ResEd Dismisses Requests to Revive Third World House

Henry Larson Columnist

These past two and a half years of COVID-19 have made approaching health exceedingly challenging. In communities like Oberlin, where most students work, eat, and live together full time, this is especially true. In response to this seemingly never-ending peril, Oberlin, like other colleges, has developed a two-pronged focus on prevention and management this fall semester. Thus far, Oberlin’s prevention policy seems to be more effective than its management policy but both have their strengths and shortcomings.

Oberlin’s COVID prevention strategy can be summarized as follows: through Sept. 10, masks are required indoors except in individual dorm rooms, and all meals are grab and go. After Sept. 10, wearing masks indoors will be optional, but masking protocols are subject to change based on COVID cases in the surrounding community. As a first-year, I have not seen how the Oberlin administration dealt with COVID in the past, and I half expected mandated mask-wearing in classrooms and dormitories throughout the year. I am personally relieved that was not the direction they decided to go.

For one, wearing masks makes being a first-year more intimidating. Seeing other people’s faces is incredibly important when interacting, especially when meeting new people — an activity that has consumed a lot of my time at Oberlin thus far. It’s hard to walk into a room of strangers and, instead of finding friendly faces, finding friendly masks. I would also argue that the learning process is, to some degree, impeded by those lurking masks — if not one’s ability to learn from a professor, then at the very least one’s propensity to participate and actively engage with the course material.

I would argue that Oberlin could have been even more liberal with its COVID policies these first few weeks. For example, the mandated graband-go lunch style doesn’t seem like a necessary step. Again, speaking as a first-year student, mealtimes provide students with a prime opportunity to meet classmates and forge friendships outside of one’s dorm. Oberlin’s website mentions that these temporary policies were decided upon in an effort “to reduce the potential impact of the large migration to campus,” but because almost everyone coming to campus this year had to show proof of full vaccination, it seems that this potential impact had already been reduced.

This isn’t to say that caution is unnecessary, especially with a deadly virus. However, there is a tangible apathy to COVID guidelines around campus. Many students are relatively indifferent to mask-wearing within dorms and when meeting with friends, and if COVID were to materialize, it would likely spread with or without these “until Sept. 10” policies. While I wouldn’t make the argument that rules shouldn’t be made at all if few are likely to follow them, I do think it wise of the Oberlin administration to not push too hard on these regulations at the beginning of the semester when COVID doesn’t seem to be a significant threat. Overall, though, Oberlin’s prevention efforts have been reasonable, and it’s important to show Oberlin students and their parents early on in the year that the school is mindful of the COVID crisis. College students don’t like being told what to do either way, but if there is a rise in COVID cases in the future, students may be more likely to take Oberlin’s emergency measures seriously later if the school is more lenient now. Perhaps it would stress the gravity of the situation.

This semester’s COVID quarantine policy is a different story. If a student contracts COVID, they must self-isolate for “five days after symptoms surface.” While in isolation, students can pick up grab-and-go meals from the dining halls, but if they are too sick to pick up their own meals, they may contact Campus Dining Services to have meals delivered. Healthy students whose roommates are COVID-positive are advised to wear a mask and “maintain social distance as much as possible,” while continuing to live in the same room.

It seems irresponsible to force a healthy student to continue to be in close quarters with someone who has tested positive for COVID. In making this decision, Oberlin has overestimated the efficacy of a piece of cloth or polyester. Catching COVID while working and sleeping in the same area as an infected person is not inevitable, but it is still very likely. Additionally, the CDC does not recommend wearing a mask while sleeping, even in shared sleeping spaces. I understand that this year, due to the massive influx of students, Oberlin is short on available rooms, but separating COVID-positive students and their roommates should be a priority to prevent the spread of COVID and keep healthy students healthy.

Another more easily addressed issue with this policy is that students with COVID are allowed to go into public dining halls, even after the campus-wide mask mandate expires. Again, masks are effective, but they are not miracle devices, and permitting sick students to roam campus seems very risky. A dining hall is an area frequented by many people who could potentially get infected. It obviously isn’t realistic to demand that CDS deliver meals to every student with COVID, but it should not be an option solely restricted to those who are too sick to walk. Perhaps students should be encouraged to give their phones or ID cards to roommates or friends so they can pick up food for them, with going in person or seeking delivery from CDS being a last resort.

With that being said, it is good that Oberlin has made COVID testing so readily available, and the website does mention that there may be some sort of temporary housing for healthy roommates who are immunocompromised. This is not meant to be a stern rebuke of Oberlin and the decisions made by the administration, but rather an observation that there is room for improvement in this incessant struggle to combat COVID.

Lanie Cheatham

The Third World Program House, located in Price House on South campus, has a rich and important history at Oberlin College. It was established in 1973 upon the principles of Third World Internationalism and the Third World Liberation Front — multiracial coalitions of radical organizers working to build solidarity among the nations and peoples of the Third World. As of fall 2022, it has been converted into a traditional first-year residential hall.

Last May, I contacted the Office of Residential Education to inquire about TWH, which hadn’t been operating as the full program house since the pandemic began. They told me that it did not seem like it held much interest in the community for the upcoming semester, but that they could consider operating it as TWH if they learned about students interested in the space.

Eleven days later, I sent ResEd a list of 50 names of interested upperclassmen students, enough to fill the house without even including incoming first-years. They were quick to shut me down, responding that they had already filled the building and I could try reorganizing next year, although no one had moved into the building yet and the housing placements had barely been assigned.

I informed former TWH Residential Assistant Serena Zets, OC ’22, about ResEd’s decision to fill the house as a traditional hall. They expressed concern and sadness at how quickly such a historic hall was being dissolved.

“It is one thing to say that there is no demonstrated interest, but the deep root of that is that they didn’t do anything to garner interest,” Zets said.

According to the Oberlin College and Conservatory website, Price served as a “safe space for those who self-identify as a marginalized person including people of color; first generation students; low-income students; lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, and transgender students; and allies of these persons.”

TWH is a program house that requires care and education. Most Ober-

lin students don’t know what TWH is, and most people don’t even know what Third World Internationalism is. The College needs to do a better job of educating students about this housing option. TWH is an integral part of Oberlin’s history that must be preserved.

“The mission statement [of TWH] was to serve as a space for those communities but also to serve as a space for organizing and a catalyst for those communities coming together,” Zets said.

Now, Price is traditional housing, just another symptom of over-enrollment and the College’s general disregard for preserving safe spaces on campus. The doubles in Price have been converted into triples. Other identity-based residence halls, such as Zechiel House, are dealing with ResEd’s seemingly haphazard placement of people who did not request to be in an identity-based safe space, while other students in search of a safe space dorm are left floundering.

TWH served not only as a safe space but also as a hub for activism and civic engagement. The lounge contains a mural depicting historical figures such as Che Guevara, Malcolm X, and Mohandas Gandhi, and TWH brought in several prominent activists to speak to

students, including Cesar Chavez, Dr. Trinh T. Minh-ha, and Kwame Ture.

“When the [United Auto Workers] organizing was happening, all of those meetings took place in Third World House,” Zets said. “When students were fighting against austerity measures, all of that happened in Third World House.”

TWH was an invaluable space for students of all backgrounds to convene and work together to learn with each other and fight against injustice. Marginalized students at Oberlin face issues that are too often ignored by the administration and larger student body.

“I think it is really indicative of the direction Oberlin is headed, that it took it from being such a radical and historic house to now just an overstuffed, overfull [first-year] residence,” Zets said.

College fourth-year Stephanie Shugert lived in TWH her first year. She enjoyed her experience in TWH as a multicultural safe space for undocumented students, first-generation students, and scholarship students.

“It was really interesting to engage with these people from different identities in our lounge with the mural and everything,” Shugert said. “We talked about our histories, our peoples’ histories, but also how being at Oberlin in a space like Third World was upholding how our presence at Oberlin is in and [of] itself a way of social justice, in trying to bridge the gap between the educational disparities of marginalized peoples.”

Soon, the last students who found solace in TWH — such as Shugert — will graduate, and the history of the house will be lost to new students.

“There aren’t many safe spaces on the campus, or there aren’t many spaces for people to feel authentically themselves and feel comfortable existing in, let alone to build community and foster dialogue in,” Zets said. “And so the fact that there was a whole house where that was part of its dedicated mission was really important, and that it was so open and welcoming and that it could also house allies who were willing to engage and become involved was important because it was one of the few spaces at Oberlin that purposefully did that. I think the fact that it is not there anymore makes that kind of community building less possible.”

TWH was an invaluable space for students of all backgrounds to convene and work together to learn with each other and fight against injustice.

Access to Trans Health Care Threatened in Ohio

Continued from Page 5 integration with other children, the elimination of the need for future surgeries, and reduced thoughts or actions related to selfharm. According to a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, about 1.8 percent of high school students identify as transgender — 35 percent of whom have attempted suicide over the past year.

Additionally, a different survey found that out of 20,000 transgender adults, the adults who received gender-related medical treatments in their youth were less likely to experience suicidal thoughts. Many doctors who provide treatments for transgender youth are well aware of these positive outcomes and consider this bill a breach of their Hippocratic Oath. Dr. Scott Leibowitz, psychiatrist and the medical director of Behavioral Health with the THRIVE Gender Development Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, explained, “It’s a double standard to completely withhold a form of known beneficial medical interventions.”

Regardless of the abundant benefits experienced as a result of gender-affirming medical treatments and the serious negative consequences faced by those without access to such treatments, I oppose this legislation on the same grounds that I oppose anti-abortion laws: because they take away one’s autonomy. How someone chooses to alter their body should be completely up to them, not politicians.

I’m also upset and concerned because this bill was not created in isolation. This transphobic type of legislation has been appearing across the country. At least 10 other states have introduced similar bills: Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Thankfully, South Dakota’s bill was rejected on Feb. 10, and was even met with some Republican opposition. Hopefully Ohio will follow in South Dakota’s footsteps, but in the meantime, we must do our part: Call your representatives and vote in 2020.

Oberlin Must Publicly Divest from Fossil Fuels

Written by Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment Working Group Steering Committee: Susan K. Chandler, OC ’65; Molly Cornell, OC ’65; Sylvia Greene, OC ’65; Sally St. John Volkert, OC ‘65

On May 20 of this year, the Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment Working Group sent a call to Oberlin officials to join the College’s commitment to campus-wide carbon neutrality by 2025 with a public pledge to divest completely from fossil fuels by the same date. This call to action, which was addressed to Board of Trustees Chair Chris Canavan; Chief Investment Officer Jun Yang; Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary Matthew Lahey; President Carmen Twillie Ambar; and other Oberlin officials, has now been signed by 190 students, faculty members, and alumni.

The economic and political power of corporations which have reaped significant profits from fossil fuel extraction is unparalleled. It is only through collective action that there is a chance to stop irreversible environmental harm. This venture would add Oberlin’s name to the long list of colleges and universities that have made their divestment from fossil fuels public. Moreover, it would align Oberlin with the millions worldwide who see the disproportionate impact of climate change on those living in poverty, people of color, and today’s youth. As stated in our letter, what we want is for Oberlin to take on a larger moral responsibility, one that takes a stand against our planet’s ultimate existential threat.

In turn, we received two responses: one from Chris Canavan, whose comments were included in a May 20, 2022 article in the Review, “Student Groups Demand Divestment from Fossil Fuels,” and a second from Jun Yang in a May 24 email to the Working Group. The responses from Canavan and Yang were appreciated.

“The endowment’s exposure to fossil fuels is small and shrinking,” Canavan wrote. “This is deliberate. We haven’t made any new investments connected to fossil fuels for some time, and we are letting go of legacy investments as fast as we feasibly can. Our legacy exposures are mostly tied up in investments that can’t easily be liquidated overnight.”

We appreciate the Board’s decision to reduce fossil fuel holdings, and, from previous research, were not surprised by the numbers in their report. However, neither Canavan nor Yang’s report on the present level of current holdings addressed the central idea of the call: the importance of a clear and public fossil fuel divestment policy. Meanwhile, 64 U.S. colleges and universities — including sister institutions like Middlebury, Amherst, Dartmouth, and Kenyon — have issued commitments to full divestment.

For example, in a fall 2021 public statement, Dartmouth stated that it had “launched a comprehensive plan to put forth solutions to help address the ongoing climate crisis, both locally and globally. The plan consists of a diverse set of measures focusing on three areas of impact: research and education, energy efficiency and resiliency on campus, and strategic investment of endowment funds, which includes investing in energy transitions while reducing all fossil fuel holdings to zero.”

The context and framing of this discussion are also important.

“We want a face-to-face meeting with [the Board of Trustees],” Courtney Horner, a third-year College student and member of the working group, wrote. “We want to work with them, not against them. Jun Yang writes about supporting current and future generations of the Oberlin community. That is the exact same thing that we are doing. If [the Board] is not actually listening to and working with the current generation, their support is useless. If I’ve learned one thing from my Oberlin education, it’s that solutions that don’t consider all members of the community they’re trying to help only create more problems.”

We don’t doubt that there are members of the Board of Trustees who share our urgent concern. Many have dedicated considerable energy to issues of justice for farmworkers, women, and racial minorities, as well as to science and democracy. We call on Chair Canavan and the Executive Committee to put this call for a public pledge to divest from fossil fuels before the Board at its Oct. 6–7 meeting — and to invite the participation of all sectors of the Oberlin community.

Housing Shortage Indicative of Larger Problems at Oberlin

Zoey Birdsong Columnist

This fall, Oberlin welcomes its largest first-year class on record for the second year in a row. Many departments, such as Campus Dining Services and the Office of the Registrar, are figuring out how to adapt to accommodate the influx of students, but Residential Education has been under noticeable strain as it tries to find living spaces for everyone. These difficulties have immediate consequences for students, but they are also indicative of a pattern at Oberlin.

According to the Office of Institutional Research, Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences received 10,340 applications for the class of 2026, eclipsing last year’s record-setting 9,243 applications and the 7,979 applications received the year before. The class of 2025 was the largest incoming class in at least 20 years, with 777 students in the College and 87 more in the Conservatory. According to Manuel Carballo, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid, this year’s first-year class has, in total, 893 students, including transfers. The size of these last two first-year classes was due, in part, to pandemic-related deferrals — but that isn’t the only thing at play.

More students are now applying to Oberlin because it has become easier to do so. Over the past few years, the Office of Admissions has eliminated several aspects of the application process such as the application fee, the supplemental essay, and the SAT/ACT requirement. Now, people who can’t pay application fees or don’t have time to write extra essays may have an easier time applying to Oberlin. I applaud these changes.

By driving up applications, Oberlin can increase class sizes — and tuition revenue — while maintaining their selective acceptance rate. I can’t say for certain that this was the motivation behind these changes, but it is an effect that the Admissions Office could have predicted.

Larger incoming class sizes mean that more students get the chance to attend Oberlin, but it also means that Oberlin has less room for its students. ResEd has recently struggled to meet demands for housing. Last year, they converted dorm lounges into rooms, sent out an email asking upperclassmen to secure off-campus housing a month before students returned to campus, and even used The Hotel at Oberlin for student housing. This year, they had to stretch the capacity of some residential spaces by assigning extra students to them, even, in a few instances, placing upperclassmen in housing with firstyears. A few weeks ago, ResEd also considered pairing Resident Assistants with roommates, even though single rooms are part of the job agreement.

ResEd’s handling of the situation isn’t ideal, but they don’t have much control over the matter. They can’t decide how many students Oberlin admits, but they still have to figure out how to stretch the available housing to fit everyone. They’re just trying to compensate for a mess they didn’t make. If I were them, I’d probably try the same tactics.

Over enrollment is also not entirely the fault of the admissions office. Rather, it’s part of a pattern at Oberlin and in higher education in general: putting finances above student interest. Recently, Oberlin has faced pressure to cut costs across the board, as evidenced by several significant cost-reducing changes, such as outsourcing the dining and health services to AVI Foodsystems and Harness Health Partners respectively.

The Oberlin administration deserves criticism for poor planning and foresight. Administrators should have considered their ability to accommodate more students as they set admissions and enrollment targets. While it is valid for upperclassmen to be frustrated about resources on campus being stretched, it is important to remember that no one person or group is responsible for the current housing crisis. Every member of the large first-year class deserves to be here, and I am glad that so many people have the chance to get to know and love Oberlin the way I do. Regardless of the challenges stated above, it’s worth celebrating that so many more people are getting an Oberlin College education.

Nobody can change the number of students on campus this year. We can adapt to the crowded dorm rooms and King hallways and choose to see the extra first-years as an excellent addition to our community. Now, I think our focus should be on pressuring the administration to put its students first so we don’t end up in this situation again, especially now that there are more of us.