From the President

Antioch College has been a leading force in higher education and thinking for nearly 175 years and has championed many innovative practices in response to the changing needs of our students. Antioch’s affordable, experiential, and communitybased learning model has never been more appropriate or necessary than in today’s turbulent times. The far right is attacking liberal education colleges throughout our nation. The attempts by politicians to silence the voices of educators in states across the country have reached a fever pitch. Smaller colleges struggle to find the best models to respond to this continued assault while delivering the highest quality educational experience possible. As it has done for nearly two centuries, Antioch takes on the challenge of this vital work, head on, with optimism that what we are doing is critical in securing our future.

Young people today are demanding a world where college doesn’t burden them with massive debt, where campus creates a sense of belonging, and where knowledge and skills are applicable to their lived experience. They want and need a place where racial, climate, and economic justice are possible. Antioch excels at equipping students to understand complexity through interdisciplinary lenses and learning in action so they can think independently and get to new answers and real solutions. The world needs this, and Antioch is responding.

The community of Antioch College is a radically inclusive, welcoming, and caring educational environment.

Antioch’s students are among the most diverse of any liberal arts college: more than 50% are Black and Brown; 82% identify as LGBTQ; 16% identify as transgender; and more than 50% are first-generation college students, many of whom come from the surrounding areas in Ohio.

Over 75% of our students face serious economic challenges. For qualified students who want to attend, our mission has been, and will remain, to enable them to become Antioch students and graduate ready for their next steps toward meaningful work. Antioch changes not only individual lives but also families. Antioch students graduate with little or no debt,

We are responding to the changing needs of our students and the growing funding crisis of the American educational system by developing new and innovative approaches to support the college and our students beyond tuition alone. The College is currently piloting several strategies to create independent revenue streams that are both sustainable and core to the College’s mission and focus.

I am honored to be leading the fight to create transformative educational spaces that center on the well-being and goals of all students. With the participation of our entire community, Antioch continues providing true equity and access to higher education. We are actively listening to what our students and our world needs, taking steps to meet those needs, and win the victories humanity is craving.

Jane Fernandes President, Antioch College

President Jane Fernandes joins students from the class of 2022 in two Antiochian traditions with valuable contributions by the students of today: a walk around The Mound, near Red Square (top)

and a class photo just before Commencement on the stairs of Antioch Hall (bottom).