April 4, 2014

The Oberlin Review

APRIL 4, 2014 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 19

Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week College Asked to Investigate Claims Against Arabic Professor The Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations requested on Tuesday that Oberlin College investigate one of its Arabic professors for allegedly promoting anti-Muslim sentiments in his publications and on campus.

Julia A. Shearson, the executive director for Cleveland’s chapter of the organization’s advocacy group, wrote in a letter to college President Marvin Krislov that Oberlin Arabic professor Dr. Samir Amin Abdellatif “promotes anti-Muslim bigotry and … condones crude and ugly caricatures of Muslims” in a tract titled The Unknown History of Islam.

Although the book was published under the pseudonym Sami Benjamin, the Council contends that Abdellatif is in fact the author of the text. College students who have taken courses with Abdellatif independently corroborated this allegation, claiming that the professor openly stated in class that he wrote the tract.

Shearson’s letter highlights that Abdellatif provided a testimony in the College’s recent review of Arabic language Department Chair Ali Yedes, who filed a lawsuit against the College for discrimination.

For his part, Abdellatif has brought several complaints against Yedes during his tenure at Oberlin.

Yedes is currently implicated in a lawsuit filed against the College by fellow faculty member Grace An, assistant professor of French and Cinema Studies. An claims that the College has neglected to act on reports of repeated instances of harassment based on her sex.

Lorain Awaits $5.5M Economic Stimulus Elizabeth Dobbins Staff Writer Several publicly funded Lorain County organizations are eagerly awaiting the passage of HB 497, a capital appropriation bill that would allot more than $5.5 million to a variety of local infrastructure and construction improvements. The bill passed in the state House last week. If passed through the Senate, HB 497 will allocate $2.4 billion in

statewide funding, in part aiding the development of struggling Lorain County.

The Lorain Historical Society, formerly known as the Black River Historical Society, is among the organizations hoping to receive funding as a result of the bill’s passage. For the Society, the bill will mean $500,000 in funding for a projected $3 million renovation of the exhibition space in Lorain’s Carnegie Library.

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“I just think public-private partnerships are really important and really gratifying,” Executive Director of the Lorain Historical Society Barbara Piscopo said. “In a time when we’re just beginning to come out of an economic crisis, that the state is willing to allocate some of its funds for education, arts, humanities, cultural development … When times are tough, we tend to forget those areas, but they really are important to

the culture of people and to our society, so I’m glad to see that they are being brought into the budget.”

If passed, the bill will not raise taxes. According to the website for Ohio Budget and Management, the funding is derived from the state of Ohio’s biennial Capital Budget, a financial plan enacted in each evennumbered year that “provides appropriations for the repair, See Bill, page 4

SIC Scraps Safer Sex Night, Says Event is Contradictory to Mission Kristopher Fraser Staff Writer Thirty-five years after the founding of the Sexual Information Center, the student-run organization decided this week that it would discontinue its infamous Safer Sex Night. Founded in 1979, the SIC originally organized Safer Sex Week to combat the stigma surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This week the organization decided that it would no longer sponsor the dance that has historically marked an end to a weeklong series of sex-positive programming designed to promote safer, healthier and consensual sexual practices.

According to the SIC, the decision to discontinue the event stemmed from the disparity between the organizers’ vision and the reality of the event.

According to SIC staff, the decision was made collectively and over several semesters. Those in opposition felt that the dance no longer served its original purpose.

Primarily, Safer Sex Week aims to educate the student body on safe sex practices. The SIC workshops cover a variety of topics, including good sexual consent practices, ways to please your sexual partners, the spectrum of different sexual orientations and even more scientific things, such as basic anatomy.

At their inception, these workshops encouraged free and open discourse and promoted sex education. Safer Sex Night was created for the sake of campus empowerment and comfort – a space for everyone. The SIC had always discouraged alcohol at the event, reminding attendees that “you can’t consent when you are drunk.”

The SIC announced its decision yesterday to discontinue Safer Sex Night. Above (clockwise from bottom left) is a vintage SIC poster, this year’s Superman Safer Sex Dance and 2005’s Twister-themed event.

Courtesy of SIC

Despite SIC’s good intentions and the multitude of students who view Safer Sex Night as an Oberlin “rite of passage,” the reality consistently fell short of organizers’ expectations.

“The reality was an environment where many students were intoxicated, not all people felt safe, and not all activity was consensual,” the SIC explained in an email to the student body yesterday morning. “It seems hypocritical to host a dance that opposed so many of the values we were encouraging and were hoping would be reflected in this event.

Although we recognize the importance of promoting safer sex practices, we have begun to reconsider our mission and responsibility to

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the student body.”

The email also noted that what was conceived as a safe environment had the effect of ostracizing or creating an uncomfortable environment for students.

“Further, the event’s focus on body positivity often pressured people to dress in specific ways, and alienated those who were uncomfortable with Safer Sex Night’s traditional attire. We would like to support whatever relationship one wishes to have with their body and encourage everyone to express this relationship in whatever way feels comfortable and fulfilling to them. After lots of reflection, we decided our efforts would be better spent on an event that didn’t create such an unsafe space.”

Spring Breakers Acoustic-Electric Caitlin Marie Bell and Heather French Henry performed at the Cat last Monday.

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INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

The women’s lacrosse team defeated Kenyon College for the first time in 12 years.

See page 16

Arts 10

Sports 16

The SIC is considering a substitute to Safer Sex Night, or a future event more conducive to the organization’s stated goals. These alternatives are still in the planning stages, and staff members stated they likely won’t be proposed until next school year. The organization said that the event’s termination was in part prompted by negative feedback from students who have witnessed non-consensual practices, binge drinking and body shaming at the dance.

In their campus-wide email, the SIC has affirmed that their decision was “firm,” and if some variant of Safer Sex Night were to return in the future, it wouldn’t look like the night of lascivious debauchery that Oberlin is used to.

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The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Ohio to Institute Online Standardized Testing Louie Krauss Staff Writer

Elementary school students in Ohio will make the switch to online standardized testing at the start of the 2014 school year. This method, designed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, is advertised as a better indication of students’ overall performance in mathematics, reading and a variety of other academic subjects.

The new tests, which have been under construction for the past two years, have already been implemented in most states around the country and are now undergoing trials in 2,000 select Ohio schools with students in grades three through eight.

According to Ohio Technology Integration Specialist Eric Curts, a main impetus for the switch is to unify the test and prevent variations across districts.

“We’ve had standardized tests forever,” Curts said. “Their purpose is trying to get a standardized take on how well students are achieving standards. But if you leave it up to each district then you have variations. Some districts will have a more dif-

ficult test than another. So all states want a tool like the SAT that gives a fairer representation of how students are achieving.”

Curts also said that the online tests diverge from the “bubble-filling” approach of current testing, allowing students to more aptly demonstrate their intelligence. “[For] some of the questions it’s almost like you have to run a highly interactive experiment and draw conclusions between multiple answers,” Curts said. “It’s not just a simple question [like], ‘here’s this plus this.’ So it really shows a deeper understanding than previous tests.”

“I think it’s too soon to say if this is going to be better than just pencil and paper.

But I think it has forced schools to start taking technology seriously. So if nothing else comes out of it, at least schools are updating devices and [will] be able to use computers and wireless in great ways in the future,” Curts said.

According to Curts, two other advantages of the new tests are reduced material cost and more straightforward score analysis. Although Curts trusts the intentions of the new design, many speculate about possible technological constraints.

Restrictions on the new testing system include the fact that many schools don’t have enough functional computers to administer the tests, and that many students aren’t taught how to use a computer, significantly hindering their ability to perform.

In light of these concerns, Curts said that he plans to make technological education one of his priorities.

“It’s been a big stress on schools because to take these tests online… you’ve got to have computers,” Curts said. “A lot of schools don’t have enough devices or connectivity. So my focus has been trying to help give students skills using computers. There [are] some schools where all the computers are old and no one uses them, and these tests require you to know how to use them. Plotting points, typing — these are things they’ll have to know, so they won’t [only] be graded on how smart they are but also how good they are with computing skills.”

Director of Professional Development and Assistant Professor of Education Nancy Varian said she believes that these tests have the potential to be helpful but aren’t

always a good tool to help struggling students improve their skillsets.

“I think one of the biggest concerns is that it’s become almost overkill. There are so many assessments being done, even at the kindergarten level,” Varian said. “The teachers don’t have time to teach. An––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“I think one of the biggest concerns is that it’s become almost overkill. There are so many assessments being done, even at the kindergarten level.”

NANCY VARIAN Director of Professional Development and Assistant Professor of Education –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– other problem is that some assessments should be formative in nature, and used so teachers can figure out what they need to improve, but what happens a lot of the See Elementary, page 4

Acceptance Letters Mailed to Over 2,000 Prospective Students Elizabeth Kuhr Staff Writer College and Conservatory admissions officers mailed muchanticipated acceptance letters on April 1 to welcome the incoming freshman class.

Debra Chermonte, the vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid said the College invited a third of this year’s 6,100 applicants. Of the admitted students for the Class of 2018, Chermonte said, “About 26 percent of the students who were offered admission identified themselves as students of color, and we have a very, very strong international class this year, from all around the world.”

Before acceptance, a prospective student’s application must be endorsed by two admissions counselors and then approved by a larger admissions subcommittee.

“We do a holistic review of each application,” said Tom Abeyta, senior associate director of admissions and director of recruitment. Abeyta noted that this year’s prospective students shared more “emotional stories” in their applications than in the past, causing some committee members to cry during the review process.

Chermonte said the College does not “over perseverate testing,” but rather emphasizes a “rigor of a curriculum” and the

extent to which students took advantage of opportunities and classes offered at their given high schools. Oberlin’s admissions process values individual qualifications and does not set quotas on the number of students admitted from a given school, according to Chermonte.

“We want to make sure we are fair and consistent within our thought process of what we are asked to bring to Oberlin,” said Chermonte.

The Conservatory, which sent its decision letters on March 25, admits students according to their auditions. Students can audition on campus from late December to early March, send a digitized recording of their audition, or perform for Michael Manderen, director of Conservatory Admissions, in several specified location around the United States, Asia and Europe from October to early February.

“I’m the eyes and ears for the faculty,” said Manderen, who has served as the Conservatory’s admissions dean for 36 years, “but I’m not an expert of every instrument, so the faculty evaluates them alongside the [on campus auditions].”

According to Manderen, approximately 1,500 students audition for the highly selective Conservatory each year. About a fifth of the prospective musicians participate in the Conservatory’s early review process, a

The Oberlin Review — Established 1874 —

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April 4, 2014

Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods.

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Oberlin admission staff prepares for the arrival of the class of 2018. These preparations include sending admission letters, listening to audition tapes and painting rocks.

Zoë Madonna

comparable program to the College’s early decision admission process.

“Students for whom Oberlin as a dual enrollment option was appealing and their first choice if admitted to both divisions, [early review] gets their audition done early enough,” said Manderen.

The Conservatory predominately bases its acceptances on auditions, an assessment of potential and professionalism, and space and resources in the Conservatory for the given instrument or field of study. “Af-

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ter that, and only after that, are other factors considered,” said Manderen.

Manderen added that the Conservatory only admits students who specialize in an instrument or music genre that the institution teaches, but said that the Conservatory is broadening its musical horizons.

“Any pretext that brings you here is going to allow for growth through exposure,” said Manderen. “It’s a very exciting time to be at Oberlin with the broadening out and acceptance of music as a world-wide activity worthy of inclusion, presen-

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tation and consideration.”

Another change in this year’s admissions process came in the form of a document of demands written by a coalition of students. Published in fall of 2013, the document requested a “move forward with the creation of a scholarship and support program for undocumented students.” The statement asked for raised awareness about undocumented students in higher education and a commitment to admit them.

According to Chermonte, Oberlin’s admissions process has maintained a policy of welcoming undocumented students.

“The shift in the policy was really making more of a public statement that [undocumented] students could apply in the domestic pool and be considered,” said Chermonte. “We’ve always considered undocumented students holistically.”

Oberlin duly noted the College Board’s decision to reform the SAT “to better meet the needs of students, schools, and colleges,” but decided to continue to require prospective students’ exam scores, deeming the announcement’s timing “too soon” to react.

In the fall, Oberlin expects to welcome approximately 680 students to the College, 140 to the Conservatory, and 30 double-degree students as the Class of 2018.

Corrections: Corrections

In “ROI Commentary Grievously Misplaces The (March Review is14,not aware Evaluation” 2014), theofheadline anyused corrections this week.Investing mistakenly RIO (Responsibly Organization) instead of ROI (return on The Review strives to print all investment). information as accurately as possible.

If you feel the ReviewGruffs has made an In “Despite Weather, Remain error, please send e-mail to Confident” (March 14,an 2014), Andrew managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.

Follmann’ s last was spelled incorrectly.

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Off the Cuff: Greg Walters ’03, Russian journalist, Bonnaroo rocker, former Review Editor-in-Chief and creator of “Off the Cuff” Greg Walters, a political journalist turned Brooklyn-based musician, gave a talk on Tuesday about breaking into international journalism.

Walters, who was also the editor-inchief of The Oberlin Review in 2003 and founder of “Off The Cuff,” sat down with the Review on Wednesday to talk about Russian revolutions, the Moscow rock scene and his transition into journalism.

Can you talk about how you got started at The Moscow Times?

I got super lucky in that I got a stipend to go to Russia directly after Oberlin. The Russian department gave me [a large enough stipend] that I could get an internship at The Moscow Times for nine months immediately after college. Which was kind of amazing, because it took the pressure off of me just picking up and going to Russia and trying to make it as a journalist with absolutely no support, and it meant that The Moscow Times didn’t have to pay me when I first got there, which was good for them. One thing kind of turned into another and I applied for a job at The Moscow Times after that stipend had run out, and I got it. [After that] I shuffled around to a bunch of different Russian news organizations and covered a bunch of random stuff: energy politics, revolution in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, war in Georgia … then I got burnt out and came home, and now I live in Brooklyn and, relatively speaking, take it easy.

What were the highlights of that experience?

Probably too many. The most interesting things for me were really dealing with the revolution scenario that’s on the ground, because that’s not something that I’d ever experienced in any other context of regular life. There’s a really crazy feeling when the government stops functioning all of a sudden. We don’t normally appreciate how well-organized and protected we are in day-to-day life — protected by a police force that’s going to stop somebody from just loot-

Friday, March 28 6:12 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to an activated carbon monoxide detector in a Woodland Street Village housing unit. No gas was detected within the home by the OFD. The battery was replaced and the detector stopped beeping.

Anything else?

One time I was wandering around Moscow late one night kind of drunk with a friend, and the gatekeeper to Lenin’s tomb offered to let us in after hours at 3:30 in the morning for 20 bucks. We decided not to go in … I couldn’t image what would get thrown at you if you got busted breaking into Lenin’s tomb at three in the morning. So in the end we didn’t do it. But I think it’s kind of telling of the way things work over there.

Greg Walters, Russian journalist, Bonnaroo veteran and founder of “Off the Cuff.”

ing a store, for example. When that falls away you suddenly notice it. It was an interesting lesson in what real anarchy looks like. For example, in Kyrgyzstan it all happened really fast. The crowd got together after fraudulent elections and overthrew the government really fast. All of a sudden there’s no government, and everyone decides that they’re going to go nuts. So there’s looting of one of the main downtown stores. This massive wash of people comes in, [they take] everything they can get their hands on and leave. Later I was taking a cab though downtown Kyrgyzstan and some guy tried to hail the cab, and the cab didn’t stop because I was in it. So that guy just kicks a huge dent in the side of the car as it drives past … and what are we going to do about it? So that was a really interesting experience.

Did you have any musical projects while in Russia?

Yeah. One of them was called the Nervous Wrecks, and it was a combination of two foreign journalists and two Moscow street musicians that we bumped into. It was a wild bunch. That band was kind of playing punk rock. They have this one really awesome club in Moscow with a packed house every Friday night no matter what’s happening and three bands every night. It was a really fun, receptive audience that we were playing for, and we weren’t necessarily really taking it that seriously. You could get away with a lot

of stuff that maybe an American audience wouldn’t let you do. Like you could get up there and play a Pixies cover that no one in the audience had heard before. Like, “I love this song, ‘Where Is My Mind?’ is a great song!”

If you could only tell your friends one story about your time in Russia, what would you tell them?

This didn’t actually happen to me, but when I first showed up at The Moscow Times, a great friend of mine and a really great reporter was getting sued by a mobster. His name was Semion Mogilevich. He’s on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list, literally.

Shit.

Yeah, this guy is no joke. He’s on there for fraud by wire, RICO conspiracy, mail fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, aiding and abetting, securities fraud, filing false registration with the SEC, etc., etc. His Wikipedia page says he’s been involved with car bombings and other types of assassinations, and he was suing my really good friend and colleague because she had written an investigative piece about him. He wasn’t contesting that any of the details were false, at least what I remember. He was suing her for calling him a mobster, which you’re not allowed to do in print. He’s never actually been convicted, but I don’t even know if you should be writing about this guy.

Saturday, March 29

Sunday, March 30

10:44 p.m. A resident of East Hall reported an individual urinating on a room door in the first floor of East Hall. Officers responded and also observed vomit in the hallway. Noise could be heard from a nearby room, and contact was made with the occupants. All denied involvement in the complaint. An empty onegallon bottle of vodka was observed in plain view and disposed of. Custodial staff responded for cleanup.

9:27 a.m. A student requested transport from South Hall to Mercy Allen Hospital emergency room after injuring her left wrist and foot while attempting to hang a poster in her room.

Monday, March 31 12:30 p.m. A staff member reported the theft of a large sum of money from her purse, which was left unattended in an office at Hall Annex on Thursday, March 27. A description of two unknown

What was it like to be thrown out of the Oberlin bubble and directly into Moscow?

I actually really enjoyed it. I think maybe because part of what was appealing to me about being a journalist is the fact that most people tend to live in a cloistered, small-bubble type world, and one of the fun things about being a journalist is that you get to be a tourist through these different types of worlds. In fact that’s kind of your job description: You’re getting paid to go in and investigate somebody’s world and somebody’s world view, figure out how they see the world and then try to explain it to people. For whatever reason, I get a big kick out of that. Moving somewhere as foreign and incredibly non-liberal as Russia was a very big shock. I’ve very often heard people say things about race and gender that would get you in a lot of trouble at Oberlin. It doesn’t get much more different than going from Oberlin, Ohio, to Moscow, Russia.

After having all of this crazy life experience, is there any advice that you’d give your past college self?

One really basic thing that nobody really told me when I was here, but which I’ve discovered the hard way after getting out, is that it’s totally fine if you don’t know what you want to do after college for a career, but if you want to be able to make better than minimum wage, the way to do that is to have some kind of skill. It can be anything. In my case it’s writing and editing texts and understanding politics and business

and finance, but it could be graphic design, or film editing, or anything that’ll pay you better than minimum wage. If you can do that you can live just fine, and pursue some kind of other artistic passion/project that you feel like going after. But if you graduate with a great education but no actual skills, you’re not actually that employable.

Your band, Tiny Victories, played Bonnaroo last year. Now you guys are coming out with a new album — so you’re clearly doing pretty well. Can you talk about the switch you made from journalism to music? How did that happen?

I sort of decided a couple years back to take a break from the Russia politics thing and do music before I got so old that that would be ridiculous. It’s always been on my back burner and I finally just decided to really make it a priority. And in some ways, moving from being a Russian journalist to a musician in New York was an even bigger shock than being an Oberlin student and moving to Russia. The truth is that I’ve worked harder on the music thing, harder than I’ve worked at anything else in my life, because it’ll just expand and take as much energy as you can throw at it. The hard part about doing music is not playing music itself, it’s dealing with all the other logistical problems and issues that you have to get around to put the rest of your life in order such that you have the time and the space and the ability to spend your time making new music. If there’s something that you can do as a day job that doesn’t take up all of your time, you’ll have plenty of time to play music. The key was having all of these other skills to keep the lights on, which allowed me to invest in instruments and a practice space and transportation and stuff that you need, and still spend time producing our last record. That’s the secret ingredient to making it fly.

Interview by Maddie Stocker, News editor Photo courtesy of Greg Walters

high school or college-age individuals, observed in the area at the time of theft, was given. Nothing else was reported missing at this time.

intersection of Cedar and College Streets who had sprained his ankle while jogging. At the request of the student, he was transported to his room in Barrows Hall.

1:32 p.m. Officers and EMT staff were requested to assist a student who fainted in the men’s bathroom at the Conservatory.

The student, who explained that he hadn’t eaten and became lightheaded, was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Tuesday, April 1

5:49 p.m. An officer on patrol observed a student at the

12:25 p.m. A student reported observing a suspicious male in the theater area of Hall Auditorium, the same individual who was found looking through his backpack the previous day. Officers responded and checked the area but were not able to locate the individual.

News

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The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Bill Funding Local Projects Passed by Ohio House Representatives Continued from page 1 reconstruction and construction of capital assets of state agencies, colleges, universities and school districts.” Funding for most capital projects is supported through a similar budget, compiled of either the longterm debt issues by the State or by various cash funds.

Overall, HB 497 aims to improve higher education, create green spaces, increase funding for the arts and encourage economic development. These changes, according to Lorain County House Representative Dan Ramos, will encourage increased tourism.

“I think those types of things can bring people into our community to see that we do live in a nice place and there are things to do here which could, in turn, not only help the tourism industry but also theoretically [could] indirectly affect whether or not a business wants to locate here, expand here, et cetera,” Ramos said.

The bulk of Lorain County’s $5.5 million will go toward Lorain County Community College’s $4.4 million renovations of the Health Careers Building and SMART Center for Sensor Commercialization. Other projects throughout the county, such as building a Black River Landing Pavilion and renovating Avon Isle, are expected to increase tourism and aid in economic development. The Oberlin Underground Railroad Center, lo- The Oberlin Underground Railroad Center may be on the docket to receive funding from the state of Ohio. If passed, HB 497 will cated on South Main St. to the left of CVS pharmacy, is allocate more than $200,000 to the center.

Effie Kline-Salamon also among the projects potentially funded by the bill.

“There are several key sites and activities and places “Right now if you ride down the bike path, you might funding,” Ramos said. “There were counties that are not to visit and learn about the Underground Railroad, but cross Main Street and not even think to go left or right as large as ours that got twice as much money, for exthe number one in Lorain County is Oberlin,” Oberlin and visit downtown and explore Oberlin more,” Noren- ample. So I think … I would have liked to see more for City Manager Eric Norenberg said. “We think having a berg said. “But we really think this bike shelter and rest Lorain County. And my other reservations are basically, facility dedicated to the Underground Railroad Center stop on the bike trail will be a spot where people will I don’t want the administration or the majority to think and the history of abolition here in Oberlin and to the … read some information about what’s downtown and that, well, we gave Lorain County $5 million in projects, people who freed themselves … that’s an important people will say, ‘This is really neat, I think I’ll go get so that’s good enough.” story.” some ice-cream downtown or go maybe take a break The state has seen a variety of budget cuts under The city of Oberlin requested $282,233 to fund the and do some shopping.’ We think this will be a boost to Ohio State Gov. John Kasich’s administration, and Rasecond phase of its renovation of the Oberlin Under- downtown restaurants and shops.” mos feels HB 497 will not make up for low funding in ground Railroad Center. If passed, the bill will only alThe bill, with bipartisan support, met with very other areas. locate $200,000, but the city hopes to use those funds to little opposition in the Ohio House of Representatives, “I think this is a good thing in and of itself, but I don’t think make the grounds available to the public and connect passing with only two opposing votes. Lorain County it’s a replacement for the billions in cuts to very basic services the center to the North Coast Inland Trail bicycle path. Representatives Ramos and Matt Lundy both voted in like schools and police and fire, etc., that communities have Norenberg said building facilities near the bike path support of HB 497. Ramos, however, says he has some sustained under this administration,” Ramos said. and creating the Underground Railroad Center will reservations about the bill. draw more business to downtown Oberlin.

“I would have liked to see a little bit more equitable

Senate to Host Forums in order to Dis- Elementary Schools Adopt pel Rumors, Seek Input on Tobacco Ban Digital Standardized Tests Rachel Weinstein News Editor Despite a semester of setbacks, Student Senate continues to reform the College’s smoking policy in hopes of voting on its amendments before the end of the semester.

Last updated on March 14, the proposed policy appears on the Office of Student Wellness website, with a bolded disclaimer stating, “This policy is still in progress and is subject to change.”

The proposed policy consists of five sections that explicitly outline the terms of the potential change in policy. Within these sections, the policy elaborates on the locations where smoking would be prohibited, a definition of tobacco and otherwise banned products, the prohibition of accepting money or gifts from tobacco companies by student organizations and a ban of tobacco advertisements on College grounds.

Student Senators Machmud Makhmudov, College sophomore and Peter Arden, College junior, primarily organized the initiative. College sophomore and first-term Student Senator Mia Wallace has also been involved.

“As associate liaison, part of

my job is organizing the student referendum, and I’m currently trying to gather information on how people are perceiving this and figure out what kind of questions should be included in the referendum,” Wallace said.

“A big part of that is informing myself and working with students first hand with their feelings about the change in policy.”

Wallace explained that Student Senate plans to further clarify the updated policy to students in an upcoming forum.

“Student Senate is hosting a series of three forums, one of which will specifically address the proposed tobacco policy,” Wallace said. “I’m hoping to have the referendum launched by next week, and it will include language about the tobacco policy and getting student input before we vote a few weeks from now. We’ve been getting a lot of informal feedback from the student body, but we want to get more formal responses [through the series of forums].”

Wallace said that Senate will further discuss the details of the forum in weekly plenary.

“I’m planning the series but am waiting to get feedback from the rest of forum,” Wallace said. “[What] I hope to do is answer questions and clarify what the proposed policy would

entail. Calling it a ban isn’t really fair because it’s really a policy change. I want to explain what this proposal is and what it isn’t.”

According to a recent poll featured on the Review’s website, the issue remains heated on campus. Prefacing the proposed policy, the Office of Student Wellness writes, “Achieving a tobacco-free environment requires support from all members of Oberlin College. College officials will develop and maintain a plan for communicating the policy to their constituents including, but not limited to, students, college employees, contractors, vendors, and visitors.”

Makhmudov and Wallace both expressed the growing popularity of banning tobacco on campuses across the country.

In the last two years, hundreds of institutions have enacted the policy, including the University of Michigan, Emory University and Colby College. On Wednesday, Illinois state lawmakers voted to ban smoking at all public universities, colleges and community colleges, a measure already implemented in Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma.

Continued from page 2 time is teachers don’t receive the results until much later.

My personal belief is that that kind of formative assessment should be happening in class on a daily basis. The teacher should have access immediately, instead of a test that could take months to receive.”

Varian, whose son is an Ohio kindergarten teacher, said she agrees with Curts’s point that technology and wealth can be a big hindrance on the efficacy of tests.

“His student population is very diverse,” Varian said.

“Some are poor, some affluent. So the poorer students have a lot of problems using computers. The ironic part is that other students are used to iPads, so they think they can just touch the screen. So now they have to learn to use a mouse.”

According to Varian, some of the more complex questions require plotting points on a graph or using an online protractor, as well as word-processing for written evaluations. But while the questions may prove challenging to some, others may find that they help them to increase their computer skills.

“I wouldn’t want computer skills to be a barrier. But at this point in time to be a successful college student and possibly [successful] in employment, you need to be computer literate. So if the testing is helping students to be more proficient in computers, it’s only to their benefit,” said Kent State University Director of Academic Services Lisa Hart.

The new tests are intended to be more rigorous than their written versions, as they are discarding the four-choice answer model.

“I admire the initiative,” Hart said. “I don’t see anything wrong with setting the bar high. I just hope students aren’t penalized for unrealistic goals in the short term. There needs to be incremental changes in the difficulty.”

The tests will be administered to 12,000 students in Ohio, who will be chosen at random in the coming days.

April 4, 2014

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Letters to the Editors Hobby Lobby Case Threatens Healthcare Access To the Editor: On March 25, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a case challenging the Affordable Care Act’s provision that employers provide preventive healthcare at no cost to their employees. The independent Institute of Medicine has recommended that preventive care include FDA-approved prescription contraception.

As a private sector company, Hobby Lobby is required to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees. This lawsuit is an attempt by a forprofit company to deny vital healthcare to its employees based on the religious convictions of its stakeholders.

Contraceptive care is a critical component of preventive healthcare, and it is imperative that it is provided to employees with no co-pays to remain accessible to everyone, regardless of their place of employment.

This is not an issue of religious liberty. Exemptions for churches, religious schools and religious nonprofit organizations are already in place.

Religious liberty is one of the core values of our country, but freedom of religion is not simply the freedom to believe what you want; it protects the freedom from the imposition of others’ religious beliefs and ideals. The right to practice religion freely does not include the right to make birth control decisions for employees.

Individuals have consciences, morality and religious beliefs; businesses do not. Businesses must obey the law.

This is an issue of employee rights. For a low-wage worker, the cost of birth control can be a serious burden. Whether

it is used for family planning or for another medical reason, bosses should have no say over the medication provided to their employees. David Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby, may be able to afford extra out-ofpocket healthcare expenses, but many of his employees, like low-wage workers and cashiers, are unable to supplement their healthcare costs.

A Supreme Court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby and against the provision could have far-reaching and dangerous implications. Allowing employers to deny health coverage for non-health-related reasons sets a potentially catastrophic precedent. Employees could be denied access to blood transfusions, organ transplants, vaccines and other life-saving healthcare.

Students United for Reproductive Freedom is extremely concerned about the potential consequences of this case.

As college students, we are the next generation to enter the workforce, and we deserve to have access to contraception regardless of our place of employment. We should not have to choose where to work based on whether our boss will support our health needs.

We should not have to pay extra for critical healthcare because of our employers’ personal preferences.

Ninety-nine percent of women will use contraception at some time in their lives for family planning or other health reasons. It’s offensive that a boss thinks it is OK to make these choices for their employees. This claim is out of touch with what the majority of Americans believe with regard to birth control, and it is out of the bounds of acceptable behavior for bosses.

This is an issue that affects the majority of Americans, especially young people.

Oberlin students should be outraged that their healthcare needs are in jeopardy because

of the religious convictions of a few individuals. This Supreme Court case has the potential to severely set back the achievements of the Affordable Care Act and movements in support of the right to contraception and critical preventive healthcare.

–Hazel Crampton-Hays and Sasha Solov Students United for Reproductive Freedom

RE: Student Senate Reaches an Impasse To the Editor: Many senators and other students seem to be under the impression that talking about racism is getting in the way of Senate’s productivity. When Senators Acey and Gil bring up racism or other forms of oppression, it is received as a disruption to Senate’s ability to do its job. Mr. Apel’s letter to the editor last week quoted many senators who felt that that talking about identity is unproductive, or, as he put it, “a tool to oppress and negate the opinions of other senators.” Senators have also expressed that they feel personally attacked by terms like “racism,” “sexism” and “oppression.”

In my opinion, these feelings come from a fundamental misunderstanding of what Senators Acey and Gil have been talking about at plenary sessions. To clarify: When they use words like racism, sexism, oppression, etc., they are referring to the historical and institutional power of white men at Oberlin College and in the world in general. Calling someone or their comments racist, sexist, oppressive, etc. is not a personal attack. It See Senate, page 6

SUBMISSIONS POLICY The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and column submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the editorial board.

All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in the following Friday’s Review. Letters may not exceed 600 words and columns may not exceed 800 words, except with the consent of the editorial board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names, for all signers. All electronic submissions from multiple writers should be carbon-copied to all signers to confirm authorship.

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The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review. In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response.

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Opinions expressed in letters, columns, essays, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review.

Page 5

The Oberlin Review Publication of Record for Oberlin College — Established 1874 —

Editors-in-Chief Rosemary Boeglin Julia Herbst Managing Editor Julian Ring Opinions Editor Sophia Ottoni-Wilhelm

Review Applauds SIC’s Adherence to Core Values Part of Oberlin’s appeal is its salacious, open-minded, body- and sex-positive outlook on sexual expression. Throughout its history this college has proven to be at the forefront of issues related to gender and sexuality, such as its (well-timed) 1969 decision to adopt co-ed dorms. The Sexual Information Center — the masterminds behind the longstanding Safer Sex Dance — itself arose out of a desire to combat stigma surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the late ’70s. But the event that prompted many of us to reconfigure our Facebook privacy settings to prevent family members from seeing tagged photos will no longer serve as a rite of passage for lustful first-years finally free of parental control. Delightfully famous for its encouragement of sweaty, naked bodies of all different shapes and sizes rubbing up against one another, the event is also plagued with the more notorious aspects of its reputation, namely its unintentional convergence of alcohol and partying, which often results in the very thing the SIC hopes to combat every year: non-consensual sex and an unsafe, non-inclusive space for many students.

As we noted in our editorial, “Obies Shouldn’t be Fairweather Fans of Sex and Body Positivity” (Nov. 1, 2013), the SIC’s yearly night of sweaty, glittery, sexy debauchery has taken various forms since its inaugural outing roughly three decades ago. Since then, there have been many amendments designed to limit the hypocritical nature of the event. In 2001, alcohol sales at the actual event were prohibited, and just four years later, the College banned the once-infamous “Tent of Consent,” a converted space in DeCafé encouraging agreed-upon friskiness.

The educational component of Safer Sex Week has been emphasized to various degrees by the event organizers, though in recent years, educational programming has been excluded from the Safer Sex Dance entirely. Instead, the SIC instituted Safer Sex Week in 2009, featuring workshops and information sessions at which tickets to the main event were exclusively distributed.

In theory, Safer Sex Week should have been a clear-cut example of consent and safe sex practices. But, as the SIC recognizes, best practices about sexual consent do not always translate effectively in real-life interactions. Learning to bridge this gap was ostensibly the thinking behind the dance. In reality, however, the week ultimately culminated in a highly ironic and disappointing shrugging off of the lessons which preceded it.

Safer Sex Night has historically been a night when safe sex is compromised and sex positivity is absent, and, despite its clearly benevolent and well-informed intentions, the SIC was never able to change that sad reality. Unfortunately, it is true of Oberlin — and probably of most college campuses — that any large party is going to involve the consumption of alcohol as a social lubricant, especially when people are trying to convince themselves that they are more OK revealing their mostly naked bodies than they actually are. But the consumption of alcohol impairs a student’s ability to give consent, as the SIC has acknowledged throughout the event’s existence.

To truly deal with issues of consent at Oberlin, the SIC must continue to emphasize one of the key issues at hand: liquid courage as social lubricant. Addressing the link between alcohol and consent (or a lack thereof) is imperative. While it doesn’t extend to all instances of non-consensual sexual activity, it certainly focuses on a major culprit in many of them. The SIC could expand its existing programming that’s specifically designed to engage with the realities of alcohol and sex in an undergraduate environment. Though no one expects the SIC to overturn college party culture in one fell swoop, addressing the often problematic relationship between alcohol and sex on this campus — an issue explicitly demonstrated during Safer Sex Night — is key.

The SIC’s decision to cancel the event outright, rather than turning a blind eye to the problematic aspects of the dance for the sake of upholding tradition, is highly commendable. It seems clear that despite the organization’s repeated efforts to emphasize educational aspects of the week, there was no way to ensure that the night facilitated safe sexual practices for all attendees. Recognizing that the environment was unsafe and reaffirming their organization’s commitment is the first strong step in creating a campus in which safer, consensual sex is a yearround occurrence.

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.

Opinions

Page 6

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Letters to the Editors Cont.

RE: Senate Reaches Impasse Continued from page 5 is an attempt to call attention to the fact that someone’s actions or words are upholding or reinforcing the institutional patriarchy and white supremacy that structures Oberlin College. This is what makes Senate meetings and so many other places on Oberlin’s campus unsafe.

Being uncomfortable because someone called you racist is not the same as feeling unsafe because you are experiencing racism. The difference, for those who were quoted in Mr. Apel’s letter last week, is that racist actions and words are backed by a very real system of violence and white supremacy. So when racism is directed toward a particular senator or student and they say that they feel unsafe, it is because their safety is literally at risk. This is not the case when the word “racist” is used to describe somebody or their actions. There is no institutional power behind calling somebody out for being racist. Being called racist does not come with a threat against your safety or ability to remain at the College. All it does is provide an opportunity for personal reflection and growth. This can be uncomfortable, but it is not unsafe.

This letter is not meant as an attack on those senators who say that being called words like “racist” makes them feel scared or uncomfortable. What I hope this can be instead is a call to think carefully about how we use words like “unsafe,” and why we demand for people to change their language or delivery before we will listen to what they are saying. Myself and many other students who have attended the recent plenary sessions can attest to the fact that Senators Acey and Gil are not making anything up or throwing around words like “racism,” “sexism” and “oppression” just for fun. I would hope that each time racism is mentioned at a Senate meeting the first response from all senators at the table is to reflect on their own actions and intentions and the ways that logics of white supremacy are influencing their decisions, not to become defensive in a way that negates the potential for growth. It is not conversations about oppression that are getting in the way of Senate’s productivity — it is this violent defensiveness.

–Milo Vieland College fourth-year

Response to Musical Injuries Article To the Editor: Many thanks to the Review for bringing attention to something rarely discussed in the Conservatory — musician injuries. I believe the Conservatory must take more responsibility for educating students about injury prevention and supporting those who are injured. Playing-related injuries are issues that musicians face throughout their careers. According to Playing (Less) Hurt by Janet Horvath, a survey of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians found that 76 percent of respondents had experienced a serious injury that required them to take time off from their instrument.

I discovered the Conservatory’s regrettable paucity of resources and the institutional denial surrounding student injuries last semester when I began experiencing playing-related pain in my left arm. My injury grew worse for several reasons.

First, because there is no musical injury specialist in Oberlin or nearby, I was left to diagnose myself with the help of WebMD and friends. I had no idea what was wrong with my arm, only that something was wrong. At first I thought it was tendonitis, but when the symptoms I found online did not line up with what I was feeling, I realized it must have been something else. It took me two months to get an appointment with a musical injury specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, at which point I finally received a diagnosis. Not only was this wait frustrating, but over the course of those two months, my injury grew significantly worse.

Second, during the time of my injury I was playing in orchestra. Although I knew I needed to take time off to let the injury heal, I felt pressure from faculty members to push through despite my injury. I am not alone in this experience. I have had friends who were forced to keep playing in orchestra (under threat of failure) even though they were too injured to practice, which only exacerbated injuries which might otherwise have improved.

A third factor which worsened my injury was a chamber music coach who threatened to fail my group if I did not play in coached rehearsals. Although I could not play without pain, I was forced to keep playing in the chamber group so

that I could meet my graduation requirements on time.

In the end, my injury took over two months to heal, I had to drop out of an important competition and nearly canceled my graduate school auditions. If I had been allowed to stop playing for just one week when I first injured my arm, I believe I could have healed completely in a timely manner.

While I am not blaming the Conservatory for causing student injuries, I would like to call on the faculty and administration to create an institutional environment that not only works to prevent student injuries, but also offers support for injured students. It would be relatively simple: Oberlin needs a musical injury specialist who can help students immediately after they become injured. We need an injury prevention and management class for all first-years. Deborah Vogel’s class is a start, but as the Review article mentioned, it has very limited spots. Finally, students should not be punished for being injured. While it is inconvenient to find a substitute player for an injured student, not doing so may jeopardize the injured student’s future career. A conservatory of Oberlin’s caliber should be doing everything in its power to ensure that its students are prepared — musically and physically — for their professional careers.

–Julia Connor Double degree fifth-year

Response to Apel’s ROI Article

without other contact options, for an ever-changing, highly competitive, unjust, divided world is a tall order. However, with a 181-year track record, we believe Oberlin is up to the challenge.

–Erik and Michele Andrews Parents of students

Tobacco-Free Site Newly Available To the Editor: The Oberlin Tobacco-Free Sub-Committee posted a preliminary draft of the Tobacco-Free Initiative Policy on our regularly updated website on Monday, Feb. 24: new. oberlin.edu/office/oswell/tobacco-free-at-oberlin/. This drafted policy, being reviewed and shared, will be vetted within the Tobacco-Free Sub-Committee, as well as the city of Oberlin, community stakeholders, the Oberlin student body and the Oberlin College administration. The Tobacco-Free Initiative website, including the newly drafted policy, will continue to be revised as decisions are made.

Our goal is to find a policy that works well for our campus community in the hopes of presenting it to the General Faculty late fall 2014.

This website can answer many of the questions that have been circulating within our community. If you have any questions, please email the committee at tobacco. free@oberlin.edu.

–The Tobacco Sub-Committee

To the Editor: The article in the March 7, 2014 Review, “Oberlin Ranked U.S.’s Worst Return on Investment” (Aidan Apel, author and College senior), is one we read with interest. In light of rising tuition costs, there have been numerous articles on the value of a liberal arts education in the media. We appreciate and understand that one doesn’t attend college to get a job, but rather to learn; yet we also acknowledge the post-college job market is more competitive than ever.

We have two students at Oberlin, and our family has a history here. We strongly believe that Oberlin is a wonderful school — a place with so many options and opportunities, a place for young minds to explore, learn and determine “what’s next.” We also believe that Oberlin prepares its graduates, on many levels, to enter the world and make their mark.

It is precisely these beliefs that led to a surprise. When, as a first-year, my youngest went to Career Services to explore the possibility of internships in the medical/physician field, he discovered that there were no standing, established opportunities. Armed merely with a URL and password to the OC alumni website, perhaps he could find a doctor or two there. Wow. In his search, he compiled a list of 15 names. Really, only 15 alumni are doctors? Actually, no. Of those, two were not doctors and several others had inaccurate/outdated information on the site. This was troubling, to be sure; fortunately, we had other contact options which yielded several shadowing and exposure opportunities.

We wondered further about the situation: What if there were OC students that did not have other contact options?

Maybe there were other fields of study that did have internships and perhaps pre-med was just an outlier. Alas, no, there were very few established internship programs through the College, and Career Services was not as robust as we had assumed it would be for a college with the reputation of Oberlin.

As our students have progressed through Oberlin, we have become involved in a parent group that is working with Career Services to increase the number of internship options. Hiring Career Center Director Richard Berman is an excellent start; however, we agree with the article — we need more Richard Bermans to really get our Career Services capabilities and opportunities up to expectations.

And expectations at Oberlin should remain high. This is not something Oberlin does in a vacuum. All parents and alumni can make a difference by working with their employers and businesses to create internships within their work place or, at a minimum, contacts for exploring opportunities.

The following week, reading the March 14 Review, we expected there might be some opinion on Aidan’s article — we were not disappointed. In our view, the response missed what Aidan was perhaps trying to suggest. In an effort to be globally minded and socially just, Oberlin cannot lose sight of the fact that not all students matriculate to the Peace Corps or work in the social justice domain.

There will be graduates that plan to move into a myriad of careers. Oberlin must continue to do its best to prepare all of its graduates for whatever futures they plan. Providing courses and career services that can stimulate learning, inspire creativity and prepare graduates, even those

Corrections to EDGE Fund Articles To the Editor: My name is Evan Tincknell, and I have been a Green EDGE Fund board member for the past three years. The following is my own personal response and does not necessarily reflect the sentiment of the Green EDGE Fund as a group.

Over the course of this semester, the Review has published two news articles relating to the EDGE Fund. Each has managed to grossly misrepresent simple facts despite the Fund’s efforts to offer clarification whenever possible.

The first article, published Feb. 14, 2014, was intended to be a straightforward description of what the Green EDGE Fund is, how we operate, and our ongoing efforts to better engage the student body in determining how to spend student money on projects that promote Oberlin’s sustainability. Despite a seemingly organized interviewing process and an agreement to verify quotes with me before publishing the article, I received no such request for verification, and the article included contextually substantial inaccuracies.

If I had been contacted between the time of my interview and the publishing of the article as requested, our faculty advisor’s name may have been spelled correctly, several quotes could have been made much less ambiguous, and the article would reference our close work with the Resource Conservation Team (RCT), instead of the Royal Thread Collective (RTC).

The February article also inaccurately stated the following: “Last year, the EDGE Fund installed solar panels on top of Kahn Hall and switched the lights in front of Mudd Library and it’s [sic] bike racks to LEDs.” The EDGE Fund is in the process of putting solar PV panels on the roof of Kahn, but installation is not slated to take place for several months. We also replaced Mudd’s entryway lighting with LEDs, but the covered bike racks are a separate project and are currently being installed at various on-campus locations.

The most recent article, published March 14, focused on the recent Senate-approved $10 increase to the annual student green fee for the specific development of a new carbon offsetting program. In this case, the author reached out to me for feedback per my request, but of the five substantial corrections I made to the draft he sent, only two appeared in the published version. No attempt was made to justify or verify the disregard for my changes.

In one section, I made important changes to a quote of mine that was completely misconstrued, and the published version appears as some twisted combination of the initially drafted copy and my edits to it. I am quoted discussing how EDGE Fund efficiency loans work, and how we are working to standardize methods for calculating carbon offsets, but the published quote incorrectly suggests that carbon offsetting calculations are dependent on water and electricity savings.

This reflects a failed combination of my description of efficiency loans, which involve calculable electricity and water savings, and recent parallel efforts to quantify carbon seSee EDGE, page 7

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Letters to the Editors Cont.

RE: EDGE Fund Articles

savings, and recent parallel efforts to quantify carbon sequestration independent of electricity or water savings (hence the new carbon management program).

Additionally, the increased green fee was published as $30 per semester, when it is in fact $25 (a $10 annual increase equating to a $5 semesterly increase).

I also made a general request that the author distinguish between the city of Oberlin’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, and Oberlin College’s more ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2025. The published article mentions them interchangeably, contributing to confusion among Oberlin students surrounding these noteworthy commitments.

I was initially hesitant to write this response because the immediate implications of these mistakes are relatively minor, but having now experienced these issues with two consecutive articles by two different authors, it seems necessary to draw attention to what appears to be a systemic problem with the Review’s practices for writing and editing articles that are regarded as objective sources of campus news. As students, we have to maintain a certain standard for the journalistic practices of our central oncampus news source, so that we can continue to count on the degree of thoroughness and reliability that we would expect to find in the work of fellow Oberlin students.

Syrian Crisis Fading From Public Eye Could it actually be that a conflict that is featured so much in the news and policy journals is growing increasingly irrelevant?

As Syria shows, the answer is yes. It isn’t that the lives are not significant. It is that the players who can make a difference have other preoccupations. Take the U.S. and the EU as examples, for a start. They cared a great deal at first and pushed strongly for a resolution to the conflict. However, Russia’s constant vetoing of any resolution to act on Syria crippled their actions. Yet President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry and others continued to push to at least help. But they also recognized that at some point, their efforts became mere news headlines. The conflict has grown so complicated and intertwined that there is not much to do about it except provide human relief without going the route of providing military assistance — a plan rejected by many for the dangers it poses years down the road and the future costs the U.S. and allies would incur (read: Afghanistan).

Add to that the recent crisis in Crimea, and suddenly Syria takes the back seat. Not only is it growing irrelevant, but world powers are also realizing that their money and time could be put to better use in a place where the outcome can actually be influenced by what they do. The U.S. is

MAAS Conference Highlights Importance of Participation Lydia Smith Contributing Writer

Continued from page 6

Ahmed El Meleegy Contributing Writer

Page 7

concerned because Putin is on the move. The EU is concerned because Putin is on the move, and he is so close to home that they have to be worried about member states and allies like Poland, Belarus and other places that he might want in his backyard, if he indeed plans to stitch the old Soviet Union together.

There is another reason why Syria is getting less attention from the West. Obama’s strategy of pulling back on the leadership role the U.S. played in the Middle East is being implemented. Early on, he pushed for the “leading from behind” motto, and he still operates within that frame. This frame doesn’t warrant much intervention in the Middle East. It makes sense, too. The conflicts in places like Egypt, Syria and even the diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt on one side and Qatar on the other show that the region is experiencing a truly redefining moment. It could be redefining for the worse or for the better, but it is a process in which the U.S. finds itself sidelined.

Therefore, the U.S. recognizes that with so much up in the air, it is forced to confine itself to watching and making headlines.

And in its push for rescuing what can be rescued in Europe, the U.S. has its focus on Russia.

Russia, Ukraine and Crimea are all names — synonyms, really — for the new concern in Eastern Europe, and Syria might actually be growing irrelevant.

Two weeks ago, I attended the 18th Biennial Midwest Asian-American Student Conference, which was hosted by Oberlin’s Asian-American Alliance. MAASC was the first conference I’ve attended that focuses specifically on Asian-American students and issues, so I was grateful for the opportunity to take part in such an event, especially for free. I attended the opening keynote, the “Educate, Organize, Mobilize” workshops and the “Legacy and Activism in APID Student Organizing” panel.

My knowledge about Asian-American activism and radicalism is relatively sparse beyond my own identity as an AsianAmerican and my recent exposure to Asian-American literature. Hearing from those who have been fighting for these issues and learning about the history of the Asian-American movement has been enlightening, and has caused me to identify how my lack of education and participation has affected my life.

One of the speakers at the “Legacy and Activism” panel, Rashné Limki, OC ’05, identified an issue that I’d noticed in my own experiences but hadn’t been able to articulate. She highlighted that at events such as MAASC, it’s important to be conscious of who’s present and absent from conversations about activism and social justice. Last semester, I took a class on African literature, and I had a feeling before the first class that the room would be mostly people of color. I was right. Although it was definitely a nice change to not be one of the few people of color (though I was the only Asian) in the room, the classroom demographic only confirmed my suspicion that white people don’t care as much about these issues and therefore choose not to take classes that address these subjects.

Silence, often an overlooked form of absence, is a device that often renders people and movements worthless of acknowledgement. The lack of participation by white students who make up the majority of the student body at Oberlin is an active choice that deems these issues worthless, or at least not worth their time. This non-participation perpetuates the idea that events about issues affecting people of color are

just for people of color. Social movements focusing on certain groups of people inherently concern all people, especially those that identify outside of the group in question. Concepts of marginalization, dominance, oppression and privilege are mutually constructed and can only be defined in relation to each other. Similarly, people also exist in relation to each other, and although identifiers such as race and ethnicity may be used to form alliances and solidarity, it is impossible to avoid influence from other groups.

I was only able to attend half of the events at MAASC because of homework and other commitments. One of the most difficult things about college for me has been balancing my schedule and making choices about what events I’m going to give my time to. This is a common situation for many college students, and a conference about Asian-American issues probably won’t appeal to already-busy students, especially if they don’t feel like the issues directly affect their lives (viz. white people). Moreover, in my experience, being a college student is very much about exploiting the present moment to its fullest extent in preparation for a successful future; therefore, it’s reasonable that a conference without any immediate, tangible incentives will fail to lure students (viz. everyone ever) during the weekend before midterms. College is a constant series of choices and compromises that students must navigate to maintain some notion of balance in their lives. Time constraints preclude accessibility, leading students to feel overwhelmed rather than enthusiastic about the excess of opportunities.

I think the conference itself was successful — it was exciting to hear from a diverse range of speakers on a multitude of Asian-American issues, many of which I’d been previously unaware of. Several speakers in the last panel discussed the challenges of preserving institutional memory once the students and faculty who are leading campus actions leave.

Who will be left to pass down experiences and knowledge necessary for continuing the movements? How do we get people, especially those who don’t identify as Asian-American, to care? The conference left me feeling both hopeless and hopeful, something I’ve learned to accept as inevitable in college and in life.

Intra-Campus Discussions More Effective Face-to-Face than on Facebook Nate Levinson Sports Editor Part of what makes Oberlin a great place is that people are so willing to engage in dialogue about serious issues, but the forum this discussion takes place in has the power to detract from the opinions being expressed. Most dialogue that take place in person is constructive, but as students have taken to Facebook to talk about problems at Oberlin, a lot has been lost in translation.

I’ve used Facebook for most of the past six years, and for the most part, I find it to be a useful and sometimes informative site. I use it to stay in touch with far-away friends, keep up to date on what’s going on around campus and occasionally to bestow my “friends” with links I find humorous. It’s not without its flaws, most of which I won’t get into, but overall Facebook serves the purpose I believe it was intended to in keeping me tuned

in to the here and now on campus and, to a lesser extent, the world.

Increasingly, however, I find myself disheartened by what I see on Facebook. The majority of posts I see are easy to gloss over and don’t discuss anything profound, but over the past few years especially, I’ve noticed an increasing number of them that attempt to address serious issues on what I believe should be a more lighthearted social media site.

This should come as no surprise since last year’s March 4 incidents, and the frustration stemming from this semester’s disagreements in Student Senate make productive discussion between students all the more important. I applaud members of the student body for looking to engage in dialogue regarding these issues, but there has to be a better place to do this than Facebook. Statuses about institutional racism and social inequality at Oberlin are far out of place on a site where links to quizzes, like the one that aims

to find out which Olsen Twin you are, are commonplace.

Using Facebook to inform others about serious issues is absolutely worthwhile, and I’m not arguing against that. I’ve been keyed into a number of important issues in such a way but using the site to call out other community members and make claims about others’ behavior without giving them a chance to speak is wrong. Facebook can create the illusion of familiarity, and too often I’ve seen people use charged language to implicate others that they barely know.

Another issue with using Facebook as a forum for serious discussion is that misinterpreting someone’s words and typing a hasty gut reaction is far too easy. Writing an angry response to someone with a view opposite yours might seem like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but that’s often when unjust words get thrown around. The issue that Facebook then creates is that

once those words are entered, they are difficult to take back.

Furthermore, the impersonal nature of text makes it easier for people to write things they might not say in person.

The solution to this problem isn’t as easy as creating a different site where the focus could be only on hosting serious discussion.

Rather, one of the main issues with Facebook is that it relies on textbased conversation. As anyone who has ever tried to have a serious conversation via text message will tell you, a lot can get lost when trying to convey a point through an electronic device. Even carefully chosen words, which aren’t exactly the norm on Facebook, don’t convey a message as well as words spoken in person with inflection and facial expressions. In person, people are far more likely to bite their tongues, as looking a person in the face and calling them out is harder than doing it when looking at a computer screen.

The impetus for venting about frustrating events on campus is understandable, but there has to be a better way to do it.

I have no interest in trying to censor anyone, and people on Facebook are obviously allowed to post whatever they want from their accounts. But just because they’re allowed doesn’t make it a good idea.

Using class time, group meetings, workshops or simple person-toperson interactions to air grievances and talk about the problems facing our campus are always more effective than posting on Facebook.

In order to both be taken seriously and to ensure that the meaning of arguments isn’t lost in hastily chosen prose, using sources other than Facebook to engage in discussion is the way to go.

Oberlin is a special place in that it encourages conversation about a host of social problems, but it’s important that we as students choose to engage in that conversation in the right environment.

September 2013

As the semester draws to a close, the Review takes a look back a some of the most crazy, inexplicable or just plain bizarre Safety and Security Report incidents of the past year. Shout out to Laura Policz, Safety and Securit administrative assistant, for compiling the weekly security reports.

Sept. 15 at 9:17 p.m. A staff member reported that a prospective student was injured while playing pool at Kahn Hall. The individual accidentally hit himself in the mouth with a pool stick, chipping his tooth. The individual declined medical assistance at the time.

Sept. 20 at 8:34 p.m. A resident of Firelands Apartments reported witnessing numerous flies emerge from the exhaust fan above the stove in his apartment. A maintenance technician and plumber responded, and all gas lines were checked. No leaks were located.

Sept. 21 at 9:59 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Oberlin Inn. A patron activated the alarm by smoking in the room.

Sept. 21 at 4:16 p.m. A student reported that a large window fell out of the frame and shattered on the third floor of South Hall. A maintenance technician responded to repair the window frame, and custodial staff cleaned up the glass.

Sept. 29 at 11:36 p.m. Residents of Barrows Hall reported finding a small baggy, containing a green leafy substance consistent with marijuana, while looking through their room closet. The marijuana was turned over to the Oberlin Police Department.

October 2013

Fire alarms: 38 Bagged smoke detectors: 5 “Odor consistent with burnt marijuana”: 15 “Green leafy substance”: 8 Intoxicated students: 35

Unauthorized parties: 10

Oct. 2 at 10:10 p.m. Staff members conducting Life Safety inspections in Talcott Hall located a large sword and dagger in plain view in a room on the third floor of Talcott Hall. The items were transported to the Safety and Security Office.

Oct. 3 at 1:15 p.m. A student reported that an unknown juvenile robbed him of his backpack in the area of North Pleasant and East Lorain Streets. The individual stole a black Patagonia backpack, a MacBook Pro computer, an American Musical History book and a book on African Art. The Oberlin Police Department was alerted and a “Special Alert” was issued by the Safety and Security Office.

Oct. 3 at 8:33 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Police Department responded to a report of a fight in Tappan Square near the Clark Bandstand. Two juveniles — a brother and sister — were arguing about school events. They were sent on their way.

Oct. 4 at 8:40 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student at Dascomb, who after smoking marijuana, fell and bloodied his nose. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Oct. 5 at 11:38 p.m. An officer on patrol observed over 200 students at a party on Woodland Street that was authorized for only 25 students. Members of the Oberlin Police Department responded to assist in dispersing the crowd.

Oct. 7 at 8:36 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire

alarm at Gol alarm was electric sto and the alarm Oct. 25 a todial staff ed a full-size from the fir in Barrows H is patterned blue, rust a has three cus Oct. 31 at ident of Lang ed that the by spray pai had activate Officers resp was requeste student was room.

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CALENDAR Observatory and Planetarium Friday, April 4, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Observatory and Taylor Planetarium, Peters Hall The observation deck will be open to the public. The planetarium will be open if cloudy.

Interfaith Service Day Sunday, April 6, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Wilder Bowl

Big Parade FUN-Raiser Sunday, April 6, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

The Feve

Open to people of all religious and non-religious beliefs, this event aims to connect students of varying religious identities through service and reflection.

Get excited about this year’s Big Parade at a fundraiser hosted at The Feve. Watch a puppet show, design a float, get your fortune told and more. This event is free and donations are greatly appreciated.

Stories of Rivalry and Betra Monday, April 7, 4:30 p.m. to Norman C. Craig Lecture Hall Center

Rosemary Arrojo, Professor of Co Literature at the State Universit York, will be speaking about “T Figures in Borges, Cortazar Scliar, and Coelho” as a part of Comparative Literature Symposiu

mber 2013

staff member reported was injured while playindividual accidentally th a pool stick, chipping declined medical assis-

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tober 2013

taff members conductin Talcott Hall located in plain view in a room tt Hall. The items were nd Security Office. tudent reported that an d him of his backpack asant and East Lorain tole a black Patagonia computer, an American a book on African Art. tment was alerted and ued by the Safety and

ficers and members of tment responded to a n Square near the Clark — a brother and sister hool events. They were

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fficer on patrol observed rty on Woodland Street ly 25 students. Members partment responded to wd. ficers and members of ent responded to a fire

p.m.

arade at a tch a puprtune told donations

alarm at Goldsmith apartments. The cause of the alarm was a smoking tortilla located on the electric stove. The area was cleared and the alarm was reset.

Oct. 25 at 8:41 a.m. A custodial staff member reported a full-size couch missing from the first-floor lounge in Barrows Hall. The couch is patterned with blocks of blue, rust and brown and has three cushions.

Oct. 31 at 9:48 a.m. A resident of Langston Hall reported that the residue caused by spray painting in her room had activated the smoke detector.

Officers responded and an electrician was requested to replace the detector head. The student was advised against spray painting in the room.

November 2013 Nov. 2 at 1:48 a.m. A student reported witnessing individuals throwing beer bottles from the balcony of a Union Street apartment. Officers made contact with approximately 10 students at the apartment and an emergency work order was filed for glass clean-up.

Nov. 2 at 11:16 p.m. Officers observed an individual lying in the grass outside of the Safety and Security Office. The intoxicated individual became belligerent with officers, who then contacted members of the Oberlin Police Department for backup. The individual was arrested and charged with public intoxication.

Nov. 8 at 2:47 p.m. A student reported their pants, wallet, jacket, keys and ID missing after attending Safer Sex Night. The phone was tracked and found to be at a house on North Main Street.

Officers, accompanied by Oberlin Police, arrived at the house and located the items. The student claimed that they had mistakenly picked up the items after the event in Wilder. The items were returned to their original owner.

Nov. 14 at 2:05 p.m. The Bike Co-op staff reported a large sum of money missing from the co-op.

There were no signs of forcible entry. The theft is under investigation.

Nov. 15 at 9:45 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Goldsmith apartments. A pair of jeans left atop a stove had caught fire, triggering the alarm.

The fire was extinguished prior to the officer’s arrival, and the alarm was reset.

Nov. 16 at 2:56 p.m. Officers on duty in the Field House lot witnessed a vehicle driving wildly in the lot. The driver parked in the grass near the gate and attempted to exit the vehicle, but could not stand or speak clearly. Members of the Oberlin Police Department responded to the scene, and the individual, who was not affiliated with the College,

was taken into custody.

Nov. 18 at 6:05 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Union Street Housing Complex. The cause of the alarm was smoke from overheated oil. The apartment was cleared of smoke and the alarm reset.

Hanging in plain view was a “Road Closed” sign, which was then confiscated.

December 2013 Dec. 3 at 4:41 p.m. Officers, along with an electrician, responded to assist two individuals who were trapped in an elevator at the King Building. The elevator was repaired and the individuals were able to exit safely. A work order was placed for the elevator’s inspection.

Dec. 5 at 10:42 p.m. An anonymous student called to report someone smoking on the fourth floor of Mudd library. When they arrived at the scene, the officers detected a cigarette odor and made contact with the nearby students. Both students denied smoking. The students were reminded of campus smoking policy.

Dec. 6 at 8:19 p.m. Campus officers and members of the Oberlin Police Department responded to a 911 call from East Hall. Both the interior and exterior of the building were checked but nothing suspicious was found. The phone by the eastern door was found open and activated with no one around. Extraterrestrial involvement has not been ruled out at this time.

Dec. 9 at 6:22 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm that had been activated in a room on the first floor of South Hall. Upon arriving to the room, officers detected a strong odor of burnt marijuana. A small amount of a leafy substance consistent with marijuana, rolling papers and a portion of a marijuana cigarette were all observed in plain view. All items were confiscated, and the alarm was reset.

February 2014 Feb. 1 at 10:57 a.m. An officer responded to a call from Firelands Apartments that alerted authorities of a possible room break-in. There were no signs of forced entry. A small red couch and a mattress were missing from the apartment.

Feb. 1 at 6:15 p.m. A resident of Dascomb Hall reported that food was left in her trashcan over

break, causing an infestation of insects in her room. Facilities staff was contacted and a work order was filed for an exterminator.

Feb. 2 at 3:12 a.m. A resident of Langston Hall reported that an unknown white substance was sprayed into her open window. Officers responded and determined that a fire extinguisher had been discharged. Discharged fire extinguishers were also found in Burton Hall and the south exterior of Langston Hall. A work order was filed for replacements.

Feb. 8 at 3:42 p.m. A student reported the theft of his t-shirt, black hooded sweatshirt and pair of white Air Jordan high tops from the varsity locker room at Philips gym. The value of the items is estimated at $600.

Feb. 13 at 2:10 p.m. Staff members at Wilder Hall reported seeing three bottles of beer in a student mailbox. Safety and Security officers confiscated the beer, which was then disposed of.

Feb. 21 at 2:49 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Dascomb Hall. The cause was of the alarm was water leaking into one of the building’s detectors. An electrician responded and made repairs.

Feb. 22 at 3:52 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Union Street Housing Complex. The cause of the alarm was smoke from cooking bacon. The area was cleared of smoke and the alarm was reset. A city of Oberlin crosswalk sign and a College sign were also found in plain view in the apartment. Both items were confiscated.

March 2014 March 2 at 12:30 p.m. A resident of a village housing unit on West College Street reported a small kitchen fire and requested a work order for clean up. A guest placed an electric tea kettle on the stove which created smoke and caught fire. The fire was extinguished and there were no injuries.

March 7 at 7:58 a.m. Safety and Security received a report that two students were approached outside the Philips gym by a suspicious male in his late 20s, who offered to pick them up in a party bus.

March 10 at 7:52 p.m. An officer responded to a report of two students studying on the roof of Dascomb Hall. The students were asked to return to the building and warned that access to College roofs is prohibited.

March 11 at 5:23 p.m. Officers responded to reports by ResEd staff of suspected contraband or violations of housing regulations during Life Safety Inspections. A small marijuana plant, a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun and a 10” chef ’s knife were confiscated in Afrikan Heritage House. The owners were contacted, and a report was filed for judicial review.

This Week Editor: Sarah Snider

Stories of Rivalry and Betrayal Monday, April 7, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Norman C. Craig Lecture Hall, Science Center

Lecture: “Invisible Man and the Clarity of Hell” Tuesday, April 8, 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Hallock Auditorium, AJLC

Flappers, Queers, Family Men and Mexican Citizens Thursday, April 10, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Hallock Auditorium, AJLC

Rosemary Arrojo, Professor of Comparative Literature at the State University of New York, will be speaking about “Translator Figures in Borges, Cortazar, Walsh, Scliar, and Coelho” as a part of the 2014 Comparative Literature Symposium.

Author and Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California Percival Everett will be giving a lecture on Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man as a part of the Oberlin Lectures in English and American Literature.

Anne Rubenstein, OC ’85 and York University professor specializing in 20th century mass media and pop culture of Mexico, will be speaking about “Movie Audiences and the Long Tail of the Mexican Revolution.”

Want Practicum in Journalism Credit?

Write for this section!

Email managingeditor@oberlinreview.org

Page 10

Arts The Oberlin Review

April 4, 2014

DeMarco Celebrates Album Release with Enthusiastic Antics Nora Kipnis Staff Writer Oberlin students are generally pretty laid-back about celebrity culture, but even weeks before self-described “jizz jazz” artist Mac DeMarco came to campus, you couldn’t walk from one side of campus to the other without overhearing something along the lines of, “Every song sounds the same, but they’re all so good, man!”

On Tuesday — the day DeMarco released his second full-length album, Salad Days — the audience at the ’Sco received the Brooklyn-dwelling Canadian native, his band and opener Amen Dunes with a sense of respect that quickly escalated into a full-on dance party.

When DeMarco appeared in the audience in the opening act, whispers that “He’s over there!” rippled through the crowd as students tried to play it cool.

If every song really sounds the same and slacker rock is “just decent,” what is it about 23-year-old DeMarco that makes everyone and their mother swoon? Is it the charming gap between his front teeth or his bizarre behavior on stage that includes urinating on his screaming fans and inserting a microphone into his anus, as shown on YouTube? Aside from the disarming way DeMarco presents himself on stage, our generation can relate to lyrics like, “What Mom don’t know has taken its toll on me,” from the new song “Passing Out Pieces,” that casually hint at the emotional struggle behind the mundane lifestyle of an indie musician rising to fame during late adolescence and early adulthood. The lyrics include topics such as figuring out life away from family, testing social and sexual boundaries and plumbing new depths of feeling.

DeMarco croons his too-cool poetry over dreamy effects on the folky lead guitars, tinny rhythm guitars, gentle drum beats and subtly funky bass lines. Ultimately, the music has the updated-vintage, grimy-buthopeful feel of an Instagram photo of a New York teenager’s first afternoon on the boardwalk at Coney Island.

Early in his career, DeMarco self-released several albums and also recorded one with the Canadian label Unfamiliar Records under the name Makeout Videotape. These releases had more of a grungy shoegaze sound than the post-2012 albums, but his soft vocals and Beach Boys-inspired “ooohs” in “Heat Wave” and the ambient guitars in “Only You” hint at the eventual transformation that came when he signed with the Brooklyn indie label Captured Tracks.

DeMarco’s first EP, Rock and Roll Nightclub, quickly garnered attention with danceable, glam-rock tracks and unnerving radio static intros ( for example, “106.2 Breeze FM” is introduced by a radio announcer saying, “We have a couple little songs from a newcomer, Mac DeMarco”). The same year, he released 2, in which he found a natural groove, one slightly more sincere but

less experimental. Pitchfork liked it enough to name it as some of the “Best New Music” of 2012. His April 1 album, Salad Days, has already received a total score of 83 out of 100 by review aggregator Metacritic, indicating that the prolific singer-songwriter is certainly on his way toward fame. The newest album is diverse, channeling David Bowie with eerie pop synths and consistently laid-back rock à la Weezer.

The ’Sco concert began with a performance by Amen Dunes, who is touring alongside DeMarco for good reason, given that both bands share a penchant for ambient sound, ominous interludes and mutedly emotional lyrics sometimes evocative of a hipster love story. But Amen Dunes turns energetic more often than DeMarco, and the guitars feature so much distortion and reverb that one audience member shouted that they sounded like U2. Unlike DeMarco’s abrupt transitions from falsetto to muttering, Amen Dunes stuck with the largely incomprehensible groan of a tortured rocker and vocals that are somewhat reminiscent of hymns. The two guitarists and drummer in Amen Dunes performed songs that evoked the music of Velvet Underground and Arcade Fire, but their sound is also in keeping with the more recent and esoteric surf rock tradition of bands like Wavves. A highlight of their act was “Lilac in Hand” off the album Love, coming in May. When DeMarco eventually took the stage, he charmed the pants off the audience and then the shirt off his drummer, Joe McMurray. Hardly ten minutes in, he had the whole crowd cheering “Show your chest!” until McMurray finally relented. DeMarco’s live show was far more energetic than his recordings would suggest, and he had the crowd dancing for most of the show. There was less of a focus on the tinny guitars, and the jazz influence and groovy, Motown-inspired bass lines were far more evident. He played plenty of songs off his new album, including “Salad Days” and “Chamber of Reflection.”

The band also brought out crowd-pleasers from 2 like “Freaking Out the Neighborhood,” “The Stars Keep On Calling My Name” and “Ode to Viceroy.” After stagediving during the finale, which was complete with strobe lights and a cheeky nod to stadium fireworks at high-budget pop shows via a slightly pixelated video on a projector behind him, DeMarco remained onstage at the audience’s urging. He kept the dance party going with “Rock and Roll Nightclub” from his first album, his deep baritone vocals reminiscent of Iggy Pop’s singing on “Nightclubbing.” When the house lights finally went on to indicate closing time, the audience was as big as it had been at the show’s height, despite the late hour on a Tuesday. Some hopeful audience members even attempted to get DeMarco to play another, to no avail.

DeMarco is known for having a terrific stage presence, but unfortunately the sound system at the ’Sco

Mac DeMarco celebrated his new album release to an expectant and enthusiastic crowd at the ’Sco on Tuesday. His eccentric behavior, which includes jokes, raunchy banter and suggestive chants, made for an unforgettable stage presence.

Claire Morton

rendered his jokes and banter between songs largely incomprehensible. He certainly finds humor in a fair bit of raunchiness, as was evident from the projector behind him that showed a video of flexing pectorals during most of the show, as well as photographs accompanied by pink-lettered captions like “Hot male in sexy thong.” DeMarco’s slideshow also featured waves crashing on a beach and fireworks, but it’s hard to tell if he’s trying to be ironic in implicating emotional depth by showing students he can find beauty in nature. To the relief of Mama ’Sco but perhaps the disappointment of the edgier students in the audience, DeMarco didn’t do anything too weird on stage.

DeMarco’s performance, as well as the album released on the same day, showcased the depth and breadth of a much-anticipated musician. Those who were unfamiliar with his music left beaming and gushing about how they were going to download his albums right away. Meanwhile, DeMarco’s friendly, unpretentious demeanor allowed his fans an opportunity to chat with the highly approachable “slacker with a heart of gold,” as Spin called him. For those who think DeMarco’s songs all sound the same and are only fit for lying around in the sun, it might be worthwhile to give the artist another chance with a live performance — and challenge yourself to refrain from dancing.

Corea, Fleck Blend Talents for Packed Reunion Concert Olivia Menzer Two brilliant and virtuosic musicians reunited at Finney Chapel on Wednesday in one of the most unique duos in music. Chick Corea and Béla Fleck are together again for their first joint tour since the release of their Latin Grammy award-winning album The Enchantment in 2007. The duo has a combined total of 33 Grammys, but even this staggering number does not effectively communicate the extent of the pair’s chemistry, which bubbled across the stage and into every corner of the Chapel last Wednesday.

Corea has had a penchant for innovation and risk-taking since the beginning of his career. He was instrumental in the creation of fusion jazz in the ’70s, founded the lauded band Return to Forever and was an integral member of Miles Davis’s band. He is equally comfortable in any number of genres, including jazz, classical, flamenco and Latin. Simultaneously, Béla Fleck is one of the most skilled and inventive banjoists today. Founder of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Fleck is a force to be reckoned with.

Finney Chapel was filled to capacity, with even the balcony packed, and the audience waited expectantly for what turned out to be a display of musical virtuosity at the upper limit of human ability. To start off the almost three-hour show, songs “Señorita,” “Menagerie” and “Waltz for Abby” stunned the crowd Béla Fleck (left) and Chick Corea blended their unique instruments in a mesmerizing performance last Wednesday in Finney Chapel. It is the first time the duo has gone on tour since their Grammy-winning album release in 2007.

Zoë Madonna

See Jazz, page 13

Arts

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Page 11

On the Record: Prof. Tim Scholl, director of annual Translation Symposium It is an opportunity for students to create and perform their own translations. Students will read the original, then their translation and have the opportunity to get feedback. We put them all into a big booklet, so we can follow along during the symposium. It is now 12 years old and was dreamt up by [Professor of Comparative Literature and English] Jed Deppman, and it comes out of the introductory Comparative Literature course that features translations as one of the major themes. Students are just wild about translation.

It’s the topic that everyone is crazy about and can’t get enough of. This led us to want to do more. We decided that we could make what we now fondly call the “Translation Party.”

What is your role in the Symposium?

My role is to try to coordinate all of the loose ends.

We invite submissions from students who will consult with me about appropriate material. [The language professors] try to help students choose pieces that will work well in the setting. A short lyric poem is great, but with prose you are translating something from nowhere and you need to give a bit of context. We offer advice, but we generally tell them, “It’s your translation.” Ultimately they are responsible, and we trust them. I have to say that most of the translations are pretty fantastic.

Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature Tim Scholl is the acting chair of the Comparative Literature Program, which sponsors the annual Translation Symposium.

On Tuesday the Comparative Literature department will host its annual Translation Symposium. The Review sat down with Tim Scholl, professor of Russian and Comparative Literature and this year’s director of the event, to talk about its history, impact on students and what to look forward to next week.

Tell me a little bit about the Translation Symposium and its background.

Why is this an important part of the Comparative Literature program?

I can’t really even describe how much fun it is to see a bunch of Oberlin students get up and translate from Albanian and Bulgarian and Thai and Czech and Greek and Latin and on and on. You realize what an incredible diversity of students and experiences we have here.

This really drives the point home.

How do you think the Symposium contributes to the arts at Oberlin?

Translation is a performance within itself, moving from one language or meaning to another and working to keep the essence of the work. We’ve lost some oral traditions and all those things that are often considered

the basis of literature. It’s great to go back to the art itself and have them perform. You’d be amazed about how well students do this. They really step it up.

How much time have the students commited to their translation projects?

A surprising amount of time. These are things that students are doing on their own over the summer and in their free time. We facilitate the interest in our introduction classes and then help foster that interest. Then students just go off. One of the translations in Russian this year is an entire novel. He’s a native speaker who has never taken a Russian class here, and he came into my office and said, “I love [Bulgakov’s] Master and Margarita, and I hate the translations. I’m going to do my own.” He’s that passionate about the novel.

Why this effort? What is so unique about the translation process?

You begin to see that there is a web of communities that is formed around the effort and concept, and people want to share these translations. This again gets to the heart of the process of translation in the first place — it is a form of communication, sharing not only literature and language but also culture. The students are very sensitive to that. We are past a stage where people like my grandparents would immigrate and try to assimilate as fast a possible. We are at a point where people realize the importance of holding on to their language and culture. We are not just Anglophones anymore, and translation is going to be very important for our future.

What can we look forward to for this year?

This year we have a translation in Thai, which is new. We also have one [student] doing a translation into American Sign Language. It’s very cool because she is very interpretive and it’s very much a performance. There will be a lot of other fun things popping up through the program, too. This is going to be a good year.

Interview by Phoebe Hammer, Arts editor Photo courtesy of Tim Scholl

Psychedelic Art Rock Clashes with Folk Expectations Paris Gravley Staff Writer Subverted expectations are familiar to everyone, be it a “date” that was actually just “hanging out” or a book with a bad cover but a great ending.

The Heather French Henry concert at the Cat in the Cream on March 31 followed this pattern, leading the audience to expect mellow folk, but delivering psychedelic art rock instead.

While the bait and switch was disorienting at first, the show was engaging enough to overcome such a handicap and deliver a strange but captivating night.

Opener Caitlin Marie Bell, OC ’10, was the folky singersongwriter and guitarist that everyone was expecting the headliner to be. Her sweet, classically-trained voice echoed like a sandpaper-smoothed Brandi Carlile as she played a couple of original songs inspired, according to Bell, by her home at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. Picturing Bell’s bluesy folk music at the foot of a huge mountain range captured only half the poetic power she was able to communicate live.

Her other songs were pulled from the same geographic region, just a couple hundred years prior. Bell introduced each piece with a mini history lesson.

One song, she said, was a poem written by John Jacob Niles inspired by a ditch digger’s words

— “Go ‘way from my window, go ‘way from my door.” Niles stole the lines to write a short poem about an unrequited love, which Bell in turn borrowed to set to music and, consequently, used to steal the show.

Bell was representative of the way expectation is often not a trap, but instead something of a diving board. Standing small with her guitar in the middle of the Cat stage, wearing all black and introducing each piece with her highpitched voice, her powerful performance met with the audience’s exceptional disbelief.

The audience expected folk, and Bell delivered — but with more talent than could have been anticipated. Following her set, the audience was more than primed for a solid folk follow-up from the headliner.

Enter Heather French Henry.

Heather French Henry is not a guitarist of a folk singer/songwriter. They’re a band, and an experimental one at that: two guitars, bass, drums and an Oberlin-trained opera singer, Abigail Miller — also OC ’10. It was her operatic vocal movements that produced a psychedelic art rock sound, simultaneously the band’s downfall and saving grace. With a name like Heather French Henry, an opening act like Caitlin Marie Bell and the folk-friendly Cat in the Cream setting, the audience was naturally ready for something far different from what they received. Not only

From left: Charles Lee Garden on guitar, Andy Beargie on drums, Abigail Miller and Glenn Myers on bass constitute the band Heather French Henry, who performed psychedelic rock to a disoriented audience at the Cat and the Cream on March 31.

Zoë Madonna

did Heather French Henry play funky, unusual music and follow a folk musician, but the show also had to compete with that folk musician’s exceptional talent. Bell set the stage with forks and knives; Heather French Henry was prepared to serve soup.

To make matters worse, it took far too long for the band to figure out some staging issues — the bass was too loud, and there was a lot of unnecessary feedback overall. After only a few songs, the already-

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Standing small with her guitar in the middle of the Cat stage, wearing all black and introducing each piece with her high-pitched voice, her powerful performance met with the audience’s exceptional disbelief.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

small audience had reduced to half its original size and had slowly trickled to a mere third by the end of the night. By the time Heather French Henry finally hit their stride, only about six people remained in the Cat. Those who remained, though, were treated to a journey into genreless territory.

The band established a sound without being shackled to musical tropes or patterns. The odd vocal line for singer Miller See Bell, page 12

Page 12

Arts

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Our Nixon Film Provides Glimpse Behind White House Doors Anne Pride-Wilt Arts Editor Documentary films occupy an awkward spot, teetering uncomfortably in the space between art and reality, but not quite at home in either category. Archival documentary, patched together from material already available in a film library or archive, only compounds this difficulty, since the filmmaker does not even produce the footage, but merely edits it into a palatable form. Penny Lane’s awardwinning all-archival documentary Our Nixon, which screened Tuesday night in Dye Lecture Hall in an event sponsored by the Art department, enters this murky territory with aplomb, ultimately emerging staunchly on the side of art.

The documentary is composed of archival footage and Nixon’s own White House tapes arranged around a centerpiece of silent Super 8 recordings taken by Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin. The intimate nature of those recordings means that the documentary takes a human approach to the often-caricatured Nixon presidency, without getting caught up in the minutiae of governance or the Watergate scandal. It is this restraint that makes Our Nixon art instead of simply yet another cynical late- ’60s political documentary.

The Super 8 footage is overlaid with sound from interviews, the White House tapes or, most effectively, music. The absence of a third-party narrator allows the archival material to speak for itself.

This lack of a narrator also nicely dovetails thematically with the prevailing ethos of the documentary: This is the Nixon White House as those close to the president saw it, not as the press or public portrayed it. Through the cameras of Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Chapin, the documentary audience is walked through the motions of political life and surprised by its frequent intersections with the personal. The camera hovers lovingly on First Daughter Tricia Nixon during a dance at her wedding, records a costumed Easter bunny surrounded by children on the White House lawn or follows a bird as it rummages around outside — the sort of mundane, personal images rarely associated with the Nixon presidency.

The documentary does not address the Watergate scandal that would end Nixon and his aides’ political careers until the end, a wise choice that sets the focus of the film squarely away from the scandal until it simply cannot be ignored. As the film’s director and co-producer Penny Lane shared in the audience discussion that followed the screening, the intention was to originally cut the documentary in such a way that Watergate never appeared, with the assumption that the audience would be informed enough to fill in that blank for themselves. While that direction was ultimately not taken, the thought process behind it is evident in the film.

No one needs another film about Watergate, and Our Nixon aims to be something subtler and more bittersweet.

As Lane emphasized after the screening, the film is not about Nixon, although it certainly provides a fascinating and rarely-seen perspective of the president.

Rather, it is a film about its three off-camera stars — or rather, the stars holding the cameras — Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Chapin, and the world as seen through their eyes. The Super 8 footage that bolsters the film had never been transferred from that format until Lane and her team funded it, and so Our Nixon brought this valuable archival footage to people who would otherwise have never been aware of its existence. More than that, though, the documentary transforms this footage and the other archival resources in order to provide a unique window into an insular world that is typically only viewed one-dimensionally. The end result is nuanced, fascinating and, yes, artistic.

Bell Wins Over Cat Crowd with Folk Sensibilities that danced between lyrics and wordless tones — paired with its electronic funk distortion and delayed operatic trill — clawed a new path somewhere between psychedelic rock, jazz and hypnotic folk. In a crowded basement or a sweaty, late-night ’Sco, Heather French Henry would prob––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The audience was naturally ready for something far different from what they received. ... Bell set the stage with forks and knives; Heather French Henry was prepared to serve soup.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

ably have fared much better.

Taking each performance as a separate entity — Caitlin Marie Bell as a moving folk musician and Heather French Henry as an experimental music experience — is really the way to see the concert without feeling the need to compare one sound to the other. Taken this way, both were innovative and definitely worth a listen — but attendees had to check their expectations at the door.

Director Penny Lane discusses the process of digging through archival materials to compile the documentary Our Nixon, which screened Tuesday night in Dye Lecture Hall. The film utilized Super 8 footage taken

by President Nixon’s aides to showcase a more personal aspect of his presidency.

Rachel Grossman

Students and Faculty Join for Jam Session Ava Bravata-Keating The ’Sco served as an experimental music mecca last Monday, attracting TIMARA majors, sound technicians and programmers alike for an improvised electroacoustic showcase. College senior Adam Hirsch, Conservatory senior Charles Glanders and doubledegree senior Devin Frenze of the experimental audiovisual ensemble Wisseler opened the show on saxophone, turntables and visuals, respectively. Their music and visuals were expertly coordinated and built symbiotically to a climax. The jam’s visual component began with slowly moving black and white forms that thematically mimicked the saxophone’s spacey sounds.

Gradually, light blues overtook the black and white, followed by a rapid, multicolor potpourri of asymmetrical images that complemented the big bass of Glanders’s feedback loop.

The ’Sco-goers were engaged in the novel performance — many sat or laid down on the ground during Wisseler’s set, allowing the full audiovisual experience to wash over them. Some sat in silence, eyes closed, while others danced under the DJ box, hugged a column, sat on each other or did the robot. Hirsch’s saxophone added a melodic touch to a genre usually characterized by avant-garde, atonal sounds. The added melody made the music more danceable and more accessible to a wider audience.

Wisseler was followed by Lyn Goeringer, visiting assistant professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts, and double-degree sophomore and TIMARA major Matt Omahan. Though Omahan usually plays with Wisseler, the two took the stage as a teacher-student duo, layering and looping ambient sounds to produce a rich, diverse soundscape. Goeringer spent much of the set bent over an iPad, manipulating sounds via touchscreen and Mac. Omahan added a MIDI board and knob controls to the mix. The pair crafted this musical ambience using improvised looped sounds punctuated with sudden deep bass rumbles. Shrill rhythmic sirens cut through the subtler interplay between synths and bass. The stage was lit with red overhead lights and blue and purple stage lights, creating an eerie glow reminiscent of the inside of a spaceship and adding to the general feeling that the whole experience was very much out of this world.

For the conclusion of the improvised jam session, Wisseler joined Goeringer and Omahan for a final piece. The complexity of Professor Goeringer’s loops and playful rhythmic hits meshed well with Wisseler’s web of melodic ambience. The performance was engaging and inventive, both visually and musically. But perhaps more importantly, it represented a successful collaboration between the audio and visual realms and an equalizing collaboration between professor and students.

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Arts

Page 13

Mini Books Exhibit Highlights Power of Paper Art

The Art Library is hosting the <3” (three inches or less) handcrafted miniature books exhibit until May 31.

The exhibit preserves and promotes the craft of bookbinding and book art.

Courtesy of Vida Weisblum

Vida Weisblum A visitor to the Clarence Ward Art Library will be intrigued by colorful signs and a table of free prizes like miniature magnifying glasses and fortuneteller fish, but, if one visits before May 31, attention might instead alight on an exciting, albeit tiny, new exhibit on display. The exhibit, titled <3 ” (three inches or less) handcrafted miniature books, features four display cases full of skillfully crafted miniature books, each less than three inches long.

Each book is a true work of art — or rather, each book is an “artists’ book.” The term, which originated in the 1970s, refers to a piece of art that

takes the form of a book. While the art form has existed for centuries, it gained widespread popularity in the second half of the 20th century. Each of the miniature artists’ books included in the Art Library’s exhibit was handcrafted by an artist from the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, one of 10 chapters in the United States. The guild was founded in 1906 to, according to the organization’s website, “establish and maintain a feeling of kinship and mutual interest among workers in the several hand book crafts.” Today, the organization exists primarily to preserve and promote the craft of bookbinding and other book arts, and benefits from the involvement of many well-known bookbinders.

This is not the first time Oberlin has literally made a display of its appreciation for the book arts. In fact, the art form is near and dear to the Oberlin Art department. In addition to its vast body of research material, the Art Library boasts a collection of 1,000 artists’ books for perusal. Many of these books come from Ruth Hughes, OC ’85, who donated 100 artists’ books to the Oberlin College Library in 2010. The donation was briefly shown in a Philadelphia exhibition before returning to Oberlin, where it can still be accessed at the Art Library.

Two years later, Hughes and book artist Alice Austin, both of whom curated the 2010 show, curated another show, this one run by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Artists.

During this exhibition, Art Librarian Barbara Prior selected one artists’ book as the purchase prize, the exhibition favorite selected to be purchased by the College. The book, titled “Peace Crane,” was constructed out of paper cranes by Japanese-American artist Eriko Takahashi in honor of Japan’s massive 2011 tsunami.

Last August, the Guild requested permission to send a collection of miniature books to the Art Library crafted by guild members. Prior was more than happy to accept the collection and decided to allow the students to vote on which piece would be selected as a purchase prize, which will be added to the Art Library’s collection of artists’ books.

The collection is now on display for all visitors to admire and vote on.

The display is a hidden gem on campus; the books are exquisite. For some books, the appeal is in the details: the delicately designed and bound covers that must be viewed in tiny magnifying mirrors, the incredibly intricate patterns used to form the shapes of the book, or even the size. The smallest book in the show had dimensions of less than one inch. Some books are quirky and cutesy like Valeria Kremser’s “Matryoshka Book,” which is made from papercovered nesting book boxes resembling

a Russian doll. Another quirky highlight is “One Month of Monsters,” which contains a folded stream of colorful monster designs and a monster-esque cover made of felt, adorned with foam and googly eyes. “Inherent Vice” seems to tell a full story in two 2.25” by 2.25” yellowed and stained pages adorned with a short nursery rhyme: “Jenny she got well / And stood up on her feet / And told Robin plainly / She loved him not a bit.”

The ability of something so seemingly simple and small to reveal so much detail is a reflection upon the nature of the book paper arts. The miniature books exhibit is refreshing in a world that has become increasingly fascinated with all things digital. Paper art is re––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The ability of something so seemingly simple and small to reveal so much detail is a reflection upon the nature of the book paper arts.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ceiving more appreciation than it has in years, simply because it is now unusual.

This sort of art appears to belong to a previous age, and so it seems fascinating. Various groups at Oberlin certainly believe this to be true, having held exhibitions like the Mail Art display that the Exhibition Initiative sponsored two years ago with help from The Plum Creek Review. They have also hosted visitors like Fulbright scholar Aimee Lee, OC ’99, who is an expert on Hanji, the art of traditional Korean papermaking, and taught a Winter Term course on papermaking and book art. The Oberlin Art Library has connections with 1,900 artist alumni and strives to makes its 2,500 objects as accessible as possible, especially to students on campus. The miniature books exhibit is a quirky, captivating exhibit all on its own, but it is more than just an exhibit — it is another way in which paper arts are making strides at Oberlin.

Jazz Meets Bluegrass in Finney “Spectacle” Continued from page 10 with their musical excellence. The pair had the attitude of two cheerful uncles having a playful jam session, and as such their show showcased a range of pieces: some from their album The Enchantment, some that anecdotally introduced pieces they had taught each other, a Stevie Wonder cover, and even a song Fleck wrote for his newborn son Juno. The piece for his son was jaunty and warm, supposedly modeled after all the ways the syllables of “Juno” could exist.

When Fleck and Corea came together, the powerful players did not clash, but instead created a beautiful and supportive harmony. Fleck and Corea’s synchronicity — both physically and mentally — was astounding. It sounded as if one foreign instrument was being played by one person with four hands, not a banjo and piano player delicately playing off each other to make a unified sound. Corea and Fleck have a unique aptitude for communicating moods, times and places through their music, exemplified by “Spectacle,” the last official piece before a lengthy encore. This piece allowed both musicians to showcase the styles that traditionally correspond with their instruments, such as that characteristic bluesy-country twang commonly associated with the banjo, and a throwback to upbeat traversals up and down the keys of the piano. The ensuing standing ovation was elated and appreciative, and, when the air cleared, the duo immediately came back out for a laid-back encore, just when the crowd thought they could breathe.

This kind of performance was truly once in a lifetime because, although the songs played were well-rehearsed, Corea and Fleck improvised as they saw fit to make their performances fluid as they played off each other and the energy of the audience. The stunning duo of Béla Fleck and Chick Corea will leave its audience haunted for days.

Page 14

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Sports

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

Women’s Softball

This week, the Review sat down with senior softball teammembers Melanie Budney, Kelsey Steiner, Emily King and Richelle Romanchik to discuss water fights, crushing Kenyon College and a 10th inning walkoff spring break victory.

EK: The 10-inning game we had in Florida this year, because I was pitching that game, and it was probably the most people I had pitched in front of, and I thought, ‘Maybe this is what it feels like to play at a big school.’ Off the field, there are a lot of great moments. Spring break in general has always been great.

How was your annual spring break trip to Florida?

Kesley Steiner: Break was awesome. I feel like we really came together as a team and found ourselves and our identity. The warm weather didn’t hurt either.

Melanie Budney: It was fantastic, as usual.

What are your expectations for the rest of the season?

KS: We are an incredibly talented team, so if we come out ready to play our game the way we can, then we can beat any team we face.

MB: I definitely hope we get more wins, especially conference wins. I want us to really pull together as a team and find the balance between attacking hard on offense and staying tough on defense. We are a fighting team, but I think sometimes we get complacent when we have a lead, and then we lose our intensity a bit. I want us to fight our hardest from start to finish without letting up.

Do you have any team traditions in Florida?

KS: We have a water battle with the coaches! During one of our runs, they drove by us with squirt guns, and then we sprinted to their house and hid there.

MB: This has happened ever since our coach’s first year

Seniors Melanie Budney, Kelsey Steiner, Emily King and Richelle Romanchik here. It’s super intense — the coaches hid inside our house while we were trying to sneak into theirs, but we totally destroyed them in the end.

Is it difficult having such a small roster?

KS: It has been hard because if one of us gets injured, it automatically puts the pressure on the rest of us, but we are kind of used to it. We have always had 11 people on the roster; at this point, we know what we need individually and as a team.

Richelle Romanchik: We are always ready for any position that we are put in.

MB: We are very versatile.

RR: At practice we always have to be ready to play multiple positions.

Who is your biggest rival?

Emily King: Kenyon.

MB: Kenyon.

RR: Kenyon.

KS: Kenyon. They are just so similar to us in academics and athletics.

EK: When I pitch, I make a really loud pitching noise that sounds like ‘hut,’ and there were these guys my sophomore year [ from Kenyon] that thought it would be funny to say ‘pizza,’ ‘Jabba’ and ‘blue 42’ before I pitched. So it sounded like Pizza Hut, Jabba the Hut, blue 42 hut, which in retrospect is hilarious, but at the time, it was not funny.

What has been your favorite Oberlin softball moment?

KS: We had a really awesome 10-inning game this spring break that we just battled the entire time, and it was really nice to connect with the rest of the team. We felt more like a cohesive, strong team in that moment than we probably ever had. It was re-

ally good to see.

MB: That was mine, too.

We were playing in this giant stadium and we went into overtime, so there were, like, three teams watching us, and a huge crowd of people in the stadium. [Sophomore] Jenny Hill had the final hit that scored the final run, and that was a really incredible moment for everyone.

RR: Our original water battle over spring break my freshman year. We really fought even though we had no idea what we were doing. Athletically, my favorite moment was last year. The day after we played DePauw [University], we played this one team that we lost to in the first game, but we had this really intense game, and we only had 10 players, and every single player was playing hard. It was very much this battle, similar to the 10-inning game this year.

What are your hopes for the future of Oberlin softball?

MB: I hope that, for one thing, it gets bigger; it will be a lot easier on everyone else.

I hope that we maintain the camaraderie and intensity that we have this year and pass it down to future players and athletes here. I think what makes this team so great is how we get along so well. I would not want to stand out on that field with anyone else.

RR: I hope that, even if we cannot do it this year, that in future years, the team beats the four conference win, 12win series that we had three years ago.

EK: I think that it would be great if we could build the program, and that people would think, ‘Oh Oberlin softball, they’re good.’

What is one word to describe OCSB? RR: Quirky.

MB: Spirited.

KS: Growing. We are still kind of growing into ourselves.

EK: Talented, because we are talented, but sometimes we just need a reminder.

Interview by Sarah Orbuch, Sports editor Photo by Zach Harvey

Men’s Tennis Challenges Nationally Ranked Teams Lillian Jahan The men’s tennis team faced seven teams in as many days during its spring break, finishing with a 3–4 record.

They started things off in Hilton Head, SC, with a 9–0 loss to the Colby College Mules.

Despite the loss, Head Coach Eric Ishida was still proud of his team’s effort in the match.

“I’m proud of the way our guys played against a tough Colby team,” he said. Despite over half the team falling ill due to food poisoning, the Yeomen hung tough with the top 25-ranked Mules.

The closest the Yeomen came to winning a match that day was at the No. 2 spot, where the duo of first-year Abraham Davis and sophomore Callan Louis led 5–3 in an 8–8 tie break. Unfortunately, Louis, who was one of the victims of food poisoning, was unable to finish the match.

“I don’t know how, but we ended up two points away from winning the match when, after nearly two hours, Cal finally threw up all over the court and had to go to the ER,” Davis said. “We had to default, but I think longterm it will be a good experience because he showed me and the team that he would go to his limit to win.”

Junior Soren Zeliger serves the ball in a match earlier this season. The men’s tennis The next day, the Yeomen got vengeance team finished 3–4 in its spring break matches.

Courtesy of OC Athletics for the previous day’s beatdown as they easily beat the North Central College Cardinals

9–0 in their morning session. The team got singles victories from first-years Paul Farah and Lucas Brown, as well as from sophomore Brandon McKenna.

The Yeomen later finished the trip with a decisive 9–0 win over Buena Vista University. The No. 2 duo of Louis and Davis again played well, picking up an easy 8–0 win, and were then followed by a 6–0, 6–0 win from McKenna. Oberlin also saw singles victories from Farah, Brown and sophomore Parker Oka-Wong.

The team finally headed back to Ohio for one final win last Sunday against conference foe The College of Wooster. In the 8–1 victory, the Yeomen swept the doubles matches.

“I really feel like everyone pushed their game to a new level, and we brought a ton of energy on a consistent day-to-day basis while playing well against some of the best competition the country has to offer,” McKenna said.

“This week really showed us that we can compete with some of the top teams and [gave] us great confidence as both a team and individuals that I hope will serve as a catalyst for success down the home stretch of this year.”

The Yeomen, whose record now sits at 10–8, will host Case Western Reserve University at 2 p.m. and Denison University at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5, respectively.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, April 4, 2014

— Men’s Baseball—

Page 15

— Women’s Softball—

Yeomen Stick it Out with 10 Games in 5 Days

Yeowomen Go 2–6 in Florida Hannah Heinke-Green

Junior Jeff Schweighoffer steps up to the plate during a game at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Schweighoffer batted a lofty .607 during the Yeomen’s games in Arizona over spring break.

Courtesy of Jeff Schweighoffer

Hannah Heinke-Green The baseball team played well over spring break, ending its annual trip to Tucson, AZ, with a 7–3 record. Two of the games took place at Veterans Memorial Stadium where both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago White Sox played their spring training games.

“Playing at the stadium made me feel like a major leaguer,” said first-year Darren Zaslau.

The Yeomen played 10 games in just five days. Oberlin started off the week by earning a split with the University of Wisconsin-Superior. The following day the Yeomen clinched two big wins, first shutting out the Valley City State University Vikings and then easily defeating the Middlebury College Panthers.

Junior Justin Kidd and first-year Kyle Dominy both pitched against Valley City State and combined to shut out the Vikings offense. Kidd earned the victory with six strong innings, while Dominy picked up

the save by finishing the game with three no-hit innings. On the offensive side, the Yeomen had 10 hits in the game, with juniors Jeff Schweighoffer and Kyle Decker and sophomore Brian Hemmert recording two apiece.

Monday’s matchup with Hamline University ended with another split as the Yeomen lost the first game 5–10. However, Oberlin defeated Hamline with an 11–2 score later that afternoon.

The Yeomen recorded a similar result the next day against the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers.

The team lost its first game of the day 7–6, but came back and won its second game 4–3. Schweighoffer was again a big part of the offense, as he went four-for-six with a triple on the day. Senior Mike McDonald and junior Andrew Hutson also added three hits apiece in the doubleheader.

The team spent long hours at the ballpark nearly every day over the break, and keeping its focus proved to be a great challenge.

“It’s very difficult to concentrate for the many hours straight that we are at the ballpark, but if we work on locking down mentally for every pitch, we will be in great shape to be more successful than we already are,” Zaslau said.

The Yeomen concluded their trip with two impressive, high-scoring victories, defeating Carleton College 11–8 and Williams College 19–11.

Schweighoffer ended the trip as the team’s top hitter, hitting .676 over the break.

“Overall our team performed well on our trip,” Schweighoffer said.

“It is hard playing 10 games in five days, and coming away with seven wins is definitely something we are happy about. This trip prepared us for conference play, and if our bats stay hot and our pitching is more consistent, we will be tough to beat.”

The Yeomen came up victorious against Hiram College earlier this week, and will face Kenyon College this weekend. They will return home April 18 when they play Allegheny College.

— Women’s Tennis—

Yeowomen Fall to Strong Competition Lillian Jahan Over spring break, the women’s tennis team headed to Hilton Head, SC, and Fredericksburg, VA, where they played five matches, dropping all of them.

It was one of the toughest sets of teams the program has faced in a long time. Although they did not come away with any team victories, the experiences the Yeowomen gained throughout the week of competition were valuable.

“We knew we’d have our work cut out for us, playing five top-30 teams in a row, including the No. 1 team in the nation,” Head Coach Constantine Ananiadis said. “But we didn’t drive 2,000 miles to play teams that wouldn’t challenge us. We wouldn’t have it any other way. So overall, although we didn’t win any team matches, we proved to everyone — and more importantly, to ourselves— that we’re only a few shots, a few points away from climbing back into the top 30 teams in the country.”

To start off their week, the Yeowomen faced the 28th– ranked Carleton College Knights in Hilton Head.

In doubles, the Yeowomen took a 2–1 lead as the No. 1 duo of junior Grace Porter and first-year Emma Brezel, while No. 2 duo of senior Brenna Sheldon and sophomore Erin Johnson both won 8–3. In singles, Carleton turned the tide of the matchup, though at the No. 5 singles match, sophomore Ariana Abayomi battled and came out on top with a 6–3, 1–6, 10–6 win, giving the team its sole singles win. Ultimately, the team fell 4–5 to the Knights.

In the following match, the Yeowomen fell to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks 1–8, with Abayomi again winning her singles match.

The team then headed to Fredericksburg to play the No. 1–ranked Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays. Once again, the Yeowomen fought tooth and nail, but were ultimately defeated 1–8. For the second match in a row, Abayomi was able to give Oberlin its lone point, winning her singles match 3–6, 6–3, 12–10.

“After several hours, I was able to pull out the win, though [my opponent] did not give me an inch,” Abayomi said. “That was without a doubt the most difficult match I played all break — maybe in my whole college career thus far.”

The team finished its tough break with losses against the University of Mary Washington and Skidmore College.

Though the trip wasn’t a successful one as far as the winloss column is concerned, there was still a lot learned.

“This was by far the hardest string of five teams in a row I’ve seen since I’ve been at Oberlin,” said Sheldon. “We can definitely play with these girls, but we aren’t used to it. You really can’t learn how to compete at this level without facing this type of opponent. So while many girls had a painful week of losses, I know that it will pay off in the future.

We have plenty more tough matches to go, and I think this past week motivated us all to practice hard and well.”

The Yeowomen will travel to Wittenberg University on Saturday, April 5, before returning home to host Kalamazoo College at 9 a.m. the following day.

The softball team headed to Clermont, FL, over spring break, where the team played eight games, winning only two of them.

The Yeowomen began the trip with a 1–5 loss to Elmhurst College and a 4–7 loss to Rutgers University-Camden. Sophomore Jenny Hill and junior Jenny Goldsmith both went 2–3 in the second loss of the day.

Oberlin came out strong the next day, earning a close 4–3 win against Colby College.

“We kept the energy up the entire time, and I think that definitely contributed to the win,” Hill said.

Hill played an important role in the victory when she had a walk-off single down the left field line in the 10th inning of the game.

“There were probably 100 people watching the game, and we maintained our control and focus in such a great environment,” Head Softball Coach Mimi Mahon said.

The team then took on Kalamazoo College the same afternoon, but unfortunately could not maintain its momentum from the morning, losing 2–10.

On Tuesday the Yeowomen faced Thomas College and nationallyranked North Central College. Oberlin split the day, defeating Thomas College 11–3 and losing to North Central 5–11.

Goldsmith was four-for-four with an RBI and one run scored in the victory. Senior Emily King pitched the entire game, allowing just three hits and one earned run.

“Every starter on the team contributed at least one hit,” Mahon said.

Despite the afternoon loss, Mahon said she was still happy with her team’s performance. “I still view that as an incredible moment, as we are showing we can hang with anyone when we bring out focus and consistency both offensively and defensively,” she said. “If we bring that energy and effort as we head into conference, we could upset a lot of teams.”

The Yeowomen finished the break with two losses — the first to Union College and the second to the University of Chicago.

Although the Yeowomen only had two wins, the trip was a great opportunity for the team to bond and for its players to take a break from their usual academic schedule.

“We mesh very well together, which is important on any team,” Mahon said.

The Yeowomen will face Kenyon College this weekend and return home April 9 to host Denison University.

Editorial: Durant in Middle of Historic Season Continued from page 16 game, despite being the only go-to scoring threat on the team.

Arguments for either LeBron and Durant can easily be made, and while one might argue that LeBron should have the advantage because he’s won two championships to Durant’s zero, past accomplishments mean little for this season.

It could also be argued that LeBron has had to carry his Miami Heat team just as much this year with Dwyane Wade battling injury, but Wade has still managed to play 12 more games than Westbrook, and even without him, the Heat have Chris Bosh as a solid number two option. This isn’t to say that LeBron hasn’t carried the Heat for most of the season, just that, on the whole, he has had far more to work with than Durant.

Add in the fact that Durant is averaging more rebounds than LeBron and is a superior threat from the perimeter, and one can make a case that he has become the more dynamic player of the two. Durant has long been on par with LeBron as a scorer, but now that he has improved the rest of his game, it’s tough to choose between the two.

I’m not fully ready to say that LeBron has vacated his throne and that Durant is the new “King” of the NBA, but the fact that this topic needs discussing shows just how good Durant has become.

Whereas in the past LeBron was the clear-cut number one player in the NBA, he is now more of a 1 to Durant’s 1A. The Thunder has a better record than the Heat while playing in what is, by far, the superior conference, and they owe nearly all of that to Durant. Meanwhile, LeBron’s Heat have underachieved in a historically bad Eastern Conference.

Durant himself has said he is tired of being compared to LeBron, but as long as the two are in the league together, they will inevitably be looked at together.

Durant and LeBron are without a doubt the two best players in the game, and they play for two of the NBA’s best teams.

All I can hope for now is that the Heat and the Thunder meet in the NBA Finals so that the two can settle this debate once and for all.

Sports The Oberlin Review

— Women’s Lacrosse —

For First Time in over a Decade, Obies Crush Kenyon Sarena Malsin

Nate Levinson Sports Editor

things up,” said McCandlish.

Andrews cited the teams stats’ tendency to vary dramatically from game to game. “I think something we can focus on is consistency,” she added.

Overall, though, the mood is confident. “I want to see our freshmen be fearless later in the conference against hard matchups,” Hanick said. “We’re such a strong team.”

“I think we’re really in control of our destiny this year.” Andrews said, with her thoughts on the conference tournament. “I’m confident that we’re going to do well, and we’re going to be the ones who decide how far we make it.”

The Yeowomen currently sit 5–1 on the season and 1–1 in NCAC play after a 6–10 loss to Denison University earlier this week. Oberlin hopes to get back on track Saturday as it takes on DePauw University. The team returns home on April 9 to duke it out with the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University.

Flying Horsecows Go Down South, Come Out on Top able to play on North Fields, which is what we need more than anything, but we have sectionals next week and regionals in two weeks to prepare for.”

Though the team was ultimately unsatisfied with its results from the trip, the week was still a positive experience and a great opportunity to build team chemistry.

“The spring break trip is always great and kind of crazy,” said junior Mike Plotz. “During the week we stay at a lake house in Georgia with the women’s team. Knowing your teammates off the field really helps with on-the-field play. You develop a personal relationship with people and know what to expect from them.”

The Horsecows play in the Ohio Valley Region, which currently has four teams in the top 16 national spots, including the Horsecows, who are currently ranked No. 13. If the region continues to have four teams in the top 16, the four top finishers can head to national championships.

On April 12, the Flying Horsecows will travel to Versailles, Ohio, for sectionals, where they will face Kenyon College, Xavier University, Denison University, Ohio Wesleyan University, The College of Wooster, Ohio Northern University and John Carroll University.

See Editorial, page 15

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This spring break, the Ultimate Frisbee team ventured south to play in two different tournaments. The team headed into the week with an 11–7 record, and had high expectations given its strong season last year. Last spring, the Flying Horsecows placed fourth at sectionals, and headed into regionals, where they lost in the quarterfinals to Lehigh University by a score of 12–14.

On the first weekend of break, the Horsecows played in Myrtle Beach, SC, in Division-III Easterns. They played SUNY-Geneseo, Middlebury College, UNC Wilmington, UNC Asheville, North Park University, Davidson College and Brandeis University. Oberlin left the tournament with a winning record of 5–3, but got knocked out by Brandeis, finishing sixth overall.

“Going in, these were both tournaments we wanted to win, and we clearly came up short,” junior Alex Abramowitz said. “The first weekend we lost a couple very close games, but we were also short some guys, so we were all very gassed during the knockout games.”

Senior Nikhil Kalathil agreed. “We expected to do better than we actually did,” he said. “On

the first day, we had a few injuries that ended up hurting us pretty badly. On the second day, we were fielding a team of 11 healthy dudes, which was not quite enough to compete at the level we wanted to.”

The second tournament, Freaknik 2014, was in Atlanta, GA. The Horsecows faced the College of Charleston, Spring Hill College, Georgia Institute of Technology, Vanderbilt University, Auburn University, Georgia State University and its B team. The Horsecows finished in second place in the tournament, losing to Georgia State 11–12 in a sudden death game. They left the tournament with a winning record of 5–2.

“The second weekend was good, but we didn’t really bring it 100 percent,” Abramowitz said. “We still had enough to make it to the finals, but we ended up losing on ‘universepoint.’ We were going upwind and Georgia State was going downwind, so they had a very real advantage, but all the same, that was a tournament we should have won.”

Although the Horsecows expected to return home with a better record, the team is still confident about its upcoming tournaments.

“I think everyone came back from the weekend motivated to do better,” Kalathil said. “It has been frustrating because we have not been

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out as a positive as well. “Our transitions worked really well, and our transition defense played well against their transition offense,” Hanick said.

Daruwala called the defense on Sunday “really solid,” citing senior defender, co-captain and Review editor Sarah Orbuch and first-year goalkeeper Alexa L’Insalata as game changers. L’Insalata came away from the game with 13 saves.

The team is now looking ahead to the rest of its conference games, which McCandlish said could be challenging given the caliber of play among some of the other NCAC teams.

“We have to take it game by game,” she said.

Andrews agreed. “There are many different levels of play in NCAC, and we’re going to have to make sure we play Oberlin lacrosse as well as we can in all of our games,” she said.

The Yeowomen are optimistic about their prospects this season, but are ready to keep improving.

“Beating Kenyon has given us confidence, but we still have to work on some things and step some

For the majority of the last decade, LeBron James has unquestionably been the best player in the NBA (apologies to Kobe Bryant). His all-around play and ability to make his teammates better were unrivaled, but this season LeBron’s seat atop the basketball hierarchy has been called into question.

Well on his way to what should be the first of many MVP awards, Kevin Durant has placed himself firmly in the conversation for best player on the planet. The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 25-year-old superstar is averaging career highs of 32.2 points and 5.6 assists per game and has taken his game to a new level this season. He has now scored over 25 points in each of 39 consecutive games, the longest such streak since Michael Jordan did it in the 1985-86 season.

For those interested in advanced statistics, too, Durant’s Player Efficiency Rating is a league-leading 30.86. PER measures a player’s per-minute productivity and is perhaps the best statistical indicator of on-court play; such a high number indicates Durant’s dominance. Should he keep his grasp atop the PER rankings, he’d become the first player, other than LeBron, to lead the NBA in that category since the 2006-07 season.

The fact that Durant was without his injured all-star teammate Russell Westbrook for over two months of this season makes Durant’s season all the more impressive. In fact, he was even better in Westbrook’s absence. Durant led the Thunder to a 17–7 record, while upping his scoring average to 35 points per

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First-year Morgan Daruwala sprints to score against Randolph College. Daruwala helped the Yeowomen to a 15–5 victory with two goals, five ground balls and four caused turnovers.

Courtesy of Erik Andrews

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The women’s lacrosse team returned from spring break undefeated with victories over Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA, on March 23 and Kenyon College on March 29, its first victory over the Ladies in the past 12 years.

Randolph proved to be an easy win for the Yeowomen: junior and co-captain Kate Hanick described the game as “not much of a challenge, but it made going to Virginia worth it.”

The Yeowomen had 47 shots to Randolph’s 10, won 17 of the game’s 22 draws and were victorious with 26 ground ball battles to Randolph’s 11. Oberlin had six different players score, with the scoreboard reading 5–15 at the game’s end.

“It was our first time [this season] playing a team we didn’t know,” said Head Coach Lynda McCandlish. “We had to focus on ourselves more and our strategies.”

She added that it was great that the girls were getting plenty of shots off, but shooting accuracy is a weak spot for the young team.

Senior midfielder Sarah Andrews agreed with McCandlish.

“It wasn’t our best showing. Our shots could have used a lot of work.”

The Yeowomen’s shot percentage increased after their Kenyon game, though, making 14 of 27 shots, with a final score of 14–6 for their first North Coast Athletic Conference win of the season.

It was clear the Yeowomen were more than ready to break the curse and beat Kenyon on Sunday.

“The energy at the Kenyon game was so high — everyone was so excited, even on the sidelines,” said first-year Morgan Daruwala.

“Over the years, you definitely develop strong feelings toward certain teams since you play them every year,” Andrews said. “It’s a day that I’ve waited for for a really long time, and it felt so great.”

Beyond shot percentage, the team showed improvement all over the field.

“The attack showed a lot of patience, really waiting for the best opportunities,” McCandlish said.

Hanick added, “We used to be just a first half team, but we were scoring until the last minute.”

The team’s defensive performance was singled

April 4, 2014

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