The Oberlin Review
APRIL 11, 2014 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 20
Local News Bulletin
ESTABLISHED 1874 oberlinreview.org
ONLINE & IN PRINT
News Brief: Students Protest Policy Change
News briefs from the past week Oberlin Coalition Posts Letter of Solidarity The Oberlin Coalition penned a letter to the campus community on Monday, affirming their support for over 30 Dartmouth students who occupied the College President Phil Hanlon’s office from April 1 to April 3. In February, Dartmouth student activists issued a list of demands entitled the “Freedom Budget,” urging the administration to address issues of diversity and sexuality on campus. The 70-item “budget” requested more racial minorities in the faculty, gender-neutral housing and restrooms, prohibition of the term “illegal immigrant,” on campus and severe disciplinary consequences for sexual offenders, among other demands. After the students were met with neglect and silence from the administration, students took action and stormed the president’s office. Ten students stayed overnight, and rejoined 75 more peers outside the building on Wednesday, April 3. Dartmouth administrators refused to confront the demands directly, and Hanlon only engaged the students to discourage their protest. The Coalition’s letter declares a stance of solidarity with the Dartmouth protestors and was posted on Facebook and printed in Fearless and Loathing. The text alludes to the need for a heightened consciousness in higher education and an attempt to mitigate the “oppressive nature” of institutional systems. “At Oberlin,” the letter reads, “generations of frustrated, ignored, and underrepresented students have fought for the liberties we are accustomed to today. It is our responsibility to ourselves, to our peers, and to our fellow students at colleges around the country to take direct action to address the needs of the students.” Source: Huffington Post
College junior Evan Delano (pictured above) addresses the crowd, who gathered to peacefully voice their concerns and promote financial accessibility. Students assembled outside of the Cox Administration Building yesterday afternoon to protest a recent amendment to the financial aid policy. Previously, the College did not adjust the financial aid packages of students who decided to opt out of CDS and ResEd to live or dine in OSCA, or paid for a reduced meal plan within CDS. “Financial aid will not be affected by your choice of meal plan,” the old policy read. The new policy stipulates that financial aid awards will be “adjusted accordingly” bsaed on OSCA membership — both dining and housing — and the cost of student’s meal plans. ResEd did not formally announce the change, but once students discovered the amended policy, several posted to Facebook and printed fliers to alert the student body. According to the flier, the modifications threaten many students’ ability to pay tuition, reduce financial accessibility, and compromise the College’s commitment to diversity. Photo coutesy of Waylon Cunningham
Local Leaders Deliver “State of the City” Address Elizabeth Dobbins Staff Writer Oberlin City Manager Eric Norenberg and City Council President Scott Broadwell delivered a State of the City Address at the Oberlin Inn last week to an audience of Oberlin residents. The municipal leaders addressed the future of safety, economic development, tourism, sustainability and partnerships, infrastructure and the city as a model for social justice and race relations, along with many other future Oberlin developments. “It gave us an opportunity to let the community know, the broader community, the College and city… where we’re at, some of the things we have been working on and a little bit in places where we want to go,” said Broadwell. Norenberg and Broadwell laid out the
city’s goals and priorities for the 2014-2015 city council term and beyond. One of the councilmen’s immediate concerns is ensuring the passage of Issue 22, which calls for a 0.6 percent income tax increase from 1.9 to 2.5 percent for the next 10 years. The proposed tax is expected to raise approximately $1.8 million in revenue for the city’s general fund over a 10-year span. “Issue 22 is critically important for the city to restore money that’s lost in recent years to state budget cuts and things like that,” Norenberg said. The city’s general fund currently has a $1.2 million budget shortfall. Over the past three years, the state has made sweeping changes to local government funds — both reducing federal funding by 42 percent and terminating the Estate Tax, a tax on the transfer of assets from deceased residents to their next of kin. Last
Jeremy Comes (to Oberlin) Adult film star Ron Jeremy talks about sex and the law. See page 4
En garde Fashion Foward Students modeled African-inspired fashions for a good cause. See page 12
INDEX:
Opinions 5
This Week in Oberlin 8
The fencing team travelled to Knoxville, TN last weekend. See page 16
Arts 10
Sports 16
year, Oberlin’s budget was cut by 10 percent, with similar cuts to this year’s budget. According to Norenberg, the proposed tax increase has garnered some local resistance. “We have heard from a few people attending presentations who feel the increase may be too much,” Norenberg said in an email to the Review. “However, I think everyone is supportive of the city and understands the need to maintain the quality of our services. In addition, the possibility of letting one or two of our other income tax levies expire in 2018 or 2019 — if revenues rebound and the city doesn’t take another financial hit — is reassuring.” The general fund goes toward services such as the police and fire department, maintaining parks, and public works. See City, page 4
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Senators Set Out to Improve Campus Health Services Kristopher Fraser The diagnosis is grim for Student Health Services, but three student senators are more optimistic about its prognosis. The recently formed Student Health Working Group, headed by College sophomore Ziya Smallens joined by College junior Peter Arden and College sophomore Mia Wallace, will work this semester to improve campus health services, which many students understand to be ineffectual, inaccessible and inconvenient. As the chair of the Student Health Working Group, Smallens says his role is to hear student concerns regarding health services and formulate solutions. “Student health is a bit of a dirty word on campus, and I want to fix that,” Smallens said. The Student Health Working Group has five major goals: to institute more accommodating walk-in hours, improve transportation offerings for off-campus mental health
resources and counseling, implement a peer mentorship program, streamline online resources and improve evaluative resources. Although the work is already underway, Smallens emphasized that the working group’s projects are at varying stages of development. “When it comes to evaluative resources, John Harshbarger [director of Student Health and Counseling Services] expressed having someone in-house that can receive student opinions on their service,” Smallens said. He also said that the group is working to simplify online resources, a goal he thinks is achievable in the foreseeable future. “Other things where there isn’t so much progress is transportation. When I talked to Dean [of Students Eric] Estes that seemed to be the least realistic goal, … as it is the one that would require financial capital,” he said. While Smallens is leading the effort to expand mental health services, Arden has been pushing for reforms to promote physical health
and wellness on campus. The twoterm senator ran on a platform that emphasized the importance of improving health services on campus and is currently spearheading an effort to add an emergency medical technician course to the College’s offerings. Arden said that one of the reasons he believes an EMT program is so essential is that it provides an alternative for students who don’t want to or can’t afford to move on to grad school after graduation. “I’m working with Lorain [County Joint] Vocational School to try and set up a satellite course that would give students a national registry certification to practice as an EMT. Any state that accepts national EMT certification will [allow them to practice as an EMT], so not only could they practice in Ohio, but they could practice [in most of the country],” Arden explained. Arden said he also hopes to found a student-run EMT service on campus.
“They’d be able to respond quickly and provide care for free. And they’d be able to understand Oberlin values and culture, as well as just have a sensitivity that goes along with being a student caring for a fellow student. I think that’s tremendously efficient,” Arden said. Oberlin’s current student body includes a number of already-certified EMTs, and Arden hopes to put together a group of 15 or more of these students to form an on-call campus cohort that would function in a similar way to other organizations, such as the HIV Peer Testers. The ability of senators to effectively lobby for these changes is partially contingent on responses to the student referendum, overseen by Senate Associate Liaison Wallace. In addition to her regular responsibilities — such as keeping the campus updated on Senate’s progress on key issues and its vision for future reform — Wallace
will gather data from referendum responses to help determine which initiatives have the most support from students. The upcoming referendum will include other health-related questions, such as student opinion on the proposed tobacco ban, which, according to Wallace, will influence the Senate’s decision to either endorse or oppose a policy change. Smallens noted that gaining steam on any of the initiatives will require heightened pressure on College administrators. “There needs to be pressure on the administration from the student body,” Smallens said. “We need a student movement saying we want this to happen. In that case, if the administration failed to meet the demands of the students, they’d be held accountable for that. As students, if we go to the administration and take our anger and displeasure and try to engage in a productive dialogue, [we’ll see a response].”
Bigger Than You Think: Ron Jeremy on Porn and Society Felicia Heiney World-famous adult film star Ron Jeremy delivered a different type of performance last night in Finney Chapel, addressing the relationship between the porn industry and the law. Sponsored by the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians, Jeremy’s talk gave a brief history of adult film’s trials with the federal government, discussed current challenges facing the industry and made a few off-color jokes along the way. Jeremy, who has spoken on over 50 campuses including The Ohio State University and Yale University and has a Master’s degree in special education from Queens College, has become politically active in advocating for the porn industry’s rights in the face of historic censorship. Born in Queens, NY to a Jewish family, Jeremy displayed an interest in acting and performance at a young age. Before he worked in films, he served as a special education teacher. As an undergraduate, Jeremy majored in theater and began performing in pornographic films in an effort to penetrate the acting world. He has starred in over 2,000 pornographic movies and holds the world record for guest starring in the most music videos as himself — 48. One of Jeremy’s most notable forays into politics came in 2012,
Ron Jeremy arrived at Oberlin yesterday in order to deliver a lecture regarding the relationship between the adult film industry and First Amendment rights. The world-famous adult film star has been in over 2,000 adult films since he entered the industry in 1978. Claire Morton
when Los Angeles County voted to pass Measure B on the Nov. 6th ballot, which mandates the usage of condoms in all pornography production scenes that display anal and vaginal sex. Jeremy and other public figures in the porn industry protested, participating in a campaign titled “No On B.” He released a video with fellow porn actor Tera Patrick comparing the risks of unprotected sex in pornography to other dangerous, legally permissible jobs. Jeremy ventured back into the
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industry’s infancy to discuss the historic difficulties adult filmmakers have faced as a result of obscenity laws. In the 1973 Supreme Court case Miller v. California, the state put porn on trial, claiming that certain obscene films that don’t have “serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value” will not be protected by the First Amendment. Years later, in the 1982 case New York v. Ferber, the Supreme Court upheld a state law prohibiting the sexual performance of chil-
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dren under the age of 16 in films. The porn industry has operated lawfully under the provision for freedom of speech in the First Amendment. As Jeremy pointed out, this has also protected entertainment companies in practicing dangerous activities such as drag racing. College senior Taylor Reiners, a member of OCRL and the organizer of the event, said, “Lots of things, including alcohol, tobacco, video games, and even adult entertainment can be abused and have negative
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consequences. Part of being an adult is recognizing these risks and using responsibly.” Part of porn’s complexity lies in its free accessibility on the internet. The 18-year-old age restriction is exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible, to enforce. Many have attacked pornography for its perpetuation of racial and gender stereotypes and glamorized view of degrading and violent sexual acts, which Jeremy said is a result of the “unequal upbringing” of boys and girls and pre-existing stereotypes in Hollywood, not products of the adult film industry itself. Yet for others, pornography has been cited to aid in couples’ sex lives by providing excitement. Some argue it has helped people feel more comfortable expressing their sexuality. Jeremy cites a phenomenon he calls a “standing ovation” in which couples watch erotic content together for some mental stimulation and then leave to practice it themselves. Erotic visual content can teach adults who are nervous about sex some of the “techniques” they could use to make them feel more confident about their participation in sexual activities. But, as Jeremy reminded the audience, some industry tricks are only for the camera, not the pleasure: “Just because it looks good, doesn’t mean it feels good.”
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Off The Cuff: Michael Kimmel, American professor, writer and sociologist specializing in masculinity Michael Kimmel is one of the nation’s leading researchers and writers on men and masculinity. Currently Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Stony Brook University, Kimmel sat down with the Review to discuss how men can be more involved in conversations about gender equality and the morality of manhood. From what I’ve read, you seem to be known throughout the scholarly universe as an expert on masculinity. How did you become interested in this topic? [In the late ’70s], my partner was working at a shelter for battered women, and we only had one car. It had a stick shift in it and she didn’t drive a stick shift, and that’s why I do this work. When we would get a call to get someone out of the house, get them to a shelter, get their kids to a safe place, I drove them. I was a middle-class suburban kid, and I didn’t really have a clue what was going on. When you’re driving someone to the hospital and they have bruises and cuts and a broken jaw and they say to you through a broken jaw, ‘Well, sometimes I deserve it, but this time I didn’t...’ I came home one day and I told my partner, ‘I think the work you’re doing is really amazing and I want to come work there.’ And she said I couldn’t work there because it’s for women. But I really wanted to do something about this, so I asked my partner what I could do, and she said, ‘Well why don’t you go talk to the men who beat [these women] up.’ And I looked at her like, ‘Are you kidding? I don’t want to talk to them — they’re bad, they beat women up!’ And she said something — and I don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience where somebody says something to you and it’s life changing, and [years later] you can still hear them say it with the same inflection — she said, ‘You have the natural constituency of half the human race, Michael. Go talk to them.’ I thought, ‘OK.’ So I actually was trained at an organization in San Francisco, one of the first in the coun-
Thursday, April 3 12:30 p.m. A student reported his bicycle to be missing from either Bailey House, King Building or Philips gym. The bicycle is a black eight-speed Schwinn Searcher with a blue bottle holder and lights on the handle and seat. 2:47 p.m. A student reported the theft of her wallet and ID from her purse while in the Al-
good man if you continue to do this. I think that’s the conversation we men need to have.
Michael Kimmel, who delivered a talk on Tuesday titled “Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men.”
try that was doing batter-intervention work with court-mandated batterers, men that had been convicted of [spousal] abuse, and they had a choice of going to therapy or going to prison. I did that for a while, but I realized that I didn’t want to do that type of direct service work, but that I wanted to do something around it. You then went on to write several books on the concepts of manhood and masculinity. What have you learned from your research? If I were to summarize what my work is, I would say that my project, in a nutshell, is to try to engage men in supporting gender equality. Feminists have been having this conversation about gender and gender relations for 40 or 50 years, and men have basically stood outside the door wondering what was going on inside, but largely thinking that it didn’t have anything to do with them. My job is to try to figure out what the points of entry [are] — what are the doors through which men can enter these conversations? If you ask
len Art Building. The wallet contained approximately $106 and her ID, which was then canceled. 4:17 p.m. Officers were requested to assist an ill student who almost fainted in King uilding. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.
Friday, April 4 9:31 a.m. A student working in Hall Annex observed a young, unknown male walking the halls. Officers approached the male and told him that he was not permitted inside and to leave imme-
your friends what it means to be a man, they will give you these essential characteristics: honor, integrity, doing the right thing, being a protector, a survivor, being responsible. I call that manhood. Now you ask them a different question. Now you ask them, ‘What are the qualities or ideals when I say, ‘Man up,’ or, ‘Be a man.’ ’ Then it’s about being strong and powerful, never cry or show any emotions, get rich, get laid, all of that sort of stuff. Where do they get those ideas? They don’t get them from timeless spirituality or from the Bible; they get them from other guys. I call that masculinity. I believe that every guy has a conversation between those ideals of masculinity, what’s being asked of other guys to prove his manhood. If you think about this tension between manhood and masculinity, if you don’t intervene when you see something sketchy happening at a party, you can’t look at yourself in the mirror the next morning and say, ‘You are a good man.’ It will cost you in terms of your general sense of yourself as a
diately. The male complied. The incident occurred approximately 30 minutes prior to report.
Saturday, April 5 2:13 a.m. Officers were requested to check in on a student who was possibly under the influence of alcohol at a Village Housing unit on Elmwood Place. Officers contacted the student and determined that he was fine. 5:53 p.m. A Dascomb Hall resident reported a strong odor consistent with burnt marijuana coming from a room on the second floor of Dascomb. The occu-
What are the ways for men to enter those conversations? I think there are several. One thing about men at Oberlin is, if they’re anything like men at other campuses, they expect to be really good fathers. They expect to be better fathers than their fathers were, so they’re really very committed to that … So how do we think we’re going to be good fathers? We talk in this culture about quality time … any parent will tell you that quality time is a complete fraud. It’s a complete joke. You don’t schedule intimacy. You don’t say, ‘Son, come home early from school Thursday and we’ll go to the park and kick that soccer ball around,’ because he’ll respond and say, ‘Oh, sorry Dad, I’m busy, but I’ll text you.’ They’re too busy. I believe in quantity time. I believe in doing the boring routine household tasks that nobody gets an award for. Those moments, what you’d call ‘ah’ moments, those moments of complete tenderness and affection between you and your child, they happen. Not to be too autobiographical, [but] they happen the 43rd time you’re watching Toy Story with your six-year-old, and he leans into you and he says, ‘Oh Daddy, this is so great, I love you so much.’ And what you know at that moment is that this wouldn’t have happened if [you] hadn’t watched Toy Story 42 other times. So I believe that men need to not pitch in, not help out, but share housework and childcare. Because that’s the only way that we’re going to be able to have the relationships that we say we want to have. Now, I have data that proves this. When men share housework and childcare, their children actually do better in school; they have lower rates of absenteeism; they’re less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD; they’re less likely to see a therapist; they’re less likely to be put on medication. When men share housework and childcare, their wives are healthier and happier; their wives are less likely to go to a therapist, be
pants denied smoking in the room. A purple grinder containing a green powdery substance was observed in plain view and confiscated. A bottle of rum, also in plain view, was confiscated and disposed of.
Monday, April 7 2:45 p.m. Officers were requested to assist an injured student who slipped on construction gravel while crossing Lorain Street and twisted her ankle. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment. 11:42 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department
diagnosed with depression or be put on medication. They’re more likely to go to the gym. When men share housework and childcare, the men are healthier. They smoke less, drink less, they take recreational drugs less often, they go to doctors for routine screenings more often but go to the emergency room less often. They’re less likely to go to a therapist; less likely to be diagnosed with depression or take medication. And when men share housework and childcare, they have more sex. So of these four findings, by the way, which one do you think Men’s Health Magazine put on its cover? Sex! Yes, of course. [Its] headline was, ‘Housework Makes Her Horny.’ So here’s a way that I can present a door through which men can walk: by saying [to] them, ‘You say you want to have really good relationships with your children. This is the way to have it: by sharing housework and childcare. The outcomes will be in your interest.’ What I want to show men is that gender equality is not a zero-sum game. It’s not the case that if women win, men lose. It’s the case that it’s a win-win. When we support women’s efforts to support the balance between work and family, we men will have better lives. There are policies that we men need to support — on-site childcare, flex time, parental leave. How do we think about these in our country? We think about them as women’s issues. They’re not. They’re parents’ issues. We men need to support these because we need these policies in order to be the kind of parents we say we want to be. My big takeaway from this is that this is not the imposition of some blue-state agenda on guys who are resisting it. This is listening to what men say they want, and saying, ‘This is the way to get it.’ My argument is that gender equality is the best thing that has happened to men. Interview by Madeline Stocker, News editor Photo by Effie Kline-Salamon
responded to a fire alarm at a Goldsmith Street apartment. Smoke from hot cooking oil activated the alarm. The alarm was silenced and reset.
Tuesday, April 8 4:05 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a report of a propane odor in the kitchen area at Tank Hall. Officers did not detect any odors while checking the first and second floors. Members of the Oberlin Fire Department checked for gases in the building, also with negative results.
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College’s Trigger Warning Proposal Incites Media Backlash Madeline Peltz The Office of Equity Concerns posted a Sexual Offense Resource Guide earlier this month that discussed Oberlin’s potential use of trigger warnings in the classroom and urged professors to “remove triggering material when it does not contribute directly to the course learning goals.” After a surge of reaction from various media outlets around the country, the section on trigger warnings was removed from the site. In an op-ed titled, “We’ve Gone Too Far with ‘Trigger Warnings,’” Guardian columnist Jill Filipovic sparked the media response to the institution’s suggestions. “Trigger warnings in online spaces … have expanded widely and become more intricate, detailed, specific and obscure,” said Filipovic. “Trigger warnings … are now included for a whole slew of potentially offensive or upsetting content, including but not limited to: misogyny, the death penalty, calories in a food item, terrorism, drunk driving, how much a person weighs, racism, gun violence, Stand Your Ground laws, drones, homophobia … corpses, skulls, skeletons, needles, discussion of ‘isms,’ neuroatypical shaming, slurs (including ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’), kidnapping, dental trauma, discussions of sex, death or dying, spiders, insects, snakes, vomit, pregnancy, childbirth, blood, scarification, Nazi paraphernalia, slimy things [and] holes.” Filipovic also wrote that trigger warnings are something that one would most likely encounter “on feminist blogs … or in the social-justice oriented corner of Tumblr.” “College, though,” said Filipovic, “is different.” The Guardian columnist went on to argue that, “the space between comfort and freedom is not actually where universities should seek to situate college students,” and
that “the universe does not treat its members as if they come hand-delivered in a box clearly marked ‘fragile.’ ” Prior to its removal, the resource guide defined a trigger as “something that recalls a traumatic event to an individual.” The document described triggers as “not only relevant to sexual misconduct, but also to anything that might cause trauma.” It advised professors to “be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism and other issues of privilege and oppression” and to “realize that all forms of violence are traumatic, and that … students have lives before and outside [the] classroom, experiences [the professor] may not expect or understand.” The resource guide used Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart as an example of a text that should be accompanied with a trigger warning. The task force is co-chaired by Vice President and Dean of Students Eric Estes and Associate Dean of the College and Interim Title IX Coordinator Meredith Raimondo. Raimondo clarified that the potential use of trigger warning is not a proposed part of the sexual offense policy changes “The new Sexual Misconduct Policy, like the current Sexual Offense Policy, is designed to stop, address the effects of, and prevent the recurrence of sexual misconduct and other forms of gender- and/or sexbased discrimination,” Raimondo said. Despite the task force’s efforts to solicit input through two public input forums earlier this year, many learned of the proposed trigger warning implementation through other media outlets, such as The Guardian, the Los Angeles Times and The Globe and Mail. “I learned about it first not from the website but from the media in general,” Associate Professor of English DeSales Harrison
explained. “So in a way it became a public thing before it even became an internal thing, which probably had a distorting or anxiety-producing effect.” In her column, Filipovic mentioned the resource guide’s reference to Things Fall Apart. “A trigger warning for what Oberlin identified as the book’s common triggers — racism, colonialism, religious persecution, violence and suicide (and more) — sets the tone for reading and understanding the book,” wrote Filipovic. “It skews students’ perceptions. It highlights particular issues as necessarily more upsetting than others and directs students to focus on particular themes that have been singled out by the professor as traumatic.” Harrison echoed this skepticism. “I would like to leave open the possibility that I’ve just been wrong for my however many years of teaching and perhaps missed some opportunity to make certain kinds of students feel like they have a place in the class,” he said. “There’s a sort of irritated professorial response and an impatient one that would say something like, ‘my job is your discomfort.’ But that’s what I’m here for, and in some ways that’s what you’re here for, for me; we’re all supposed to be on edge.” But according to Raimondo, the use of trigger warnings in the classroom is far from atypical. “I have used trigger warnings myself in the classroom, and I have not experienced any occasion in which alerting students to potentially triggering material had a negative effect,” Raimondo said, drawing from her experience teaching in the Comparative American Studies department. The student response has been varied. In an anonymous interview, one student spoke about the experience of living with triggers
from post-traumatic stress disorder related to sexualized violence. This student is active in the Sexual Information Center on campus as well as other organizing efforts concerning sexual misconduct. “It’s not really about hand-holding or caxing people into situations; it’s about the fact that if something is going to be sprung –––––––––––––––––––––––––––—
“There’s a sort of irrated professorial response and an impatient one that would say something like, ‘my job is your discomfort.’” DeSales Harrison Associate Professor of English –––––––––––––––––––––––––––— on you, you shouldn’t have to, in your learning environment, be exposed to something that’s going to throw you into what could be a full-on reliving of an experience,” the student said. “Sometimes I get triggered, and I know I’ve been triggered, but I don’t always know what has triggered it. It’s not something that I ever account to being anyone’s fault or anyone’s blame.” The student acknowledged the difficulty of anticipating an entire classroom’s triggers. “There [are] a lot of things that the policy can’t do. People with triggers, at least for myself, and I think a lot of other people who experience triggers overall, don’t expect a policy to solve the problem. They know it’s not going to solve the problem, because I know on certain days it feels like the world is a minefield.”
City Manager, Council President Propone Issue 22 Tax Levy Continued from page 1 “I think the income tax component is a more appropriate way to do it as opposed to property tax,” said Oberlin Fire Chief Dennis Kirin, who is who is in charge of overseeing training and equipment replacement. “I think here … there’s not a good equity in property tax versus who takes services. … I think it’s an equitable way to do it. I think it’s an extreme necessity to get it passed. And believe me, it’s almost just trying to maintain the status quo.” Broadwell echoed Kirin’s view of safety as a main precedent for the future of Oberlin. “[Safety] doesn’t need to be a special priority this term because it’s always a priority. No matter how nice your town is, how well your streets are paved, how nice your recreation programs are, how nice your downtown is, if it’s not safe to be in the community, it doesn’t [matter],” Broadwell said. The city is also working toward a number of long-term projects, such as the development of a 15-acre plot of land on the east side of Oberlin that the city acquired last year. By partnering with a developer, the city plans to use the field to build a housing development with mixed income rentals and single-family homes on the area of property formerly known as Green Acres. Construction likely
City Manager Eric Norenberg addresses employees regarding Issue 22, the income tax levy. Issue 22 is one of City Council’s many prescribed improvements for the future of Oberlin. Effie Kline-Salamon
won’t begin until 2016, but the current plans include a park, as well as additional green space. Also on the list of priorities is a plan to reconstruct Oberlin into a model of social justice and race relations. In particular, the city counselors hope to promote diversity — particularly racial diversity — in the hiring of city employees. “It’s just something in the general term to look at as we’re doing our hiring to see if we can further have … the population of the city reflected in the
[ faces] of the city employees, whether it be race minorities [or] women. … And not to say that we haven’t been aware, [but] just remaining aware of what we want to do and where we want to be,” Broadwell said. Additionally, Oberlin plans to revive the recycling pick up program after six garbage and recycling trucks were destroyed in a fire in late February. Two new trucks were authorized for purchase on Monday, which will be used for commercial pickup. The city is looking into purchas-
ing hybrid-hydraulic vehicles for further replacements. Vehicles with this type of engine have reduced carbon emissions, but cost at least $100,000 more than traditional garbage trucks. The city hopes to receive grants from several organizations, including the GreenEDGE Fund, to cover the additional costs. The city also plans to implement a new method of individual recycling. Whereas Oberlin previously used a curbside separation system, each residence will soon have a single recycling
container where glass, metal and cardboard can all be disposed of together. Many of the city’s initiatives are ongoing. As always, the city hopes to nurture economic development and tourism. There are a variety of projects in the works, such as the Oberlin Underground Railroad Center, which the city hopes will bring additional business to downtown Oberlin. Broadwell is particularly excited about Oberlin’s nomination as a finalist for hosting the 2015–17 National Folk Festival, a three-day festival that would bring over 40,000 visitors. Maintaining mutually beneficial relations with the College is also a priority, according to the city counselors. While this is a general goal, the city hopes to preserve an open dialogue with the College through collaborative ventures such as the Oberlin Project and the downtown parking study. “We always want to have good relations with the College. … The College and town [were] founded at the same time in 1833, and we’re so intertwined,” Broadwell said. Other plans and priorities discussed in the presentation include the completion of the downtown renovation, preparing for the repaving of State Route 58 and 511 this summer and expanding recreational programs.
Opinions The Oberlin Review
April 11, 2014
Letters to the Editors
Response to Local News Bulletin To the Editor:
Re: “Local News Bulletin” on April 4, 2014, titled “College Asked to Investigate Claims Against Arabic Professor.” I would like to let everyone be aware that the Council on American-Islamic Relations is not a true civil rights organization but rather a spokesman for al-Qaeda and its affiliates such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Second, CAIR is trampling on the First Amendment of the writer and is trying to quash freedom of speech. In a hateful letter sent to Oberlin College, CAIR writes ad nauseam to portray Professor Abdellatif ’s scholarly work as a threat to radical Islam. CAIR even protests to the book’s attempt to expose the secret plans of radicals to ruin Western civilization and replace it with an Islamic state under Sharia law. –Samir Mohamed Amin Abdellatif Visiting Professor of Arabic
Overview of May 6 Elections To the Editor: The primary election on May 6 will allow voters to decide several important issues. An Issues Night at the Oberlin Public Library at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15 will provide background information on the two Lorain County issues on the ballot as well as the local Oberlin issue. Students as well as the broader Oberlin community should be aware of these upcoming issues. The League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area is sponsoring this nonpartisan event as an educational service to citizens. Lorain County Commissioner Ted Kalo will explain why the county is seeking an additional 0.08 mill on real estate to help fund the Criminal Justice Service Crime Lab and an additional 0.065 mill to improve Lorain County Transit. The transit levy would raise over $400,000 annually for the
next five years, to be matched by federal funds. A property with a market value of $100,000 would pay an additional $2.28 per year. Current service routes could be improved and some new underserved areas added. Oberlin City Finance Director Sal Talarico and City Manager Eric Norenberg will present the city’s case for an additional three-fifths of one percent income tax for the next 10 years. Other Lorain County localities, including Lorain, North Ridgeville, Avon Lake and some townships, have issues on the ballot. Voters in each locality are urged to inform themselves about their local choices. Issue 1 is a State Bond Issue, proposed by a joint resolution of the General Assembly. A proposed constitutional amendment, it extends the infrastructure bond program by authorizing the issuance of additional general obligation bonds to fund public infrastructure, capital improvements. A summary of Issue 1 and a list of pros and cons can be found on the website of the League of Women Voters of Ohio at lwvohio.org. Issues Night on April 15 is open to the public and will be taped by students from Lorain County Community College for broadcast prior to Election Day. –Linda Slocum President, League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area
New Financial Aid Policy Violates OSCA Rent Contract To the Editor: To those who changed the financial aid policy: Maybe you didn’t realize the impact your new policy would have on OSCA. Maybe you forgot that OSCA was created in 1951 because — and I’ll quote the alumni magazine you sent out three years ago — students realized “that vast amounts of money could be saved if students were willing to put in a little work.” Maybe even your intentions were good. I think I could forgive you for your ignorance in these matters. I cannot forgive you for chang-
ing our financial aid policy without telling OSCA. Your secrecy is both morally despicable and breaks our 2013–2016 Rent Contract with you that states that you will “notify OSCA as early as possible […] whenever the College is considering any programmatic, administrative or financial changes affecting housing or dining.” Certainly this change constitutes a “financial change affecting housing or dining,” and you certainly could have told us before you drafted the policy, got it approved by the Board of Trustees and published it on your website. Let me briefly describe the ways your new policy will affect OSCA housing and dining. The new policy states that “if you choose to live or dine in a co-op, your financial aid will be adjusted accordingly.” Most OSCAns work four or five hours a week in dining and one hour in housing. All-OSCA officers and staff work between six and twenty hours per week. We spend this time working to cook and clean for ourselves rather than working other jobs because we save 54 percent on board and 32 percent on housing. By reducing our financial aid, you are taking away much of the incentive for us to live and eat in OSCA. Sure, there may be a few OSCAns who stick around because they like to cook good food and exercise cooperative ideals, but most of us will not. Now, we are a diverse group of over 600 students with variant needs, united by our willingness to work for our food and our homes. With your new policy, we will undoubtedly fall below capacity, won’t be able to pay our rent to you and will need to shut our doors. If we do manage to survive, the multifaceted, bustling organization we have built will be reduced to a financially privileged group of foodies. Besides the break of contract and beyond the raw numbers, I and many OSCAns feel that you are deeply disrespecting the 63 years of love and labor that have built this organization. Speaking from OSCA, one affected group out of many, –Sam Coates-Finke All-OSCA Theory and History Coordinator
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. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for content, space, spelling, grammar and libel. Editors will work with columnists and contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. In no case will editors change the opinions expressed in any submission. 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. The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to the author of a letter to the editors. Opinions expressed in letters, columns, essays, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review.
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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
Staff Seeks Balance Between Free Speech and Community Standards in Online Comment Moderation Last week, an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times argued that Oberlin is turning into “[a symbol] of the widespread scourge of campus political correctness and the glorification of victimhood,” due to the administration’s recent discussion regarding the use of trigger warnings in the classroom. Beside the fact that the article mischaracterizes the actual trigger warning conversation occurring on campus — for instance, professors are not removing Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart from relevant curricula because of its controversial themes — the idea that trigger warnings are inherently “distressing … potential incursions on academic freedom and inquiry” is flawed. Trigger warnings exist in order to warn readers about sensitive subjects, like sexual violence or war, that could be traumatic to individuals who have had past experiences related to such topics, not to remove these subjects from academic discussion. They do not “glorify victimhood”; instead, they validate the life experiences of certain members of our community and allow individuals to make informed decisions. Many Oberlin faculty have pointed out the difference between making students uncomfortable and causing them to experience symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Professor of Politics and East Asian Studies Marc Blecher said in a recent interview with The New Republic that “we need to … challenge students, to conduct open inquiry in classrooms, to make students feel uncomfortable.” He’s absolutely right to question the ramifications of trigger warnings as they apply to the free exchange of ideas. But when students feel so upset by memories tied to a particular subject that they feel they cannot participate in that dialogue, a process integral to liberal arts education is interrupted. Trigger warnings are a viable method of alleviating these situations. Ideally, individuals who are part of an academic institution should be challenged and forced to articulate and defend their perspectives, but in order to have a fruitful discussion about these topics, as many people as possible need to feel comfortable participating. The problem of how to effectively create these spaces falls in line with recent conversations the Review’s senior staff has been having about formulating a comprehensive comment moderation policy for our new website. We believe online comments serve a couple of important functions, including the facilitation of productive dialogue that extends beyond the moment of publication. Commenters can add information that doesn’t meet our contributor guidelines but might have a role in a related debate. Comments sections also serve as necessary spaces for individuals to provide publication-specific criticism. Importantly, these discussions are open to a wide audience of Oberlin-affiliated people and act as effective places for people from different backgrounds to talk about issues on a more even playing field. The discussion about what form our policy should take is complicated. Not every member of the Editorial Board agrees on where the line between free speech and offensive/hate speech should be drawn, nor do we agree on the viability of trigger warnings as a response mechanism. Additionally, comments frequently fall into a gray area in which the appropriate action by a web administrator isn’t clear. A legitimate opinion may be expressed by a commenter, for example, but accompanied by graphic images or other inappropriate content. Do we censor the comment? Do we include a trigger warning? The Review has already encountered several instances of this, proving even more urgently the necessity of establishing clear and firm guidelines. As part of our discussion, the senior staff has reached out to various officials on campus who have experience moderating online comments, and we have examined the policies in place at other college newspapers. The Columbia University Spectator, for instance, outlines libel, gratuitous profanity, intolerance and self-promotion as grounds for deletion. Northwestern University’s The Daily Northwestern, meanwhile, adds impersonation of a person or group, intimidation of staff members and just plain irrelevance to the list of offenses punishable by censorship. This is a discussion we want to extend beyond our staff. As a publication which seeks to serve the city and campus, we believe that community members should be involved in determining these guidelines as, after all, they will be the ones subjected to it once it is implemented. Trigger warnings or none, the Review wants to encourage free and active engagement with our online content — but not without a few boundaries. 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
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The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
Amendment Reveals the Fantasy of Equitable College Costs Will Grannan-Rubenstein Columnist With an unsurprising absence of fanfare, the College recently amended its financial aid policies in ways that many students might find alarming. Up to now, students have been able to save on the costs associated with an Oberlin education by joining OSCA or purchasing less expensive meal plans from CDS, and College policy forbade any reduction to students’ need-based financial aid awards on the basis of the resulting reduction in need. Now, however, the website of the Office of Financial Aid has been quietly updated to state that “if you choose to live or dine in a co-op, your financial aid will be adjusted accordingly,” and that even for students still bound to CDS dining, “financial aid will be adjusted based on the cost of the meal plan you choose.” Existing policies had already codified a $1,500 reduction to students’ financial aid awards in exchange for off-campus housing status, reflecting the presumed difference between city rent/utilities and typical ResEd room charges; similar reasoning now
applies to all potential cost savings in students’ housing and dining arrangements, which will no longer accrue to students on financial aid but to the College itself. Of course, as with the reduced financial feasibility of part-time student status wrought by the “new credit system,” playing such games with room and board expenses is small potatoes compared to the candid increases in the College’s upfront sticker price. Total tuition expenses were $19,670 for the 1994–95 academic year when Nancy Dye first took up residence in the president’s house, $31,167 for the 2004–2005 academic year when the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the Strategic Plan and its proclamation that Oberlin’s “most critical financial priority must be to realize more net tuition revenue per student,” and for the 2014–2015 academic year will total $48,054. Of course, such increases are comparable to those among not just private colleges and universities in the U.S. but (albeit from a lower starting point) their public counterparts as well. The problem is present not just in the Cox Administration
Building but in higher education as a whole, and in the broader economic environments in which colleges and universities operate. Thinkers from many ideological backgrounds acknowledge that mechanisms of socioeconomic mobility “including but not limited to higher education” have stalled since the 1970s and ’80s. In mainstream U.S. political thought this change is marked by the post-“Reagan Revolution” focus on the policy priorities of the obscenely wealthy; in the discourses of the emasculated radical left, its calling card is the international bourgeoisie’s embrace of neoliberal economic theory and rejection of the Fordist/Keynesian social contract between capital and labor. In the terminology employed by French economist Thomas Piketty’s much-discussed recent opus Capital in the Twenty-First Century, it stems from the rate of return on individual capital investment (or r) once again rising above the rate of overall economic growth (or g) after a temporary reversal following two world wars and a global depression. Not coincidentally, the typically proposed
Swallowing the Bitter Pill of Nonstop Information Access Aidan Apel Contributing Writer I have terrible internet habits. Whenever I sit down on a computer to complete a simple task — drafting an email, for example — I find myself opening new tabs, checking Facebook, Buzzfeed, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, the New York Times, then opening a new tab to Google something I saw on Facebook only to forget what it was in the half second it takes for Google to load. I mindlessly read articles linked from one news story to the next, forgetting what the first was about, then realize I don’t care, close all the windows and out of habit open Facebook and start over again. I have internet ADD. Turns out I’m not the only one. I’ve talked to a number of friends, and we all seem to have the same problem. We become so overloaded processing information that we can barely focus on one thing for more than 30 seconds before our mind instinctively seeks a new stimulus. If you just stop for a moment and look around you, everyone has this problem. Looking around Mudd at this instant, I see two people on Facebook, two more scrolling through their phone and another watching something on YouTube (maybe it’s academically related, but I suspect not). Go into any restaurant and you’ll see people hunched over in a half-fetal position, all texting. While internet ADD is, at times, an annoyance to our social lives, I’ve found that this greatly affects other spheres like schoolwork. I can’t sit down and open a book without drifting off onto some other topic before I’m halfway through a page. I can’t write an essay without an instinctive Alt+Tab back to the internet. I can’t check Blackboard for homework without also seeing if CNN has finally found Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The internet’s powerful tug and all the real work I have to do for school makes every day feel like a dream. We live in it for a moment, wake up and forget everything that just happened. Today we’re in a new daydream, sucking in tons of information just to lose it all the moment we regain consciousness. Ask yourself: What did I read last week? You probably have to struggle for a moment to remember the important things you read,
and chances are you read a lot of other things which you can’t recall. I think we all realize on some level that this pattern of inhaling and exhaling information needs to stop. I just didn’t know how to stop it. Since actively thinking about this and trying a few strategies, I’ve come to a few conclusions. First, get enough sleep. Obviously. Second, find time to get far away from the madness of the modern world. Go somewhere without phone reception or internet. If it’s for a weekend or just an hour, go somewhere you can’t be reached. With no phone to check, no emails, no invites, I can literally feel my brain restructuring itself. It’s like brain swelling going down. My thoughts became organized; I can focus on one task at a time and hold a conversation without interruption. Third, pick up a book and read a big chunk of it. Even if it is a lazy read, the simple act of reading, uninterrupted, for 30 minutes or more re-teaches your brain to focus. And it has to be a book. Reading nytimes.com cover-to-cover on the internet is insufficient — even while you’re reading, your brain is actually still processing tons of junk information. There are links throughout the text, ads everywhere (RELATED: OMG CLICK ME), between every paragraph, so your brain is still making decisions, sifting through garbage and ignoring the story’s content. Reading a book focuses you. On the internet, we are confronted with so much information that the only way we can get through it all is to half-skim it and be as efficient as possible. I find that the same is true for our coursework; with so much to get through, we resort to our internet ADD habits, processing information extremely quickly. We’re wonderfully efficient, but shallow. So, a final piece of advice is to do work in an ordered manner. Make a list of what you need to do, focus on one item at a time, do that one item until completion, then move on to the next. Making a small list and going through it one by one dramatically reduces the urge to fall back on internet ADD habits of half-skimming. If you actually read all of this in one sitting, congratulations. You may now check Snapchat.
timetable for this shift aligns neatly with what communications theorist and internet maven Clay Shirky has pessimistically dubbed “the end of higher education’s Golden Age,” a combination of expanding upfront costs and diminishing long-term economic benefits, which may herald a return to the days when elite college attendance was largely reserved for children of the existing upper classes. For Shirky and like-minded doomsayers, higher education suffers from a bad case of Baumol’s cost disease: As the overall economy grows more efficient, any economic activity whose efficiency is largely stagnant (such as the traditional college routine of lectures/seminars/dorms/ etc.) must grow inexorably more expensive to compensate. Absent significant innovations in educating more students at lower cost, the theory goes, institutions of higher education have no choice but to increase the costs paid by some combination of grants and subsidies, donors or students and their families. These increases can only end when people begin refusing to pay them — and if defenders of elite higher education
are adamant that four-year degrees from institutions like Oberlin are in fact worth the current sticker prices of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, where would they draw the line? Half a million? A million? Ten million? At some point these questions must be asked and answered. But with these issues lurking in the background, the matter at hand is fairly straightforward. Having decided that preventing students from saving on room and board costs is an acceptable way to realize more net revenue per student, why should the College lay this burden solely upon financial aid students? Stop beating around the bush and implement upfront fees for offcampus housing, OSCA membership, and cheaper meal plans, and charge them in equal measure for the meanest working-class student and the flushest Trustafarian alike. If the College’s coffers must be filled one way or another in a futile effort to forestall the burst of a bubble, such clandestine and regressive mechanisms as this financial aid policy change can only add insult to injury.
Don’t Knock It ’Till You Try It: Socialism a Proven Economic Model Sean Para Columnist The 2008 financial crisis shook the foundations of the global economy. In a short amount of time, the entire global marketplace went from seeming completely sound to being close to shattering. The dramatic steps world governments took to combat the crisis had various levels of success. The U.S. economy has significantly compared to the economies of other developed countries, with a 2.6 percent GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2013. This success is largely due to the efforts of the Federal Reserve to buy up toxic assets and reduce borrowing rates. However, the novel policies utilized by the Bush and Obama administrations to shore up failing companies also played a large role in the recovery by nationalizing these failing companies. Although no one admitted it at the time, this was in fact an example of state socialism. Six years after the collapse, many actions the American government takes are decried as being too intrusive. Health care reform, for instance, has been repeatedly attacked as an unwelcomed expansion in the role of government. However, no one seems willing to admit that the dramatic and unprecedented actions taken by the government in 2008 and 2009 are in fact responsible for saving our economy. Chinese market socialism has proved to be a dynamic economic model. China has experienced staggering economic growth over the past few decades, mainly due to the creations of a successful market run largely by the state. Under this model, a free market exists despite the ubiquitous hand of the government. Governmentcontrolled companies are allowed to compete like in any other capitalist economy, but the profits are steered back toward the state. The poverty rate in China — those living on $1.25 a day or less — was reduced from 84 percent in 1981 to 16 percent in
2008. Economic changes of this magnitude cannot be overlooked. The Chinese model has been extremely successful at economic development. China has seen incredibly high levels of GDP growth in the past few decades — now at 7.8 percent — while developed economies still struggle to maintain growth. While the economy is heavily regulated, this model allows for much more growth than the Soviet system of central planning, where little competition existed. After the 2008 crisis, large sectors of the economy — most importantly the banking and automotive industries — were saved because of the government’s intervention. Companies like AIG, Ford, GM, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were kept afloat through a massive influx of government capital. While the bailout had antecedents in the New Deal and other interventions of its kind, a bailout of this scale was unprecedented. The Troubled Asset Relief Program allowed for $148 billion to be spent buying up troubled assets, subsidizing the failing corporations and ultimately stabilizing the economy. The 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act was also successful in preventing the collapse of the American economy. It has had its downsides, but ultimately the major corporations that were seen as so crucial to our economy and society were saved from certain death. It goes without saying that we live in an oligarchic and plutocratic system where an enormously wealthy elite dictate government policy; the 2008 Act is a strong example of this sort of behavior. Nonetheless, it was also a successful example of socialism at work in the economy. Public wealth was distributed in such a way so as to necessitate the government at least briefly running private institutions. A libertarian would be appalled at this misallocation of government funds, this unapologetic government intervention in the economy. So the next time an American leader is decried for their “socialist” policies, let us remember the efficacy with which they have been applied in the past.
Opinions
The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
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Christie’s Scandal Opens the Field for Presidential Race Machmud Makhmudov Columnist Today’s Republican Party is facing an internal struggle between several factions, including moderates, establishment types, doveish — and typically younger — libertarians, foreign policy hawks, religious conservatives and promoters of big business. For the past two election cycles, the party has nominated moderate candidates that embody conservative bona fides during the primary process only to awkwardly abandon them for the general election. The result — eight straight years of a Democratic presidency — has left the GOP split in terms of how to move forward. Many within the establishment wing of the party point to rapidly changing demographics when arguing for the need of the GOP to be a “big-tent” party, one that is inclusive of more Americans and their ideologies. Prior to the unraveling of the George Washington Bridge scandal, many considered New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to be the establishment’s frontrunner candidate for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Bold, brash and armed with a quick temper, Christie was seen by many to be forceful and charismatic enough to attract moderate voters that have been disillusioned by the Obama presidency. However, with ongoing federal investigations and numerous accusations of an abrasive leadership style still haunting Christie, Republican politicians with presidential aspirations have angled aggressively to fill the outsized hole that the governor has left open. Most notably, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has been attending numerous policy summits and fundraisers as an advance to what many see as a potential presidential run. While a favorite of big donors, Bush is handicapped by his support for immigration reform (aspects of which are considered by many in the GOP as appeasement for amnesty), endorsement of Common Core education standards and an infamous last name. Having had already seen his father and brother in office, the nation may be wary of electing another Bush. Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio may also try to fill the gap
left by Christie. Both have tallied significant conservative accomplishments that could be used to rally conservative grassroots support. Senators Ted Cruz (TX), Marco Rubio (FL) and Rand Paul (KY) are expected to fight it out over the same coalition of conservative activists. Governor Bobby Jindal (LA) may be the most qualified of the group, having chaired a bipartisan national commission on Medicaid and Medicare and served as an assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, a U.S. Representative and a two-term governor — all by the age of 42. On the Democratic side, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton casts an intimidating shadow over other prospective candidates. With over 30 years in the public sphere, including eight in the White House as first lady and four as the United States’ chief international representative, Clinton has formidable advantages in both fundraising and political operations. The prospect of a Clinton candidacy has prevented most other major Democratic players from building the infrastructure — read: major donor base — necessary for a national campaign. However, the possibility of an insurgent progressive candidacy still has the potential to derail Clinton’s all-but-certain lock on the Democratic nomination. In 2008, then-senator Barack Obama found success by using social media and an aggressive grassroots campaign to ultimately topple Clinton’s “inevitable” nomination. Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) is in the strongest position to mount this kind of campaign in 2016, though former governor Brian Schweitzer (MT) and current senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) also have the capability to tap into populist sentiments. No matter the party, the next United States president will invariably have to grapple with many of the criticisms levied at the current Obama administration. Voters will look for prior success in an executive position in their preferred candidate, as well as experience in the foreign policy realm. These factors, along with a divided Republican party and a strong national desire for a female president, will likely lift Hillary Clinton to the White House in 2016.
Jesse Kohler Student Senate Liaison This week in Senate plenary, the principle focuses were a discussion of appointments to the Student Honor Committee and of The Oberlin Project. Student Senate had a long discussion, but ultimately decided that we were unable to make a decision regarding the appointees. There was not enough information on the applicants, so we delayed the decision until an emergency plenary session on Wednesday. At that
session, we appointed all three students to the Student Honor Committee. Also, Senate discussed the upcoming referendum and the scheduling of Senate forums, including the proposed Tobacco Policy, how Senate can more effectively represent students, and student health. Finally, Senate discussed the Oberlin Project. No decisions were made, but the Senators discussed future plans to engage with The Oberlin Project. As always, plenary will be held from 7:00–9:30 p.m. this coming Sunday in Wilder 215, and all students are encouraged to attend!
“Every pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself.” If you try hard and believe in
-Demetri Martin
yourself, you can accomplish other things, too. Like becoming a columnist for the Review! Interested? Email opinions@oberlinreview.org
Instances of Global Street Harassment Blur Feminist Lines Taylor Field Contributing Writer
Opposition to street harassment seems to be a universal feminist issue in the American context. The tropes of the cat-calling construction worker and the wolf whistles from passing cars have become hated, everyday chauvinistic expressions of the patriarchy. But now that feminist blogs have begun urging readers to take the fight against street harassment to a global scale, I urge for cultural considerations. Articles on websites like Everyday Feminism paint a remarkably negative picture of women’s experiences travelling to Middle Eastern and Latin American countries. The street harassment in these countries is presented as the same oppressive, misogynistic vulgarity that it is in the U.S. Unfortunately, such an oversimplification ignores the cultural history and implications of street harassment. This semester I’ve been lucky enough to study feminism, gender and sexuality in two different countries — three months in Amsterdam and one month in Morocco. During my first week in Morocco, walking the crowded streets of
the country’s capital city of Rabat, I was constantly anxiety-stricken. Every few minutes some man’s voice would call out to me, but I quickly realized it was not the same cat-calling as I’d experienced in the U.S. The most frequent comments centered on my beauty or compared me to celebrities; one man I met even told me that he thought I looked really smart. None of them were explicitly sexual in nature; none made any sort of advances. I cannot at all say that my experience was universal, but the sexual aspect of most street harassment in the U.S. was definitely not apparent. More than that, though, to truly understand street harassment in Morocco, or any other context beyond our own, I think it’s important to delve into the history of the practice and its social and cultural implications. Every practice is situated within a place and time. In Morocco, all public space is exactly that: public space. Privacy is only guaranteed indoors and “personal bubbles” are popped in the crowded streets. That said, the home is a private space and, historically, the space where women control social interactions. As one of our professors shared with us, even her grandfa-
ther, the patriarch of the family, had to wait until the women of the house decided to let him in, and then he was restricted to certain rooms so that women could be afforded the freedom to move as they wished around the house — perhaps in some ways comparable to an early form of a safe space. The limitations of living in ––––––––––––––––––––––––—
But now that feminist blogs have begun urging readers to take the fight against street harassment to a global scale, I urge for cultural considerations. –––––––––––––––––––––––—
this kind of household — elements of which still exist in modern Morocco — included, and still include, the secrecy of dating. Women, for the most part, only have the opportunity to interact with men they’re not related to while in the public sphere, walking the streets. For many women, that means that the street harassment is viewed less as an harassment and more as an opportunity to
meet a partner. We heard from several women who explained that they met their husbands many years ago from among the men who spoke to them on the street. For even more women, the flattery only creates positive feelings of high self-esteem. For others, street harassment serves as a way to date in secret. A girl can walk home with her boyfriend, but when her father asks about him, she can easily dismiss him as a street harasser who followed her. When I first heard this argument, the thought of anybody following me was terrifying. Over the course of those weeks, however, my program fellows and I learned that there is a system of allyship among the women of Morocco. The class we took on the subject taught us not only the background of Moroccan street harassment, but also how we should deal with it. The best method to make men go away was to yell the Moroccan Arabic word hshouhma, which means shame, as loudly as possible. Instantly all eyes would turn to the offender, thoroughly embarrassing him for making a woman uncomfortable. If he failed to
disappear immediately, other women and even men nearby would intervene. We were able to successfully employ this solution on more than one occasion, and I was so impressed and moved by the solidarity of the other women on the streets and beaches. Moroccan women have also begun talking back. Not only are they turning around to face their harassers, but they are doing the harassing themselves, feeling within this practice that they have the power to similarly dominate public space and assert themselves socially. While I cannot say that street harassment is empowering or even positive for all women, I would like to make the argument that there is no universal brand of feminism; American ideals are not exportable. I think feminists quickly realized that issues such as those surrounding the hijab — the Muslim veil — are more complex than simply evil manifestations of patriarchal oppression. My point here is that we should also consider the complexities of the historical, cultural and social context of other practices before demonizing them entirely. Let us allow non-Western women’s voices to be heard and enable those contextualized opinions to take priority in the feminist discourse on global issues.
Stevenson Hall
Splash Zone Wilder Hall
Clarence War Mudd Library
Hall Auditorium
Brewsters
Dascomb Hall
Agave Burrito Bar and Tequileria
Obie Game
The Oberlin Market
Lupita’s Mexican Restauran
CALENDAR
Chance Creek
Lord/Saunders Dining Hall
Dandelion Romp Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13 Hales Gymnasium and the Cat in the Cream
OCircus Presents King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub Friday, April 11 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 12 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Philips Main Gym
The Contra Dance Club is offering various contra dance lessons, workshops and dances over the weekend as a part of the 15th annual Dandelion Romp. The schedule of events can be found on Oberlin’s online events calendar.
OCircus will be performing a fun and entertaining show suitable for all ages. Free and open to the public.
Oberlin O Brasil: Festa Brasileira Friday, April 11 through Wednesday, April 16 Come celebrate Brazilian culture with a week of events centered on Brazilian music, history and dance, including concerts, lectures, a carnival and more. A detailed schedule can be found on Oberlin’s online events calendar.
Art Exhibit: Latin Icon and Migration Tuesday, April 15 at 4:30 p.m. Harvey House (Spanish House) Three current Oberlin students will showcase their work in an art exhibit of various media centered around Hispanic/Latin America with regards to oral narrative, consumerism, identity and acceptance.
Stay in Oberlin for a summer and do the Tour de Franzia Hunan King Chinese food delivery One-hour photo developing at Drug Mart Make your own milkshake Rent board games at the Wilder Information Desk Get directions to Chance Creek from the Information Desk Heated porch steps in the winter The scholar studies, A-level and fourth floor bathrooms are the nicest bathrooms in Mudd Order an entire pizza online with the toppings of your choice, payable with Flex Study in the Clarence Ward Art Library Hang out under the birch tree
Clarence Ward Art Library
ObieGame
Hall Auditorium
Karaoke night Half nachos with chips on the side
Brewsters
Trivia night
ave Burrito Bar d Tequileria
Slow Train Cafe
Kim’s Grocery and Carryout Oberlin Market
4:30 p.m. ish House)
tudents will showart exhibit of variund Hispanic/Latin to oral narrative, nd acceptance.
Avocado smoothie Fried chicken on Sundays Margarita night Splash Zone
Lupita’s Mexican Restaurant
tin Icon and
$5 rice bowl
This Week Editor: Sarah Snider
Venezuela: What is Going On? Colors of Rhythm Wednesday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m. Harvey House (Spanish House) Finney Chapel
Oberlin College Theater Presents Ghosts Thursday, April 17, Friday, April 18, Associate Professor of Conducting Raphael As a form of cultural activism, Colors of and Saturday, April 19 at 8 p.m. Jiménez, College senior Gaby Garcia and Rhythm’s 18th annual show strives to high- Hall Auditorium College first-year Arturo Octavio will be speaking about Venezuela, its current social and political situation and what we can do to help from afar.
light the issue of underrepresented cultures in the academics at Oberlin in a supportive way for the entire student body. $3 in advance and at the door. All proceeds will go to the Oberlin Community Youth Scholarship Fund.
Oberlin College Theater will be performing Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts, a drama centered on the life of Helene Alving and her moral struggles surrounding her dead husband, her miserable marriage and her son. $5 for students.
Want Practicum in Journalism Credit? Write for this section! Email managingeditor@oberlinreview.org
Arts The Oberlin Review
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April 11, 2014
Spring Back Revitalizes Postmodern Dance Michelle Polyak Staff Writer “Sometimes [Warner Main Space] feels like a big cathedral; other times I’ll lie on my back on the floor and look up into the rafters and it’s like we’re all in a big upside-down ark,” said College junior and Dance major Silvia Sheffield. The performance space has seen generations of dancers, and the latest aims to honor the venue and its history. This season’s Spring Back show, Oberlin’s annual spring dance concert, is centered on the exploration of the human form and how it relates to location. The show is a combination of student-produced work as well as pieces produced under the direction of Professor of Dance and Department Chair Ann Cooper Albright. It premiered on Thursday, April 10 at 8 p.m. and will run through Saturday, April 12. Though Spring Back has no overall theme, each work hearkens back to the history of Warner Main Space. The large variety of work will be presented in the round; instead of a makeshift black-box performance space with a stage and one section of seating, this year’s space will have four sections of seating that surround the dancers as they perform. The arrangement will amplify the intimacy between the performers and audience members and Albright hopes that the innovation will allow viewers to further engage with the ideas and motions of the dancers. “Having Spring Back in the round will hopefully allow the audience to feel the expansiveness
of the space, which makes it feel special,” Sheffield said. The concept behind the installation provides another way of understanding the playful yet solemn nature of the collaborative performance of Spring Back. Albright noted that there has not been a show presented in the round in the past decade. The inspiration for this method of presentation came from an experimental dance show/residency that was staged at Oberlin in 1972 by a performing arts collective called Grand Union, which similarly performed in the round. Grand Union’s performances is derived from methods of contact improvisation, a form of experimental dance that stems from collaborative expressions between the Judson Dance Theater and Merce Cunningham in the 1960s. Grand Union’s Oberlin performance in 1972 consisted of founding member Steve Paxton alongside 11 male students positioned on a wrestling mat, followed by Paxton’s “small dance.” The new show aims to echo these early experimental moments in postmodern dance, and Albright hopes to show images from this performance in Warner Main during Spring Back. In addition to the dancers, Conservatory performance group Collegium Musicum will play Hildegard Von Bingen’s “Ave Generosa,” and installation art pieces by College junior Julia Sheppard, Conservatory junior Elise Moltz and double-degree sophomore Sage Jenson will flank the seating area. Sheppard explained, “The installation hangs in one corner of Warner Main Space
College sophomore Alana Reibstein performs a piece choreographed by Ann Cooper Albright, the chair of the Dance department, for Spring Back. The show is a combination of student-produced work as well as pieces choreographed under the direction of Albright. Courtesy of John Seyfried
alongside an interactive contact improv score. The audience is encouraged to leave their seats and walk over to the two corner installations. The installation ‘Dreams’ is a piece that explores the sights and sounds that one might imagine in a dream through video, dance, shadow and sound.” The show aims to incorporate similar concepts of equalizing sensibility through move-
ment. Albright believes that the combination of the intimate space and the show’s improvisational undertones allows for “a unique opportunity to change the dynamics between spectators and performers.” Tickets can be bought at Central Ticket Service and are $3 in advance and $5 at the door.
Death and the Maiden Highlights Consequences of Torture Phoebe Hammer Arts Editor Retribution and justice are coming to Little Theater this weekend. The Theater and Dance departments are staging Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden, a story of torture, morality and moving on. Since its world premiere in the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1991, the play has been well-received as a dramatic work that examines the psychological consequences of living under a military government with little regard for human rights. The Theater department’s version, directed by College senior Sophie
Weisskoff, will strive for the same excitement and moral ambiguity. Death and the Maiden is set in the 20th century in an unspecified country under a military dictatorship, where no one is safe and the truth can be twisted and unclear. It forces the audience to question the meaning of justice and how to heal citizens with a past of gross mistreatment by their own government. College junior Erin Amlicke will lead the cast as Paulina Salas, a woman whose brutal questioning by the government ended with rape and torture by electrocution. Fifteen years after her abuse, she believes she has come face-to-face with her torturer, Dr.
Roberto Miranda, played by College senior Ali Bianchi. Salas is forced to reconsider her relationship with her husband Gerardo Escobar, played by College senior Anthony Watkins, as she decides how to confront her torturer. Additionally, she must consider her husband’s insistence on hard evidence and the pleas of innocence from Roberto Miranda before she puts forward her accusation. “This is not an easy play,” said Weisskoff, who became enraptured with Death and the Maiden after reading it in Professor of History Steve Volk’s Dirty Wars and Democracy class. “Because of its larger-than-life themes of violence and torture under a military
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
have a gun pointed at your head.” To access those emotions, the cast looked not only to the text but also to historical research and personal connections. They were required to learn some of the material from the “Dirty Wars and Democracy” class and studied literature on the medical association’s studies on torture. Sophie Weisskoff Professor Volk came in to speak with the cast; there was also a Director, Death and the Maiden special Skype session with Joe ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– McCright, an American who lived government, it is unlikely that in Chile for nine months during Oberlin students would be able the military dictatorship of Auto channel those experiences di- gusto Pinochet’s in 1980, to talk rectly. We had to find other ways about his first-hand experience to access that — to learn how to conceptualize what it feels like to See Death, page 12
“We had to find other ways to access that [violence] — to learn how to conceptualize what it feels like to have a gun pointed at your head.”
Tales By Moonlight Showcases African Literature and Folktales Rosie Black Production Manager “You have an event in your life that wakes you up, and not just you but all the people around you,” College sophomore Sophie Umazi Mvurya said, explaining why she’d chosen to read a passage from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Purple Hibiscus. The setting was “Tales by Moonlight,” a low-key and eclectic reading sponsored by the African Students’ Association as part of Africa Week; Mvurya was one of many students who took to the Cat in the Cream stage Tuesday night to share their diverse selections. Selections were drawn from both modern literary sources and traditional folktales, and although the evening got off to a rocky start, it eventually found a sweet spot in the combination of the readers’ personal flair and their powerful content.
The first few readers seemed a little nervous, talking quickly and fidgeting with their pages. After introducing the event, College senior and second-generation Sierra Leonean Miata Rogers flew through two poems by Syl Cheney-Coker, a native of Sierra Leone who has lived in exile for most of his life. Although Rogers’s delivery was speedy and her explanations curt, the rhythm, lyricism and content of the poems managed to impress upon the audience the complex anxiety of the exiled. The discussion of outsiders’ anxiety continued with College sophomore and secondgeneration Nigerian Mayowa Afolayan’s reading of a poem by May Ayim. Afolayan explained that Ayim was an Afro-German, born to a German mother and a Ghanaian father who were not permitted to keep her. Like many Afro-German children born after World War II when American soldiers stationed in Germany began having German
children, Ayim was put up for adoption and separated from her family. The poem Afolayan read places Ayim with her African grandfather, although they are separated by space and time. In the poem, Ayim longs for her family to be reunited, and for her African family to impart its cultural rites to her in order to keep the traditions alive. The prose selections, while still dealing with serious topics, were a change of pace from the poetry. The narrative flow was easier to pierce and absorb after the fast-flowing poems. Double-degree first-year Josh Biggs, from South Africa, read an excerpt from Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. The novel follows a priest from a small town who journeys to Johannesburg to try to recover his sister and son, only to find that they have both been corrupted by the workings of the big city. Biggs took his time reading the excerpts, giving a calm lilt to the descriptions of the countryside where
Paton’s characters, and Biggs’s family, have lived for generations. Native Kenyan Mvurya chose a prose selection, from Purple Hibiscus by Adichie, whose voice can be heard on Beyoncé’s hit track “***Flawless.” The novel is told from the perspective of the daughter of an incredibly religious Catholic man who isolates his children from their African heritage and beats his daughter for defying him. Mvurya read a potent and violent scene in which the narrator realizes that she wants to learn more about her family’s culture and is willing to take a beating in order to do so. Among the serious literary recitations, the folktales were easily the most fun to listen to and got the crowd chuckling on many occasions, especially when the performers themselves made comments on what they were reading. Mvurya and College sophomore and See Folktales, page 12
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The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
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Everett Eschews Convention, Laughs at Lit Theory Anne Pride-Wilt Arts Editor According to Percival Everett, a novel is a little like jazz: “You know it when you see it; you know it when you hear it.” Everett ought to know, as the author of over 20 novels, most recently 2013’s Percival Everett by Virgil Russell. Everett, who is a distinguished professor of English at the University of Southern California, came to campus for a two-day visit.
While Everett was often a little hard to follow — intentionally or otherwise — attendees knew when they heard and saw Everett that he was the real deal, if a little eccentric. Everett was involved in two events open to the public during his brief stay in Oberlin, one on Monday evening and one on Tuesday in Hallock Auditorium. The first event, titled “A Conversation with Percival Everett,” was hosted by Delaney Associate Professor of Creative
From left: Associate Professor of English Gillian Johns, writer Percival Everett and Delaney Associate Professor of Creative Writing Dan Chaon discuss Everett’s work and philosophy at a Monday night Q&A with Everett moderatored by Johns and Chaon. Everett, author of over 20 novels, spent two days on campus and also gave a lecture on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man the following night. Claire Morton
Writing Dan Chaon and Associate Professor of English Gillian Johns, who also taught a class on Everett’s work during first module in preparation for his visit. Together, the three of them hit the usual salient notes of Everett’s career, including the common allusions to philosophy and literary theory in his work. “Theory is high comedy,” Everett posited, particularly in reference to his 1999 novel Glyph about a genius baby who refuses to speak and reads poststructural theory for fun. For a writer, Everett was not always particularly keen to explain himself, often giving terse, flippant answers to serious questions posed by Johns and Chaon. Sometimes, though, his answers gave a hint of his ethos. When asked why he writes fiction, he explained, “I want to know what meaning is and how we make it.” Fiction, evidently, is the way in which he chooses to explore it. Not that it always comes easily to him: “I’m not a natural storyteller,” he revealed, which makes one wonder at his prodigious output. According to Everett, one of the most interesting aspects of fiction is that although “you never forget you’re reading a book,” readers still feel comfortable exclaiming that a
character “wouldn’t do that!” To Everett’s view, that response is completely insane — and yet, somehow beautiful. When he is writing a book, he is “God,” and the characters will do precisely what he tells them to — so the fact that readers could become invested enough to criticize an author’s choices is spectacular. He was also expected to give a reading on Monday night, following the conversation — but he told the audience, as he sat on the stage with one of his books in his hands, “I’m famous –––––––––––––––––––––––––––
For a writer, Everett was not always particularly keen to explain himself, often giving terse, flippant answers to serious questions posed by Johns and Chaon. Sometimes, though, his answers gave a hint of ethos. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– for hating readings … because it’s written down!” Instead, he asked, “Would you like me to tell you a story?” When the audience responded enthusiastically, he eschewed the book altogether and started forth
with his story, an unexpectedly hilarious misadventure from his early 20s, when he was working on an Idaho ranch. Everett also gave a brief lecture on Tuesday night titled “Invisible Man and the Clarity of Hell,” concerning Ralph Ellison’s famous 1952 novel. While the lecture was too brief to make any groundbreaking points, several of its smaller insights were canny and fascinating, although the lecture would have benefited from a microphone. On Monday night, when answering one of Chaon’s questions about why he writes, Everett told a complicated joke that more or less went as follows: A moth goes to the podiatrist’s office and proceeds to unload about his troubles — his wife hates him and his kids won’t talk to him. The confused podiatrist continually reminds the moth that he’s a podiatrist and not able to help. Finally, as the moth persists with his tirade, the podiatrist interjects, “I’m a podiatrist! Why did you come in here?” The moth replies simply, “Because the light was on.” Chaon and the audience were briefly baffled before Everett laughed and explained. The moth, of course, is Everett; he writes fiction because he has to — because the light’s on.
Runway Through Africa Models High Fashion in Sold-Out Shows Ava Bravata-Keating Staff Writer
While models changed between collections, various performers took to the catwalk to keep things moving. The first of these was rapper Van ’Go, the stage name of Gynarva Van Monroe, OC ’13. Monroe had the audience clapping along 30 seconds into his set. Rapping all original material, he unveiled a new piece, a remake of Iggy Azalea’s “Work.” “Be Simple,” the second set, celebrated the beginning of spring with bright, flowing dresses, flower-print shorts and well-cut vests. This time, the majority of the fabric was Kente, but it was accentuated with contrasting Maasai colors and prints. After the models’ second walk, the Umoja Steppers, Oberlin’s step dance team, performed. In perfect synchronization, they pounded the catwalk in heavy black boots before clearing the runway in time for the third run, “Be Funky.” In this playful collection, models exchanged their avant-garde heels for tennis shoes and sported midriffs with a mixture of printed bottoms or vest tops; one particularly stunning ensemble featured a black, faux-leather peplum top with printed bottoms.
Who says that fashion is always vain? Models sporting College sophomore Sophie Umazi Mvurya’s fashion collection, titled “Umazi,” strutted down the catwalk last Friday and Saturday at Runway Through Africa; between the two sold-out shows, the event raised $757 for the Yakubu Saaka Scholarship Fund, which aims to fully cover the Oberlin College tuition of an African student. The show, sponsored by the African Student Association, Abusua and Students of Caribbean Ancestry, also succeeded artistically, transforming Wilder Main into a stylish space with an ambience worthy of a cosmopolitan fashion week. Mvurya, originally from Kenya, gleaned considerable inspiration from the textiles, colors and patterns of her home country, but she also derived influences from all over the continent: Moroccan silks from the North, Maasai fabric from East Africa, Kente cloth from West and Central Africa. The Maasai fabric provided the link ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– of the collection. When not used as the base material of a garment, it at least provided an accent, while Kenyan Models’ personal styling ranged quite a bit, collars, pockets and pant cuffs kept the assemblage allowing some individual flair to spice up grounded in Kenyan tradition. The show’s first set, titled “Be Classy,” presented a Mvurya’s designs. One model’s pink halfmixture of Maasai fabrics and Moroccan silks that could shaved hairdo matched her skirt perfectly, transition gracefully from a cocktail party to a BBQ. The while another’s black lipstick and asymmetrimen wore printed green shorts or pants with either a blazer or button-up shirt, while the female models were cal top bun added an edgy vibe. clad in blues, greens and peaches and rocked short skirts ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– with collared tops. Every model had remarkable swagger, but the women were perhaps even more impressive for The models were greeted with cheers and raucous aptearing up the runway in sky-high heels. plause from the audience; the only people in Wilder Models’ personal styling ranged quite a bit, allowing Main not grinning were the appropriately steely-faced some individual flair to spice up Mvurya’s designs. One models themselves. model’s pink half-shaved hairdo matched her skirt perMvurya and a troupe of other dance-savvy students fectly, while another’s black lipstick and asymmetrical supplied the last between-runs performance, their Aftop bun added an edgy vibe. In addition to these funky rican-inspired moves supplemented by Van ’Go’s return hairstyles, each model sported colored dots on the fore- to the catwalk. head, nose and cheeks. Jewelry, commissioned by College The show’s final set was also Mvurya’s self-prosenior Koryn Locket, was just as bold as the garments on claimed favorite. “Be Fierce” left no doubt about her display. One particularly striking piece was cloaked in talent as a designer or seamstress. Meticulously crafted fabric hung thick around the model’s neck and tapered jackets forged an unexpected multicultural aesthetic, to a pendant with three hanging embellishments. and the multicolored printed blazers offered a new take
College first-year Mee-Ae Chatman-Nelson models a piece from sophomore Sophie Umazi Mvurya’s fashion collection in the sold-out show Runway Through Africa. The event raised over $750 for the Yakubu Saaka Scholarship Fund, which aims to fully cover the tuition of an African student. Kaïa Austin
on a popular garment. At the end of the fashion show, Mvurya followed her models onto the catwalk to thank the audience and finish in African tradition — with dancing. She was asking her viewers to embody the show’s theme, “Be You,” just as she had done in her clothing line. There are times to be classy, simple, funky and fierce, and Mvurya’s collection showcased them all.
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The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
Lopatin’s Electronic Textures Undanceable Yet Enjoyable Steve Goodwin Reconstructing electronic music live can be a tricky proposition. Often what sounds great in the studio can’t be recreated on a stage, disappointing eager audiences. In the wake of the release of his album R Plus Seven last fall, electronic musician Daniel Lopatin, known by the stage name Oneohtrix Point Never, came to perform at the ’Sco last Saturday, and he was mostly free from the usual pitfalls. Lopatin is known for making harsh, weird and yet often surprisingly beautiful music, so it was difficult to know what to expect from a live performance. The venue was packed with curious students forgoing usual weekend partying for a night of uniquely undanceable music. Fortunately, those who came expecting a strange yet wonderful sonic experience were ultimately satisfied.
Lopatin’s stage presence was extremely unassuming. Standing behind a table covered in hardware and lit by a single dim blue light, he allowed the music to speak for itself, unmediated by any other real performative elements. It was clear he was responsible for creating the sounds — his hands were certainly moving — but his equipment was tilted away from the audience in such a way that it was impossible to tell what was being done. Though Lopatin has performed with visual projections in the past, he eschewed all visual elements in this show, but it didn’t matter. The point was the music itself, and it needed no assistance in holding the listeners’ attention. Though Lopatin’s motions were slight, the sounds they produced were huge: intense washes of sound, grating textures, sudden swells and deep bass. While keeping the sound textures varied enough to be
interesting, the music was surprisingly pleasant, sometimes even soothing, with synths and vocal samples in heavy use. But the music was also playful, –––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Though Lopatin’s motions were slight, the sounds they produced were huge: intense washes of sound, grating textures, sudden swells and deep bass. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– darting from quiet to loud, refusing to let the listener simply lose themself in the chaos. It seemed there was a deeper underlying disorder to the music, a desire to constantly thwart expectations. Massive layers of static built up into what the audience expected to be an epic conclusion before grinding to a
sudden halt with a sound that could only be described as music swallowing itself. A few heads bobbed awkwardly in the crowd as Lopatin rained torrents of sound — residual reminders that this was in fact a Saturday night at the ’Sco. But the music, even at its most melodic and rhythmic moments, was intentionally fragmented, preventing the listener from ever getting too comfortable. On a rendition of “Chrome Country,” one of the more accessible songs from R Plus Seven, Lopatin played with the loops from the original song while reconstructing it live, dropping the beat for a moment or two before immediately pulling it back out of the mix. Eschewing the common practice in electronic music of performing an unbroken, transitioned set, Lopatin paused between songs, allowing for applause and giving the audience a clear sense of distinct
track breaks. The audience was enthusiastic, and when the set ended at 12:15 a.m., many were heard complaining that the music had ended too soon. Others complained about Lopatin’s lack of stage presence, and some of those familiar with his body of work sounded disappointed that the music wasn’t weird enough, while others found it too strange. However, most people in attendance seemed excited about what they had witnessed. It may have been a confusing performance, but Lopatin’s artistry and command of his sound was undeniable. It may not have been everyone’s favorite show of the year, but ultimately Oneohtrix Point Never curated a successful night of absorbing, beautiful music that innovated on a sometimes uncomfortable form.
Death and the Maiden Provides Window into Life Impacted by Dictatorship Continued from page 10 of living under the regime. Embodying the characters is challenging. “Paulina, especially, is really hard,” Weisskoff said. “I needed someone who could play a kind of stubbornness and self-righteousness, but could also access vulnerability. She is a character who could be dictatorial and also be like a child having a tantrum. I knew Erin would be able to switch from stability and instability seamlessly.” “This is definitely the hardest character I’ve been asked to play,” Amlicke said. “She is such a strong and intelligent woman, but yet she definitely has the qualities of what the male characters describe as ‘crazy.’”
Stage manager and College sophomore –––––––––––––––––––––––––––———— Kestrel Felt worked with the set manager, College senior Zach Weinberg, to create a “She is such a strong and intellistage that reflects the troubling text and gent woman, but yet she defihighlights the ambiguity of truth. “The set nitely has the qualities of what is made to be abstract while holding down the male characters describe as some reality,” Felt said. Clay tiling lies under the day bed, table, entryways and oth- ‘crazy.’” er objects, but the rest of the floor is black. “It relates to what is tangible and what is Erin Amlicke real. With dark spaces, it creates an illu- “Paulina,” Death and the Maiden sion of space that can be disrupted — it ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– gives kind of a feel[ing] of isolated spaces.” “Though the play is realistic, there is partially-defined space, and danger lurks enough ambiguous truth and psychologi- out in the darkness.” cal turmoil that creating an entirely realisDeath and the Maiden raises important tic interior felt like an inappropriate rep- questions while providing an intriguing resentation of the text on stage,” Weinberg plot. “[The play] offers an unusual view added. “The characters are marooned in a of justice; it is really exciting, and there
Folktales and Poems Bring Written Word to Africa Week Continued from page 10 native Kenyan Anne Chege prefaced their reading of a Maasai folktale, “The Elephant and the Hare,” by informing the audience that African mothers use folktales to teach their children lessons. The energy of the reading was palpable, and the audience expressed its entertainment with a smattering of giggles. They responded similarly to College junior and native Ghanaian Gifty Dominah’s reading of “Thunder and Anansi,” a tale about a mischievous spider to whom Thunder gives a gift — a pot that produces food endlessly — so that the spider’s family will have food to eat. In the middle of her reading, Dominah exclaimed, “He’s so wrong!” when Anansi decided to save the pot for his personal use. This outburst kept the crowd laughing, and her colorful, dramatic delivery kept the mood lighthearted and her listeners interested. Some readers struggled to pace themselves and appeared eager to get offstage, while others took their time, which helped the audience appreciate the literature that they read. Throughout all of the readings, however, the continuity between the piece and the reader made the performances personal, while simultaneously calling attention to broad social, cultural and political issues affecting Africans. The ASA will host two more events during Africa Week. The first, a lecture by Bloomsburg University Professor of Politics and Public Administration Dr. George Agbango titled “The Technology Divide and the Brain-Drain in Africa,” will take place in Wilder 101 at 6:30 p.m. this Friday. The second is the ASA’s annual banquet, Pan-Africa, which will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. All proceeds from the event will go to the Yakubu Saaka Scholarship Fund, which fully funds the Oberlin tuition of an African student.
is a lot of ambiguity — it’s not always clear which character is telling the truth,” Weisskoff said. “It provides a compelling discussion of the challenges of talking about violation and how to confront that and move on that I think many Oberlin students can relate to. It’s also important that others know the kind of institutional injustice that goes on in military governments.” Amlicke agrees that the work has much value for the community. “It’s an important play for Oberlin,” she said. “I hope that it incites a lot of conversation among students about justice and recognition.” Death and the Maiden will run April 10, 11, 12 and 13. Tickets are $3 in advance and $5 at the door, and can be purchased at Central Ticket Services.
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The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
Page 13
Annual Friendship Day an Artful, Varied Meditation on Companionship Clara Shannon Despite the chaos that always ensues after spring break, Oberlin students and faculty alike came together to celebrate and honor the meaning of friendship at the Cat in the Cream on Tuesday afternoon. Friendship Day showcased student performers of many forms and genres, including spoken word, jazz, folk, didgeridoo, speech and poetry, all of which focused on the topic of friendship. Along with the entertainment, attendees were encouraged to eat free food, doodle with a friend, make friendship bracelets and relax in the warm, positive environment. Friendship Day was originally created in the spring of 2010 and has remained an Oberlin tradition since then. The two-anda-half hour event was organized by Oberlin’s Friendship Circle, a campus and community initiative that promotes friendship as a framework for “developing international, interfaith and intercultural justice and peace from the personal to the global levels.” The Friendship Circle grew out of
an idea sparked by Professor Jafar Mahallati, Oberlin’s presidential scholar of Islam. The Oberlin Friendship Circle meets every Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m. for tea, cookies and discussion in the Multifaith Center at the Lewis House. The event began with a passionate and charismatic vocal performance by College senior Jonathan Weiss, who sang original compositions along with a cover of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends.” The afternoon progressed with an official proclamation of Friendship Day by City Manager Eric Norenberg and a pleasant and soothing performance by Oberlin’s Jewish a cappella group, CHALLaH cappella. Next came an unusual yet charming performance by The Unwanted, an all-female trio featuring banjo, vocals and didgeridoo. The group played a cover of The Wanted’s “Glad You Came,” swaying with the music as the didgeridoo kept the beat. The crowd, surprised and amused, laughed along with the performers, adding a light and fun touch to the afternoon.
Barnes Stresses Individuality, Expression in Workshops Vida Weisblum Monica Bill Barnes, contemporary dancer, choreographer and performer extraordinaire, prides herself on quirkiness and fun — attributes which she eagerly shared with the Oberlin community last Saturday. She joined student dancers and non-dancers for two captivating workshops, each a two hour-long session in Warner Main. One might expect a dance workshop with one of New York’s most celebrated contemporary dance figures to be intimidating, even rigid; Barnes, however, maintained a refreshingly comfortable environment and came prepared with an exciting agenda. The workshop attracted participants from Oberlin College and nearby universities, plus two international attendees. Barnes, whose poise resembled that of Audrey Hepburn, was welcoming to all, and she was eager to learn a little about each of the participants before delving into physical movement. Rather than immediately jumping into a traditional group dance warmup, Barnes began the workshops with an exercise one might call theatrical. She divided the group in half and asked both sides to stand in horizontal lines facing each other. She then gave one line a sequence of situations to act out while the other line watched. Students progressed from feeling awkward and not knowing anyone, to wishing it were a dance party and starting to move around to the music, to beginning to actually dance, then going all out and dancing wildly and, finally, realizing they are at a funeral. Two sequences through, the lines switched roles. The unusual opening doubtless felt disconnected from the classic image of dance; however, this warm up represents a quintessential part of Barnes’s character. As a choreographer, Barnes is primarily drawn to the eccentricities of dancers, not just their technical abilities. With her company, Monica Bill Barnes and Company, Barnes has entertained many different styles of performance along with numerous audiences in 40 cities throughout the country. MBB & Co. has performed seasons at New York City’s Joyce Theatre, been commissioned by dance festivals nationwide and received support from The National Endowment for the Arts, among other accomplishments. The company has also enjoyed special appearances at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, the Mayor’s Awards for Arts and Culture at New York City Center, Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Barnes’s work continues to be influenced by her dancers and emphasizes originality. To do so, Barnes implements humor as a crucial element of her work; she tries to garner at least one giggle per performance. If the audience laughs at her choreography, even if all else fails, she can feel confident that viewers are engaged in what is being presented on stage. Barnes noted during the workshop that humor, while on the surface a happy concept, often stems from a tragic idea. By implementing humor, Barnes makes the meaning of her dances accessible. Humor is also based in intent, which Barnes discussed extensively in the workshops. She explained that intent helps to draw a piece away from melodrama and an overbearing tone or story, allowing an audience to decide what meaning they want to assign to a movement and even the piece as a whole. This intent brings presence to the dancers and allows their individuality to be unmasked — a concept that Barnes stressed throughout the workshop exercises. While doing a more traditional Limón-esque suspension routine, instead of instructing dancers on how to prevent falling on difficult moves, she told them to embrace the falls and make them their own. This particular interest in individuality was apparent throughout the workshop. Her approachable style and humor allowed students to truly open up and embrace their personal quirks — a freedom the dancers will not soon forget.
Professor of Classics Benjamin Lee took the stage next and gave a thought-provoking and enlightening speech on Aristotle’s conception of friendship and the elements of truly good friendship. Lee’s speech explained the different types of friends presented to us in life — the friends we use, the friends we find attractive and enjoy and the true friends that make life worth living. “The friends you make at this place will last you the rest of your life,” he said, “and, probably, that’s the greatest thing that will happen to you at Oberlin, is the friends you make here.” Everybody’s Big Band played next, performing jazz standards and highlighting solos on instruments such as trombone, drums, flute, guitar, trumpet and saxophone. Professor of Piano Sanford Margolis recited the moving poetry of Rumi and Daagh Dehlvi, surrounding the theme of friendship and its importance in life. Friends Trio, made up of Conservatory senior Shea Pierre on piano, double-degree fifth year Dan Pappalardo on bass and Con-
servatory senior Miles Labat on the drums, performed two short jazz pieces afterward, adding a cool and fun touch to the event. While performing, the trio seemed in sync with one another, exchanging glances and smiling as they truly enjoyed the music and each other. Community member Meeko Israel and saxophonist and College senior Malachi Kehinde Thomas were next. Performing an original work titled “Listen-in,” the duo captivated the audience with passion and a commanding stage presence. Thomas calmly and beautifully answered the power of Israel’s spoken word with lush tones from the saxophone. Oberlin’s Hip-Hop Collective took the stage in its first ever performance of all-original works, followed by a jazz quintet performing on vocals, drums, trombone, bass and piano to end the afternoon. Friendship Day was a wonderful display of not only great showmanship and on-stage fun but true support from the audience as well. Through and through, the event was a celebration of love and support of anyone and everyone.
Sports
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The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
IN THE LOCKER ROOM
Women’s Tennis
This week the Review sat down with women’s tennis players senior Brenna Sheldon, junior Grace Porter and sophomore Erin Johnson to discuss their recent spring break trip, past seasons’ success and what drew them to Oberlin. What are your thoughts on the season thus far? Brenna Sheldon: I think our season has been pretty good so far. We have had our ups and our downs; spring break was really tough. We played top teams in the nation, and that was good for us, apparently, but really hard. Given that we are such a young team, it’s going to help. Everyone is coming back but me next year. Erin Johnson: It was mentally and physically exhausting. I think the tough matches we had over spring break are going to help us, especially come conference because we play tough teams. We’re growing. Grace Porter: Day after day we just kept going at it. But the season so far is good; we have three freshmen who are adding a lot to our lineup and contributing a lot. How was the spring break trip? BS: We learned some soccer. It was kind of like nine sisters living in a house. The men’s coach made the guys clean up their house and keep it kind of neat, but our coach didn’t really care, so we spread out and had fun all break. GP: We went to hibachi and had a lot of challah. The last two-plus years have been incredibly successful for your team. What do you think has contributed to that? BS: Coachie. GP: I guess two years ago we had an older team — I was the youngest on the team — they all knew their
Sophomore Erin Johnson, senior Brenna Sheldon and junior Grace Porter stuff and were really disciplined and knew how to compete well, but they have all slowly graduated. Now, we’re learning how to compete again. BS: We were good because we had five seniors. We had a really deep lineup — from No. 1 to No. 6 — everyone was good. No. 6 could play a match with No. 1 and have a pretty good match. Now we’re definitely rebuilding. Do you prefer playing singles or doubles? GP: I’ve started to like singles more than I have in the past; but I think doubles is a lot of fun, and I prefer doubles. Brenna’s our singles specialist; we look up to her. BS: Grace is one of the best at doubles in the country. She’s definitely one of the best doubles players we’ve had at Oberlin ever. I used to only play singles before coming into college, and now I’ve learned a lot about doubles, and I love it and I’m getting better, and I get to play with both Erin and Grace. EJ: I never played doubles before I came to Oberlin, so doubles
is a whole new thing for me, but I actually like doubles more this year than singles. It is more fun for me. I feel like I can focus better because someone else is relying on me and I am relying on someone else, and in singles I am out there all alone. Brenna, you just won your 100th match with Oberlin. How does that feel? BS: It’s a lot of matches. I had no idea that I had played that many matches, so when I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’ It’s a lot of tennis matches. It’s fun, I can’t believe it. It’s gone so fast. How has your game improved since you got to Oberlin? EJ: I still consider myself growing because I am a sophomore. My mental toughness coming in definitely was not good. I did not have much match experience in high school, so this is a different experience entirely. I am becoming more mentally tough, but it’s a work in progress. BS: I guess I came in having played a lot of tournaments, but
I was never on a team in high school. I didn’t really play doubles. I was totally a singles player, and I loved it. I played a lot of matches, but I had no team. I would much rather win as a team than win individually. It is so much more fun to be a good team. And I’ve gotten better at tennis, too — more aggressive. GP: I guess my tennis has changed in that I am more disciplined now. I think when I came here I mainly focused on going out there and trying to look cool and win in only one way, but now I think I have more variety, which helps. What drew you to the tennis program here? BS: Coach Constantine [Ananiadis] drew me here, or it might have been Ariel Lewis [OC ’12], who I think is the best player in school history. We played together a little bit in high school and played tournaments together, and she came to Oberlin, and she was a year ahead of me. I think she told my coach about me, and that’s
why I am here. I loved Oberlin; I loved the music. EJ: I applied to nine schools all very similar to Oberlin. I think Coach C. and my visit here really is what drew me here. I think Coach is really great, and I have a really good relationship with him that I did not really feel with any of the other coaches, and I also stayed with Preeya Shah [OC ’13], who graduated last year, and she was really cool and put away all my fears about Oberlin. GP: I didn’t come to Oberlin specifically to play tennis, but I’m glad that I am. It’s been a really convenient and privileged way to keep up tennis and not have to hang up the racket right after high school. Do you prefer playing outside or inside? Grass or clay? BS: Outside all the way, 100 percent. I like playing in sunshine, and I like wind. It’s not the same game indoors at all. EJ: I like playing inside; I don’t like wind. GP: Both are good. If you could be great at one other sport, what would it be? BS: Swimming, running and biking. EJ: Probably running and soccer. I wish I was more of a team-sport person. GP: Maybe Frisbee. You can make a lot of friends with Frisbee, but I can’t throw a Frisbee. Do you have any team traditions or superstitions? EJ: We have our little huddle that we started this year. GP: We like to cheer really loudly for Chicago, regardless of if the University of Chicago is present. Interview by Nate Levinson, Sports editor Photo by Claire Morton
Yeomen Breeze By Lords Oldest School Team Seeks New Recruits Continued from page 16 fluential role in the weekend series. “Another guy who stepped up this past weekend is Ben Whitener,” he said. “In Ben’s previous starts, he showed potential, but either bad defense behind him or poor run support kept him from shining. Last Sunday, he gave us exactly what we needed to win the game, and we took his gift on the way to the series win.” Whitener attributed his good game to a large improvement on defense. “I had fantastic defense behind me,” he said. “Last year we picked up a transfer player, Kyle Decker, who has hit well and played fantastic defense at shortstop and second base. The team as a whole has stepped up their game.” Whitener hopes to see the team continue to improve. “I’m hoping to see more consistent performances from our pitching staff, myself included,” he said. “We’re good, not great, and I think everybody has a small adjustment to make that will really improve their game.” Unfortunately, the weekend momentum did not continue through this week, as the Yeomen dropped two games to the visiting Hiram College Terriers on Wednesday afternoon. The team’s next games will come in a doubleheader against Allegheny College this weekend in Meadville, PA. “Allegheny is always a very solid team who doesn’t make mistakes and does all the little things right. It should be a good test for us,” DeDoes said. “As long as we don’t beat ourselves, we should win at least two, if not three, games and be in great shape to get a home playoff series.” The Yeomen will return home for a weekend series against the College of Wooster on April 18 and 19.
Continued from page 16 at Cleveland club Hooked on Fencing and a former national champion. The Blades practice twice a week in Hales gym, where Coach Dragonetti joins them to help lead the team through drills and footwork. The team is fully operational in that it has the equipment to fence all three types of weapons — foil, épée and sabre — as well as repair equipment and provide all necessary gear for new fencers. The team hopes to continue its storied history here at Oberlin in the coming years. “Continuity is what we hope for,” Esler said. “This is the first time in a while we have brought a full 18-person squad to a tournament, and we want to continue doing so.” In addition, the team will continue to improve its ExCo in order to recruit new members. “I took the fencing ExCo my freshman year and joined the team immediately after,” said senior fencer Sam McCright. “It’s challenging both physically and mentally.” The Flaming Blades will host a home tournament on April 27, where they will be competing against teams from across the Midwest.
Sports
The Oberlin Review, April 11, 2014
Page 15
— Women’s Lacrosse —
Yeowomen Rebound Against OWU Bishops Tyler Sloan Staff Writer Though they maintained a convincing lead for the majority of the game, the women’s lacrosse team ultimately fell just short of beating DePauw University in a 14–13
result on Saturday, April 5. The Tigers trailed the Yeowomen at the midway point but came out strong in the latter half of the game. The Tigers’ late surge put the team in a position to ultimately secure the win over Oberlin. Early in the contest, the Yeo-
Junior Bronwen Schumacher lines up for a free position shot during a game against Randolph College. The Yeowomen are 6–2 this season. Erik Andrews
women dominated and appeared as if they would walk away with their second North Coast Athletic Conference victory this season. Sophomore Suzanna Doak scored the first goal against the Tigers and would later add two more for a hat trick. Classmate Grace Barlow followed suit and effortlessly slipped ten goals past DePauw’s goalkeeper Liz Hawkins. For Barlow, this was a career high and just one goal shy of tying the NCAC record for most goals in a single game. In the 2013 season, Barlow finished second on the team with 28 goals. This year, with five games left, she has already broken a personal record with 31 goals. However, despite Barlow’s stellar performance and the team’s best efforts, Oberlin could not hold off DePauw for the final 30 minutes. Barlow attributed the outcome of the weekend’s game to several factors. “Right now, we’re doing a lot of shuffling of the lineup due to injuries on the team. Both offense and defense are assessing the holes and learning how to adjust,” she said. “Another difficulty in facing DePauw on Saturday was definitely our mental game. We weren’t quite fired up enough for this game and I think that translated to us not kicking it into gear on the field when we needed it.” The Yeowomen roster has taken quite a hit recently in terms of inju-
— Track and Field —
Track and Field Sets NCAC Records Taylor Swift The Oberlin College track and field teams lit up the track this weekend during the annual Bob Kahn Invitational, hosted at Oberlin, on Saturday. Instead of the usual NCAC opponents, this weekend the Yeomen competed with nationally ranked and DivisionII schools. The Yeowomen powered through to place third out of six teams with 121 points, while the Yeomen came in fourth out of five teams with a total of 134.83 points. The field events started off the meet, and despite the adverse weather conditions, both squads excelled in their respective events. On the women’s side, sophomore Larisa Lewis earned a season best in the shot with a throw of 11.65 meters, which put her in third place at the meet and was a top mark for the conference. In the discus, sophomore Amethyst Carey and first-year Eleanor Van Buren sealed third and fourth place, respectively. Van Buren threw 30.16 meters, while Carey topped her at 34.63 meters. Senior Mary Okoth also added points in the high jump, soaring to victory with a height of 1.47 meters. On the men’s side, junior Jeffrey Kawahara earned some key points by placing second in the long jump by leaping 5.90 meters, then proceeded to place first in the triple jump with a jump of 12.33 meters. Despite his success, Kawahara knows he didn’t perform his best in the competition. “Many people struggled to jump well in the cold, so I don’t feel too disappointed,” he said. “I might not be jumping as far as I’d like yet, but I feel like I’m on the right track. I’m sure there’s not a single person who isn’t pushing [him] or herself to do even better at the next meet.” The standout performances of the distance runners helped garner a majority of the points for both teams. Most notable this weekend was the 5,000-meter run for the Yeowomen, who swept the first three places in the event. Junior Sarah Jane Kerwin earned the title of NCAC distance runner of the week for her first place performance, crossing the finish line with
a time of 17 minutes and 55.00 seconds, and was followed by Hannah Wolfe and Carey Lyons with times of 18:26.00 and 18:49.10, respectively. In the men’s 5,000, sophomore Andrew Witcher crossed the finish line at 15:40.47 to earn second place. “Sarah Jane Kerwin and Andrew Witcher’s performances in the 5k stood out the most to me,” former NCAC Runner of the Week and sophomore Geno Arthur said. “Sarah Jane won the 5,000 by a lot and looked really strong the whole race. Andrew got second in the men’s 5,000, but more importantly he had a huge personal best and really surprised himself.” In the women’s 1,500 meter, junior Emma Lehmann clocked in at 4:47.00, missing the first spot by under a second. Senior Molly Martorella closed in to finish fourth with a time of 4:48.80, helping both women to take the top two rankings in the NCAC for the season. The Yeomen also had a close race to the finish in the men’s 1,500, with sophomore duo Joshua Urso and Arthur crossing the line with a two-three finish, with times of 4:04.41 and 4:05.75, respectively. In the sprint events, junior sprinter Jerry Choi led the pack with his first place time of 55.79 in the men’s 400 meter hurdles. Senior Jimmy Taylor pulled third in the 800 meter with a time of 1:58:75, just eight-tenths of a second behind first place. Shortly after the meet, the team was already looking forward to its next competition. “This weekend was a good chance for us to compete against some challenging teams before AllOhio this weekend,” said Carey. “I’m looking forward to channeling that same energy again for an awesome meet.” The next meet will come on the road at the Bucknell University Bison Outdoor Classic on Friday, April 11. Meanwhile, the Yeomen and Yeowomen who qualified for the All-Ohio Championships will be traveling to Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday to compete against the top D-III runners in the state.
ries: junior co-captain Kate Hanick is suffering from a stress fracture on the third metatarsal in her right foot, first-year Michaela Puterbaugh has three stress fractures in each leg and classmate Sara Phister is struggling with shin splints and stress fractures. First-year goalkeeper Maya Elany broke her leg in the fall, leaving classmate Alexa L’Insalata as the sole goalkeeper for Oberlin. L’Insalata has not faltered under the pressure of acting as the lone Yeowomen goalie. She has already tallied 62 saves this season and holds a solid .517 save percentage, good enough for first place in the NCAC. However, with key players battling through injuries in recent games, L’Insalata echoed Barlow’s concerns about the importance of remaining mentally tough. “The biggest aspect of the game we need to improve on is not necessarily our offense or defense, but our mental game,” she said. “It is easy to let losses affect the rest of a season, and it does not help that we have a few crucial players injured at the moment. We need to stay positive, keep looking forward, not give up and show up hungry for a win each new game we face.” The Yeowomen could not stress the importance of staying focused and upbeat enough. “We’re a relatively mental team, as in we can sometimes get in our own heads and that often works
against us,” Doak added. Despite her team’s apprehensions about mental strength, Head Coach Lynda McCandlish remains confident that the talented group is more than capable of overcoming adversity in pursuit of a conference title. She expressed that the team is strong and will continue to practice and “get better everyday.” The Yeowomen had the opportunity to prove exactly that on Wednesday, April 9 against the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops. In a 10–9 nail-biter, Oberlin managed to pull off its second NCAC victory on home turf. Doak and Barlow scored one and four goals, respectively. Senior Sarah Andrews tallied the opening score of the game, and first-years Hannah Heinke-Green and Phister each added two to finish the game. With another conference win behind them, the Yeowomen are eager to continue the winning streak. Looking forward, the Yeowomen resume conference play on Tuesday, April 15, against Allegheny College on the Gators’ home field in Meadville, PA. As for the rest of the season, McCandlish’s goals are simple and to the point. “Stay positive, keep working hard, get the best out of practice everyday and make it to the NCAC tournament,” she said.
Editorial: Better Resouces, Not Cash for D-I Athletes Continued from page 16 many athletes from different universities to issue statements supporting or opposing the Northwestern football team. Those that support Northwestern, like former Louisiana State University tight end Richard Dickson, see this as an opportunity to get more athletes to finish college before going straight to the NFL. Dickson argued that a few thousand dollars a semester could be helpful to scholarship athletes who struggle to find time for a wellpaying job. The question then becomes: Where does the money come from? Players argue that the revenue brought in at bigger Division I institutions by football and basketball programs should be shared with the players. It would be near impossible for institutions to find an equitable way to distribute money. Should the benchwarming senior receive the same amount of money as the first-year star quarterback? Also, a significant portion of funds at power conference schools is used to support student-athlete services and programs. Compensating players will take money away from these support systems. At LSU, football players receive a plethora of support programs, such as a membership for school work and tutoring services at the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes. LSU athletes also receive various forms of health care, which seem like they would benefit players more than a $2,000 per semester stipend. Providing student-athletes with the services to become better athletes, while also focusing on education, is more useful than cash. You can argue that college athletes are adults who need to learn money management, especially if they hope for a future in the NFL or NBA, but giving them money does nothing. If you want to teach these athletes how to spend their money, enroll them in courses geared towards money management. College athletes should not make money or be considered employees of their universities. While some athletes consider themselves athletes first and students second, they are still students and are at college to receive some kind of education. Instead of demanding to form a union and receive compensation, players should be pushing for their institutions to use the money on programs that will directly support them in the future, like a course on injury prevention or NFL rules. Money spent on education and support services for college athletes will be more useful than cash in the long run.
Sports The Oberlin Review
April 11, 2014
— Women’s — Fencing Lacrosse — —
Flaming Blades Duel in Tennessee
Captain and sophomore Izzy Esler (left) duels an opponent during a tournament in Knoxville, TN. The women’s Flaming Blades squad placed 19th out of 31 teams. Courtesy of Gabe Fisher
See Oldest, page 14
— Baseball —
Yeomen Take 3 of 4 from Kenyon Lords “Each week he has thrown between 12 and 14 innings, a tough workload, and he has succeeded each time.”
Baldocchi also noted junior first baseman Ben Whitener’s inSee Yeomen, page 14
See Editorial, page 15
Senior captain Mike McDonald eyes his target in a game over spring break. McDonald is fourth on the team with a .394 batting average this season. Courtesy of Kristen McDonald
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This past weekend, the baseball team headed to Gambier, Ohio, to play the Kenyon College Lords in a fourgame league series. The Yeomen won the series 3–1, only dropping their third game by a score of 1–2. This win marks their fifth conference win of the season and is an improvement over last season’s series loss to the Lords. In the first game on Saturday, the Yeomen defeated the Lords 11–1, as senior captain and pitcher Mike McDonald had a career-best performance, throwing a complete game while striking out 11 batters and walking none. The strong showing lowered his ERA to 0.93 and pushed his record to 4–1. The second game proved more difficult, as the Lords scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Yeomen ultimately closed things out and won 10–7. The second day, Kenyon nabbed its first North Coast Athletic Conference win of the season, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 2–1. Sophomore pitcher Harrison Wollman threw six strong innings, striking out two, walking one and allowing only two hits. A key throwing error by junior third baseman Jeff Schweighoffer led to the deciding runs, as McDonald was unable to successfully close
the game out and allowed the tying and winning runs to score. “We went 2–2 against Kenyon last year,” senior co-captain Mattie DeDoes said. “This year we really wanted to come out strong in the first game and set the tone for the rest of the series.” Junior Danny Baldocchi agreed. “Last year they smoked us the first two games of the series, and I believe that that tough day lead us to our turning point last season,” he said. “The second day [last season], we beat them and were able to even up the season series. Even more importantly, we were able to show ourselves that we were better than them. That confidence carried over to this season where we went into each of those games expecting to win. Last year we figured out what we could accomplish, and this year we have made that discovery into more than just confidence. We have turned it into success.” Both players also mentioned McDonald’s large contribution to the Yeomen’s wins this season. “Mike pitched really well and got us off to a good start, and our lineup put some runs on the board early, which gave our team a lot of confidence,” DeDoes said. Baldocchi echoed this sentiment. “As a senior, [Mike] has accepted the role of ace; but more than that, he does everything he can to help us win,” he said.
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At Division-I institutions, student-athletes are expected to give 40–50 hours per week to their program. While this time commitment is similar to that of a full-time job, when students make the decision to pursue athletics at the collegiate level, they are signing on to be a student and an athlete. A major difference between collegiate athletes and professionals is money; the pros make it and the NCAAsanctioned athletes do not. Professional athletes make money because being an athlete is their job, and although collegiate athletes may prioritize their sport, it is not their job. The NCAA has worked to maintain the distinction between collegiate and professional athletes since it was founded. But recently, the NCAA has come under attack by both lawyers and college athletes. Lawyers are arguing that the NCAA and the power conferences have made billions of dollars off of football and basketball programs by withholding players’ compensation, while the players are arguing that they should be compensated for their use in video games and broadcasts. This attack was perfectly timed with Chicago Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board Peter Ohr’s ruling that Northwestern University’s scholarship football players should be eligible to form a union. Although this rule only applies to scholarship football players at Northwestern, it could eventually extend to other Division-I scholarship football players. What this ruling means is that football players on scholarship at Northwestern are now employees of the university and thus can fight for better health care coverage or larger scholarships. The decision is the first of its kind and has prompted
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This past weekend, the fencing team traveled to Knoxville, TN, in order to compete in the United States Fencing Club championship. Eighteen fencers, clad in the team’s trademark rainbow knee-high socks, spent two days in intense competition. “It was a really successful tournament,” captain and sophomore Izzy Esler said. “Everything went smoothly, and everyone was having a good time.”
The women’s foil squad placed 19th out of 31 teams. “We’re really proud of that, considering we’re only a small club here at Oberlin,” Esler said. Despite their roster size, the Flaming Blades are members of two different fencing leagues. The Midwestern Fencing Conference, which culminates in a championship every March, is the overarching league for all club and varsity teams within Ohio and the surrounding states.
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Fencing is an NCAA-sanctioned sport, with larger schools like Ohio State University and Notre Dame College producing Olympic-level fencers. At conference meets, Oberlin students have the opportunity to square off against some of the best college fencers. “It’s a privilege to go see them fence and compete with them,” Esler said. However, most of the team’s competition comes from similar club teams at Bowling Green University, Xavier University and Case Western Reserve University. In addition to the Midwestern conference, the team is also a member of the United States Fencing Association, which hosts the annual club championship. Prior to attending the USFA championship, the team competes at two to three dual meets each year. Most of its competitions are team formats, where squads of three from each school are entered. If the team wins five out of nine victories, the team wins the round. This past season, the team competed at Ohio State University as well as Case Western. The Blades have operated as a club sport at Oberlin since the 1970s, but their history goes back much farther. Fencing is the oldest chartered sport at the College and was a varsity sport during the 1930s. In recent years the club has worked hard to once again increase the visibility of the sport. “Through enthusiastic student leadership, they teach, recruit, train, fundraise and travel to compete,” said Director of Recreation and Club Sports Betsy Bruce. The fencing ExCo has been run by team members for several years and remains the most important tool for generating interest. In addition, the team has worked to increase its competitive edge by working with Walt Dragonetti, a coach
Athletes Shouldn’t Be Paid
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