The Oberlin Review
OCTOBER 2, 2015 VOLUME 144, NUMBER 5
Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week NAACP Honors Community Members, Organization at Banquet The NAACP recognized three community members and Oberlin’s League of Women Voters with awards at the Freedom Fund Banquet at the Oberlin Inn last Saturday. Alan Mitchell, Jaquita Willis and Donna Shurr were honored with awards for their services in Oberlin. The NAACP awarded the League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area the Community Service Award for its commitment to voter education. College Adopts New Online Admissions Tool Oberlin College joined the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success this week. The program is intended to help lowincome students in the college application process by “developing a free platform of online tools to streamline the experience of applying to college.” The group, which includes over 80 public and private colleges, will open the initial platform to high school students in January 2016. Voter Registration Deadline Approaching The voter registration deadline for casting a vote in November’s ballot is Monday, Oct. 5. Issues up for vote include marijuana legalization, direct democracy measures and redistricting. Individuals can register with an Ohio driver’s license, an Ohio state identification card, a current utility bill, the last four digits of a Social Security number or several other types of identification.
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CDS Workers: We’re Overworked, Disrespected Oliver Bok News Editor The Lord-Saunders Dining Hall did not open for dinner on Sunday night, and some stations in Stevenson Dining Hall went unfilled. While the closures may have been nothing more than a minor inconvenience for students, they point to larger problems: severe understaffing in Campus Dining Services and a general sense among some workers that Bon Appétit Management Company pushes them to the limit and does not give them enough respect. According to Director of Dining Services Michele Gross, CDS is currently operating shorthanded because of a glut of recent retirements. Since the whole hiring process takes three to four months to complete, the result is a dining service operating without the required workforce. “There’s just an unfortunate set of circumstances with people retiring,” Gross said. “It’s very unusual for us to have this many people that we have to hire at once.” But some workers see the vacancies as evidence of the management’s incompetence. “We can’t hire people,” said CDS worker and United Auto Workers bargaining representative Robert Sullivan. “These jobs on campus are good jobs … and they can’t fill these spots.” According to Sullivan, management has greatly exacerbated the problem with overly stringent hiring requirements. “This is secret service stuff,” Sullivan said. “I don’t even know how I got the job [with] the standards they have. This is crazy. We have a good crew, and I do appreciate the process of
Ann Backey, an employee of the Bon Appétit Management Company, serves pasta at Stevenson Dining Hall. Campus Dining Services has recently suffered from understaffing problems, and some employees say they feel very overworked. Aaron Cohen
hiring people, because we get good people once we do hire them, but man oh man, we have a lot of holes to fill.” The chronic understaffing has gotten to the point where several workers reported having to work through their breaks in order to finish meals on time. “It’s pretty close to impossible to take a real break because even if I were to try to take a break, it’s just going to put me behind,” CDS worker Carol Altenburger said.
Gross denied that CDS would “knowingly” prevent workers from taking breaks and stated that every worker should take a break — with no exceptions. “If somebody came and said that to us, then we would indicate to them that we need to sit down and talk to them and see why they can’t [take a break],” Gross said. “That’s a tough one, because here’s a person who’s showing dedicaSee Increase, page 4
Working Group Submits Safety and Security Recommendations Katherine Kingma Staff Writer The Presidential Working Group for Campus Security has
submitted recommendations to improve the relationship between Safety and Security and the rest of the Oberlin College community. College President Marvin Kris-
Office of Safety and Security Assistant Director Clifton Barnes (left), Campus Security Officer Bruce Wohleber and Director of Safety and Security Marjorie Burton convene for a meeting. The Presidential Working Group for Campus Security recently submitted recommendations to the office in an attempt to improve the relationship between students and Safety and Security officers. Clover Linh Tran
lov chartered the working group last semester in response to nationwide police brutality and calls by student members of the Black Lives Matter movement to review Safety and Security policy. A specific physical altercation between a student and a member of Safety and Security in December 2014 also prompted the committee’s formation. The recommendations include mandating “cultural, ethnic and gender identity sensitivity training,” finding ways to encourage non-confrontational interactions between Safety and Security and other members of the community and creating “an appointed student, faculty and staff oversight board that would regularly review SaS policies.” The report also urges using less threatening, “non-paramilitary uniforms” that would “further emphasize their support purposes” over policing. One of the proposed
Parking Wars
Look Out Below
Business owners, city officials and College administrators clashed over Gateway Center parking concerns.
The Yeowomen suffered their first NCAC loss this past weekend.
Fervent Flamenco Niño de los Reyes danced passionately to his band’s music.
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INDEX:
Opinions 5
This Week in Oberlin 8
Arts 10
Sports 16
changes includes updating the name to Safety and Support Services from Safety and Security. “Each recommendation is reasonable to examine and to respond in ways that are both possible and appropriate given our staffing, demand for services, budgets and time,” wrote Marjorie Burton, director of Safety and Security, in an email to the Review about the working group’s recommendations. “The important thing is to begin.” Burton said some of the suggested initiatives had already been preemptively attended to by Safety and Security, such as the creation of “softer,” less police-like uniforms. In a post on The Source, Krislov agreed that efforts to implement the recommendations are already underway. “For example, we are exploring See Black, page 4
on the
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