl on the other hand I had enough interaction with where she ended up on the top of my list of people I was embarassed to have associated with the college.
So in my book, she’s like a pock mark on the face of Antioch, and I cant believe they put her in the Dean of Students office. I’d be raising holy hell if I was on campus, and judging from the Record, students are beginning to realize who Cheryl really is. I hope they send her screaming back to New Jersey.