Failure to Release Title IX

Failure to Release Title IX Survey Results Silences Survivors

Catherine Lee

An article titled “Oberlin Completes 2022 Campus Climate Survey ” published in the Review on April 22 reports on the recent completion of Oberlin’s fourth Higher Education Data Sharing Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey. This survey is an important tool for the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion as it provides information about the sexual violence happening on campus and the ways in which students, faculty, and staff must address it. The results from this survey, however, are not publicly available. Withholding this information prevents students from knowing exactly what ’s happening in their community and inhibits them from having a broader conversation about sexual assault.

Many colleges and universities utilize the same survey Oberlin administered to assess the prevalence of sexual assault on their respective campuses. Unlike Oberlin, however, many schools that conduct this survey share the information they collect. Kenyon College, Boston University, Northeastern University, and Regis College all conducted the same survey and published their results on their websites. Each of these reports includes exact statistics and can be accessed in a matter of minutes. However, the problem doesn’t only lie in the fact that Oberlin won’t release the data from the most recent survey — the College hasn’t released information from any of the surveys conducted in years past.

The Review’s news article on the survey highlights the guarded nature of this information. “While students and faculty can request the data for research purposes, they are not allowed to disseminate it, ” the article reads. Why can the results of the survey be accessed only under specific circumstances and in the name of research? Why are those who do have access to this information not allowed to share it? The prevalence of sexual assault on campus is something that the student body should be aware of.

While Oberlin does hold the Title IX-mandated compulsory consent education and bystander training to aid in minimizing the prevalence of sexual assault on campus, these efforts must continue outside of workshops in order to be effective. How can students understand the importance of this training if they can’t grasp the scope of the problem itself? Resources like Survivors of Sexual Harm & Allies and the Counseling Center are available to survivors, however, these outlets are ultimately remedial and can only really be utilized after harm has already been done. Oberlin is missing a crucial middle piece that addresses sexual harm on a cultural level, and those conversations can’t happen until we have the necessary information about the sexual harm that occurs on campus.

Withholding this information ignores the problem of sexual assault instead of addressing it and speaks volumes about the College’s priorities. Yes, confidentiality is extremely important when it comes to protecting survivors’ identities, but releasing data from an anonymous survey in the form of aggregate statistics would not breach this privacy or reveal any personal information. The only thing this nondisclosure protects is the false perception that sexual assault doesn’t happen, when it most certainly does.

Experiencing harm is already incredibly isolating. In addition to inhibiting critical conversations on campus, withholding information about the prevalence of this problem furthers feelings of isolation. By failing to speak out against a very real issue on campus, the College fails to acknowledge just how serious sexual assault is. It sends the message See Title IX, page 12

COMIC Rainy Day Traffic

Holly Yelton, Staff Cartoonist

Reflections From a Mildly Terrified First-Year

Emma Benardete Opinions Editor

When we think about the end of the year, we often think about the graduating seniors. We think about how they will have their last class, last exam, last party, last walk in Tappan Square, and last DeCafé snack run. We anticipate their walk across a stage where they ’ll be handed a diploma and then no longer be college students. Of course that transition is huge and scary, and I somewhat dread the emotional rollercoaster that will be my graduation three years from now. However, I also think there is merit in recognizing that even smaller changes — the changes between years or even semesters — can be nerve-wracking, especially for younger students.

At the start of spring semester, everything felt super weird and different and scary. It took a while before it dawned on me why: my entire first semester at Oberlin had consisted of the same classes, the same ExCos, the same professors, the same extracurriculars, and the same co-editor at the Review. That was the Oberlin I knew. In one fell swoop, all of that changed. I kept only one of the same professors, I started taking entirely different ExCos, and the person I had worked with most closely at the Review left to prioritize his honors thesis.

Now, once again, my Oberlin experience will change in both exciting and scary ways. I look forward to lightening my academic load by opting for some easier courses. I am excited to become Editor-in- Chief of the Review and work even more closely with our incredible staff and two amazing co-leaders. I am excited by the prospect of spending more time in VIBE Tap, and I hope to perform in a few small group numbers in our showcase next semester.

Despite all this, I cannot deny that I am also a little bit sad and scared. As at the end of the fall semester, there are things that have remained constant throughout my time at Oberlin that will be different next year. Despite my excitement to become Editor-in- Chief, I will be sad to leave the Opinions section behind. I will miss having my three pages to fill, writing as much for the section as I do now, and working with writers to help them tell the stories that are important to them.

I will miss my dorm room. I cannot say if it is even a particularly good room, but it feels like home. Since I moved in the first day of Orientation, its four walls have been there for me through thick and thin, providing a space to study, sleep, have Zoom meetings, and get away from other people.

I will miss the people who are graduating. I will miss dancing with our wonderful VIBE directors and attending Review pitch meetings with our graduating Editor-in- Chief and Managing Editor. I will miss my very first co-editor who, even after leaving the section, has continued to provide a listening ear and good advice and has been a friendly face around campus.

I suppose all of this is to say, to my fellow first-years — though this may also be applicable to second-, third-, and double- degree fourth-years — even though we are not yet graduating, things are changing whether we like it or not. Find the things that you can hold onto. Make sure you stay in touch with your friends who are graduating. Find ways to stay connected with people who are not graduating but who you got to know this year and may not be interacting with as much come fall — you might learn something new about them too. Go back and visit the clubs that you joined and fell in love with but cannot make the time to continue with regularly — I always love when former Review staff members come visit us.

This may not be the most massive life change you have ever experienced, but it is not insignificant. It is likely that you, like me, are feeling sad and scared and a whole range of other emotions along with the excitement for the new school year, and that is entirely okay. You do not have to be going through some major life crisis or have your world turned entirely upside- down for your feelings of anxiety and sadness to be valid. If there is anything I would hope you would take away from all of this, it is a piece of advice I received from a friend a few weeks ago. We were walking home to North Campus one night and they said, “Just let yourself be a freshman.” So, to whatever first-years are reading this: just let yourself be a freshman.

Lack of Representation in East Asian Studies Must be Addressed

Continued from page 10

In addition, the East Asian Studies major at Oberlin is quite limited. According to the program website, “Oberlin’s Department of East Asian Studies stands out within a liberal arts context for its faculty expertise in all three major regional areas: China, Korea, and Japan.” That severely limits the vast number of Asian cultures one can learn about. South Asian Studies in particular is a program that is long overdue at Oberlin.

Although he is not majoring in East Asian Studies, double-degree third-year Suvan Agarwal has had a positive experience with classes in the East Asian Studies department. However, he believes Oberlin could greatly benefit from a South Asian Studies program, and is disappointed by its exclusion.

“The lack of South Asian Studies at Oberlin goes beyond inclusion and representation — it is an institutional weakness,” Agarwal wrote in an email to the Review. “South Asia is home to about a quarter of the world’s people and contains the fastest growing economies in the world. Nearly all of the best schools in America have strong South Asian Studies programs, and Oberlin is an exception by choosing to support only East Asian Studies. I think that in time … the school will be wishing they had developed such connections sooner.”

All this being said, I want to reiterate that I respect the time and dedication it takes to study East Asian culture. I think it’s important for everyone to take the time to engage with East Asian Studies while they’re at Oberlin. However, I want non-Asian students and professors to think critically about why they’re choosing to study East Asian culture, and how they will continuously support Asian students inside and outside the classroom. Do you see the need for South Asian Studies at Oberlin, or do you only perceive Asia as Japan, Korea, and China? Are you studying East Asian cultures because you are genuinely interested, or because of a sick fetish from your favorite anime or K-pop group? Will you speak out against anti-Asian racism and orientalism, or will you look the other way? Do you recognize the space you’re taking up, or do you talk over Asian Americans advocating for themselves?

“You’re studying something that you will never understand, and that’s fine.” Ready said. “That’s what a lot of academia is. But it’s not just math. It’s not just science and physics. It is a culture. It is where people come from. It is what people feel proud of. It is where people connect and love and speak to their families. It is so much more than just a major. It is home. It is love.”

Title IX Survey Data Should be Public

Continued from page 11 that they don’t care, that what happened to survivors doesn’t matter. Inadvertently, this enables a culture of tolerance toward sexual assault, one that lets abusers get away while telling survivors to deal with their problems silently and privately.

In an email I received from Oberlin Title IX Coordinator Rebecca Mosely, she wrote that some key statistics would be pulled from the most recent data and published in a report this fall. However, she did not say which statistics would be used or why the general data won’t be available, or provide any information from previous surveys. I’m not optimistic, as Oberlin often fails to keep its promises. Hopefully, if the results are released in the fall, next year will be different.

While I personally believe that this information should be made available on the College’s website so that prospective students know what they’re getting into, there is a middle ground. Oberlin could disseminate the data internally to students, faculty, and staff without releasing it to the general public. If students had this information, it would encourage us to become more vigilant and learn how to better support our peers.

Conservatory

Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble Performs Final Concert

Walter Thomas-Patterson

Conservatory Editor

The Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble, the premier Conservatory Jazz ensemble, played its final concert of the year at the Allen Memorial Art Museum on May 5. The group is named after legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who provided the financial support for the group’s creation and a core vision for its focus to center both musical performance and community service.

Ensemble membership is determined by Jazz professors who select students based on a set of four standards: an audition for the Jazz faculty, academic accomplishment, public service, and a written response to a question about jazz and its place in the world.

The creation of the Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble was a multi-step, multiyear process stretching back to 2018 that involved distinguished author and Oberlin alum James McBride, OC ’79, Professor of Jazz Guitar Bobby Ferrazza, and Sonny Rollins himself. The initial plan was for Rollins to donate a sum of money to create a scholarship for an individual student, but due to a change in the amount of money for the scholarship, a new plan was devised — an idea that reenvisioned the scope and impact of Rollins’ donation.

“What happened originally is that Sonny Rollins was looking for a school to partner with to pass along some of the ideals he thought were really important,” Ferrazza said. “We can reduce those ideals down to the importance of helping others.”

Ferrazza explained that after hearing about the change in the amount of money being donated, he took a day to rethink how the money could be used. He came up with the idea of using Rollins’ scholarship to create an endowed ensemble that rotated yearly.

“The idea of a group is actually way more compelling to me because it gets to the entire department — the idea is impacting everybody on a larger scale,” Ferrazza said.

Ferrazza elaborated that the adoption of a group framework fit well within Rollins’ belief in the Golden Rule, a biblical proverb that stipulates “Do unto others as you would do for yourself.” The group would be as much about performing as it would be about service to others.

“Sonny talks a lot about the Golden Rule, and he wants young people to know that by helping others you are improving yourself as a musician,” Ferrazza said. “In Sonny’s experience, you become a deeper musician, and he wanted a school to partner with to get that idea across.”

For third-year Jazz Guitar major Archer Parks, who is one of the nine members of this year’s group, the fact that membership was selected by professors proved to be a new challenge in the quest to develop a productive, cohesive working environment. Normally, students are expected to choose their own groups, which creates a degree of preestablished familiarity for ensemble members — they often already know each other before they collaborate.

“This is the only group I have been in where it hasn’t been chosen by students,” Parks said. “It was a new experience of trying to make everything mesh. With this, finding how it meshes was a really fruitful experience.”

According to third-year Jazz Trumpet Performance major Armen Krakirian, the chance to collaborate with people he normally wouldn’t work with made the group feel less mechanical.

“We don’t sound like a bunch of people put into a room to play music,” Krakirian said. “We have developed a cohesive sound.”

The ensemble’s emphasis on giving back to the community has provided a refreshing alternative Conservatory environment that emphasizes personal and artistic development.

“I feel like when you’re in a Conservatory headspace, you’re always thinking, what kind of hip s**t can I put on this thing,” Parks said. “You’re always playing for people, and they don’t want to hear a bunch of s**t all of the time. At the end of your day, you’re trying to give something to somebody, and sometimes when you’re in a Conservatory mode, it’s easy to forget that. It’s easy to lose sight that we’re here to make music for people, to try to deliver a message or invoke a feeling.”

Although COVID-19 and the most recent shuttering of many Winter Term activities due to the Omicron variant have interrupted the group’s ability to give performances, the memories of outreach performances such as in San Francisco through the SFJAZZ Center has provided a powerful reminder of the group’s potential for service.

Ferrazza explained what made the experience so moving: it was more than just music-making among peers at a prestigious Conservatory.

“The year that we went to San Francisco and worked with homeless people there, that was a really powerful experience,” Ferrazza said. “The first thing we did was we went and played a concert. Then the next morning we came back, and just served breakfast, cut vegetables, and handed over plates of food. We brought people things that they asked for. There’s a certain thing that happens after that shared experience. You go to the next rehearsal, you go to the next concert that you’re doing with the group. And you’ve had this shared experience where you don’t even have to talk about it. You just have this sense of what’s important in life and how that can impact you. You know, naturally it’s gonna impact you as an artist and how you’re going to express [yourself] as a musician.”

Sonny Rollins Jazz Ensemble

Illustration by Molly Chapin