I am an Antioch University Los Angeles alum. I began as a Sienna in the MFA program and graduated with the Vermillion cohort. I cannot overstate how important this university is to me. The education I received was unparalleled, and my writing was both guided and nurtured throughout the program.
Antioch encouraged and supported an incredibly high standard and diversity of work, and I am proud of the results to this day. My mentors, workshop leaders, and seminar leaders were thorough, thoughtful, experienced, and deeply invested in their students' success. Antioch University expanded my worldview, creatively and culturally, in a manner I had not experienced in my two previous advanced degrees.
Since graduating in 2017, I have maintained significant friendships with multiple Antioch alums. We have collaborated on creative projects, including a broadside press that has run weekly for over seven years, and much of the criteria in the submission guidelines were informed by our time working on Lunch Ticket. Just this week, the reading series I co-host featured a fellow Antioch student who traveled to Philadelphia specifically for the event. These are important friendships with like-minded creatives who share the University's values.
In my office, I display the Antioch postcard that says "Community Not Competition" as a reminder that my writing should reflect the standard of instruction I received, and that literary citizenship is a significant and invaluable part of creative communities.
Since graduating, I have had several collections accepted for publication and was the recipient of several highly competitive writers' residencies. I credit my time at Antioch with helping me achieve those goals.
This University matters to me, as it does to so many other active students and alumni. It is imperative that Antioch continues to freely govern itself in a way that reflects its mission and standards of excellence and service, independent of this hostile takeover.