Antioch College is on the site of a short-lived Owenite community, a utopian socialist collective agricultural enterprise that was established in July 1825 and terminated at the end of that year.

[14] On October 5, 1850, the General Convention of the Christian Church passed a resolution stating "that our responsibility to the community, and the advancement of our interests as a denomination, demand of us the establishing of a College."

The delegates further pledged "the sum of one hundred thousand dollars as the standard by which to measure our zeal and our effort in raising the means for establishing the contemplated College."

[18] The first curriculum focused on Latin, Greek, mathematics, history, philosophy, and science, and offered electives in art, botany, pedagogy, and modern languages.

Mann is commemorated by two monuments: an obelisk on campus that bears the college's motto and marks his original grave,[24] and a bronze statue in the Glen Helen.

As the first woman supervisor of the Boston Public Schools, Crocker pioneered the discovery method of teaching mathematics and the natural sciences during her decade-long tenure, which began with her appointment in 1876.

[32] Hill resigned in 1862 due to increasing financial troubles, sectarian conflict between Christian Connection and Unitarian trustees, and his election as president of Harvard.

In the late 60s, as the administration added satellite centers across the country, the college adopted an academic program in Yellow Springs that gave students unprecedented independence in choosing their coursework.

The chairman of the search committee called him a "courageous and charismatic personality" who is an "experienced chief executive with a strong track record in crisis-type settings.

[54] Birenbaum implemented cost-cutting measures including a reduction in the number of satellite campus programs nationwide from 30 down to under 10 and changing the name of the corporation to Antioch University.

A "Sexual Offense Prevention Policy" was initiated after two date rapes reportedly occurred on the Antioch College campus during the 1990–91 academic year.

For example, syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman asserted that most "sexual policy makers write like lawyers in love," and that, likewise, "at Antioch the authors could use some poetry, and passion."

But she was ultimately sympathetic to their goals of leveling the sexual playing field and making students think about what consent means, saying that the Antioch campus "has the plot line just about right.

[69] A story about Antioch's closing in The Chronicle of Higher Education detailed the uncertain future of some faculty and staff members, along with the town of Yellow Springs, following suspended operations at the college.

As the result of the task force discussions, ACCC and Antioch University agreed to an asset purchase agreement on June 30, 2009, at a sale price of $6,080,000.

[80] In October 2010, Mark Roosevelt, formerly of Pittsburgh Public Schools and former legislator in Massachusetts who authored an education reform law in 1993, was hired as the new president.

[96] The following spring, the college announced that faculty and staff making more than $40,000[r] annually would be required to take 10 days of furlough, the equivalent of a 3.8% pay cut.

[105][106] The presidential search committee, led by Ro Nita Hawes-Saunders of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, announced in August 2021 the selection of Dr. Jane Fernandes as the new president.

[109] Despite the cost-cutting, it was announced in early February, 2025 that the Higher Learning Commission had assigned a "financial distress designation" to Antioch, after a 2023 audit raised "substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.

Students may pursue one of five interderdisciplinary pathways to the self-designed major: Culture, Power, & Change; Interdisciplinary Arts & Creative Practice; Global Studies & Engagement; Social Enterprise & Innovation; or Sustainability & the Environment.

[4] All Antioch students spend four quarters over four years[123] in work experiences in the college's co-op program as part of their academic requirements for graduation.

[125] Following Antioch College's reopening and separation from the university, it underwent a multi-year, multi-phase process seeking to gain accreditation as an independent institution.

"[132] During her remarks to the college in 2004, alumna Coretta Scott King stated that "Antioch students learn that it's not enough to have a great career, material wealth and a fulfilling family life.

[137] The 1948 Birch Hall dormitory, designed in the modern Cubist style of post WWII architecture by famed architect Eero Saarinen,[138] housed the first class of post-closure students in 2011–2012.

An 1852 dormitory, North Hall, has been extensively renovated, making it the oldest building in the United States to meet the LEED Gold Standard for sustainable construction.

About 25 geothermal wells were sunk 600 feet deep on the lawn near North Hall to supply water pumped through the building to maintain livable temperatures.

[98] However, in July 2021, the station announced it was relocating out of the Kettering Building on the Antioch campus and into the Union School House owned by Iron Table Holdings, a company held by Yellow Springs resident and comedian Dave Chappelle.

[52] The Antioch Review, founded in 1941, was one of the oldest continuously published literary magazines in the United States prior to it being put on hiatus by the college in 2020.

The Antioch Review avoided narrow academic debates and tried to suggest that although professors may be for the academy, their commentaries can bear on larger social and intellectual processes.

[161] The full project was originally envisioned to involve 300 housing units; but, after years of public charettes and studies, construction was to have started with a simple 8-cottage pocket neighborhood development in mid-2019.