Antioch alumni fund new institute

Tuition costs $1,500 per semester.

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) — In a wood-paneled basement filled with boxes of nuts, bolts and screws, a college journalism class is under way.

Naked wooden beams and ductwork hang overhead. The instructor’s voice competes with the sound of the furnace, which kicks on from time to time.

This makeshift classroom is part of a patchwork of homes, churches and offices in southwest Ohio cobbled together to form the “Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute,” spawned by former professors of the now-defunct Antioch College, which closed earlier this year amid financial problems.

Professors launched the institute this week to preserve the school’s spirit and maintain its core of teachers.

“We want to keep the DNA alive,” said Scott Warren, former associate professor of philosophy. “We want to keep the soul moving until we get the campus back.”

Classes are being held just about anywhere, including a Buddist meditation center and an office above a mattress store.

The institute, funded by Antioch alumni, has attracted about 60 students in its first semester, Warren said. Its pupils range from former Antioch College students to local villagers, including an 87-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man.

Its staff includes about 20 former Antioch College teachers, plus a handful of retired Antioch teachers and instructors from nearby colleges who have volunteered to teach for free.

The Yellow Springs institute is unaccredited and is not affiliated with Antioch.

Former Antioch College student Molly Thornton was planning to transfer to another school, but got caught up in the Antioch alumni’s excitement about the institute this summer.

“I said, ‘Oh, this is really going to happen,”’ recalled Thornton, 20, of Santa Fe, N.M. “My plan is to stay here indefinitely.”