As we wrap up a year of forward-looking changes here at Antioch, I am delighted to introduce the sixth annual Antioch Alumni Magazine, “The Future Issue.” In these pages you will find stories to fill you with hope and knowledge for the years to come. These articles range from an alumni panel discussing careers in education justice to a profile of the co-chair of our Anti-Racism Task Force, and from a fascinating oral history of our Santa Barbara campus to a profile of an alum working to make our food systems safer and healthier. Don’t miss the three articles that make up a special section on climate change and the work students and alumni are doing to reckon with and mitigate its effects. Plus, the cover story features the vital voices of thirty Antiochians speaking about their vision for our shared future. The richness of Antioch is in its people, and you will hear from many of them here.
The future of Antioch University itself became clearer on August 15 of this year, when we officially founded the Coalition for the Common Good. Together with our founding partner, Otterbein University, we are building a new model within higher education. At its core, the Coalition for the Common Good is a national system of higher education institutions that share not just resources and programs but also the common mission of educating for social justice and democracy. And in the near future we are looking forward to adding more universities and colleges as member institutions. Everyone who cares about Antioch University and our work should be excited for our future as an integral part of the Coalition for the Common Good. I invite you to read the full article about the Coalition’s founding and our plans moving forward.
As you explore this magazine, I hope that you see your own concerns and dreams reflected back from its pages. Antioch University only exists because of our community, and the primary way that we succeed in our mission of promoting economic, social, racial, and environmental justice is through the actions and effort of our alumni. I am continually impressed and grateful for the many good works that you all are doing throughout the world, especially those of you working in myriad ways to promote justice and bolster democracy. I am also grateful for the support that many of you give back to our institution, to ensure that we are able to continue thriving as a vital hotbed of progress and education. For those of you who have supported Antioch financially in the last year, we have included your name in this issue’s Honor Roll of Donors, and we hope you know how much your support means to all of us in the Antioch community.
I think we can all agree that these are challenging times. Sometimes imagining the future can seem scary. And certainly the threats to our climate and to our democracy are real. But so too are the good people working on these challenges. Together, both as Antiochians and as citizens of the world, I am hopeful that we will heal our planet, build on our democracy, and keep winning victories in the ongoing struggle for justice.
Sincerely,
William R. Groves, JD
