February 14, 2020

The Oberlin Review February 14, 2020

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 14

PSA: Voter Registration Deadline

In order to participate in Ohio’s March 17 presidential primary, you must be registered at your current street address on the official voter rolls by Feb. 18. Voters can check their current registration information at voteohio.gov. Voter registration and change-ofaddress forms can be found in the Mary Church Terrell Main Library and the Science Library. Questions? Visit oberlin.edu/vote.

Fourth Meal Changes Greeted By Student Pushback Alexa Stevens Production Editor

Students eat a meal together in Pyle Inn Co-op, part of the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association.

Photo by Sofia Herron Geller

Halted Survey Sparks OSCA Concerns Katie Lucey News Editor

A proposed survey designed to assess the cocurricular value of the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association and other campus residential experiences was not sent out to students and alumni last July, as originally planned in collaboration with several campus offices. Instead, the College and OSCA will draw on existing institutional data to define their contractual relationship later this spring.

Posters declaring “Save Our Beans!” put up this semester have ignited recent campus dialogue about the survey. Specifically, conversations have focused on whether more tangible data about OSCA’s value needs to be collected in order for contract negotiations to proceed.

College third-year and OSCA Membership Secretary Bhairavi Mehra and Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology John Petersen developed the survey after the Academic and Administrative Program Review committee released the final One Oberlin report last May. Mehra and Petersen developed the survey as a faculty-student research project independent from OSCA and the College, and received approval from the College’s Institutional Review Board, which oversees academic research concerning human subjects.

The One Oberlin report stated that OSCA would have a negative $1.9 million impact on the College’s operating budget in fiscal year 2020 if the current contract remains in place, and called upon OSCA and the College to “engage in assessment of the learning outcomes from different residential experiences and to identify a strategic pathway to the strongest possible residential education curriculum.”

In a letter submitted to the Review last spring, Petersen argued for a comprehensive assessment process like the one suggested in the report (“OSCA: The Problem and the Opportunity,” May, 10 2019). Mehra also viewed the survey as a source of valuable and balanced institutional data for both negotiating parties. Like Petersen, her hope was to directly address the One Oberlin report’s call for information.

“Our survey basically evaluated and tried to quantify the educational and professional values of different residential experiences at Oberlin,” said Mehra, who received a fellowship through alumni group EnviroAlums to develop the survey.

“So, it wasn’t an OSCA survey; it was a comparative survey. And almost every metric that was being evaluated was for OSCA and the College.”

According to Vice President for Finance and Administration Rebecca Vasquez-Skillings, the administration held concerns over the survey’s framing.

“Administrators who reviewed the survey were concerned that it focused on issues about which there was already consensus — the strong educational value of OSCA — and that its particular design did not reflect best practices for producing strong comparative data,” she wrote.

Petersen and Mehra consulted staff in the Office of Alumni Relations and the Office of Institutional Research to determine the survey’s objective; solicited feedback from administrators and members of the Alumni Leadership Council to revise the survey and make it inclusive of all residential experiences, not just OSCA; and received IRB approval. The final version of the survey was set to go live on July 31, but it was never sent out.

As of this semester, Fourth Meal — previously served buffet-style in the Rathskeller — is now being served in DeCafé in to-go boxes. Students can now purchase Fourth Meal the same way as all DeCafé meals: by choosing one entree, two sides, and a drink packaged in plastic containers.

Many students have witnessed significant changes to the location and structure of Fourth Meal during their time at Oberlin and some have expressed disappointment at these changes.

“It’s horrible,” said Joshua Rhodes, Conservatory fourth-year and former student senator. “I don’t agree with it. I think it’s stupid. It’s a low-blow — I very much am affected by it.”

According to Meredith Raimondo, vice president and dean of students, spatial limitations posed by the Rathskeller necessitated changes to the structure of Fourth Meal.

“That decision was part of a normal review of operations and in recognition that there were challenges and inefficiencies in serving out of the Rathskellar side,” Raimondo said. “The footprint of the kitchen and some of the traffic flow issues ... could be improved by serving out of the DeCafé side.”

The newest adjustments to Fourth Meal are part of a long line of changes to the beloved Oberlin tradition. Current third and fourth-year students remember when Fourth Meal was held in the since-closed Dascomb Dining Hall. Dascomb was refurbished in fall 2019 and currently houses Student Health Services and Student Counseling services, as well as Campus Safety. “[Dascomb Fourth Meal] was fantastic,” said Campus Dining Ambassador and College fourthyear Pearse Anderson. “That’s when I met a lot of my friends. You could just go from table-to-table and see a different group of people, whether it’s the Quidditch Team or the Rock-Climbing ExCo or the Dascombites who lived above the hall and would just walk down in their bathrobes. … I remember a lot of fried foods and a lot of good times.”

Even before Fourth Meal’s recent move to DeCafé, Anderson felt the Rathskeller wasn’t the ideal location.

“It’s darker, it’s smaller, it’s harder to interact with multiple groups of people,” Anderson said.

“People were shuffled into their own corners with less of a continuous community throughout.”

Administrators emphasize that recent changes to residential life, including CDS, will not necessarily represent the end result.

“It’s a transitional moment in the dining program,” said Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo. “Because [during] the four years that a student is here, they may not see the full evolution occur. Sometimes it’s a discontinuity

See OSCAns, page 3

See Students, page 2

CONTENTS NEWS

OPINIONS

THIS WEEK

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS

02 School Construction Concerns Residents; District Maintains All Is Well

05 College’s OSCA Stance Inconsistent With One Oberlin Recommendations

08–09 Obie Love

10 Behind the Scenes: How Bookers Bring Musicians to Campus

16 The U.S. Women’s Team Deserves Your Undivided Attention

03 Off the Cuff with Tamara Wittes, OC ’91

06 Art Rental Needs to Address Accessibility Concerns

12 Obies Create Inclusive Dating App for Long-Term Relationships

16 Blackletes Find Spaces at Largely-White Institution

The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

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School Construction Concerns Residents; District Maintains All Is Well

The site plan for a new school building on N Pleasant St. in Oberlin. The new building will consolidate Oberlin’s four public schools, creating a space for students PK–12.

Photo courtesy of Oberlin City Schools

Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief As Phase I construction on Oberlin City Schools’ new combined school facility continues, district and school board leadership maintain that the project is proceeding on schedule and on budget, despite community concerns to the contrary. In particular, some residents have expressed unease about the demolition of Oberlin High School’s football field in order to make space for the new building.

In November 2018, voters approved a bond measure that would, over 37 years, generate $17.8 million to fund the construction of a new district building to put all PK–12 students under one roof. The construction was planned to take place in two phases: Phase I, currently ongoing, will create a PK–5 facility; the 6–12 space will be added to the facility later.

District leadership is largely pleased with the Phase I construction to this point.

“I think it’s going very well,” said Albert Borroni, OC ’85, Board of Education president and director of the Oberlin Center for Technologically Enhanced Learning. “We have, obviously, constraints on how much money we can spend.

The architects and our staff in the district are working together to get the most out of that.”

For some community members, however, a perceived lack of communication on the part of the district has created frustration.

“They’re doing exactly what they always do,” said Sandra Redd, a former district parent who was active in opposing the 2018 bond measure. “They communicate when they think it’s necessary for you to know, and they’re only going to give you so much information. That’s what they always do, and what they don’t want you to know they don’t tell you.”

A particular point of concern among residents regards the placement of the school facility. When the bond issue was placed on the ballot, the district had not yet decided where the new building would go. After the bond issue passed, district leadership considered a number of locations before settling at the site of the current high school. This placement required the district to demolish the high school’s existing football field, a decision that has garnered resident opposition and left the high school’s team playing games at the College’s facilities.

Moving forward, it’s not clear how this development will be addressed.

“If we can negotiate with [the College] to figure out some way of sharing that space, at least for games, that would be the best approach,” Borroni said. “Others are leaning the other way saying we should put in our own football field. We’ll have to see when the second phase comes up, who’s on the board and how that plays out.”

Since the bond was approved, a number of other developments have also caused residents to worry that Phase I’s construction costs would be higher than expected. These include new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on materials imported from China and a likely reduction in the amount of money that the district will receive from the NEXUS pipeline.

“The costs are a little higher than we were hoping for,” said Ken Stanley, a member of Oberlin’s school board. “I think quite a number of schools passed levies in 2018 …

That meant there was a large demand for schools and a limited number of contractors can do it. That probably increased the cost. The tariffs on China definitely increased the costs for us.”

According to Stanley, the project’s funding streams are relatively straightforward.

“The district is paying 100 percent of the cost of Phase I, which is somewhere around $17 million, give or take,” Stanley said of the funds acquired through the 2018 bond issue. “The state will then reimburse us for 21 percent of the cost of that, subject to their constraints. They have rules about what they’ll fund and what they won’t fund.”

Examples of projects that the state won’t fund include See Timeline, page 4

Students, Administrators Respond to Fourth Meal Changes Continued from page 1

between student time and institutional time.”

DeCafé alone has changed immensely in the past four years; previously, students were allowed to use a board swipe for any purchases less than or equal to $7.50 and DeCafé housed a smoothie bar and sandwich station.

Since then, Sally the Salad Robot has been introduced, premade smoothies replaced custom ones, and now, Fourth Meal is served in to-go boxes.

CDS has also implemented several well-received changes. In fall 2018, DeCafé expanded its carry-out and grocery options by removing its seating area. During the same time period, staff and administrators have remained open to student input on CDS changes through working closely with campus dining ambassadors and introducing a hotline service.

However, Anderson appreciates the effort demonstrated by DeCafé staff to provide the best Fourth Meal experience

possible under the circumstances.

“Corn Dog night was my favorite night of Dascomb Fourth Meal, so for them to bring it back has been really lovely,” Anderson said.

Raimondo agrees that the changes have compromised the social experience of earlier versions of Fourth Meal, and asserts that the administration is working to improve Fourth Meal moving forward.

“I would love to deliver a more robust Fourth Meal experience where we really rethink what that could and should be, from not just a food perspective but from a social perspective, which I think is part of what people miss about Dascomb,” she said. “That’s the key thing we need to answer. When we have facilities that can help us deliver the program we want, we will improve the overall student experience.”

Despite some steps being taken to replicate the previous Fourth Meal experience in DeCafé — including bringing music and beloved Fourth

The Oberlin r eview Feb. 14, 2020 Volume 148, Number 14 (ISSN 297–256) Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch.

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Meal figure Alan “Big Al” Jones into the new space — students feel that the to-go option is inadequate compared to the previous all-you-can-eat style service.

“I am a Conservatory student and Fourth Meal was the only time that I could get [an] all-you-can-eat [meal],” Rhodes said.

However, Ed Michalski explained in a Campus Dining Ambassadors meeting on Wednesday that Fourth Meal was never designed to be all-you-can-eat. In fact, one meal swipe should only have covered one serving. Still, under the new system, this one-swipe, one-meal policy is far more regulated.

Management has been attentive to student concerns, consulting focus groups, surveys, the CDS hotline, and maintaining open dialogue with the Dining Ambassadors, who host office hours and communicate with students via Facebook. According to Anderson, attendance at Dining Ambassador meetings has been higher than normal

Corrections:

Editors-in-Chief

Nathan Carpenter Katherine MacPhail Managing Editor Ananya Gupta News Editors Anisa Curry Vietze Katie Lucey Opinions Editor Jackie Brant This Week Editor Lily Jones Arts Editors Aly Fogel Jaimie Yue Sports Editor Khalid McCalla Cont. Sports Editors Jane Agler Zoë Martin del Campo Photo Editors Mallika Pandey Sophie Payne Senior Staff Writers Ella Moxley Alica Koeninger

following the changes.

Raimondo welcomes feedback from students.

“I would want to understand what has changed in terms of people’s behavior that is not creating the same kind of Fourth Meal experience when it’s served on the DeCafé side, and to ask if there are things we can do to improve the experience that don’t require us to run the kitchen in an inefficient way,” she said.

At Wednesday’s Campus Dining Ambassadors meeting, much of the time was devoted to brainstorming ideas for Fourth Meal’s improvements within the current constraints. Ideas from the implementation of fog machines to weekly board game nights were suggested.

Dining ambassador meetings are held every Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Biggs Conference Room in Stevenson Hall. Students can contact Bon Appetit managers at the hotline number, (440) 427-3093.

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In “Oberlin Students for Gender Inclusivity in Music Presents Phlox,” the Review misstated details regarding class years and majors. The article has been updated online.

To submit a correction, email managingeditor@ oberlinreview.org.

OSCAns, Administrators Disagree About Need for Data

Security Notebook Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 11:03 a.m. A resident of Burton Hall reported the odor of burnt marijuana on the second floor.

Campus Safety officers responded and located the room in question.

The occupant denied smoking anything in the room. While speaking with the occupant, the officers observed, in plain view, a bagged smoke detector. The bag was removed.

Friday, Feb. 7, 2020 6:35 p.m. Officers and the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Fairchild Hall. The cause of the alarm was found to be steam from cooking in the second-floor kitchenette. The alarm was reset with no further problems.

Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020

Students gather at a recent lunch at Pyle Inn Co-Op.

Continued from page 1

“Every conversation Bhairavi and I had with the folks in the alumni office, with [former Assistant Vice President of Alumni and Annual Giving] Danielle Young and her staff, had been extraordinarily positive and constructive — they were excited about engaging alumni in considering the value of their non-academic experiences at Oberlin,” Petersen said. “We never would have developed a survey without their support at the outset. It was very clearly communicated to us that they were completely on board with sending out the survey. ... It was a complete and total shock when, on the agreed date, it did not move forward.”

Mehra was disappointed with the administration’s decision to cancel the survey’s planned release to students and alumni.

“It was an independent research project and it was disheartening for me to have that shut down and not receive support,” she said.

Members of the administration felt that potential insights from the survey were not essential for proceeding with the contract negotiation process. “[We] take it as a given that OSCA has incredibly important learning outcomes, offers unique experiences, contributes to career preparation, builds community, [and] promotes problem-solving and communication skills,” Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo said. “All of the incredibly great stuff OSCA does, we recognize. To focus on documenting those undisputed outcomes at this time is not a high priority because it’s not a question we’re trying to answer.”

Vasquez-Skillings added that the College already has access to some data about OSCA’s value.

“The College also has extensive qualitative data in the form of testimonials from alumni about the powerful lifelong value of their OSCA experience,” she wrote.

Additionally, Raimondo felt that the survey could have potentially disrupted Oberlin’s regular communication strategy with alumni.

“The College has a communications plan for engaging alumni that’s carefully structured, that’s thinking about how many communications come by what venue, over what time frames,” Raimondo said. “And if [a survey] comes from an official College source, it becomes part of that structure and can disrupt a carefully crafted communication strategy that is intended to help alumni feel as engaged as possible.”

However, Petersen feels that there are underlying reasons why the administration decided to halt the survey.

“I think that there was probably a desire not to know more about the value alumni experienced from OSCA,” Petersen said. “There was likely concern that a survey would, at some level, further apprise and engage alumni

The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

Photo by Sofia Herron Geller

in considering the situation with OSCA. I think there’s certainly some legitimacy to that concern. If you ask people about the value of their experience with OSCA in the context of a situation in which the institution is suggesting budget-cutting measures that may have a negative impact on OSCA, alumni are naturally going to give the issue thought.”

Contention surrounding the survey arises at a moment when the College and OSCA leadership remain engaged in rent contract negotiations following last year’s oneyear extension of the existing contract. The parties are also working to build consensus on a new business relationship following AAPR’s recommendations.

During a Dec. 9, 2019 forum hosted by OSCA leadership, Mehra stated that potential changes to the contract include increasing rent; decreasing OSCA member capacity; and evaluating the physical state and maintenance costs of the portfolio of buildings that OSCA currently rents from the College. The specifics of proposed models have not yet been released, but both parties expect to sign a contract later this spring.

“OSCA leadership will be meeting with Meredith [Raimondo] and Rebecca [Vasquez-Skillings] soon to better clarify the timeline, which may involve moving a final decision for the model to early March,” wrote Interim OSCA President and Conservatory fourth-year Teagan Webb in an email to the Review. Webb replaced former OSCA president and College third-year Gio Donovan, who led OSCA in the fall but is not on campus this semester.

Vasquez-Skillings affirms that the College and OSCA will proceed with negotiations without deploying the use of Mehra and Petersen’s survey.

“The College’s current attention is focused on ensuring a financially sustainable and viable program,” she wrote in an email to the Review. “At this time, our focus is on our collaboration with the OSCA leadership to ensure both the College and OSCA thrive long-term.

The survey has not been a topic of discussion in our regular meetings. I am optimistic that our collaboration and focus will yield a thoughtful result.”

Still, Petersen emphasizes the importance of crosscampus collaboration in collecting data that would protect valuable parts of Oberlin while also eliminating the budget deficit currently faced by the institution.

“I would very, very much like to move forward in a positive way with anyone and everyone in the administration to gather information that allows us to better understand the educational and career value of OSCA to the Oberlin experience,” he said. “I want to understand and then protect those aspects of Oberlin that make us a unique and powerful learning environment. This is very important to me and I know it is important to others as well.”

1:17 a.m. Officers and the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a report of students stuck in the elevator between the second and third floors at South Hall. Officers were able to call the elevator to the ground floor, where members of the Oberlin Fire Department assisted the students out through the ceiling hatch. The students alerted officers that they were okay. Power to the elevator has been shut off until repairs are made.

2:16 p.m. A student reported the theft of their wallet from an unlocked locker at Philips gym.

The wallet is burgundy in color and contained miscellaneous items of unknown value.

Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020 12:34 a.m. Officers responded to a loud noise complaint at a Union Street Housing Unit. Upon arrival, officers made contact with a resident hosting an unauthorized party. Attendees were told the party was ending, and they complied and left the area.

12:38 a.m.

Officers were requested to assist a student, ill from alcohol consumption, at Zechiel Hall. The student was able to answer all specific questions asked to show they were okay. The student declined medical treatment at the time, and was advised to contact Campus Safety if any additional assistance was needed.

Monday, Feb. 10, 2020 12:28 p.m. Officers and the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Union Street Housing Unit. Smoke from cooking activated the alarm. Windows were opened to ventilate the area and the alarm was reset.

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2020 2:30 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a person stuck in the elevator at the Oberlin College Bookstore. Officers and the Oberlin Fire Department responded. The individual was out of the elevator prior to the fire department’s arrival.

Repairs were made by a College electrician.

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Ne New wss OFF THE CUFF

Off the Cuff with Tamara Wittes, OC ’91 What was your time at Oberlin like as a student?

It was an amazing experience because I was able to build really strong relationships with members of the faculty, and I had the chance to do significant research on my own. I wrote an honors thesis on the history of the Cleveland Jewish community, and I did archival research at the Case Western Reserve Historical Society. I understand why Oberlin sends so many people to Ph.D. programs!

Tamara Wittes.

Photo courtesy of Tamara Wittes

Tamara Wittes, OC ’91, is an author, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and a former State Department government official under the Obama administration.She is also co-host of Rational Security, a podcast about foreign policy and national security.

She visited campus on Wednesday to give a talk titled “Scholarship and Service: Reconsidering the Arab Uprisings,” where she discussed her experience studying Middle East policies in academic settings and handling U.S. foreign policy crises in the State Department. At Oberlin, Wittes studied Judaic and Near Eastern Studies.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Johan Cavert You’re back on campus to give a talk examining the Arab uprisings of the early 2010s. Could you briefly summarize what you plan to say?

The talk is partly about the uprisings, but it is also largely about what I learned through the experience of working in the Near East Bureau of the State Department during the Arab uprisings. Before that job, as a scholar at a think tank, I had done a lot of work on Arab authoritarianism and the decline of these regimes. Then, once I got to the State Department, history caught up and landed on our doorstep in a real crisis period for U.S. foreign policy. That was an opportunity for me to learn about the relationship between scholarship and government service.

How has your relationship with the College changed since you left, and what is it like to return?

Oberlin was an incredible place for me academically, intellectually, and socially.

Politically, it was very frustrating because I had come from a background of pragmatic party politics, and the Oberlin that I found rejected establishment politics and was more interested in street politics at a time when it wasn’t clear what the big issues on campus were to devote yourself to in the street. It felt very solipsistic while I was trying to have an impact out there in the real world. So I found faculty here, and I found ways during my time to engage with practical politics. I worked on a mayor’s race in Cleveland after my first year, which was a really meaningful experience for me, and I stayed engaged in Democratic party politics all the way through.

How has the way you think about policy changed from the time you were a student?

When I took public policy here with Emeritus Professor of Politics Paul Dawson, I thought that policy and politics were about hard knocks, throwing elbows, and showing who’s boss. The more I have worked in this field and the more international work I’ve done, I’ve come to understand that politics is fundamentally about people and about relationships. Yes, it’s about interests, but the best politics is a politics that brings people’s interests into overlap or even into congruence, right? Politics doesn’t have to be about my interests versus yours. And so I’ve moved from a more zero-sum understanding to a much broader understanding. I’m grateful for that because I think that it’s actually a much better way to approach the world.

You said that when you came to Oberlin you thought about politics in a more pragmatic sense, but found things to be more idealistic here. Would you say that you’ve drifted back to where you began?

No. What struck me about campus politics when I was at Oberlin is that there was almost a disdain for real world impact and a fixation on a kind of purity to the discourse and a purity to the objective. And like I said, to me, the world of politics is about people and people’s lives. Good public policy is about solving people’s problems. That’s what we want government to be able to do, right? Creative problem solving requires that you actually listen to what people need, and you try to find ways to match needs and means and ends. You have to be efficient, and you have to make difficult choices. You can’t avoid trade-offs, but you want people to be at the center of that.

What I found frustrating about campus politics at Oberlin was that it wasn’t ultimately about affecting people’s lives. It was more about concepts than execution.

Maybe I’m just more of an implementer.

At the end of the day, I want to see things executed, and I want to see the difference.

I think that a lot of the people that I went to Oberlin with who were really into theoretical politics or conceptual politics did go on to try and make a practical difference in the world in a lot of different ways. They just didn’t do it while they were here on campus. For me, it was something that I came in wanting to do, and I was really intent on doing while I was here.

Are there ways you would recommend that current students could be more engaged in those areas?

I think one of the interesting things that’s changed since I was in school here is that the Politics department and Oberlin as a whole are more connected to the surrounding community. There are more students here who are interested in policy and are doing policy-relevant work, whether it’s the students who are working with Professor [of Politics] Eve Sandberg consulting for the State Department and doing real-world policy analysis, or the people who are working with Lorain County on economic development.

There was nothing like that when I was here. Oberlin was this little bubble. Very

few people even visited Lorain or Elyria in the fall of 1988 during the general election campaign. I was out door-knocking in Elyria. I think it’s really important for Oberlin students to have that connection to the community around them, and I’m really delighted to see the way it’s grown.

Given your role at The Brookings Institution, how do you see the purpose of think tanks and public policy in light of the rise of ‘alternative facts’ and increasing uncertainty about the presence of truth in politics?

There’s no question that this is a challenging era for those of us who believe in objective policy analysis. A lot of people have asked: “What’s the market for what you do these days because no one pays attention to analysis if it isn’t attached to an identity or an agenda?” We are a very polarized country, and people are expressing their understanding of the world through a lens of partisan identity today much more strongly than has been true in the last several decades.

That’s clear, but that doesn’t mean that all people do that, and it doesn’t mean that they will do that forever. I think people in American society, and people in the world, have real lives with real issues. They want and expect government to try to help them.

That’s what government is for in their minds, so I think that at the end of the day there is always room for pragmatic politics.

And if we focus too much on that kind of national level discourse, if we watch too much cable news, we can drive ourselves insane with the partisanship, and the vapidity, and the fake news. But I think that what we can do is to work more at the interpersonal, more at the local, more at the small-scale. And so what I find in my work at Brookings is that I’m spending a lot more time cultivating relationships of trust and building a sense of me, and my colleagues, and my institution as a trusted source. Ultimately I think that we will come back from this moment, and think tanks like Brookings have an important role to play even in the midst of this moment.

It’s really great to come back and to see so many students who are interested in working in policy. We have a lot of problems we need to solve, and Oberlin students are some of the best. So, I look forward to seeing more of them in Washington.

Timeline, Budget of School Consolidation Project Prompts Contention Continued from page 2

auditoriums, football stadiums, and school board offices, according to Stanley. He also said that it’s not totally clear when the partial reimbursement from the state, which only applies to eligible projects, will arrive.

“The state doesn’t know when our number will come up,” Stanley said. “There’s still a lot of districts ahead of us, and more and more of them seem to be jumping in. Twenty years ago, the state told us we were five to seven years from getting funded, and they’re still telling us five to seven years.” He added that the state can only make guesses about which districts will submit funding requests, and that inaccurate estimates of funding timelines aren’t meant to mislead.

At some point, the district will also receive money in the form of property taxes from the NEXUS pipeline.

However, it’s unclear exactly when that money will arrive and in what amount.

“That is not on the books yet,” Borroni said. “But we do anticipate [NEXUS money] to be there. It’s not necessarily earmarked for the building, but that’s where it’s going to end up.”

Borroni maintained that none of the Phase I costs were dependent on NEXUS money, but the fact that the district expects it raised concerns for some.

“They were counting on $1.7 million a year to come in from the NEXUS pipeline which was, excuse the pun, a pipe dream,” said City Council Member and district parent Kelley Singleton. “They were counting on that as a reality, and there was never any guarantee that that was going to happen.”

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Currently, attorneys representing the pipeline’s owners are engaged in legal proceedings in the hopes of reducing the amount that will be paid to both the school district and the City itself. Crucially, those are two different amounts, and the school district will receive more as it encompasses more area than the city. According to a Dec. 18, 2019 article, NEXUS lawyers are seeking a 38 percent reduction of the amount impacted communities were initially set to receive, originally about $9.5 million (“NEXUS seeks to scale back pipeline revenue, Lorain County officials speak out against the move,” The Morning Journal).

Singleton also raised concerns that the amount raised in the initial bond measure may not be enough to fully cover construction costs, especially after the recent tariffs and other developments.

“Without seeing the numbers, I can’t imagine that it could be [proceeding on time and on budget], with the tariff situation and with the NEXUS money,” he said.

For his part, Oberlin City Schools Superintendent David Hall was vague about potential funding streams the district can access beyond the amount raised by the bond issue.

“NEXUS funding may be coming in and we do have some extra funds, whatever we may have,” Hall said, adding that the district will also be able to capitalize on recent financial prudence. “We did great the last four or five years here; we’ve been able to save money.”

Hall also maintained that the amount raised by the initial bond issue will be enough to cover all costs associated with Phase I construction — any additional funds from NEXUS or other sources would go toward

what he called “enhancements.”

Stanley believes that, if the district plays its cards right, the construction of Phase II — the grade 6–12 addition — could be covered through existing funding streams. This would mean that the district would be able to complete construction of the entire PK–12 facility without raising taxes further. “[One thing] we have done to try to give us our best shot at being able to fund Phase II with the same 4.8 mills is to move as much of our debt as possible … into the first 10 years,” Stanley said.

Stanley explained that, over the last two years, property taxes in Oberlin have increased by roughly 25 percent, largely due to NEXUS-related development.

He hopes that, if a similar increase can be achieved over the next eight years, the 4.8 mills raised by the original bond measure will result in enough increased revenue to cover both phases of the new building.

Still, Redd is concerned that current taxes — which she already perceives as high — could increase further as construction continues and the district moves on to Phase II. “I live in [New] Russia Township and they’re eating us for a piece of toast,” Redd said. “I mean, it’s just ridiculous out here. I have a lot of farmland, and it’s outrageous what we have to pay in taxes — and for what?”

The Phase I facility is expected to open for PK–5 students in fall 2021. Residents can find construction updates under the “District News” header on the homepage of the district’s website.

OPINIONS February 14, 2020

Established 1874

lEttErS tO thE EdItOrS

Voters Must Be Patient

Four white men and two white women are now the leading Democratic candidates competing against each other to replace President Donald J. Trump in November. Many of America’s most respected and admired Black media commentators, especially those on liberal television channels, radio stations, and other media outlets, have instantly challenged all six to explain in full their questionable or checkered past of policies and actions that are clearly either racist or smell of racism.

Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Mike Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden cannot cavalierly dismiss so many beloved Black scholars, social workers, and leaders.

African Americans — indeed, all Americans — should want to hear in the minutest detail why the final six Democratic whites made previous racist decisions, especially those in the recent past, as in the cases of Klobuchar, as prosecutor in Minneapolis, and Bloomberg, as mayor of New York City for almost 13 years.

But the unceasing and heart-rending ache I have is from the calling out of these candidates before the election. They have apologized, Klobuchar and Bloomberg rather full-throatedly and profusely. There’s already been an excessive and damaging amount of political cannibalization. Yes, the ratings may be higher if these candidates are compelled to spend time discussing any racist position they may have taken; it’ll be great theater, easily-understood issues. But the candidates must focus on the issues most important to Republicans and Democrats if one is to become president — issues like health care, class disparities, gun

violence, the environment, immigration, war, the healing of our country, etc.

The nation holds its breath waiting for President Trump to offer a single apology for anything; some believe that he will do so after he is reelected in November. We all wait for him to unveil his health care plan, which he has promised to do, again, once he is reelected. If we can wait for him to apologize to former President Obama for the birther conspiracy, wait for him to apologize for advocating the death sentence of those five Blacks in the New York “Central Park” matter, then we can wait for one of the Democrats to become president, to talk to us about his or her past mistakes, then use the presidency to offer concrete evidence that the apologies are not empty ones.

Rest assured to those who just can’t wait, President Trump will hold them all up to ridicule and castigation if only to garner some support from Black voters, while blinding us all to his failures and lack of interest to speak the truth about the issues. I hope and believe that most Blacks will show the patience needed to focus on issues. We are not looking for perfect candidates, or a perfect president. We already have one, at least in his own mind. We want a candidate who will do everything possible to unite us all, starting by being able to say he or she is sorry and needs help from others. We do not need a god.

Anyone, Republican or Democrat, should be given all the time needed to win. Dr. King wrote an excellent book called Why We Can’t Wait. If he were alive today, in this particular presidential year, he would caution us against letting our “pursuit of perfection be the enemy of the good.”

– Booker C. Peek Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies See Letters, page 7

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The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

Volume 149, Number 14

EdItOrIal BOard EdItOrS-IN-ChIEf

Nathan Carpenter

Katherine MacPhail

MaNagINg EdItOr Ananya Gupta

OPINIONS EdItOr Jackie Brant

College’s OSCA Stance Inconsistent With One Oberlin Recommendations When the Steering Committee of the Academic and Administrative Program Review released its final One Oberlin report in May 2019, a number of its recommendations concerned changes to the College’s relationship with the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association. This Editorial Board was reassured then, by what appeared to be a commitment from administrators, to engage in a process to learn more about the value OSCA brings to the institution. Now, nearly a year later, we’re not so sure that administrators are committed to such a process — and recent developments have troubling implications for the future of a transparent and good-faith One Oberlin implementation.

The One Oberlin report recommended engaging “in assessment of the learning outcomes from different residential experiences [including OSCA] and to identify a strategic pathway to the strongest possible residential education curriculum.” This week, without the College and OSCA having engaged in anything resembling such a process, Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo told the Review that she believes the College has enough information about OSCA to proceed with contract conversations. Vice President for Finance and Administration Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings appears to agree, saying that the College already has qualitative data about OSCA’s value.

The issue with Raimondo’s claim is that there have been no real developments with regard to data examining OSCA’s value since the One Oberlin report was published. The one attempt to collect further data — an independent survey proposed over the summer by College third-year Bhairavi Mehra, who is also OSCA’s membership secretary, and Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology John Petersen — has been unilaterally rejected by College administrators with no clear path toward a future data collection process. More coverage of the survey is included in this issue (“Halted Survey Sparks OSCA Concerns”).

Mehra and Petersen undertook their project as a collaborative, independent research project — true to Oberlin’s spirit of creative and impactful academic inquiry. Their survey received the endorsement of Oberlin’s stringent Institutional Review Board. Then, when administrators pulled the plug — blindsiding Mehra and Petersen — they claimed that the survey was not structured to successfully produce the kind of results Mehra and Petersen sought.

This Editorial Board is not an expert in survey methodology. But when we reviewed the questions produced for the survey, we were sure that they were produced by a research team committed to conducting a balanced and thorough assessment.

The College’s conduct — both regarding the lack of initiative to collect the data suggested in the One Oberlin report, as well as the unprofessional lapse in communication regarding the independent survey — is incongruous with the transparency promised and upheld in other aspects of One Oberlin changes. It is not consistent with the high standard of communication typically seen from President Carmen Twillie Ambar and her senior staff.

Furthermore, excluding students and alumni from the process of evaluating OSCA’s value is disrespectful to those who believe OSCA has been an integral part of their Oberlin experience. Several alumni wrote letters to the editors of the Review last semester expressing all the ways OSCA enriched their student experience and prepared them for life after Oberlin. These are people who deserve to have their voices heard in a contract negotiation process that essentially seeks to evaluate OSCA’s value to the institution. It is difficult to believe that the College truly understands OSCA’s value when, without providing a coherent reason, it does not support a process to evaluate it — especially after appearing to very publicly support such a process less than a year ago.

It’s true that the College is not obligated to support any one specific survey by sharing it through its official communication channels. Still, the argument that sending the survey would disrupt preestablished communication strategies with alumni does not carry water. The current conversations between the College and OSCA represent extraordinary circumstances, as acknowledged in the One Oberlin report. If the College is going to meet those circumstances in good faith, they must be prepared to support efforts to illuminate as much information as possible.

Further, discouraging the pursuit of sound, instructionally-relevant research is a serious slap in the face of Oberlin’s educational ethos as an institution with a purported commitment to student-led initiatives and research.

We recognize that gathering financial information about OSCA is challenging because OSCA exercises its right as an independent third-party vendor to keep their books private. The organization has been notably less transparent than the College in terms of disclosing financial information.

However, the College recognized this challenge in the One Oberlin report and intended to overcome it through engaging in a thorough assessment. Without doing so, it seems unlikely that the College is truly committed to proposing an equitable, informed relationship with OSCA moving forward.

At a time when the College is asking the Oberlin community for a great deal of trust amid drastic institutional changes, the conduct surrounding the OSCA survey has not inspired confidence. By looking past relevant recommendations in the One Oberlin report, the College is not engaging in good faith. We are forced to conclude that the core reason Mehra and Petersen’s survey did not go out is that the College simply did not want to hear what alumni had to say.

We urge the College administration to reaffirm their commitment to transparency and accountability. They should engage in a process to gain the relevant information that will allow for a full and accurate assessment of OSCA’s value, otherwise they sacrifice the original spirit and vision of the One Oberlin recommendations.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and Opinions Editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

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Opi n ions

Conservatory Should Revamp Recital Booking System

Art Rental Needs to Address Accessibility Concerns Devyn Malouf Production Manager Katie Lucey News Editor

Students waiting inside the Conservatory.

Amber Scherer Cordelia Mutter Contributing Writers Amber (she/her) and Cordelia (she/her) are members of the Oberlin Conservatory Council of Students, serving as vice president and president, respectively.

Early Monday morning, something odd occurred outside Bibbins Hall. Around 3:30 a.m., a student pulled up in their car, waiting for the building to open at 6:30 a.m. Not long after, several more students arrived and a line began to form outside Bibbins’ east door. By 5:00 a.m., more than 10 students had shown up. By 6 a.m., the line was nearly 30 students in length. At 6:30 a.m., when the Conservatory doors opened, the line was more than 50 people long. Finally, at 8 a.m., the line — finally indoors and out of the rain — was an astonishing 65 people in length.

All of these students were Conservatory fourth-years waiting for the Concert Production Office to open at 8:30 a.m., when they would receive slips of paper informing them at what time they could return to the office and officially book a recital slot for their senior recitals. Only 10 of these students — all of whom had arrived by 5:00 a.m. and waited in the rain for two hours — were allowed to book their recital times immediately. The remainder had to return either at 9:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. over the next several days to wait in line once again. It should also be noted that a number of these students have orchestra rehearsal or class at these times.

To further complicate the system, on Wednesday morning, third-years in the Conservatory preparing for their own recitals went through the same process.

Only those willing to split a 90-minute recital with another student were allowed to line up at this time, though none were allowed to sign up until Thursday afternoon, as all of the recital sign-up times through Thursday 9:30 a.m. were occupied by fourth-years.

Due to a strong student backlash against this sign-up system, as well as a forecast of zero degrees Fahrenheit on Friday morning, the third wave of students were able to fill out Google forms in lieu of a standing in physical line. In an email to all Conservatory students, Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen wrote, “In light of the events on Monday — and given

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Photo by Amber Scherer

the inclement weather expected tomorrow (morning temperatures in the single digits) — we’re going to try a new system.

Instead of requiring individuals to come in person to secure a place in the booking queue, we’re going to move the registration system online.” This temporary solution shows potential for positive change regarding recital booking.

The “recital line” is something of a rite of passage for Conservatory students. The question that these alarming circumstances raises in students’ minds, though, is, “but why?” Why are students required to show up in person, physically compete for a spot in line, lose sleep, sit quite miserably for one to five hours, and often still have to come back and wait in line again?

The Conservatory Council of Students — an elected student body representing Conservatory student interests — released surveys late Monday morning, asking for suggestions to improve this system. Students responded with ideas such as using Google forms or surveys, requiring thirdyears to do fall recitals, and adding more recital slots in under-utilized halls, such as Clonick Hall. Most students recommended adding more recital times. The Conservatory removed 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. as options last spring, leaving 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. available, excluding instances of conflict with official school events. Many respondents also mentioned online systems, and in a follow-up survey, 77 percent of respondents felt that an online system would be an improvement.

CCS reached out to students at other music schools, including The Juilliard School, Rice University Shepherd School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, Mannes School of Music, and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Students at Rice, Mannes, and Eastman expressed frustration with their school’s recital-booking processes as well, one of which is identical to Oberlin’s Conservatory, while the others were pure lotteries. On the other hand, students at Juilliard, CIM, Curtis, and U-M, were all happy with their school’s systems, all of which gave students a greater degree of convenience via online booking systems.

“We do all our recital sign-ups online,” Stephen Joven-Lee, OC ’18 and current See Recital, page 7

In light of the recent changes to Fourth Meal, many students are hoping to preserve the few remaining campuswide traditions at Oberlin. Art Rental, which is completely student-run, is arguably one of the most celebrated, anticipated events of every semester — and has been for the past 80 years. Given the longevity of the tradition, the pure wonderment that it offers, and its frequent promotion by the Office of Admissions, Art Rental should provide a more accessible opportunity for all students to rent a piece of art from the expansive and ever-changing collection at the Allen Memorial Art Museum.

Founded in 1940 by Professor of Modern Art Ellen Johnson, OC ’33, Art Rental provides students with the opportunity to rent artworks from the Allen’s collection for the entire semester at only $5 apiece.

Remarkably, in Art Rental’s long history, no piece of art has ever been lost, damaged, or stolen.

The museum will open its doors tomrrow morning at 8 a.m. — but students have already begun preparing for Art Rental. Traditionally, students camp out to put their names on the list that will cement their place in line and bolster their chances to rent their favorite artworks as early as Wednesday night, before the list is posted. This semester, the Art Students Committee advertised that a member would post the list between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday.

In an attempt to increase transparency about Art Rental, the ASC posted flyers on Facebook and across campus laying out details regarding the check-ins, as well as shared recent additions to the Art Rental experience — including a digital lottery and a late-night costume contest, both of which will allow winning students to jump higher on the list.

While we respect and appreciate the changes to Art Rental carried out by the ASC this past semester, we also believe that certain improvements can be made to Art Rental as a whole to increase accessibility for all students and to ensure that the uniquely Oberlin event is properly preserved for future generations of Obies.

We see the check-in system as Art Rental’s greatest accessibility challenge. The nature of the system forces students to attend at least four of the six check-ins throughout Friday night to preserve their standing on the list, and because these are often loud, cramped gatherings, it places students in potentially uncomfortable or harmful positions.

Additionally, these check-ins are only offered in the vicinity of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, which is quite a trek from the northern- and southern-most dorms on campus.

Instead of making these check-ins required, it might be more considerate to host optional events throughout the evening in the Allen courtyard. For example, events like the

costume contest that was instituted last year — or perhaps a concert or an open mic of some kind — could effectively preserve the camaraderie that comes with spending the evening in the courtyard in the name of art, but not force students into uncomfortable situations.

In a similar vein, the list system also presents challenges to students’ health by infringing on their sleep patterns. Frankly, the notion of asking students to wait for a list to be posted between 5 and 8 a.m. on a Friday is unnecessary when it is much easier for students to plan for an early morning wakeup call on a weekend as opposed to a weekday.

Between students studying late or having an early class — or simply not wanting to get up before the crack of dawn — many students are deterred from attempting to score a high place on the list.

An unfortunate reality, too, is that some students, after they endure all the hullabaloo involved with the list and check-ins, still do not walk away with any art. Last fall, the Review reported that over 340 students lined up to rent artworks from the museum’s collection of 381 pieces (“New Approach to Art Rental Attracts Record Number of Students,” Sept. 20 2019).

This higher-than-normal turnout was doubtlessly related to the work undertaken by ASC to increase transparency about the Art Rental process. However, due to the policy that allows students to rent two pieces or more at a time, many students who waited in line for hours went home empty-handed. We propose a system wherein students can only rent one artwork per cycle in line. In other words, students can still rent upwards of two pieces — but only if they’re willing to get back in line after renting their firstchoice piece.

Although we agree that it would be hard to pick just one piece to rent — and concur that Art Rental should reward students who take the time to get a good spot in line — we think that this change would allow more students to participate in Art Rental.

A campus tradition can only truly thrive if students are excited and have personal buy-in; we know this is true based on recent campus discussions with our fellow fourthyears who have watched the slow demise of a tradition that we remember fondly from our first year at Oberlin: Fourth Meal.

Students who are turned away at Art Rental due to the museum running out of pieces to rent will likely have one of two reactions: The diehards, though disappointed, might try again in a future semester, but we are certain that many Oberlin students will be discouraged from ever going through the trouble of participating again.

The ASC is currently working to institutionalize some of the changes made to Art Rental so that future iterations of the committee have a codified process long after the current committee members have graduated. Thus, right now is the perfect time to make meaningful improvements to Art Rental.

Trump’s Strike Against Iranian General Has Proven Ineffective Leo Hochberg Columnist You’ve doubtlessly heard that on Jan. 3, President Trump ordered an execution strike, killing Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, along with Iranian politician and commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and several others at the Baghdad airport. In the following days, many speculated: Are we headed towards another undesirable Middle East conflict?

Is this the beginning of a dangerous and illegal shadow war between Iran and the U.S., rife with rebounding political assassinations? Have years of growing tensions between the two countries now triggered an irreversible wave of violence that will kill and maim countless Iraqi and Iranian civilians?

Thankfully, for the time being, the answer appears to be “no.” When Iran returned fire several days later, striking two American bases in Iraq and killing zero Americans, it became clear that the Iranian government had deemed it unwise to escalate the situation further. Instead, it opted for a muted strike, allowing the Iranian government to save face before its own people, but doing no real damage to the U.S. or its assets.

On the night of its retaliatory strike against the U.S., the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps also shot down a Ukrainian airliner that was leaving the airport in Tehran for Kiev, killing all 176 civilians on board in a horrific and widely condemned miscalculation.

Trump wasted no time boasting about his success in killing Qasem Soleimani, and in the eyes of his supporters, he seemed to have much to brag about. Soleimani — long since deemed a terrorist by the U.S. and responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of others throughout the region — was finally dead, leaving Iran with one less national hero.

Trump boasted on national TV, “The American people should be extremely grateful and happy. Our

great American forces are prepared for anything.”

However, as Congress has fiercely debated the consequences of the strike, resulting in a Senate vote this past Thursday limiting Trump’s powers to wage war on Iran – a vote which the president has promised to veto – it is important to note that Trump has by no means achieved any realistic, lasting change in the U.S.’s fraught and violent relationship with Iran. Rather, his aggressive behavior has only increased the militaristic and extremist tendencies of both countries, putting Americans, Iranians, and others throughout the Middle East at great risk.

For one, the strike’s brazen disregard for international law was reckless and dangerous. In justifying the strike, Trump leaned on an argument popularized during the Bush administration years which maintained that striking another sovereign nation is legal in order to deter an imminent attack against America or Americans. Yet in the weeks following the strike, the Trump administration’s justifications fluctuated and changed, growing weaker and more potholed.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued on Twitter that the strike was “in response to imminent threats to American lives,” but later, other U.S. officials disputed the timeline and the imminence of the threat, and even Pompeo admitted that there was no clear knowledge as to when or where this supposed ‘threat to American lives’ would take place.

Trump is obviously no friend to international law, but this particular strike sets an extremely dangerous precedent. The White House appears to have argued implicitly that assassinating America’s enemies is justifiable regardless of whether those individuals pose a proven and active threat. Americans must now imagine a future in which the U.S. might strike anyone, even on the territory of allied governments, based on opaque and unsubstantiated threats.

Beyond this clear dereliction of international law, we must also question whether Trump’s extralegal activity has achieved any positive impact on the ground. However, it seems obvious that Qassem Soleimani’s assassination has only resulted in a deeper entrenchment of the political conditions that existed in the weeks and months before the strike. For example, the Iran nuclear agreement, pioneered by the Obama administration to decrease tensions in the Middle East, has now been damaged further as Iran has reneged on its commitment under the deal to cap its enrichment of uranium. Likewise, multilateral attempts to build confidence through diplomacy have been so thoroughly damaged by the recent military strikes that the Iranian regime is unlikely to trust the U.S. again in the future.

So, really, what has been achieved? Have any of the underlying causes of distrust between the U.S. and Iran been dealt with? Certainly not. Instead, we have accomplished little beyond shattering all potential avenues of peaceful and trustful diplomacy, with nothing to say for it beyond the death of a single general who has already been replaced by another.

As Trump moves into his reelection campaign, we must investigate the dangerous precedents of his presidency as it relates to Iran. The Ukraine scandal — in which Trump withheld millions in military aid to Ukraine in order to prompt investigations into his political rivals — demonstrates clearly that Trump is fully willing to risk the U.S.’s national security if it helps him get reelected. There seems to be little hope that Trump will rein in this kind of reckless and deceitful behavior, particularly as the U.S. election cycle heats up. U.S. citizens are thus left to wonder: Is it still possible to shift away from the current trajectory of U.S.-Iran relations, which can only lead to rising violence and tension?

We can only hope that this time, the answer will finally be “yes.”

Recital Processes Should Be Digitized Continued from page 6

Juilliard student, wrote, “They ask for our top 5 dates in order of preference. They give required recitals priority over non-degree recitals.

Other than that, it’s first come first serve.”

U-M uses a similar system: online booking through a portal that goes live for all students at the same time. Another Oberlin grad, Tiberiu Baicoianu, OC ’18, described the Cleveland Institute of Music’s system thusly, “When doing a recital, you just fill out a form with your top 3 choice slots and most people usually get their top pick.” He added, jokingly, “It’s the one thing [where] I think [CIM] might be more organized with than Oberlin!”

Considering that Oberlin has recently made efforts to revamp its online systems, it seems fitting that our recital booking processes should step into the 21st century and go online as well. As discussed The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

earlier, priority systems are important. Fourth-years ought to have booking priority over thirdyears, and fourth-years with auditions (who are in their final year) should perhaps have priority over those with fifth years.

Though no system will be perfect, moving the process online removes the possibility that dozens of people will wake up before 5 a.m. to wait in the rain, most of whom will be turned away to return for yet another line. It may also lessen the burden on Concert Production workers, for whom this is likely the most stressful task of the year.

Quillen wrote to CCS on Thursday evening, “In response to student concerns — and as part of our ongoing efforts to improve all administrative processes and procedures — we have commenced a thorough review of our recital-booking process. We look forward to working ... over the coming months as we put much-needed

improvements into place for next semester.”

Truly, these improvements are much-needed. The system that is now in place, as one student stated, “incentivizes unhealthy behavior.” It creates an undue burden for those who cannot, for any reason, miss a night of sleep and stand in the cold for hours, sit on a hard floor for hours more, just to get a recital slot that is purportedly guaranteed by our institution. This is ableist.

But aside from these moral concerns, this system is plainly unnecessary. The school has a registration system in place (Oberview) that is capable of sorting students by eligibility, seniority, priority, etc.

If the school could survey students at the beginning of each year to determine how urgent their need for a specific recital time is and give them a corresponding booking time, then open up online portals to them, the system may be more humane.

L etters to the editors (cont.)

Continued from page 5

Oberlin Draws Inspiration from Ancient Liberal Arts Ideals When I was a member of the Alumni Leadership Council, I once described Oberlin as having a marvelous ethos. I was referring to its unique character as a liberal arts college that arises from its traditions of open inquiry, rigorous study, and inclusiveness, imbued with the influences of music and the arts. In ancient Greece, the core liberal arts were grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These endeavors still constitute much of the intellectual activity at Oberlin today.

Of these studies, rhetoric in particular sought to understand the capacities of writers and speakers needed to inform, persuade, and motivate particular audiences in specific situations. It was viewed as complementary to grammar and logic.

Aristotle called rhetoric “a combination of the science of logic and of the ethical branch of politics.”

Aristotle also identified three types of rhetorical proofs: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos explored how the character of a speaker could influence an audience to consider them believable. There were three qualities that contributed to a credible ethos: perceived intelligence, virtuous character, and good will. Pathos involved the use of emotional appeals to alter the audience’s judgment through metaphor, amplification, storytelling, or presenting the topic in a way that evokes strong emotions in the audience. Logos was the use of reasoning, either inductive or deductive, to construct an argument.

The ancient concept of rhetoric can be applied to Oberlin and the skills it teaches students across all disciplines. The value of a liberal arts education, even for science and technology majors, derives from building these skills toward the goal of being more effective in persuasion. Ethos and logos are ever more important in an age overwhelmed with pathos in the form of social media, Twitter storms, and the leaders of countries appealing to the grievances of the masses. Pathos is undoubtedly an effective rhetorical approach, but we must ask whether it will suffice to move us toward finding solutions to the daunting problems we face. Ethics — ethos’ close cousin — constitute the guardrails for our individual conduct, ones that constrain us to be to earnest, forthright, courageous, and to avoid hypocrisy. They form the basis for authentic leadership.

If Oberlin itself were a voice in the world, its ethos would be extremely strong. Ethos is not manufactured instantly, but cultivated over years of consistent effort. When you consider the traditions that contribute to Oberlin’s unique character, there is much to appreciate and much to inspire in terms of the capacity for Obies to go out and change the world for good.

– Donn Ginoza, OC ’74

DeCafé Should Strive to Be Like OSCA Contrast the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association and DeCafé. Which one pumps more throwaway packaging into the world? Which one has employees whose positions could be cut to save the College money? Which one makes you stand in line and think about money every time you want another little bit of food?

You’re in college — a college you applied to and got accepted to. You’re paying tuition. You’re paying for your dorms. The College wants you to feel nourished. So they should provide food in bulk, 24-hour access ways.

Skip the capitalist itemization. Skip the wasteful individualized packaging. Skip the materialist excesses of long-distance luxury items. Oh yeah, this will end up looking more like OSCA than DeCafé — a really nice OSCA. Maybe let each co-op take over providing one of each of the student favorites: chili, coffee, greens and root-veggie salad, granola and hot cereal, yogurt, et cetera, as determined by good old student voting. OSCA is not a cost to the College. Not being more OSCA-like is a cost to the College.

Not being more OSCA-like is driving the ecological crisis.

You already know that — because you’re well-educated Oberlin students, staff, and faculty. Let your true colors shine.

– Aliza Weidenbaum Oberlin Resident

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Obie Love Noelle Hedges-Goettl, OC ’15 For many of the people I was close to, Oberlin was the first place to openly be in queer relationships.

Accordingly, we all dated each other. My group got to the point where we were openly admitting to all being either each other’s crush — or ex. None of those relationships made it to graduation.

Layout by Lily Jones, This Week Editor

What better occasion than Valentine’s Day to reflect on the romantic heard the myth that 60 percent of Oberlin students marry other Obie finding someone to date here is nothing short of impossible. This wee and asked them to tell us their campus dating stories, and they deli warming to horrifying. As it turns out, some things never change: Stu ties, in dorms, and in co-ops; there are still awkward hookups, bad d many of these stories also have happy endings, so perhaps there is so The following stories were submitted via email and Facebook, and ha

Charlotte Beers Plank, OC ’11 I met my now-husband in December of 2007. I was singing in Collegium Musicum, and our December concerts happened to coincide with the first snow of that year. I loved singing with this group. I was in it for five years, and a lot of my good friends to this day are from there. The director of the group held a choir party afterward, and his son happened to hear the concert and go to the gathering as well. We met, we chatted — and then he emailed me the next day. We exchanged a few emails, but then I let it go (my bad!) with the start of finals and life. I ran into him while I was riding my bike on the edge of Tappan Square months later, around April 2008.

We eventually met up for coffee and continued to get to know each other over a few months. I worked in Oberlin that summer, which was when we officially started dating. My professor is now my father-in-law, his son is now my husband of more than six years, and we have an incredible son who is two-and-a-half years old. Glad I took a chance and dated outside the bubble. Ohio is great and I live here, still!

Alita Pierson Feek, OC ’01 I learned the hard way that breaking up via a two-hour phone call between campus and the Gower Street flat (formerly of the Oberlin-in-London program) is extraordinarily, outrageously expensive. (I was the one in London and my then-boyfriend was in either Fairchild Hall or Talcott Hall).

Photo courtesy of Oberlin College Facebook

Fred Dulles, OC ’86 I met my now-wife Cathy Jordan, also OC '86, at Baldw Cottage early in our third year. She was a transfer stu dent. We started dating in January of our fourth year there was this other boyfriend, so we broke up at grad ation. Made for a tough and tricky Commencement w family and all. Three weeks later, she called me by su prise and once I shut up about my new car, she told m she had broken up with him. We've been together ever since, married in 1990 and have raised two kids. It'll our 30th anniversary in late October. Pretty much ha ly ever after. She is the light of my life and, if I had go nothing else from my time at Oberlin (which I definite did), she alone would have made it worth it.

Lee McKeever, OC ’04 My ex-wife was OC ’03, the one I (shouldn't have) let get away was OC ’04, and my partner of 10 years is OC ’98. I suppose I could consider a Wesleyan, Reed, or Antioch alum if necessary, but Obies have done me well.

c culture of our lovely college? We’ve all es. And yet, it’s also a common gripe that ek, we reached out to Oberlin graduates ivered with tales that range from heartudents still meet through friends, at pardates, and missed connections. But still, ome hope for us after all. ave been edited for length and clarity.

Debbie Nee Drelich & John Guest, OC ’79 We met when my roommate liked his roommate. The day I was introduced to John, he made some snide chauvinistic remark and I snubbed him all of our first year. On the recommendation of a friend who watched him walk to the shower shirtless, I gave him another chance. We were living together from our second year on. We stayed in the room lottery and had enough seniority that we got first pick of a room our fourth year and chose the best room on campus: the third floor Tower room of Talcott Hall overlooking Tappan Square! Of course, we had to game the system before co-ed living was permitted (how different from today) — we found another couple and swapped official room assignments.

Kim Chi To Pike, OC ’90 We were both at Oberlin for three years. Never met. We went to the Oberlin-in-London program and met there. Our first date was a horrible Finnish movie and bad British-Mexican food.

Everyone said it was a study abroad fling and would not last. Now, our youngest son just got accepted to Oberlin, class of 2024.

win ur but duwith urme r be appiotten ely

Helena Cohen, OC ’11 I met my now-husband at the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association’s annual bonfire during Orientation and I absolutely HATED HIM. OSCA was OSCA, so of course we basically existed in the same social circle for the entirety of our undergrad. I eventually took over his operations manager position, and he was supposed to train me, but he’s a lazy white man, so that didn’t happen, and I trained myself by doing his job.

Fast forward to senior year where I got drunk after performing in a semi-automatics show and was like, “HEY, I WILL PAY SOMEONE LITERALLY ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS IF THEY CAN FIND SOMEONE TO SLEEP WITH ME.” Someone — who eventually was a groomsperson in the wedding — raised their hand and sent a text to my now-husband. We were supposed to meet at the blues dance at the Cat in the Cream but he showed up like ten minutes before it ended. So, I suggested we grab a drink at Jazz Night at The Feve. It was magical. Somehow, this absolute asshole had transformed into my dream partner, and the rest is history.

Who knew that a random Sunday and a round of Manhattans would give me my entire life?

Friday, Feb. 14

Saturday, Feb. 15

Saturday, Feb. 15

Saturday, Feb. 15

Love in Many Tongues A Valentine’s Day reading of love poems in different languages.

Long-Form Storytelling Workshop Kevin Anderson of WCLV 104.9 FM ideastream will be running a workshop on telling long-form nonfiction stories to audiences. Lunch is included, and registration is limited to 20 people.

Speed Learning Teach people phrases from the foreign language that you speak, and learn new language skills from others!

Snacks and drinks provided.

Hales Late Nighter The Cat in the Cream’s annual party, featuring food from The Feve, glow bowling, a bouncy house, a face painting station, cotton candy, a magician, and music. This year’s theme is “Birthday Party”!

7:30–9 p.m. // Slow Train Cafe

4:30 p.m. // Kade House 10 a.m.–3 p.m. // Bibbins Hall 232

9 p.m.–1 a.m. // The Cat in the Cream

A r t s & C u lt u r e

ARTS & CULTURE February 14, 2020

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 14

Art History Students Curate Exhibition About Abolitionism

Featuring pieces from Oberlin’s Special Collections and Anti-slavery Collection, “Subjects of Freedom” is a critical examination of the Oberlin’s historical narrative concerning slavery and abolition.

Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Jaimie Yue Arts & Culture Editor “Subjects of Freedom” seeks to challenge Oberlin’s popular abolitionist narrative as the newest student exhibition at the Mary Church Terrell Main Library that opened Monday. It was curated by students in the seminar “Slavery and the Problem of the Visual,” pioneered by Assistant Professor of Art History Matthew Rarey, and acts as a companion show to “Afterlives of the Black Atlantic,” which opened at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in September.

Institutionalized slavery in what would become the United States began on Aug. 20, 1619, when enslaved

Africans were brought to Point Comfort, Virginia Colony on the English warship White Lion. Rarey, along with the Ellen Johnson ’33 Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Andrea Gyorody, commemorated the 400th anniversary of this event by curating “Afterlives,” an exhibition that featured multimedia pieces about slavery from the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa (“Slavery’s Modern-day Impact Felt in ‘Afterlives of the Black Atlantic,’” The Oberlin Review, Sept.

6, 2019).

Rarey and Gyorody also sought to create a secondary exhibition of special collections from Oberlin.

Through Subjects of Freedom, Rarey’s students have the agency to pres-

ent a show specifically about Oberlin’s contested history with slavery, abolitionism, and anti-racism. These conversations are ongoing outside the classroom: Elusive Utopia: The Struggle for Racial Equality in Oberlin, Ohio

by Emeriti Professors of History Gary Kornblith and Carol Lasser, published in 2018, engages in these same issues.

Through a series of assigned essays in the first half of the semester, Rarey wanted his students to tackle the problem of slavery as a historical trauma across several continents. The “problem of the visual” in the seminar’s title, therefore, is how to visually represent that history in a way that does justice to it — a problem to which the exhibition seeks to propose a solution.

“As we were looking at the visual culture around abolitionism in the 19th century, especially in the United States ... a common move that was made was to depict Black bodies in trauma in order to underscore the horrors of slavery,” Rarey explained.

“And of course, the very problematic move there is [that] we should only push against this system when we can come to know or personally empathize with that trauma.”

Because “Subjects of Freedom” is a historical exhibition featuring visual mediums, both the student curators and viewers must acknowledge the underlying racism even in abolitionism efforts. The exhibition seeks to not only inform viewers about why abolitionist history was problematic, but also identify that rhetoric within unexpected artifacts.

For example, the 1808 fold-out map from History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade by Thomas Clarkson appears to simply be a river map, but in mapping a genealogy of abolition that excludes any Black names, Clarkson strips Black abolitionists of their agency and outlines an inaccurate history of abolitionism.

For Rarey’s students, the curating process involved placing their objects in the classroom space and walking around, trying to find connections and generate dialogue.

“In this class, because you are curating the show… you are more involved in this process… your discussion is part of the outcome you will reach,” said College fourth-year Luoying Sheng said. “I’m more willing to speak out in this [class] because I feel like I’m really contributing to this project and [making] it happen with other people.”

Most notably, Sheng has cited Rarey’s classes as a place where she can find her voice as a non-white, nonBlack, international student in American racial discourses.

“For the 20 years I grew up in China, I never [had these] conversations… because it just [was] not my world, just not related to my life,” Sheng said. “And then when I came here, I found that, every minute, when you watch TV, when you’re talking to people, that this is actually a very big part [of American life]. It’s just very interesting [to] me being non-white, non-Black to [get] into this history and this conversation.”

See New, page 13

Behind the Scenes: How Bookers Bring Musicians to Campus Aly Fogel Arts & Culture Editor A few weeks ago at the 2020 Grammy Awards, pop legend, self-love queen, and all-around icon Lizzo opened the show with her back turned to the audience, arms waving as she conducted the full band in front of her while the celebrity audience cheered. Lizzo won three Grammys in this ceremony. Just over a year earlier, Lizzo headlined Oberlin College’s free rave-style concert, Solarity, in the Heisman Club Field House.

This isn’t the only case in which Oberlin has booked musicians just before they go mainstream. Rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Junglepussy and Noname have all performed at Oberlin; in addition to R&B artists such as SZA and Jamila Woods, and alt-indie darlings including Mitski, Snail Mail, and Miya Folick.

This list of illustrious performers is impressive for a small institution in a small Ohio town.

How do such well-respected musicians miraculously perform for such a small student body? The credit goes to student bookers, who work with a variety of student organizations to bring artists to Oberlin.

The first step in the booking process is choosing an artist. Larger organizations like the Student Union Planning Committee (SUPC), Concert Board, and the Cat in the Cream focus on booking a wide variety of musicians across a range of genres. “[At] SUPC, we’re trying to create a very broad spectrum of programming in terms of music genre, and also, in general, bodies on campus that would be represented,” said College fourth-year Matt Grimm, who has been a booker with SUPC for three years. “The ’Sco is programming for 3,000 people, ideally.”

At the Cat in the Cream, the process of finding and choosing artists is highly collaborative, explained Shivani Singh, third-year College student and concert booker.

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“We have meetings at the beginning of the semester,” said Singh. “Everyone comes up with people who they are into. … We all bring our top picks and we play the songs for everyone. And then [we all say], ‘I like this person’ or ‘I don’t like this person’ or ‘Would it even be possible to get this person?’ and then we … email their managers.”

It’s advantageous that Oberlin students enjoy many artists that have yet to go mainstream. Since these performers have lower profiles, their rates don’t break the ’Sco’s budget, which is funded by the Student Finance Committee.

“I remember when Japanese Breakfast played our [first] year,” Grimm said. “She was relatively big, but she was playing venues roughly the same size as the ’Sco for less money than she was being paid by the ’Sco. If another college booked [her] at a similar-size venue, [she] wouldn’t have done as well. … She had a lot of specific Oberlin fans.”

Student bookers also benefit from having a strong music network. Grimm said that SUPC promoters are familiar with many agents, who will sometimes reach out to SUPC with artist recommendations. Additionally, the musicians themselves often know Oberlin through social ties.

“Bands that tend to have younger members often actually knew people who went to Oberlin,” said College third-year Bridget Conway, who books for SUPC and Femme Artists Breaking Boundaries. “Oberlin is kind of famous or infamous, depending on how you look at it, especially when it comes to its music scene.”

This musical notoriety doesn’t just come from the Conservatory. Grimm, who books experimental and punk artists, noted that several artists have booked concerts on campus because the owner of Hanson Records in downtown Oberlin, Aaron Dilloway, is one of the most famous experimental musicians of the past twenty years.

“I basically booked my all-time favorite band, which is a punk band from Denmark called Ice Age,” said Grimm.

“And the reason that they came, they’re like, ‘We wanted to meet Aaron Dilloway.’”

Once these artists are booked, the student organizers have to promote the show and provide hospitality for the artists while they are on campus. Sometimes, visiting musicians end up at Oberlin house parties or enjoying dinner at a local bar later at night.

“I remember Palm … they were obsessed with [The Feve’s] wings,” recalled Conway. “They were like, ‘Where are the wings?’ because they had played here before and they’re like, ‘There was one restaurant that had really good wings, where is it?’”

In the fall of 2018, students didn’t just spot headliner Lizzo at a party or a bar; flute players and hip-hop group And What!? had the chance to perform with her on stage.

This once-in-a-lifetime show was, ironically, a second-choice for the Solarity board. SFC told Solarity to send a survey of artists to the student body, and Charlie XCX was the winner.

“Lizzo was on the short-list that we sent to the student body, but she wasn’t the top [artist], so we tried to book somebody else,” explained College second-year Sarah Voit, who is now Solarity’s head booker.

The Solarity team believed that they could book Charlie XCX, but she stopped communicating during the booking process. Luckily, the Solarity team and Cat in the Cream booker Hanne Williams-Barron, OC ’19, had been in contact with Lizzo’s management, and Solarity booker Daniel Markus, OC ’19, signed a contract with Lizzo’s team about two weeks before the Solarity date.

Whatever the concert, there’s a team of students behind the scenes bringing laudable artists to campus, and the thriving live music scene is rewarding for both the bookers themselves and the student body. “[When] I got this job it was like, ‘I can get this person whose album I love to just come and play it,’” Singh enthused. “Of course that’s amazing.”

Pop and Classical Played Together in “Art song, etc.” Show Jaimie Yue Arts & Culture Editor At “Art song, etc.” this upcoming Sunday at 3:00 p.m. in Stull Recital Hall, “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles will be performed alongside the 1913 art song “À Chloris” composed by Reynaldo Hahn — and it works.

Double-degree second-year Kenji Anderson and Conservatory second-year Julia Alexander are the duo behind every cover and performance.

Anderson is a Piano and English major, while Alexander is majoring in Vocal Performance.

“Art song, etc.” celebrates both students’ favorite songs across a variety of genres and is set to classical piano and voice arrangements. Alexander and Anderson met during first-year orientation and, after discovering shared interests in Broadway and pop music, began brainstorming ways to feature non-classical music in a formal recital setting at the Oberlin Conservatory. Their idea finally manifested as a Winter Term project this January.

Since “Art song, etc.” focuses on both students’ personal favorite songs, Anderson and Alexander began the project by creating Spotify playlists, searching for available arrangements, and finding tonally consistent songs across genres. Anderson cites specific covers that radically altered the sound and mood of a song, as part of his realization that his favorite pop songs could be transposed to classical instruments.

“I remember specifically listening

to the band HAIM’s cover of ‘XO’ by Beyonce, and I remember I was listening to that and I was really struck by how a cover could be so different from the original,” Anderson explained. “You can hear it in a different light in a cover.”

While pop music is often criticized and dismissed for its mainstream appeal, Anderson and Alexander acknowledge that pop music is meant to be just that — wide-reaching and catchy.

“I think what really drove it was [that] we just think this is really good music,” Anderson said. “I definitely don’t think that the classical pieces we’re doing on the program are better than the pop songs. We really chose some of our favorite songs.”

Conservatory second-year and Composition major Michelle Li took on the challenge of transposing a pop song for piano while still respecting the original pop sound. In the end, Li emulated composer Philip Glass after watching his opera Akhenaten in New York City over fall break, deciding to uniquely blend several styles of music.

“I consulted a good friend and colleague of mine, Benjamin Martin, and he gave me some tips and tricks for how he approaches arrangements, especially harmonically, and it helped me brainstorm some ideas,” Li explained in an email to the Review.

“Ultimately, I decided to use Philip Glass as inspiration for how I would manipulate the material. Rather than focus on how to stay true to the song, I decided to take ideas from Glass’s piano etudes for the piano writing, and

Double-degree second-year Kenji Anderson will play the piano accompaniment to Conservatory second-year Julia Alexander’s vocals in their Sunday recital “Art song, etc.”

Photo courtesy of Catherine Robinson

then try to keep the defining elements of the song intact for the actual vocal line.”

Still, Alexander and Anderson want to respect both the songs’ pop origins and the classical sound of their own instruments and vocal training. By not forcing the pop songs to conform to a classical and more “high-brow” sound, they aim to acknowledge both Broadway and pop as art forms.

Alexander noted how pop songs can be traced back to art songs, or songs composed by classical composers that set poetry to music. For example, she was drawn to the rich lyrical storytelling in “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman.

“The story of it is what I think we loved,” Alexander said. “The music is beautiful too, but it’s pretty repetitive.

See Recital, page 13

Sing-Along Honors Composer Moses Hogan’s Legacy

The fourth annual Moses Hogan Sing-Along was an evening of beautiful music that brought the College and Conservatory as well as Oberlin community members together. This event — which honors Hogan’s legacy as a composer, pianist, arranger of choral music, and conductor — is one of the College’s many celebrations during Black History Month.

Hogan graduated from the Conservatory in 1979 and later founded and conducted the Moses Hogan Chorale in 1993. The Chorale performed Hogan’s arrangements of African-American spirituals all over the world and reanimated the genre.

College fourth-year DaQuan Williams has organized the sing-along since his first year. For Williams, the sing-along has two purposes: To bring the

The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

community together with Hogan’s arrangements, and to create an opportunity for up-and-coming conductors to direct Hogan’s music.

The sing-along featured six arrangements conducted by six different students: Williams, Conservatory third-year Ben Martin, College third-year Olivia Fink, Conservatory second-year Kiki Porter, double-degree second-year Sagana Ondande, and Conservatory first-year Jared Cohen. Each conductor brought their own creative spin to the spirituals, making the event incredibly special. Porter made her conducting debut and led the group in “I Got Good News.”

This year marks the final time that Williams will organize the sing-along.

“This program has meant a lot to me and has grown since my first year,” Williams said. “It’s especially important for the Conservatory because we don’t have a lot of programs that acknowledge and celebrate the history of Black musicians and composers at Oberlin.”

After the event, Ondande stated that his goal, when conducting “Wade in the Water,” was to “add light to someone’s day.” Indeed, given the enthusiastic communal singing that added warmth to the snowy evening, Ondande certainly brought joy to everyone who participated.

Text by Mikala Jones Photo by Sophie Payne, Photo Editor

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A r t s & C u lt u r e ON THE RECORD

Mobey Irizarry Lambright, Pop Musician and TIMARA Major Could you describe what your senior TIMARA recital is going to sound like?

I am doing a mix of video pieces for 5.1 audio [which is] five speakers and one subwoofer, so that’s surround sound basically. A few of the videos are going to have live accompaniment. I have one video that’s using a motorcycle as a metaphor to talk about colonialism in Puerto Rico and also 2019 as a moment of resistance to colonialism and fascism across Latin America, and complicating the way the motorcycle operates within different contexts. In the Puerto Rican context, it was the best symbol of resistance because there was this massive caravan of motorcyclists during the protest this summer. But in other contexts, like in the protest in Chile, the people on motorcycles were the repressive forces. That piece is accompanied by three bassoonists that are going to be spread out across the room… I’m also going to have some of my pop music performed with a four-piece band accompanying me.

Mobey Irizarry Lambright.

Photo courtesy of Mobey Irizarry Lambright

Mobey Irizarry Lambright is a double-degree fifth-year majoring in TIMARA and Comparative American Studies. They produce pop music under the name Bebé Machete, and they released their album “There Is Not a Metaphor That Can Contain” last June. Funnybone Records describes Bebé Machete’s sound as a blend of “salsa, hip hop, lo-fi, and experimental rock.” On Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Lambright will perform their senior TIMARA recital in the Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Alice Koeninger Senior Staff Writer

Do you film all the footage for the videos yourself?

Yeah, most of it. Some of it, like for the motorcycle piece, is news clips and s**t from social media. [One of my] pieces is a love story between a security camera and a graffiti tagger that has all this folklore around him in Hartford. Basically there’s this guy, Veoh, who is really prolific to the point that there’s a lot of conspiracy theories around him. There’s this really ridiculous blogger that is convinced that his tag is summoning a demon. I ripped [the video] from YouTube and then chopped it up in the score.

Then I have two pairs of monologues. One of the characters is Veoh, who’s this prehistoric demon that has existed in Hartford since before people lived there and witnessed indigenous people settle, and then Europeans colonizing Hartford, and then Hartford [becoming] what it became — with all the white flight and gentrification and police brutality. The other character is a security camera who’s witnessing all these tags appear and slowly critiquing their own position as surveyor for the Hartford Police Department and then potentially falling in love with Veoh right at the end.

How would you describe the mood of the music that you make?

My goal for this recital and [for] all the art and music that I make is to offer a space for audience members to imagine. Specifically, I’m thinking of imagining a world

beyond colonialism and also offering spaces to critique capitalism and white supremacy and patriarchy. But sometimes that’s through pretty difficult discussions of violence and other times it’s through offering spaces of joy. And with my pop music, I really try also to figure out ways to advance my political lyrical content with rhythmic content that alludes to genres that are innately political. I’m Puerto Rican, so I’ll often draw on Puerto Rican music, like salsa and stuff that comes out of the Puerto Rican subset of the civil rights era.

What does a world beyond colonialism, specifically in Puerto Rico, look like to you?

So in the motorcycle piece, there’s a minute-long segment where it’s just the words “No colony, a world without blank” on the screen. And the audio is just the sound of somebody inhaling about to speak, but not saying anything. I think that’s the question that I’m playing with a world without colonialism having ever existed is a world that’s totally unimaginable. And it’s also a world in which I, as a mixed-race person, don’t exist, and you don’t exist here, you know? But I think it’s integral to any social justice movement to start with imagination. Without imagining what other worlds are possible, we don’t know what to build toward. Practically, in Puerto Rico, I would love to see an independent Puerto Rico — not just independent by name, but a Puerto Rico that isn’t dependent on U.S. corporations to survive.

Do you think that artists have an obligation to talk about political issues like colonialism?

Well, I think that artists that are public in some way owe their audience something. I don’t know if it always has to be advancing a political conversation, but I feel like there’s a certain level of care that’s really important. I care for my audience and I intentionally provide things that are accessible at some times. I don’t want visuals to be strobing too hard because I don’t want that to be inaccessible to people. I don’t want noises that are too loud. I’m not interested in hearing damage as an aesthetic.

I think that there is also a lot of power in music that is just about joy and having fun and providing spaces for people to have some sort of catharsis, and that is political in its way. It doesn’t have to be about a social movement…

Sometimes I’m reading a line that only one person is going to get and then it’s for them. I have all these inside jokes that I write to my little sister.

Obies Create Inclusive Dating App for Long-Term Relationships Carson Li Staff Writer Imagine an online dating app that doesn’t show you a person’s photo at first.

Instead, you match with the other person based on compatibility — only then does the app reveal users’ photos to one another.

Paire, an online dating app for Oberlin students that is currently in beta testing, will function exactly this way. It differs from most mainstream dating apps in that it is designed for people of all genders and sexualities looking for relationships — not hookups — based on personality, rather than appearance.

College second-year Kabir Karamchandani, a Computer Science and Creative Writing major, is one of the main founders of Paire. They wanted to build a dating app that allowed them to fully express their sexuality and relationship preferences. Over Winter Term 2020, they built a team and started coding. The group is still programming the app and is expected to release a demo video around Valentine’s Day. Ishaan Thota, College second-year and Biology and Computer Science major and a member of the Paire team, explained what the interface will look like. “[The app] intends to be very personal, and once you [look] at a potential partner’s profile and you’re absolutely sure… you’re attracted to their person and character, then we’ll let you see a picture,” Thota said.

Because the user profile will be highly personalized, users can an-

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swer close-ended questions, such as, “I don’t use substances.” There are also open-ended questions such as, “What does a relationship look like for you?” and “What does physical intimacy look like for you?”

Paire team member Parker Swanson, a College second-year Math and Computer Science major, noted that appearances alone could not sustain a healthy, longterm relationship.

“It seems that a lot of dating apps are trying to target college-age[d] students or younger people in general,” Swanson said. “They are a lot more based on appearances and trying to hook up with people than they are about trying to find people to date who you’ll probably connect with on a more personal level. In general long-term relationships, appearance can be important, but there’s more to it than just, ‘Here’s the picture of the person.’”

Recent research proves online dating apps’ rising popularity in the U.S. According to a Pew Research Center study published in Feb. 2020, 30 percent of U.S. adults have used a dating site or app — almost triple 2013’s rate of 11 percent. Moreover, compared to heterosexuals, nearly twice the number of lesbian, gay and bisexual adults have used a dating platform — 55 percent of non-straight people versus 28 percent of straight people.

Despite the popularity of dating apps in the LGB community, the Paire team believes that current dating apps are not providing enough for the diverse variety of individuals using them, such as those

prioritizing hookups over relationships.

The team thinks that there are two prominent issues with almost all dating apps available on the market: fixed gender options and appearance-based matches. As the Paire team asserts, sexuality and gender are spectrums. When designing the app, the Paire creators sought to provide more options for gender and sexuality.

“When you’re identifying for pairing purposes, [apps ask], ‘Are you interested in male, female? Are you male, female?’

— we don’t do that,” Karamchandani explained. “We’re still left with limited categories, but so far we’ve gotten [people who are] interested in male, female, or nonbinary [individuals]. I understand some people, [such as] asexual spectrum individuals, could just not use other dating apps because there was this expectation on them [to express affection sexually], whereas our dating app tries to do better in that regard.”

Online dating apps are a multibillion-dollar industry. Match Group, the owner of Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge, released its 2019 fourth-quarter results.

They showed that Tinder’s direct revenue exceeded $1.1 billion, a 43 percent increase over the previous year. The total revenue of the group exceeded $2 billion.

However, the Pew Research Center study also states that “Americans who have used a dating site or app in the past year say their recent experience left them feeling more frustrated, 45 percent, than hopeful, 28 percent.” Given that nearly half of all online dating app users say they felt frustrated, it is clear that we

must re-examine our online dating culture. Paire is trying to serve as a platform that advocates for a better online dating environment, and it continues to make us ponder what relationships really are about.

Still, the idea of matching based on personal compatibility rather than simply appearance is not novel, and Paire faces many potential competitors that help match people based on their answers to a list of questions. However, the team members pointed out that those apps often ask you to pay to get premium features: for example, users can set up certain filters for free, but must pay to use more.

“When [fewer] people use these premium features, it makes the app worse for everyone because then everyone is only seeing pictures,” Karamchandani said.

Paire will not have any add-on charges for additional features, as the app is designed to help people find meaningful relationships — free of charge.

People using dating apps only for hookups is quite the elephant in the room, but Paire does not ban any user who wants to use the app for that purpose. The team members have nothing against people who seek hookups through dating apps, but they wanted to create a more accessible space for people who are specifically interested in pursuing a relationship.

“Our hope is that everyone who you run into on our app, or at the very least, most of the people you run into, are people who are interested in long-term relationships,” Swanson said.

CROSSWORD

Splitting Hares: A Crossword of Homonyms 56. Archaic name for Ireland 57. Smallest Chem 101 subject matter, plural 58. Rain of soil 59. Wooden pegs 60. FDR’s monetary likenesses

Lauren O’Hear ACROSS 1. Rough bath sponge 7. Small piece of metal that supports walls 11. What a dog offers in response to “Shake!”

14. Appeal to 15. Trash guy 17. Tactics in Vicksburg and Leningrad 18. Crowned with bones 19. Greeting of a landlocked mariner 21. Infantry or Navy flag bearer, abbr.

22. Gershwin’s Tee- ___-Um-Bum-Bo 23. Nicholas II was the last 26. Empowering Andra Day lyric

29. Copycat, or more like a copy primate 32. Target of college donation solicitations, singular 33. Classic adventure; literature’s greatest characters come together in popular graphic novel and on-screen, abbr.

34. The tree in The Little Prince wearing a feather ____ 37. Deny 39. U.S.’s largest third-party health care administrator 40. Swipe right to spark a romance, minus the e 41. The novel and movie ____ Girl 43. Central Mexican civilization that existed before the Aztec Empire 44. A rat’s dwelling 45. Rub away a mistake 49. Net earnings of God’s visionaries 54. Old McDonald’s refrain

DOWN 1. Smooth cotton thread used in gloves and stockings 2. Vegetable tear-jerker 3. Fate of the witch in Hansel and Gretel, plural 4. Around the World in Eighty Days protagonist 5. Padded defensive jacket, often worn under armor 6. Early Greek epic poet known for his novel use of didactic poetry 7. Largest and most populous island in Denmark 8. Badger, mole, gopher 9. Biblical word for “to” 10. Metric unit of volume equal to ten liters, abbr.

11. Bright spot in the sky caused by the refraction of moonlight 12. Contents of a tavern mug 13. Tie the knot 20. Year Michelangelo started David, Roman numerals 24. stereo input, abbr.

25. Players assume roles of characters in a fictional setting, abbr.

26. Where Obies go to enjoy nature 27. Underfoot decoration 28. Photo, painting, tableau 29. An adjacent objection 30. Indigenous people of California 31. Tea of a British noble 35. Consumed 36. Gun show highlight 38. Tall, imposing 42. NBA slam-dunking legend 44. Small village in Iran that was the suspected site of a missile manufacturing plant 46. Technical term for “eye boogers” 47. EPA rule requiring documentation of the diffusion of air pollutants 48. Chlamydia, for example 49. ’80s hair staple 50. Solemn ceremony, of passage 51. Accidental remark 52. Slime 53. Nonprofit organization for the study and preservation of caves in America 54. A doctor’s degree in education 55. Shakespeare villain, Richard

New Mudd Exhibition Installed Recital Blends Genres Continued from page 10

Similarly, College third-year Anna Farber credited the seminar for forcing her to face difficult questions about slavery and later abolitionist initiatives in the 19th century.

“I loved the idea of being able to use academic frameworks to show other Oberlin students just how much [archival material] the College has,” Farber wrote in an email to the Review. “There’s also the fact that it is fraught how Oberlin, a predominantly white institution, has so many artifacts of antislavery and how a lot of those objects honor white people and their work rather than Black struggle… Professor Rarey did a great job encouraging us to think critically about our positionality in relation to both the objects and the people whose history is being told and neglected by them.”

“Subjects of Freedom” is only a small sliver of the conversation about abolitionism and slavery. Head of Special Collections and Preservation Ed Vermue gave students suggestions for additional pieces to look at and helped with physical preparation.

“Authenticity and bias in imagery is not necessary as easy and obvious as we like to perhaps think,” Vermue wrote in an email The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

to the Review. “If we apply this lesson to Oberlin’s past, and the self-congratulatory way in which we like to tell the world about that past, it’s possible that stories are much, much more complicated than we know.”

Rather than attempt to resolve the problematic nature of promoting abolitionism through Black trauma, the exhibition is “a manifestation of our continued confusion and complication about the issues that it presents,” according to Rarey.

“I hope that viewers take away how… [abolitionist] visual culture tends to reproduce racial hierarchies and racial inequalities even as it was purportedly anti-slavery in the 19th century,” Rarey added. “I also hope that viewers will take away a sense of feeling empowered to continue to contribute to that narrative around the exhibition and to add to it.”

“Subjects of Freedom” is currently on display on the main floor of Terrell Main Library, and will be until Feb. 29. The exhibition will be permanently viewable on Omeka, a digital platform used to display exhibitions, archives, and scholarly collections. The Omeka exhibition features more detailed descriptions of each piece and their relation to other pieces as well as further insight from the seminar students.

Continued from page 11

It’s the text that changes and it goes from hopeful to pretty sad by the end. It’s really a whole journey in that song, so that really is what sparked our interest in doing that in a recital setting because it is an amazing story, and the text is very human.”

Above all, Alexander and Anderson hope not only to share a selection of their favorite songs in “Art song, etc.,” but to introduce audiences to different music genres and demonstrate the interconnectedness of music.

“We want to be able to give the audience space to hear these songs in a way they hadn’t heard them before… — specifically through the context of presenting them by music of what is normally viewed as different genres with maybe similar themes,” Anderson said. “And so placing all of that side by side will allow the audience to hear it differently,” Similarly, Alexander seeks for their recital to help break down barriers separating pop, Broadway, and classical music.

“It sounds cliche, but it’s all music at the end of the day,” Alexander said. “And my main hope for this recital is that we’ll have people there who maybe mostly listen to pop music, and we’ll also have people there who mostly listen to classical music and art song, but that they both can come out of the recital feeling like, ‘Oh, like I found a new song that I love’ or ‘I heard something that I didn’t expect to hear and I kind of love it,’ or even ‘I kind of didn’t love it, and here’s why.’”

Exposure to new genres doesn’t have to start and end at recitals like “Art song, etc.” Music is a form of human expression, and different styles, from classical to rap to electronic, can resonate with anyone, as Alexander attests.

“Listen to music that you don’t think you’ll like, because I think you’ll be surprised,” Alexander said. “I’m constantly surprised by music that I think I’ll hate and then I ended up really enjoying. Listen to a new Spotify playlist every once in a while!”

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Sp ort s

USWNT Represents Unapologetic Athletic Success Continued from page 16

been one of the best teams in the world — their four World Cup championships and four Olympic championships are evidence of that. However, something about the most recent World Cup squad has demanded the world’s attention. So what is it about the current USWNT that resonates with folks around the country and outside of it?

There are a lot of ways to describe this team, but one word in particular sums them up: unapologetic, both on and off the field.

Their swaggering attitude starts with their World Cup campaign titled “All Eyes On Us.” It is a widely accepted expectation that top-tier female athletes must maintain a certain degree of modesty and composure.

Often, displays of confidence in women’s sports are mistaken — perhaps intentionally — for arrogance.

The members of the USWNT are not strangers to these perceptions, and other female athletes, including gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Serena Williams, have faced a similar reaction to their celebrations.

However, “All Eyes On Us” was an unapologetic declaration of the belief the members of the USWNT have in themselves and their abilities.

The image of Megan Rapinoe’s celebration pose after a crucial goal — arms spread, head tilted up, and

smiling to the crowd — has become an iconic symbol of this fearless confidence. The small, yet shockingly controversial gesture reflects the entire team’s attitude — they know their talent is legendary, and they refuse to shy away from celebrating it.

Although the most iconic, Rapinoe’s celebration was just one of several moments where the USWNT was accused of arrogance within the past year. Alex Morgan received criticism for “mocking” England’s women’s team after she pretended to sip tea after a goal, and the entire team faced backlash for celebrating heartily after every goal in a 13–0 finish against Thailand.

However, what critics failed to consider is that these sorts of celebrations are not only commonplace in most male sports — particularly football — but are actually celebrated as an integral aspect of the competition itself. It was not the USWNT’s celebrations that people found fault with — it was the fact that the celebrations demonstrated the fearless confidence of women on an international stage.

The USWNT’s displays of confidence and fearlessness are not limited to the field either. After the numerous awards she received, including female athlete of the year and World Cup Most Valuable Player, Rapinoe used her acceptance speech

to highlight prominent problems in the athletic world — notably racism and the treatment of Colin Kaepernick after he knelt for the national anthem to protest police brutality. The team is continuing its fight for equal pay through a civil lawsuit filed against the U.S. Soccer Association, alleging gender-based discrimination compared to the American men’s team. They received class-action status and are awaiting an official decision in the near future.

The team is heavily involved with LGBTQ+ activism, hosting Pride games — a few of the team’s LGBTQ+ members even created a genderneutral athletic clothing line. Ali Krieger is an outspoken advocate for those with pulmonary embolisms, a condition that almost killed her in 2012. They have also worked for gender equality. After being recorded kicking a casual 50 yard field goal — something many professional field-goal kickers struggle with daily — Carli Lloyd stated that she is contemplating trying out as a kicker for the NFL after she eventually retires from soccer. Alex Morgan has worked to normalize female athlete pregnancies as she continues to train with the USWNT seven months into her own pregnancy, and plans to return in time for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Finally, and most importantly, the members of the USWNT are fierce

supporters of other women’s sports, as they frequently attend other sports’ games, lift other athletes up on social media, and support other teams — notably the WNBA athletes — in their fight for equality and equal pay.

The members of the USWNT support each other as friends, teammates, and women who are all struggling together to garner the respect they deserve. They unabashedly confront their adversaries with both confidence and respect, whether it be a team they’re playing on the field or Donald Trump on Twitter. Finally, they use their increasingly visible platform to draw attention to and gain support for several prominent issues.

The USWNT is an incredible example of what female athletes are capable of. Seeing young girls — and even some boys — walking around wearing Alex Morgan shirts, cutting and dying their hair like Megan Rapinoe, and dressing up as members of the USWNT for Halloween is unbelievably inspiring. Young girls will grow up knowing that it’s okay to be unapologetically confident in their abilities — athletic or otherwise — and that they should use their successes to celebrate and lift up other marginalized groups across any and all boundaries. The USWNT is an inspiration, and we’re glad that they are finally getting the respect they deserve.

“Play Like a Girl” Seeks to Provide Role Models

The sixth annual “Play Like a Girl” sports clinic took place Feb. 9. Girls aged five to 12 worked with Oberlin’s student-athletes to learn how to play soccer, softball, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, and field hockey. The goal of the event was to show young girls that sports can be enjoyed by everyone and, through Oberlin student-athletes to, provide strong female role models. College second-year and varsity softball player Cat Moruzzi enjoys the regular event because it reminds her of how she started playing sports at a young age.

“It is important to make girls feel like they have power in such male-dominated activities from a young age,” she said. “Many life lessons can come from sports, so if girls learn the importance of confidence and perseverance from a young age, they will be able to conquer any obstacle in front of them.”

Text by Zoë Martin del Campo, Contributing Sports Editor Photo courtesy of Student Athlete Advisory Committee

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IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Belle Ursa, OC ’17, Founder of Amplio Fitness

Belle Ursa, OC ‘17, and her co-founder John Hall.

Photo courtesy of Belle Ursa

Belle Ursa, OC ’17, can be found in Rocky River, Ohio, just a 30-minute drive from Oberlin’s campus. The former Psychology major went on to become an American Council of Exercise-certified coach and founded Amplio Fitness, a fitness and wellness center that provides a safe exercise space for people of marginalized communities. While the center offers a variety of fitness programs, one of its unique features is an exercise program that seeks to affirm the gender identities of transgender and nonbinary individuals. The center recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jane Agler Contributing Sports Editor What led you to founding Amplio Fitness?

I went to Oberlin for my B.A. in Psychology, and then I started working at a nonprofit afterwards. I really enjoyed the community and the intention behind social services.

However, I felt like I wasn’t doing exactly what I wanted to do. I felt happy, but [finding a] passion is something that really provides you with a sense of satisfaction and completion after a long day of work — it didn’t really provide me that. So I was going to that job, it was nice, and I went through my own personal journey of health and some complications. I went through the ringer, and that led me to playing a more active part in my wellness.

I started with nutrition. I started by Googling facts and diets and things like that, and generally what I needed to do in order to be healthy and be safe. I was having some success, and I really enjoyed that. It brought me happiness in my daily life because I felt more constant and in control.

I felt less self-conscious.

Then I thought, “Okay, let’s turn it up a notch and start going to a gym.” I went to a commercial gym, like Planet Fitness, and I had some pretty terrible experiences. With

a membership you can get a [session with a] trainer once or twice a week. And most of my trainers were cisgender, heterosexual, white men. Not only did it feel like they were giving me a very generic, cookie-cutter program, but I didn’t feel like they were listening to me or understanding what my goals were. I wasn’t trying to bench 200 pounds; I was trying to improve my daily living at some point. You know, walk a little bit better. Go upstairs without feeling exhausted.

I wasn’t comfortable advocating for myself in that position. It also involved a lot of my gender identity, and I never felt comfortable saying, “Hey, this exercise isn’t for me,” or “This makes me feel uncomfortable,” or “My body doesn’t do that.” Because I felt so unsafe and uncomfortable, I dropped out of the program pretty quickly because I realized, “Why am I going if it doesn’t do it for me or if it doesn’t relate to me?”

I kind of shopped around, and I tried to find another commercial gym that was affordable but not super terrible. I really didn’t find one. So I did more research, and that led me to finding out about getting certified and how to use my B.A. in Psychology as a precursor for my health coaching degree with the American Council of Exercise.

One thing led to another. I had this idea to create a fitness and wellness space where folks like me — other minorities who didn’t feel safe at a commercial gym — could come and learn about fitness and wellness and what that means to them. Our intention at Amplio is to deconstruct what society has deemed unhealthy, and really provide a safe space that has education and opportunity.

We provide resources and services where LGBTQ folks, people of color, low-income people, plus-size people, and women can come to ask questions and try different activities and services to figure out what [fitness and wellness] means to them — and to find that joy of taking care of themselves in a non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, safe space where they feel like they can come as they are. The whole point of self-care and wellness is to feel good about yourself and to be good to yourself, and you can’t do that if you are being pushed into a box or assuming that you can only do certain things because of your body size or shape or gender.

How do you approach the relationship between fitness and mental wellness with clients?

We see prime examples on reality TV — shows like The Biggest Loser, for example, and [programs like] CrossFit. A lot of experiences our clients are sharing is that the fitness industry and trainers always have this mindset of, “Go, go, go! Push yourself until you’re in pain, push yourself until you’re throwing up, push yourself until you’re dead — that’s when you know that you’ve done a good day of work.” As a result, people develop this perfectionist, obsessive, highly fragile understanding of what wellness is.

We’ve taken the concepts of fitness and wellness and morphed them so much, and people come into our studio with that understanding. And so our first step is to chal-

lenge those ideas people always come into it with — “I need to be this, I need to live this way,” or “I don’t think I can do XYZ because so many people have told me I can’t, because I’m bigger or I’m a woman,” or whatever the case is. And so our first step is to deconstruct that and re-instill control and confidence, even a sense of love, back into the person and into new activities. Sometimes these things are hard, but they can also — and they should also — bring you some form of joy. You should be looking forward to it, not hating it.

I think we address the psychological aspect, because not only are we going to be constructing society’s understanding of what fitness is, but we are providing a space where people can engage with these things. Oftentimes it comes with fear and anxiety and shame and guilt. So we do a lot of work to unpack that and find ways they can face those fears in a setting that is conducive to healthy engagement and exposure, rather than traumatic, forceful interactions with fitness and wellness. We have free consultations, and we do a couple of fitness assessments to see where their balance, flexibility, stability is, because we don’t want to build a program without knowing what safety measures need to be in place first. We need to develop their balance before they start weightlifting, for example, so they don’t fall over or pull something.

That’s honestly where we see a lot of these internalized feelings. We have people of all different sizes, ages and genders come in and say, “I can’t stand on one leg because I’m so big. People have told me I can’t do that my entire life.” And we say, “I hear what you’re saying.

Would you be comfortable trying it out, and we’ll have a chair or something to catch your balance in case you fall?” We show them very small, very attainable goals that we know they can do to start to challenge those ideas. When they do that without any issue, we’re like, “Boom, look at that.” They get this wave of confidence and say, “What the hell?” I see that surge of excitement, and we try to build off of that.

How did your time at Oberlin influence your journey to founding Amplio Fitness?

If you asked me while I was at Oberlin what I wanted to do in life, this is definitely not anything I would have ever said. Before, I wasn’t a fitness kind of person, because I always thought it was one way and I didn’t think it was for me. But I think that’s what the beauty of Oberlin was — it exposed me to so much education and learning about social justice issues. I was able to develop my own vocabulary around these things, which helped me learn to push the boundaries and deconstruct and rework these societal concepts that I had fallen into beforehand. But then at Oberlin and post-Oberlin, I was able to look at certain things, like going to a commercial gym, and realize what my experience was, why it was not so great, and what could be better. That language and that perspective that Oberlin helped me achieve was the bud for Amplio. With that, I was able to build and grow and expand.

Inside & Outside Locker Room, Blackletes Face Challenges Continued from page 16

white, I think, but it was enough for me.”

Most colleges that are labeled as predominantly-white institutions are very careful to build and construct spaces for underrepresented students — Oberlin being no exception. For the Black community at Oberlin, this effort is best exemplified by the Afrikan Heritage House, or A-House. In addition to organized safe spaces, members of minority groups also will seek out several other support groups. This is where having a team can be extremely useful for Black athletes.

“My team is always ready to defend each other no matter what,” said Felton.

Unfortunately, not every team is as committed to creating a space where Black athletes can feel open about voicing their thoughts and opinions. Some, like Christian, feel that their identity could potentially be at odds with those of their teammates.

“Most of the people on the team have very different thoughts than I do, so The Oberlin Review | February 14, 2020

I just try to shut that away when I’m with the team,” said Christian. “I don’t talk about [race and other potentially-controversial topics] and I haven’t heard anyone else talk about it because, when we’re there, it’s about football.”

Despite the work the College puts into making everyone feel welcome on its campus, like maintaining safe spaces, such as identity-based housing, these efforts don’t always succeed.

“I definitely don’t feel comfortable,” said Christian. “I feel tension, but that’s mostly within myself because there are things white people on this campus do that they don’t know that they’re doing that make me mad on a daily basis. But I think it’s a one-sided tension.”

Supporting Black students is always going to be tricky on a campus like Oberlin’s — partly because it is, and always has been, a white space — but also because there is no uniform way that all Black students want to be supported.

“Theoretically, I want to say yes [that the College supports Black students],” said McClain. “But when you look

around and you’re looking at coaching staff or the administration, there aren’t a lot of Black people in those positions. … [They’re] getting all these Black kids together, but not having people over them that look like them or that can have those relatable experiences. So, in that way, I want to say we’re not being supported.”

While McClain is comfortable with her team, this feeling doesn’t always extend across campus.

“Outside of athletics, you’ll go to a class and there might be, like, two Black people,” said McClain. “That’s been kind of hard. Sometimes, that’s just very uncomfortable, or maybe overwhelming, to enter into conversations and being looked at as a voice for the Black community. But I don’t feel that within my team.”

All students on campus need a support group. For many Black students, like McClain and Felton, this can mean their athletic team. For others, like Christian, it is the larger Black community as a whole, which he thinks could still improve in its efforts to unite and

support Black students.

“I think the biggest thing that hurts the Black community on campus is the fact that A-House is all the way south,” said Christian. “So, I think, if there was a way to get more Black people from north campus down to south campus, that would really do a lot. Also, maybe more centralized events because I think A-House is happy where it’s at; there’s a lot of history in that building so I don’t think it needs to move, but just [needs] a way for everyone to come together.”

Regardless, it is important to find your community as a Black student.

McClain agrees, knowing that her time at Oberlin was enhanced by the bond she formed with her teammates.

“For me, it’s been an easier experience because I have formed a group [within my team] that I really like, but it makes me think about people who don’t have those groups,” said McClain.

“So, I’ve been good, but I think it’s important for everyone to have those groups. So, just a word to the wise: form those groups.”

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SPORTS February 14, 2020

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 14

Blackletes Find Spaces at LargelyWhite Institution Khalid McCalla Sports Editor

The U.S. Women’s National Team celebrates a victory.

Costa Rica, as part of the Olympic qualifying tournament, by a score of 6–0.

We have both played soccer for most of our lives, including here at Oberlin. We’re also avid soccer fans, but most of our memories of the sport revolve around watching men’s soccer. We watched countless men’s World Cups and attended numerous men’s games, even idolizing men’s stars, like Ronaldinho and David Beckham. Amidst the many hours dedicated to pursuing our love of the game, very few of our memories involve watching women play the sport.

The USWNT’s recent rise to popularity was stunning to watch. To be clear, they have always

At Oberlin, Black students make up only 5.29 percent of the student body. For prospective students, this number can be viewed as a red flag. The fear of not finding a group with which you identify can be intimidating, but many Black students at Oberlin find a community, either through the numerous clubs and programs that promote Blackness and everything within the diaspora, or through athletics.

Although diversity didn’t factor heavily into her college decision, College first-year and volleyball player Lindsey Felton appreciates the diversity she sees within the athletics department at Oberlin.

“I would say that the athletic community is more diverse than most colleges in the Ohio area and in the [North Coast Athletic Conference,] specifically,” said Felton.

College fourth-year and member of the track and field team Nae McClain views diversity in the athletic community as more complicated.

“I think that’s hard because I’ll see some teams [that are diverse], like football and my team are the teams I’m alwayss with,” said McClain. “But then [there are] teams like lacrosse or other teams that usually only have one or two people of color. So I think that’s hard. I want to say [the athletic community is diverse], but I don’t think I can say that fully.”

For some, like College second-year and football player Bryson Christian, it is very clear that Oberlin athletics is lacking in this area.

“It doesn’t feel very diverse,” said Christian. “It feels very white-dominated.”

Despite being a part of the team that McClain thinks of as one of the most diverse in the school, Christian sees it differently.

“Now, [the football team is] definitely not diverse,” said Christian. “It seems like all the Black athletes are leaving. But, when I joined, I was happy with the [number] of Black people on the team. Still mostly

See USWNT, page 14

See Inside, page 15

Photo courtesy of Reuters

The U.S. Women’s National Team Deserves Your Undivided Attention Jackie Brant Opinions Editor Louise Metz Contributing Writer This Winter Term, while watching the United States Women’s National Soccer Team game, we became simultaneously filled with pride for our team and couldn’t wait to don a USWNT jersey — printed with the name of any one of those fabulous players — and flaunt it front row at a primetime televised game. We allowed ourselves to be swept up in the frenzy of support for the future of women’s sports.

The USWNT ultimately won the game against

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