March 15, 2019

The Oberlin Review March 15, 2019

established 1874

Volume 147, Number 17

Students, faculty, and staff members gather in Dye Lecture Hall for the AAPR steering committee’s presentation on the proposed areas of recommendation for the College and Conservatory’s financial sustainability.

Photo by Meg Parker, Photo Editor

AAPR Announces Areas of Recommendation to Oberlin Community Sydney Allen, Editor-in-Chief Nathan Carpenter, Editors-in-Chief After months of research, data collection, and deliberation, members of the Academic and Administrative Program Review steering committee presented their proposed areas of recommendation to the Oberlin community in a series of three presentations for faculty, staff, and students this week.

The presentations capped a year-long exploratory process during which a 31-person steering committee — composed of faculty, staff, students, trustees, and alumni — analyzed nearly every aspect of Oberlin’s budget through a combination of surveys, data collection, program reports, interviews, focus groups, and more. This was the first institution-wide program review process Oberlin has ever undergone.

The AAPR was launched after President Carmen Twillie Ambar and the Board of Trustees announced that Oberlin’s budget model was unsustainable — a realization that became more urgent after an enrollment shortfall pushed the school’s deficit to $5 million last fall. Since then every division of the College has made significant shortterm cuts to their spending. During the presentation, the committee announced that Oberlin would reach a budget deficit of $52 million by 2024 if no changes were made.

“The college has been running a deficit and the shortterm financial decisions are designed to partially address that deficit,” said David Kamitsuka, the acting dean of Arts and Sciences and co-chair of the steering commitee. “By itself, however, the short-term budgeting by the College will not be able to get us out of deficit. This is a serious problem because every year of deficit makes us weaker financially, and reduces the options we have to shape our own future.”

The committee organized their proposals around three general categories: academic reorganization, curricular and co-curricular changes, and operational efficiency. Specific areas for reduction or growth were identified within those categories. Committee members emphasized that, at this time, the steering committee does not recommend reducing student financial aid, letting go of faculty in continuing positions, or cutting any majors or minors. Additionally, the steering committee recommends that no cuts should be made that could compromise Oberlin’s core elements, including cuts to the College, Conservatory, residential experience, or the Allen

Memorial Art Museum.

Below is a general overview of each of the three major categories identified by the AAPR. Each will be reported on in more detail in future issues of the Review.

The information below is intended as an introduction to the steering committee’s proposals and rationale, along with some preliminary concerns that have arisen among members of the College and Conservatory community.

Academic Reorganization The steering committee highlighted their four main visions to reorganize Oberlin’s existing academic structures: a new approach to collaboration between the Conservatory and the College, a reimagined Conservatory, a restructuring of the College’s academic departments, and changes to Winter Term programming.

According to the presentations, College students pay, on average, $10,000 more in tuition annually than Conservatory students. They added that during the 2016– 17 fiscal year, the College of Arts and Sciences saw a net revenue of $23.9 million, while the Conservatory saw a deficit of $11.9 million.

Because of this discrepancy, AAPR is proposing to reduce the number of students enrolled in the Conservatory by 100 in the next four years, bringing total enrollment to around 480, while increasing Arts and Sciences enrollment by 100 students over the same timeframe, keeping Oberlin’s total student body the same size. According to the steering committee, this shift will increase revenue by around $1 million each year.

AAPR also proposes shifting Conservatory resources to create more robust music opportunities for College students, motivated by the discovery that 80 percent of admitted Arts and Sciences students with a strong interest in music chose to go to other schools.

“We hope that creating more fundamental and ongoing links between the College and Conservatory will excite students and faculty across campus,” said Peter Swendsen, an AAPR steering committee member and Conservatory professor. “In particular, we hope to provide more points of entry for College students with a variety of musicrelated interests — scholarship, performance, technology, composition, etc.”

Arts and Sciences would also see significant structural changes under the committee’s recommendations — one of the proposals would transition the College from a 32-department system to a model with five or six core

academic divisions, each of which would house related departments and programs and share administrative oversight.

“I’m intrigued by the idea of consolidation, and as a current chair, I wouldn’t miss the clerical work,” wrote Shelley Lee, chair of the Comparative American Studies department, in an email to the Review. “I do wonder, what will a consolidation that maintains existing majors and faculty look like? Department chairs often provide intellectual vision and leadership that is grounded in an area of study, so what would happen to that? ... With consolidation, could areas of study with fewer faculty be at a disadvantage against those with more within a divisional unit, and how do we prevent that?”

Finally, the steering committee is considering professionalizing Winter Term by adding more institutional structure and creating a larger on-campus presence for the month. While no concrete changes have been agreed upon, the steering committee suggested potential pathways such as requiring faculty to host research opportunities and group projects on campus, offering more courses for academic credit over winter term, and creating a menu of ExCo courses for the month.

“I like the idea of more on-campus Winter Term opportunities; I found it difficult to find either internships or housing if they were off-campus before,” said College senior Mackenzie Lew, who attended Thursday’s listening session. “I look forward to more structured Winter Term support for professional experience, or maybe academic credit if that’s available.”

Operational Efficiency One of the more controversial changes may involve faculty and staff compensation. As it stands, Oberlin faculty make 11 percent less than their colleagues at the “Sweet 16” colleges and universities that are considered Oberlin’s peers. Oberlin’s administrative and professional staff make a salary mostly in line with their peers at those same institutions — though this number includes compensation of positions ranging from area coordinators, to deans, to senior staffers.

AAPR contrasted these data with figures about Oberlin’s hourly workers, who, according to the steering committee, earn around 34 percent higher wages than comparable positions at other colleges and universities in See Recommendations, page 2

CONTENTS NEWS

OPINIONS

THIS WEEK

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS

02 A New Type of ExCo: Reading Oberlin’s Landscape

05 Faculty Letter to Save Arabic Language Program

08 Letterpress at Oberlin

10 Flamenco Symposium Dances Through Oberlin

15 Former Men’s Soccer Players Take Up Horseback Riding

04 Eight Oberlin Ventures Compete in LaunchU Final Pitch

06 The Catholic Church Doesn’t Deserve an Apology

11 Student Production Same Same Premieres at Cat in the Cream

16 Heisman Club Symposium Offers Leadership Workshops

The Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

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A New Type of ExCo: Reading Oberlin’s Landscape Jane Hobson A new ExCo called Reading the Oberlin Landscape is helping students cultivate a stronger sense of place and connection to Oberlin. Will Wickham, a College senior, is the course’s creator and sole instructor. He is using this ExCo as the base of his Environmental Studies capstone project, and he aims to bridge the gap between the sciences and humanities by providing an in-depth introduction to the field of natural history in Oberlin.

The class is interdisciplinary in nature, and has been designed to evolve to fit students’ particular interests.

“The class is intentionally open-ended, because I want to encourage people to get to know whatever they want and to develop a sense of place that’s very individual and feels good to them,” Wickham explained. “I care a lot about trees and geology, but I also want to leave space for people to investigate what they want to about the place. There are so many things to learn. There’s ecology, geology, geography, and human histories that are all intertwined to create the landscape that we see. So understanding all of that and how it comes together is a big part of the class.”

During the ExCo’s first meeting, Wickham reviewed the natural history of Tappan Square and led a walking tour around Tappan. He noted that many Oberlin students do not know the square’s unique natural history, or that Tappan used to be covered with buildings.

“Tappan Square is super interesting. It was the original plot of Oberlin College, so all the first buildings were built on that one plot of land in the 1830s,” Wickham

said. “There’s actually a creek running under Tappan Square that has been tunneled and runs into Plum Creek.

We don’t see it anymore, but it’s still there. It’s just being tunneled in a pipe. This whole landscape, including Tappan Square, was really swampy because it’s so flat.

That’s the reason why Tappan Square puddles up when it rains. It’s because it’s a low point in the land.”

At this point in the semester, Wickham’s students have shifted their focus to tree-tapping and the practice of collecting syrup. Before starting the tapping process, they learned to recognize and measure sugar maple trees.

“We learned how to identify sugar maple trees without leaves, and then we split up into teams and went around Tappan [Square] making a map of where all the sugar maples are,” said Hannah Levit, a College first-year enrolled in the ExCo. “There are actually so many — you don’t realize how many there are. We drilled the trees, and now the buckets are there collecting sap.”

The ExCo provides an escape from indoor life and a revival of curiosity.

“I feel like there’s a lot of enthusiasm and almost childlike excitement about little things like moss and twigs,” College senior Martha Hoffman said.

“Everybody’s so pumped to be taking time away from regular classes and learning about the land.”

Wickham asks students to keep a journal throughout the course in order to collect class notes as well as reflect on their learning creatively through drawings, poems, plant pressings, and maps.

Hoffman is particularly excited about the journaling component.

“My natural journal is slowly filling up,” she said. “I’m really excited to look back on it this summer when I’m leading trips or later in the future as a source of memories and knowledge from this time in life.”

In addition, Wickham has also assigned a variety of scientific and historical readings from authors, including Robin Wall Kimmerer, Bruce Simonson, and Professor Emeritus of Biology Thomas Fairchild Sherman.

Hoffman mentioned an assigned reading by William Cronon that had a particular impact on her perception of nature.

“There’s this article about the trouble with the word ‘wilderness’,” she said. “We have become used to the concept of wilderness as a thing that’s separate from us — like it’s pristine and we have to pay money to access it. This idea that in order to have wilderness, we have to kick out the people who live on the land is sort of a Eurocentric one – nature as something over there, that we will either conquer or look up to like it’s a perfect thing and not part of us. In this ExCo, Will is trying to get us to rethink nature and realize that it’s all around us.”

In the future, Wickham plans to take the class on trips to the Arboretum, Chance Creek, and other natural areas around Oberlin. Many students are excited about the upcoming trips and to gain new perspectives on space.

“I took the ExCo mostly because I love hiking, so I’m really looking forward to taking more trips,” Levit said. “It’s interesting to understand more about natural history and figure out how the Oberlin landscape came to look the way that it does today and uncovering the secrets of it.”

Recommendations Aim to Create Financial Sustainability Continued from page 1

Northeast Ohio. Presenters further argued that Oberlin’s current ratio of 1,100 employees to 2,800 students is financially unsustainable.

The steering committee also intends to consolidate healthcare plans. Currently, hourly employees’ plans cost the school $17,000 per year, while administrative and professional staff and faculty have plans which cost $9,800 per year. Steering committee member Jeff Whitmer added that these plans need to be standardized across Oberlin’s workforce for equity and financial reasons.

Another recommendation is to reduce Oberlin’s overall physical footprint.

Currently, Oberlin has a ratio of about 1,000 square feet used per student, while comparable institutions use an average of 818 square feet. Unnecessary space costs the school in heating, cooling, and lighting. The recommended reduction will involve eliminating and phasing out some spaces over time, while simultaneously updating crucial student spaces and reducing Oberlin’s outstanding deferred maintenance.

Another recommendation is addressing Oberlin’s relationship with the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association to achieve a financially sustainable and equitable partnership. According to the steering committee, OSCA currently receives a $1.9 million subsidy from the College each year through property discounts, ownership

costs, and lost revenue.

While many students were concerned about this area of recommendation and the impact it could have on OSCA’s nearly 70-year tradition, College senior Kameron Dunbar, Student Senate chair, OSCA member, and a student representative on the steering committee added that committee members hope to collaborate with OSCA to create a plan to reduce its dependence on the College and make the co-op system self-sustainable.

“I’m excited at the opportunity for this community to really take a difficult look at OSCA’s relationship to the College — it’s undeniable benefits and impact on student life and its real impact on the college budget,” Dunbar said. “I know that the three students on AAPR are excited to work with OSCA’s leadership in exploring all the opportunities a self-sustaining OSCA can provide.”

Curricular, Co-Curricular Changes The steering committee also identified numerous curricular and co-curricular areas for growth that could increase Oberlin’s market appeal and attract a larger number of prospective students.

In the next few years, the College may introduce concentrations in business and global health. About 42 percent of returning Oberlin students, who participated in AAPR data collection, indicated they have an interest in global health.

“I’m happy that the College is finally realizing that Global Public Health/Global

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Editors-in-Chief

Sydney Allen Nathan Carpenter Managing Editor Ananya Gupta News Editors Anisa Curry Vietze

Jenna Gyimesi Opinions Editor Jackie Brant This Week Editor Mikaela Fishman Arts Editors Kate Fishman

Katherine MacPhail Sports Editors Jane Agler

Alexis Dill Photo Editors Mallika Pandey Meg Parker Senior Staff Writers Carson Dowhan Roman Broszkowski Julie Schreiber

Health Studies is a field worth building into the Arts and Sciences,” said College junior Ehryn Ortega, who created an independent major in Global Health Studies.

Steering committee members added that, according to their data, a business concentration would be relatively low cost, as it can scaffold onto the infrastructure already in place in the Economics department and Center for Innovation and Impact. According to research collected by the Human Capital Research Corporation, an education research consultant contracted by the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, over a third of prospective students who chose not to attend Oberlin reported a strong interest in business.

The final recommendation involves revamping Oberlin’s Career Development Center, which many students feel has been neglected in recent years. The presentation data corroborated this and demonstrated that Oberlin’s Career Development Center was underfunded and understaffed compared to services at peer institutions.

In addition to student concerns about the Career Development Center, the AAPR data revealed that Oberlin students secure jobs after graduation at half the rate of our peers. The center currently has four full-time career advisors and a handful of student peer advisors.

This revamping could potentially include moving the Career Development Center to a centralized location, increasing staff and funding, and expanding the Career Communities program — currently

Layout Editors

Parker Shatkin Jake Butcher Lila Michaels Lillian Jones Business Manager Jared Steinberg Ads Manager Jabree Hason Web Manager Sage Vouse Production Manager Giselle Glaspie Production Staff Christo Hays Olive Hwang Lior Krancer Devyn Malouf Madi Mettenburg Allison Schmitt Annie Schoonover Ivy Smith

in its pilot year — so that funded internships would be available to more students during their time at Oberlin.

Next Steps Over the coming weeks, steering committee members will be holding listening sessions and office hours, and will be visiting different governing bodies and organizations around campus to collect feedback. After this consultation process, the final recommendations will be formally shared with President Ambar at the end of the semester, who will then pass them along to the Board of Trustees. If the board approves, the recommendations could begin phasing as soon as summer 2019.

The steering committee also plans to release some of the data to the College community in a report that will be released by the end of March.

“As you can see from our initial presentation, this is a data-driven process, and we want our community to understand the information that helped shape the work of AAPR,” Kamitsuka said. “We will be releasing a written report in March that will include the data we included in the presentation and more, along with the sources of that data. We will be making source materials available to governance committees such as GFC, EPPC, and EPC in executive session as we agreed at the beginning of this process.”

Leadership from OSCA or Oberlin’s bargaining units could not be reached to provide comment for this article.

Corrections: The software for OCPass is provided by software company Avatier, not run by them.

To submit a correction, email managingeditor@ oberlinreview.org.

Garrett Cultivates Opposition to Jordan in Ohio Ella Moxley Former three-time congressional candidate Janet Garrett has formed The Jordan Watch Political Action Committee to generate support to unseat Ohio’s District 4 Representative, Jim Jordan. Garrett, a former schoolteacher and Oberlin native, ran against Jordan in 2014, 2016, and 2018. However, she will not be running in 2020, and is instead shifting her energy into this PAC, first announced in a March 5 press release.

The goal of the organization will be to “work to expose Jim’s ideology to the people he is supposed to represent.”

This is not the first time Garrett has organized to cultivate opposition to Jim Jordan. In her most recent campaign, she raised more than $900,000 and had over 500 volunteers. The Jordan Watch aims to continue the momentum built over her previous campaigns.

The members of The Jordan Watch believe their organization can help provide resources to candidates who choose to run against Jordan.

“Part one of what we did was

[Garrett’s] campaign,” explained Zach Stepp, Garrett’s former campaign manager and new executive director of The Jordan Watch. “I see part two as handing over the fundraising apparatus to her supporters.”

According to Stepp, the Garrett campaign developed over 47 thousand fundraising contacts that could be useful in the next election cycle. He hopes to cultivate active communication between Garrett and the future candidate for the OH-4 seat.

“A lot of times in these congressional races you have a really good campaign [but] there is no hand-off of resources for the next cycle,” Stepp said.

In addition to providing candidates with resources, The Jordan Watch hopes to find and encourage future candidates to run against Jordan.

“We will be working in the short term to recruit qualified candidates on both sides of the aisle to run,” the press release read.

Garrett noted that the individual who runs must be someone who can “serve the needs of the district.” She

feels that Jordan has failed in this regard and “has no legislative successes, no initiatives in the district, and … promotes his own agenda [over the needs of his constituents].”

Garrett believes that unseating Jim Jordan is an urgent matter.

“He has a terrible agenda,” she said.

“He voted against everything that would put forward women, workers, the elderly, in favor of the Koch brothers’ agenda.”

The Koch brothers are prominent Republican donors who, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, donated $10,000 to Jordan’s 2018 campaign.

Ilana Foggle, former operations fellow for the 2018 Garrett campaign, is excited and supportive of the newly formed PAC. “Its goals aren’t necessarily Democratic or Republican,” Foggle said. “They are bipartisan. Everyone in the district, no matter their political affiliation, should want better leadership from our district.”

Although Oberlin Democrats were involved in the 2018 Garrett campaign, they are not currently involved with The Jordan Watch.

Residents Question Facilities Communication

There are currently ongoing construction projects in Firelands Appartments Building, which some residents find disruptive.

Photo by Meg Parker, Photo Editor

Anisa Curry Vietze News Editor Editor’s note: This article contains description of blood and physical injury.

Concerns about campus housing — including a window shattering in Langston Hall and ceiling leaks and mold in Firelands Apartments — have left some students unhappy with the lack of communication and transparency provided by the Office of Residential Education about its facilities.

On Sunday, Feb. 24, College junior Samantha Clanton was trying to close her dorm window in Langston Hall when the glass broke and her hand went through the pane.

“Our [window] just wouldn’t push in,” Clanton said. “It just kept hitting something.”

Clanton explained that she was attempting to lightly push on the window when the glass shattered, cutting her hand and forearm.

“I had to run to the bathroom [and] try to get the blood to stop because [now] there’s a gaping hole in my arm from where the glass cut me,” Clanton said. “I ended up going to Mercy [Allen Hospital], spent three or four hours there, and got 11 stitches. I got to see the muscle — it got that deep.”

Clanton and other students feel that these windows are hazardous and should have already been updated or repaired.

“They just need to be replaced,” Clanton said. “They’re just really old, they’re sinking, they look like they’re just sagging. So that’s kind of scary if they ever collapsed.”

According to the College’s Facilities Planning and Construction department, there are plans to change Langston’s windows, which have not been replaced since the building was constructed in 1963.

“There is a plan to replace them,” said Facilities Construction Project Manager Brad Burrer. “We didn’t do it last year just due to budget restraints. It’s fairly expensive to go through and replace all the windows, but we are planning on doing it this summer in Langston [Hall] and then upcoming we’ll be looking at probably South Hall as well.”

While some students feel that the old windows are a safety concern, Burrer believes that the broken window incident was The Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

an anomaly.

“I don’t think that it’s hazardous in any way — it’s probably just a little bit less energy-efficient than what the newer glass glazing technology is,” Burrer said.

Students are encouraged to contact the school administration with any issues they may have.

“If any student is having any issues with their window, they should fill out a work order through our Facilities Operations Office,” wrote Andy Sadouskas, assistant dean and director of Residential Education, in an email to the Review. “Our Facilities Operations staff will then inspect the window and determine how to repair it or if the window needs [to be] replaced.”

Across campus in Firelands Apartments, students have had issues with their living situations as well, including mold in their apartments, leaking ceilings, and jammed doors.

“We got there the first day and it was a complete disaster, just because they don’t clean out these apartments at all and they don’t check them,” said College senior Shannon Silberhorn, who lives in Firelands. “Our first two days here we were scrubbing because it was just so dirty, and no one had been in there in a really long time, and there was gross food in the fridge.”

Firelands residents were contacted by ResEd March 5 to make them aware of a leak in the ceiling of the lobby. In order to fix this leak, the water in Firelands was shut off temporarily.

Additionally, residents were informed that contractors needed to come into their rooms to find the origin of the leak, however students were not told which rooms or when this would happen.

“This is supposedly Village Housing and not just a dorm, so we have more investment in this space,” Silberhorn said, “It’s about [$1,000 more per year to live in Village Housing] than living in a dorm. To me, that’s [absurd] because the average rent in Oberlin is nothing near that. … There’s been so many problems with our living situation and it’s not worth that amount of money that they’re profiting from as an institution. I think that’s super corrupt.”

ResEd officials explained that finding the origin of the leak was necessary to make the repair.

“Facility Operations staff had to enter several apartments to determine the location of the leak,” Sadouskas said. “Students are emailed as far in advance as possible so as to be made aware and prepared. Fortunately, [Facilities and Operations] staff did identify the location of the leak and completed the repair.”

Silberhorn has had other issues, including an electrical shortage caused by an air conditioner leaking into an electrical outlet and a door that gets stuck, trapping people in the bathroom. Silberhorn explained that she has contacted multiple people from ResEd about these problems and often gets responses that don’t explain what is happening or if things will be resolved.

“They don’t care,” said Silberhorn. “This isn’t important to them.”

While students like Silberhorn feel there is an issue with transparency, Sadouskas disagrees.

“When communicating about a facility issue, there may be limited information to share,” wrote Sadouskas in an email to the Review. “We understand this can be frustrating, but our goal is to communicate as quickly and with as much information as possible.”

Security Notebook Thursday, March 7, 2019

12:09 a.m. Campus Safety officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Barrows Hall. Officers noted an odor of burnt marijuana and a slight haze near a room on the third floor.

The alarm was reset.

11:22 a.m. A student reported their bicycle was stolen from the Woodland Street parking lot. The bicycle was locked to a pole at the time of the theft.

1:15 p.m. Custodial staff reported several instances of vandalism on the second and third floors of South Hall.

Exit signs were damaged, kitchen countertops had been carved with sharp objects, and various areas were graffitied. A work order was filed for repair and cleanup.

3:32 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student who had passed out in the Science Center. Upon arrival, the student was conscious and alert. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Friday, March 8, 2019

8:41 p.m. An officer on routine patrol observed a section of wooden fencing on the ground in the Stevenson Dining Hall parking lot. A work order was filed for repair.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

1:26 a.m. A student reported that the door to the attic in Barrows Hall was open. Several people were in the room with alcohol and the smoke detectors were covered with plastic bags. The bags were removed, the alcohol was confiscated and disposed of, and the attic was secured.

10:15 p.m. Officers responded to a smoking complaint in East Hall.

Contact was made with the occupant of the room in question, and the occupant admitted to smoking inside the room.

11:35 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Willard Court Village Housing Unit. An electrician responded to and the smoke detector was repaired and reset.

Monday, March 11, 2019

12:13 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm in Burton Hall. Burnt wax paper in the microwave generated smoke, which activated the alarm. The area was cleared and the alarm was reset.

2:45 p.m. An officer walking on the south side of the Kohl Building observed graffiti on an aluminum sign.

The text could not be read, and a work order was filed for cleanup.

10:05 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Dascomb Hall. Smoke from cooking triggered the alarm. The area was cleared and the alarm was reset.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

7:25 p.m. Officers were requested to assist with an individual causing a minor disturbance at Wilder Hall in DeCafé. The individual in question was located and escorted from the building.

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Ne w s OFF THE CUFF

Jorge Heine, Former Chilean Ambassador

Jorge Heine is an experienced politician, educator, and author. He is a former Chilean ambassador to China, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Heine is also a former Chilean Cabinet Minister and is currently a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.. Additionally, Heine has contributed as a consultant to the United Nations, sits on the editorial board of various publications, including Global Governance, World Affairs, and Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, is the author, co-author, or editor of 15 books, in addition to writing academic articles and contributing to several publications such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. He delivered a talk titled “A Chinese Garden in America’s Backyard? Latin America Amidst the Stirrings of a New Cold War” on Thursday afternoon as part of this year’s Global Issues Symposium.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jenna Gyimesi, News Editor How did you become involved with international politics?

I studied law originally at the University of Chile but soon got interested in international affairs. I started attending these seminars on things like the Cold War, the wars in the Middle East, and the anti-colonial struggle. I found that so much more interesting than tax law or administrative law. So, I graduated from law school and decided that I wanted to study political science and international relations, and I went to England, to York University. Then I got my Ph.D. in political science, majoring in international relations at Stanford University. Since then I’ve been associated with various think tanks and universities around the world [such as] the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.; I taught in Canada, I’ve been a visiting fellow at Oxford, a visiting fellow at the University of Paris. I have also been in government: the ambassador to South Africa, India, and China. I have been able to study the practical aspects of diplomacy and use them for my writings and teachings. So I find myself as an inand-outer — someone who has been in and out of government. Out of the 45 years of my professional career, I spent about two-thirds in academia and onethird in government.

What did you address at your talk?

We made some introductory

remarks about the current situation in the region in Latin America. I spoke about diplomatic challenges facing the region and then zeroed in on China’s relationship with Latin America. I was China’s ambassador for three-and-a-half years, until December of 2017. China has become a very big player in the region and it’s a significant topic.

What do you hope students take away from the talk?

I’m arguing that the single biggest change that has taken place in Latin American insertion into the world political economy in its 200 years of independent history has happened over the last 20 years in its relationship with Asia — China in particular. For most of these 200 years, Latin American nations looked mostly to the United States and Western Europe for their diplomacy, for their trade, and for their investment.

Suddenly we have a very different situation. For a number of countries in South America — like Brazil and Chile — China is their number-one trading partner. Chile exports two-and-a-half times [as many goods] to China as it does to the United States, $25 billion in 2018.

This is a very significant change. We are also seeing more and more investment coming from China, as well as financing of a variety of development projects.

Governments have to look, with great

care, at what this means and what it entails. By 2050, half of the world’s products will be coming out of Asia. If we want our companies to grow and develop, we have to make the most of our relations with Asia.

Do you believe that international relations more generally are discussed sufficiently in the United States?

I live in Washington, [D.C.], and things are certainly discussed quite a bit. I don’t know how it is in Ohio. It obviously varies from state to state and from city to city.

The United States is the number-one power in the world, and it’s important for citizens to understand these big changes that we are seeing in the world. China is one of them.

This talk is a part of a symposium that covers various other topics. What are the benefits of delivering this talk as a part of a series?

I’ve never been to Oberlin before.

I had heard so much about this great college. It’s a privilege to be here. I think that it’s very important to bring to Ohio, and to this town, voices that speak to and reflect what is happening in the big, wide world. You must open up the minds of people to what is happening in the rest of the world.

Do you have anything you would like to

Jorge Heine Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

add?

I think the world is undergoing some very significant changes. Among those changes, what is very important to keep in mind is that we are seeing not just the rise of Asia and China, but more broadly the rise of the Global South, what used to be called the Third World — the countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It is so fascinating because the standard view was that the world was essentially run from the North Atlantic. These countries were viewed to be in the best position to lead. We have seen that that is not the case. You see the very strong isolative tendencies that exist in the United States today, you see the mess that the United Kingdom finds itself in now. There are a slew of new players in world politics. We are moving to a much more diversified international system. The countries of the North Atlantic will no longer call the shots, but rather will have a multiplex world in which you have many different scenarios and issues, and where different countries play different roles. It will no longer be one or two countries that call the shots; it will be a much more open and diversified system.

1step2life Selected from Eight Finalists at LaunchU Final Pitch Lily Jones Layout Editor LaunchU, a competition for Oberlin College students, faculty, staff, and alumni to pitch entrepreneurial ventures — selected its victor last Friday. Professor and Chair of Psychology Nancy Darling and her student team took home first place and $20,000 in funding for their venture 1step2life, an app to support adolescents living with chronic pain. This is the first time a team led by a faculty member has won the competition.

The LaunchU funds will be used to help bring 1step2life to market through a clinical trial at the Cleveland Clinic and Connecticut Children’s Hospital to test the education materials and other components of the app. The trial is set to begin this fall.

In the Final Pitch Competition, three ventures were selected to receive funding. Second place and $15,000 went to Alex Taveres, OC ’11, for his venture The Read Read, a technology meant to assist children in learning how to read. Jonathan Kaufman, OC ’11, won third place and $5,000 for his Full Circle Solutions venture, which creates value for Amsterdam’s organic waste streams.

The other five finalists included Community Hub,

Newsreel, RIDE, StoryIt LLC, and PWR Technologies.

Eight finalists pitched their business ventures to a panel of judges at the Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space at the Final Pitch, the culminating event for the annual program. However, the competition began with 22 ventures comprised of 13 student teams, seven alumni teams, and two faculty teams, who all began preparing in January.

Many who attended the Final Pitch noted that this year’s LaunchU was particularly impressive.

“It was the best year of LaunchU yet,” said Bryan Rubin, OC ’18, and 2018 LaunchU runner-up who attended the event. “The diversity of well thoughtout companies was simply amazing. I wouldn’t have wanted to be a judge, I’ll tell you that.”

When asked what qualities LaunchU looks for in a winning venture, LaunchU Executive Committee CoChair Gene Carr, OC ’82, explained that judges weigh several factors, including how the funds will impact the venture.

“We consider the degree to which the LaunchU money will help them get off the ground,” he said.

LaunchU Executive Committee Co-Chair Chris Hausman, OC ’94 added that they also thoroughly considered the problem the venture tackled, the clarity

Oberlin Community News Bulletin Workshop Explores Music Through Percussion RhythmProv is hosting a drum circle workshop called “An Exploration of Rhythmic Discovery and Improvisation,” which will cover simple to complex polyrhythms and energy in drum playing. The workshop costs $35 per person, and requires pre-registration. The workshop will be held Saturday, March 23 from 2 – 6 p.m. at the Lodge at Common Ground. No experience is necessary, and the class is open to participants ages 16 and up. Drums will be provided. own.

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Local Police Officer Recognized Former Community Service Officer Robert Henry Wallace was honored by the Ohio House of Representatives at the Oberlin City Council Meeting on Monday, March 4. He was recognized for his 34 years of service to the Oberlin Police Department. State Representative Joe Miller was present at the ceremony and offered personal congratulations to Wallace, who retired from the police department in December of 2018.

of the solution, the size of the market, and potential competition.

The LaunchU program begins with a bootcamp over Winter Term, where teams learn the basics of business and enterprise, from identifying an opportunity or problem to developing and executing a sustainable action plan. Ventures are matched with mentors from the Oberlin community, often alumni or parents of students, who can share expertise and help teams refine their business models.

By the end of the month, ventures that are selected to move forward have the opportunity to compete for funds in the first round of pitches. Seven student and alumni ventures were awarded Honorable Mentions after the first round on Feb. 23, with funding ranging from $500 to $1,000. Many of these Honorable Mention winners plan to launch their campus-based businesses at Oberlin in the near future, according to Director of Entrepreneurship Bara Watts.

Both co-chairs noted that LaunchU provides participants with important networks that will help ventures become successful. During his introduction to the final proposals, Hausman said, “the ultimate aim of this program is to create a springboard for the wealth of ideas that come out of a community like Oberlin.”

Stephanie Kramer Portrays Katharine Wright In honor of Women’s History Month, the Oberlin Heritage Center is bringing actress Stephanie Kramer to play Katharine Wright, the sister of the Wright Brothers, in the Heiser Auditorium in Kendal at Oberlin.

Kramer will remain in character and deliver several performances covering all aspects of Katherine’s life through songs and narratives. Katherine attended Oberlin College from 1893–1898 and was the only Wright child to receive a college education. The performance will run on March 19 at 7:15 p.m.

March 15, 2019

OPINIONS

Letters to the Editors

Faculty Letter to Save Arabic Language Program at Oberlin College

The faculty members of the Arabic Studies Committee, the Middle East and North Africa Studies Program, and other language programs have read the statements of Acting Dean David Kamitsuka published in the Review last week (“Arabic Courses to Be Offered Digitally,” March 8, 2019). This letter responds to those statements. Additionally, it responds to other written correspondence between the Dean’s Office and faculty and students that occurred outside the above-mentioned article.

1. The acting dean stated that Arabic “enrollment levels have not been sustainable … in the last eight semesters of intermediate Arabic, course enrollment averaged four students per class.” As a matter of fact, between 2009 and 2019, Arabic language courses sustained an average of 53.2 students per academic year.

2. Arabic language courses have been continuously and uninterruptedly offered at Oberlin College for the past 13 years. Due to high student pressure and demand, Arabic courses were introduced to Oberlin in 2006.

3. Throughout these 13 years, all previous deans hired either one or two Arabic language instructors per academic year, along with occasional TAs. 4. To be specific, between 2009 and 2019, Arabic courses enrollments were as follows: 37 students in 2009–2010; 61 in 2010–2011; 85 in 2011–2012 (with two instructors and two courses on Arab culture); 82 in 2012–2013 (with two instructors and two courses on Arab culture); 49 in 2013–2014; 26 in 2014–2015 (only one course offered); 39 in 2015–2016; 74 in 2016–2017 (with two instructors); 42 in 2017–2018; 37 in 2018–2019. These figures are accessible online at Banner Self Service.

5. The current Acting Dean’s de-

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cision to terminate Arabic language courses taught on campus is a major academic decision, and we believe he should have consulted with faculty governance institutions such as CFC and EPPC in making it. However, the decision was taken unilaterally without any discussion within EPPC or CFC. Furthermore, this decision happens at an odd time prior to the completion of the full AAPR process.

6. Dr. al-Raba’a’s existing position is “funded by a four-year external grant,” according to a Dean’s Office email to a student. This grant started in fall 2016 and should end in spring 2020. Although the term of the grant is due to end next academic year, the contract of Dr. al-Raba’a has not been renewed — even though the grant provides funding for another year. The fate of the rest of the grant money is unknown.

7. Language programs in general at the College are unfortunately facing various degrees of cuts, but they will all survive and continue to exist. Arabic is the only program that is being fully terminated and its instructors and TAs have both been eliminated.

Classes at all levels will be removed from the curricula taught on campus.

8. Peer colleges, such as Swarthmore College, Wesleyan College, Smith College, Wellesley College, Reed College, Middlebury College, Williams College, Bryn Mawr College, Grinnell College, and even Kenyon College and Denison University in Ohio, all have permanent Arabic positions. If Oberlin would like to survive the crisis facing liberal arts education, compete with its peer institutions over prospective students, and overcome problems of retention, it should empower its foreign languages instead of cutting them.

9. Oberlin is among the liberal arts colleges with the highest tuition rates in the country. Although online courses might have their own merits, the parents of our students do not pay such a high cost of education in order for the students to receive remote learning in virtual classrooms. Among the distinctive qualities of Oberlin and liberal arts education in general are the close relationships between stuSee Letters, page 7

SUBMISSIONS POLICY

The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and oped 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 that week’s issue.

Letters may not exceed 600 words and op-eds may not exceed 800 words, except with consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names and any relevant titles, for all signers. All writers must individually confirm authorship on electronic submissions. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity, length, grammar, accuracy, strength of argument and in consultation with Review style. Editors will work with 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. Headlines are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. Opinions expressed in editorials, letters, op-eds, columns, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review. 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 a contributor.

The Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

Volume 147, Number 17

Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief

Sydney Allen

Nathan Carpenter

Managing Editor Ananya Gupta

Opinions Editor Jackie Brant

Departmental Consolidation Offers Opportunities for Increased Efficiency In a series of campus-wide presentations earlier this week, the Academic and Administrative Program Review steering committee unveiled numerous areas of recommendation for program and financial changes that might secure Oberlin’s long-term financial sustainability.

For the last year, senior administrators have made clear that Oberlin is facing a financial reality that simply does not permit stagnation. However, this week’s presentation put that urgency in starker terms than ever before for the larger Oberlin community. According to the AAPR data released this week, if no changes are made to Oberlin’s budget, over the next five years Oberlin would see our deficit balloon to an unprecedented $52 million — a blow from which we would likely not recover unscathed.

Overall, the recommendation areas were met with mixed reviews from campus constituents.

Some cost-saving measures, such as proposed changes to the College’s relationship with OSCA as well as to staff compensation, will likely continue to generate significant pushback as the semester progresses. The proposed changes will likely have negative impacts on hourly workers and members of Oberlin’s bargaining units in particular.

However, some of the recommendation areas are more than simple cost-saving measures and will require investment and growth in order to keep Oberlin relevant and help it transition to be a 21st-century institution. Among these are the proposed changes to the structure of academic departments within the College of Arts and Sciences.

In essence, the proposal (covered in-depth in “AAPR Announces Areas of Recommendation to Oberlin Community”), would consolidate academic departments into five or six academic divisions. The departments would maintain their distinct identities but be governed in what the AAPR committee hopes will be a more streamlined, efficient way.

At this point in the process, this is an exciting proposal for a number of reasons — primarily because it’s innovative. During the question-and-answer segment of an AAPR listening session, steering committee members revealed that while some other colleges and universities structure their departments similarly, the committee’s proposal is a largely unique, inventive structure, with the potential to optimize communication and efficiency among Oberlin’s academic departments. This is even more exciting in that 80 percent of Oberlin’s Arts and Sciences faculty indicated on an AAPR survey that they would be interested in creating more synergies and connections with other departments.

This innovation also saves Oberlin from the bleak process of department-cutting that many peer institutions have undergone. Around this time last year, many community members were rightly concerned that the AAPR process — and the involvement of outside consulting firm Stevens Strategy — could result in Oberlin’s smaller and lower-revenue departments and programs being eliminated.

However, the AAPR steering committee appears to have avoided this outcome in their recommendations. Outstanding questions remain about what academic departments would look like under the proposed model, but the core of this recommendation appears to hold true to the AAPR’s commitment to safeguarding Oberlin’s missions and academic excellence.

Despite potential opportunities, this proposal — as with any that steps into uncharted territory — also raises many questions and potential concerns. Most of these have yet to be addressed, which makes sense given that the AAPR process is currently at the stage of identifying areas of recommendation, rather than making specific recommendations themselves. However, if these concerns are left unanswered after this feedback period, they could easily become red flags.

Chief among these potential red flags is how the administrative work of maintaining these divisions would be distributed. Chairing one of these divisions will be significantly more work than chairing a single department; assessing and allocating fair compensation for this extra labor will be vital. Similarly, questions over the distribution of tenure-track lines need answers — would this model and its enhanced collaborative approach make it easier for some departments to quietly continue being staffed by a disproportionate number of visiting faculty?

Additionally, this proposal has the concerning potential to overburden administrative staff on campus. Other potential priorities identified within AAPR include reducing the number of staff across campus and lowering the wages of hourly workers to be more in line with regional averages. Combined, these priorities could burden administrative assistants with the administrative work of multiple departments, all under the name of a single academic division — an unacceptable outcome.

While the steering committee indicated that these issues are priorities for them as well, it will be important moving forward for the broader Oberlin community to maintain the critical energy they showed this week. Change can be exciting, but if mishandled, can be detrimental to a community — and the recommendation to reorganize academic programs in the College is a perfect example. If done correctly, this change offers the opportunity to make the College of Arts and Sciences more efficient and effective as an institution. But in the meantime, we must continue to advocate for those whose interests are most vulnerable and remain open-minded, engaged, and curious during this critical crossroads in Oberlin’s history.

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.

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Opi n ions

The Voices of Students, Organizers, and Senators Matter More Than Ever Serena Zets Contributing Writer Disclaimer: In this opinion piece, though I am speaking about my experiences as a student senator, I am discussing these occurrences as a student — not as a senator.

The actions of last week deeply frustrated, appalled, and saddened me. I acknowledge that Student Senate’s March 11 statement has played a part in derailing campus political dialogue. However, I wish to move forward and discuss a different outcome of Senate’s statement, one that has been intensely personal and upsetting. I have accepted a significant amount of the fallout over Senate’s statement, but I am unsure why it has been a burden that I individually have had to bear. While it was my job to deliver the message to the student body, I was not its sole writer. If you read the entire statement carefully, you will notice that every single senator signed the statement.

Thus, I’m forced to wonder why no other senator’s experiences over the past week have mirrored mine, even though we all contributed to and signed the exact same statement.

I wonder why I have been met with such direct criticism — often by people that I don’t know well or have never even met. I wonder why I was referred to as a “cop” on social media when I’ve dedicated years of my life to racial justice organizing that combated police and state violence in Pittsburgh. I wonder why it’s being claimed that I’m an opponent of

student activism when I came to Oberlin and ran for Senate to continue and amplify my work as a student activist. I wonder why some are claiming I’m a pawn of the administration when my most extensive conversation with President Ambar took place when I was a prospective student about a year ago. I wonder why countless people feel that it is OK to approach me about Senate-related issues no matter how inappropriate the setting.

On this campus, I carry multiple identities — Senator, student, and organizer.

However, these identities are ignored when we continuously try to force ourselves into compartmentalized boxes in order to fit in on this campus. When we divide ourselves along these lines, we further a narrative that antagonizes student government and student organizers. Such a tactic negates the idea that people can be a part of both camps. This false dichotomy causes us to lose sight of our mutual goal — a student platform in the Academic and Administrative Program Review process that incorporates demands from all sides.

What I’ve been forced to realize this week is that a lot of people claim to know me without taking the time to learn my story. This experience is part of a larger phenomenon in which the labor of women and femmes of color is both undermined and consumed, but not appreciated. While this phenomenon is not unique to Oberlin, it is incredibly prevalent on this campus. Thus, since so many people think that they know me, I wanted to utilize this platform to reintroduce myself

on my own terms.

I am Serena Zets, I use she/her/hers, and I am an 18-year-old first-year. I identify as a queer multiracial Indian American woman and as a survivor of sexual violence. In Pittsburgh, I served as a racial justice organizer whose campaigns focused on uplifting marginalized student voices, supporting survivors of sexual violence, and fighting against police violence and militarization in schools. In addition to direct organizing, I also worked as a freelance journalist covering social justice movements for five years. For much of my life before Oberlin, I carried the identities of community organizer and political journalist.

It seems to be an intentional choice on behalf of Student senate to utilize its only woman of color as its Communications Director and public face. Placing a student who carries that identity into that position not only misrepresents the racial and gender makeup of Senate but also forces that student to take the emotional burden and fallout for all of Senate’s actions while working for minimum wage. It hurts to be called “intimidating” and “unapproachable” by older white students that I considered my allies in the fight for bettering this institution; hearing such claims has forced me to evaluate their inherent gendered and racialized understones.

I came to Oberlin because I understood it to be a space in which my voice and perspective would be valued. However, after this week, my voice feels commodified and exploited. My emotions feel policed.

My actions feel surveilled. I understand

The Catholic Church Doesn’t Deserve an Apology David Mathisson Contributing Writer After Pete Davidson compared the Catholic Church to R. Kelly on last week’s Saturday Night Live, Church leaders — including Pope Francis — demanded a public apology.

“Apparently, the only acceptable bias these days is against the Catholic Church,” they said in a statement.

It’s ironic that the Church — which has long opposed liberal policies like promoting LGBTQ rights and a woman’s right to choose — is suddenly up in arms over Pete Davidson’s use of free speech. They had no problem with free speech when the Pope claimed the institution of the family was under attack by marriage equality advocates, for which the LGBTQ community never got an apology.

In its overblown response, the Church tries to portray itself as the victim. We’re supposed to believe Davidson’s joke about the Church’s long history of covering up sexual abuse was made on the basis of some “bias.”

This purported bias isn’t even against Catholics, but against the Church. That’s right, we’re supposed to feel bad for a corrupt, monolithic institution that refuses to acknowledge its own biases against anyone who isn’t a proper, cisgender, heterosexual Catholic.

This stance is even more outrageous when put into a broader cultural context. On the same day that the Catholic Church railed against Saturday Night Live, the Department of

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Defense implemented a ban on transgender troops in the military and Bernie Sanders’ national deputy press secretary verbally attacked American Jews. Yet somehow the Catholic Church is the victim here.

The Catholic Church has never issued a statement standing up for the transgender community. It has yet to issue a statement standing up for the American Jewish community in the wake of Tuesday’s bigotry.

And while the pope has called for an end to sexual abuse (and done little else), all it took was one SNL joke for the Catholic Church to stand up in the name of the perpetrators.

In its response, the Church stated, “The faithful of our Church are disgusted by the harassment by those in the news and entertainment.” By mischaracterizing media exposure of their cruel and inhumane acts as harassment, the Catholic Church not only denies its own culpability, but continues a decades-old strategy of attacking survivors.

The media coverage of Harvey Weinstein was not harassment. The media coverage of Louis C.K. was not harassment.

The media coverage of Brett Kavanaugh was not harassment.

But each of these perpetrators claimed they were being harassed in attempts to fraudulently discredit their accusers — as has the Catholic Church.

R. Kelly has behaved similarly, vehemently denying the claims against him and attacking survivors, accusing them of lying. Yet we’re supposed to believe that

drawing a comparison between these two parties that both covered up decades of sexual abuse constitutes harassment.

Since its mischaracterization of Davidson’s joke (which preceded a call to donate to charities for survivors of sexual abuse) wasn’t enough to further damage its credibility, the Church also claimed that it “has likely done more than anyone else to combat sexual abuse.” Sure. And nobody respects women more than Donald Trump.

The Catholic Church — the organization that has allowed the abuse of tens of thousands of children and continues to cover up and deny abuse to this day — has done more than anyone to combat sexual abuse. The Church — which still refuses to implement more stringent protection and prevention procedures and often accuses survivors of lying even today — has done more than anyone else to combat sexual abuse.

The Catholic Church shouldn’t need an apology for something like this. They shouldn’t even want one. And they absolutely don’t deserve it.

Anthony Raiola, a sexual abuse victim of a Brooklyn Catholic Church priest, put it best.

“It’s absurd that the Brooklyn Diocese is portraying itself as victim of Pete Davidson’s Saturday Night Live joke when priests in Brooklyn and across New York preyed on vulnerable children,” he said. “I am one of those Brooklyn survivors — and I’m still waiting for my apology from the Church.”

that an elected official might have these expectations placed upon them. However, forcing these expectations onto a firstyear student of color who is new to the institutional and campus politics of Oberlin feels irresponsible and dangerous. In many ways, I have been thrust into a position I did not ask to be in and inserted into a complex spectacle that predates my arrival onto this campus.

If Oberlin wishes to live up to its legacy of inclusion, its community must better understand and support the needs of the students that it works so hard to tokenize and idolize. In my words, I hope that you hear not only my frustration, but also my passion and hope for a better Oberlin. I ran for Senate because I believe that it has the potential to be an effective channel for student advocacy, but — as a community organizer myself — I know that it is not the only channel for advocacy.

I value direct action and public pressure on institutions. Furthermore, I believe that amplifying student voices is the only way our demands will be taken seriously. I regret that the conversation surrounding this particular action and its response have taken a polarizing course.

It’s a daunting yet critical time to be an Oberlin student, let alone an organizer and/or senator. I thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with you and being in conversation with you in the future. Our future is dependent upon the actions we take in the coming days. Let’s unite our resources and our power to work together and reclaim an institution that must answer to us.

Student Senate Must Be Proactive in Regaining Student Trust Ruby Anderson Contributing Writer On Friday, March 8, a group of around 40 students gathered in Tappan Square. Our plan was to disrupt a trustee luncheon and read a statement expressing our concerns about the Academic and Administrative Program Review, the current budget crisis, and a general lack of transparency and meaningful incorporation of student voices in decision making processes at Oberlin.

When we arrived at The Hotel at Oberlin, we were immediately surrounded by Campus Safety officers and administrators, who blocked access to the stairs leading up to the luncheon, causing the “accessibility” concerns raised in Student Senate’s March 11 email. I was able to gain access to the luncheon and read our statement in full to the attendees, which included President Ambar, some student senators, and some trustees.

Numerous students report that during the standoff in the lobby, they were pushed and surrounded by Campus Safety officers and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo. The chair of the AAPR Steering Committee David Kamitsuka promised to send an email out the following day informing students of their ability to attend the AAPR information sessions on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14.

Although the meeting was al-

ready open to students, we had received very little communication about this. It’s likely that the email sent last Saturday morning from the Office of Communications and Kamitsuka can be directly attributed to our action.

Although the action was minimally disruptive and resulted in the dissemination of information that was not broadly known by the student body, some students — including student senators — were critical of the action. Last weekend, there were many exchanges between participants in the action and those critical of it, and some of these exchanges got needlessly heated and personal.

Many of us involved in these weekend conversations were shocked when Student Senate emailed the entire student body condemning the action. All of the concerns raised in the email — concerns about accessibility, about the treatment of support workers, about our supposed lack of information — had already been discussed extensively by organizers.

My issue is not with the concerns raised. I’m happy to engage in dialogue with any student about the nature of last week’s events. My concern is the precedent this sets for collaboration between Student Senate and activist groups moving forward — members of our coalition represent leaders across all areas of campus, groups that See Oberlin, page 7

dents and professors in a small classroom environment and high accessibility of professors through office hours and email.

Student experiences with online Arabic courses last year cited technologically ill-equipped rooms with recorded technical difficulties that severely hindered effective education.

10. Some students and faculty were informed by various administrators that the reason for the termination is that the MENA program didn’t submit a position request to renew Arabic. In fact, MENA is a powerless committee that doesn’t have an allocated budget, is not given authority to hire faculty of its own, and is denied basic resources to organize minor or substantial activities for its students. The last time MENA hired a lecturer was in 2010, and existing MENA professors were hired by their academic departments. As a result, Arabic instructors have been directly hired through arrangements made by the Dean’s Office. The MENA committee’s acting chair last fall was an associate dean, and the Arabic Studies committee’s chair is another associate dean. Both chairs/associate deans never notified members of either committee this year about submitting a position request to continue Arabic.

11. Within the past three years, students who studied Arabic with Dr. al-Raba’a took semesters abroad at Middle Eastern universities, won admission into prestigious graduate schools, and enjoyed access to competitive internships and job opportunities in and outside the country. For example, this semester alone, four students are currently studying abroad at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

One recent alumna was hired as a full-time staff member with the United Nations in Beirut. When she applied to graduate programs in Middle Eastern Studies, she was awarded a Department of Education-funded Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship, granting her two years of tuition remission and a $30,000 per year stipend to study at NYU; she also received a full merit scholarship from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and additional scholarship offers from the Universities of Chicago and Oxford. Another student published an article that relied on Ar-

Letters to the Editors (cont.)

abic data analysis in the Journal of Undergraduate International Studies, and he is currently living and working in Jordan and has reached the second round in competing for a Fulbright to conduct research in Jordan next year.

Yet another student relied on his Arabic to join Jordan’s symphony orchestra upon graduation.

12. Already intense demand for Arabic would only increase if the Arabic program gained stability at Oberlin with a position that students can continuously rely on for instruction as they make the commitment to learning an important but difficult language.

Finally, we the undersigned faculty of Oberlin College ask the acting dean to reverse the decision to not renew the teaching contract of Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Basem al-Raba’a.

Oberlin College must maintain its strong history and tradition of including Arabic in its language curricula.

On the online version of this article, there is a link to a student petition asking Oberlin to keep the on-campus Arabic program.

As of 3/14/19, the petition has 839 signatures. We hope to get a minimum of 1,500 signatures in order for the petition to be taken seriously by administrators.

Arabic Studies Committee MENA Program and Languages Faculty Zeinab Abul-Magd Associate Professor of MENA History Matthew Senior Chair, Departments of French and Italian Basem al-Raba’a Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Sarah El-Kazaz Assistant Professor of MENA Politics Farshid Emami Assistant Professor of MENA Art History Jaleh Jalili Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda al-Raba’a Visiting Instructor of Comparative Literature Ann Sherif Professor of Japanese Leonard Smith Frederick B Artz Professor of History Anu Needham Professor of English,

member of OCLC Kévin Rocheron Faculty-in-Residence, French Gabriel Cooper Assistant Professor of German David E. Kelley Associate Professor of History, East Asian Studies

An Open Letter from Arabic 102 On Feb. 22, the Review published an article announcing that the Arabic teaching assistant position would be cut next year (“French and Arabic Teaching Assistant Programs Reduced”).

This was quickly followed up with another article explaining that due to concerns over its long-term sustainability, Oberlin’s Arabic program would be cut and replaced with an online Shared Language Program (“Arabic Courses to Be Offered Digitally,” The Oberlin Review, March 8, 2019). As first-year Arabic language students, this decision saddens us. We strongly believe that this path will seriously harm Arabic study and related fields at Oberlin. However, as much as we have been upset by the decision to cut the Arabic program, we have been even more disheartened by the misinformation that has dominated the campus conversation so far. We, the students of Arabic 102, want to set the record straight and make our case for why Arabic must continue at Oberlin.

First, and probably most confusing, has been this decision’s relationship to the controversial Academic and Administrative Program Review process. We understand and want to make clear that this decision is unrelated to the AAPR process. However, what has been frustrating to us and other professors has been that the desire to eliminate the position of Arabic professor has neither been explained nor justified beyond saying that the program’s underlying grant has expired. This isn’t to say that the lack of funding isn’t an understandable concern, but that we would have appreciated the chance to work with the administration to find a sustainable funding solution instead of being dealt a fait accompli.

Second, the administration

claims that they are cutting the on-campus program due to low student interest and enrollment in the language. They have pointed repeatedly to the Intermediate Arabic level, which currently has two fantastic and dedicated students enrolled. Yet this represents a half-truth. In addition to the two Intermediate Arabic students at Oberlin, three more students are currently studying Arabic abroad, and several more have taken upper-level Zoom courses through Oberlin’s Shared Languages Program. Furthermore, the administration has entirely neglected to mention that the Beginning Arabic level currently has 13 students enrolled, and that nine of us are committed to taking the Intermediate Arabic course next year. The other four students are graduating from the College but have expressed the sentiment that if they had another semester, they would also continue. The slow winnowing of enrollment as students reach the upper levels of the language program is also symptomatic of a lack of resources allocated to the Arabic program. Students don’t feel like they should invest time into learning a language if upper-level courses in that language don’t exist. This is especially true considering the burden of running an entire department is placed on Professor Basem Al-Raba’a, its sole professor. Professor Al-Raba’a, alongside our wonderful teaching assistant Hawraa Sana, has put an incredible amount of effort into building our department up into what it is today.

Their dedication and passion for sharing their knowledge of the Arabic language, in addition to the culture of the Arab world as a whole, is remarkable.

The College’s logic for cutting the Arabic department — that they shouldn’t invest in teaching the Arabic language because fewer people are taking the higher levels — is therefore circular. Instead of simply just leaving things the way they are, the College should look at ways to increase Arabic language learning, thus maintaining higher levels of interest.

Third, we are concerned about the implication that the SLP class will be equivalent to a classroom setting for Arabic education. We do not believe that online classes will be a sufficient alternative to the classroom experience. Learn-

ing a language involves making mistakes, and having a tight-knit community allows us to be vulnerable during our learning process. In addition, having an instructor in the same room with us to encourage and support our journey has made all the difference. The personal, face-to-face connection between instructor and student cannot be replaced by talking to someone through a screen so early in our Arabic education. Learning about culture not only provides the foundation and background knowledge for language learning, but also fosters love and passion for that language. One of the most important parts of our Arabic 102 class is Conversation Hour, where we learn about different elements of Arab culture.

The SLP was initially integrated into Oberlin’s language curriculum as a supplement to the Arabic program, leaving our one professor with more time to teach content courses, therefore enriching the Middle East and North Africa Studies program.

However, the College’s current proposal, if approved, would see the SLP completely replace Arabic classes on-campus. This is particularly detrimental because the SLP does not and cannot offer introductory Arabic. This means that this will be the last year of introductory Arabic at Oberlin.

Ironically, the SLP is itself supported by an external grant that is set to expire within the year; thus, this proposal is just a symbolic concession to students in an effort to quiet concern.

For these reasons, we strongly oppose the Arabic language changes. We want to work with the administration to preserve Arabic in a sustainable form. Despite the array of harmful misconceptions surrounding these changes, we urge the Oberlin administration and community to join us in working to reach a real solution for the benefit of all.

Roman Broszkowski, OC ’19 Willow Tomkovicz, OC ’20 Anna McLean, OC ’21 Charlie Thompson, OC ’19 Anthony Gao, OC ’22 Thomas Rice, OC ’20 Kellianne Doyle, OC ’19 Abby Bentley, OC ’22 Molly Marshall, OC ’21 Charlotte Apter, OC ’22 Bethany Gen, OC ’21 Gio Donovan, OC ’21

Oberlin Student Activists Should Receive Support From Student Senate Continued from page 6

fight for workers, people of color, low-income folks, and so much more. I believe that Senate’s decision to publicly criticize the protest is largely due to the interpersonal conflicts between members of Student Senate, their friends, and members of our coalition.

Not only is it unprofessional to use the entire student list to play out petty interpersonal drama and condemn a group of active and engaged members of student groups that do important work — it is irresponsible for Student Senate to present a one-sided narrative of a complicated event and then disseminate information to the entire student body, while prohibiting parThe Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

ticipants from offering a counternarrative.

The email is rife with mischaracterizations and inaccuracies. For example, there is an allusion to “cyberbullying” of a “staff member who offered direct support and information regarding the organizer’s rights.” This refers to an exchange that took place during the action in which a dean of the College informed us that “the police could be called,” which we interpreted as a threat to call the police. She wasn’t informing us of our rights — she was informing us of their right to call the police. The “cyberbullying” is referring to a video documenting this exchange that was posted on Facebook — a video which has since been deleted. The email from

Senate also fails to mention that student protesters were surrounded by Campus Safety officers and pushed — I personally was grabbed and pulled by an adult affiliated with the College as they tried to remove me from the Trustee luncheon.

Regardless of the inaccuracies and mischaracterizations presented in Senate’s email, the email is counter to Senate’s duty to serve all students. In presenting a biased account of last Friday’s events to the entire student body, Senate has alienated some of the most seasoned and motivated activists on this campus.

In the coming period of what is sure to be significant austerity, Student Senate should be making every effort possible

to collaborate with and offer support to student activist groups — not taking a position against a group of students raising legitimate concerns about transparency at Oberlin.

Student Senate has a lot of work to do to earn back the trust of many activists in this community. Senate should use the entire student list to recognize that their comments about the action were inappropriate and unwarranted, and to apologize.

Organizers and participants in last Friday’s action should be permitted to write a statement offering a counternarrative, and Student Senate should use the student list to distribute that statement, prefaced by their apology.

7

LETT CASES OF TYPE These drawers contain pieces of cold, movable type and image blocks. Each font has its own drawer; for instance, the drawer to the left holds 14-point Century Schoolbook.

SPACING MATERIAL

The case above holds leading, which are pieces of lead that separate lines of text. Leads wider than 6 points are referred to as slugs. The case below holds furniture, which are pieces of wood that lock the design in place inside the chase –– the frame that holds the whole design.

PLATEN PRESSES

These presses are small and easy enough to operate that people in the early 20th century could use them for personal projects. As Vermue said, in a world without copy machines, if “you want to put lost dog leaflets on telephone poles around your neighborhood –– this is all you need.”

Letterpress printing was the first techn on an industrial scale. The process invo small, metal letters called “cold type.” those words with linocut carvings or woo make a reverse image of the page. Then, used from the mid-15th century to the l that existed. At the end of the 19th cent advent of computers, letterpress is used

Oberlin College has a small working nothing in the current Oberlin Letterletterpress studio in the glass-encased press Studio existed at the College. The room on the second floor of Mary Church equipment they have now came from Terrell Main Library. Ed Vermue, head large donations and a couple of purchasof Special Collections and Preservation, es. Vermue speculates that “the College runs the studio. “The studio is really a used to have all this equipment, but it re-creation of a shop space that would was probably dragged to the dump long have been very familiar to people in the ago [and] melted for scrap.” late 19th or [early] 20th century,” Vermue said. “We’re not trying to be printing “There’s always been a lot of tec services, we’re not trying to be a place of this space –– to make that mor where people can come and commisaffordances and what the limita sion posters to be made. It’s a teaching space that’s primarily supporting a WinThe purpose of the letterpress studio ter Term and class visits.” at Oberlin is to serve as an extension of Even before automation and computers, Special Collections and a teaching space. the equipment in the Oberlin Letterpress “There’s always been a lot of technology Studio was not used at a commercial lev- in the production of texts, and I suppose el. This is because it “could not compete that’s the point of this space –– to make at an industrial scale where the object that more evident, to demystify and help is to produce several hundred thousand students understand what the affordanccopies of something and keep the costs es and what the limitations are in the down,” Verume said. “But what that big, production of texts in the hand period,” scaled-up equipment is really bad at is Vermue said. “You can’t try to underproducing fifty wedding invitations or stand 16th-century England and the print a set of business cards. They kept this shops with an Apple-computer-mentality [equipment] around for specialty work, of texts. If you really want to understand for very small projects, [and] for proofing texts, you have to understand all of the the bigger projects before you committed context around things –– not just the way and put them on the big press.” they’re physically engineered, but also Vermue describes how the idea to have the whole social engineering [of] things a working letterpress studio at Oberlin like literacy, copyrights, the patronage was conceived: “We thought, what would system, and licensing.” happen if we brought this stuff, gave it a When creating media by hand, printprominent location and then offered it as makers don’t have the luxury of using a teaching space. Would it get used?” The Command-Z to undo mistakes. As Verstudio was created over the summer of mue said, “if the students measure some2010 from scratch –– at the time, almost thing wrong, or a piece of type is upside

TERPRESS

nology created for printing olves forming words out of The printmaker combines od engravings in a frame to Layout and Text by Mikaela Fishman, This Week Editor , the printmaker uses a printing press to transfer the image onto a piece of paper. This technique was late 19th century to create newspapers, books, posters, flyers — or any other kind of printed media tury, pieces of the printing process became automated, thus rendering letterpress obsolete. Since the purely as an art form or as a hands-on way of teaching history. down or it’s from a different case of type and it didn’t belong in there, there’s no going back and fixing it. And there’s no software to tell you that something’s wrong. You live with those mistakes, or halfway through somebody catches it and you fix the mistake and then you keep going.”

There are many reasons that learning

a kind of a walk-in exhibit case, a place to hold a conversation. I have something prepared ahead of time, I have the press inked up so students can print their own sample and they have a nice takeaway, and then they leave and I clean up. They don’t really learn how anything was done, but it’s just a cool place to have that conversation that the

chnology in the production of texts, and I suppose that’s the point re evident, to demystify and help students understand what the ations are in the production of texts in the hand period.” about letterpress hands-on is a valuable experience. As Vermue explains, “students are learning for themselves [how the printing process works], so later in life when some publisher asks [them] to edit a newly discovered 17th-century poet, the students are going to realize that they [had] better look at more than one copy of that person’s poem because they might find variants, or they might notice things about the production that suggest that the printer or a censor was inserting himself or herself into the production process.” Additionally, students have the opportunity to learn the vocabulary of printing. Vermue points out that “you’re going to come across [this vocabulary] as you’re reading about Samuel Johnson and the 18th century and visiting print shops and having discussions with printers.”

Classes come through the studio several times a semester. Vermue says that during short classes, “we have to use the space as

class needed to have.” During long classes, students can work together to make something really basic like a class poster, “but even that is going to have limitations,” said Vermue.

The Letterpress Winter Term is an opportunity for students to spend full days in the studio for several weeks. Students learn how to print and work on both individual and group projects “to make the learning about book production hands-on.” The Winter Term class is taught by Ed Vermue and Bob Kelemen, a professor at Kent State University and The University of Akron.

“Everything in here is meant to be used,” said Vermue. “We have to have the type, we have to have the furniture, we have to have flat space, we have to have the presses, we have to have the ink. You have to have ways to hang small work or put big work somewhere where it can dry. All the creativity is getting done by hand.”

CALENDAR

AT OBERLIN

CYLINDER PRESS

This press is used for printing on pieces of paper that are large and flexible enough to wrap around the cylinder. Shown here are the type and image blocks locked inside the chase with spacing material. The resulting image is printed on a piece of paper with multiple colors of ink.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15

Everyday People/Everyday Action

Contemporary flamenco dance company Clinard Dance partners with photographer Akito Tsuda to create this performance celebrating the “understated beauty of the ordinary.” Free with OCID, $5 general admission.

Warner Main Space • 8–9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY– SUNDAY, MARCH 16 –17

Oberlin Jazz Dance Festival

OSwing’s annual Oberlin Jazz Dance Festival will feature six swing lessons taught by international instructors and a dance with live music on Saturday night. The lessons are at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2:10 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday night dance is at 9 p.m.

Hales Gymnasium

SATURDAY, MARCH 16

Love Slam

OSlam will perform poetry about love and anti-love because they “love love any day of the year.” The evening will also include an open mic, and all are welcome to participate.

The ’Sco • 8–10 p.m.

TUESDAY, MARCH 19

ASL Bingo

Come enjoy a free dinner while learning American Sign Language vocabulary through a game of bingo.

Wilder Hall, Room 112 • 5–6:45 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Style Purim Party

Celebrate Purim with Chabad at this B’nai Mitzvah-themed party. There will be games, music, Megillah readings, a candle lighting ceremony, and –– of course –– a Purim feast!

The ’Sco • 8:30–10 p.m.

A r t s & C u ltu r e

March 15, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE established 1874

Volume 147, Number 17

Flamenco Symposium Dances Through Oberlin

Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Alice Blumenfeld performed Labyrinths, an experimental flamenco installation, in the Terrell Main Library on Wednesday.

Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Olivia Guerriero Oberlin’s first-ever Flamenco Symposium is taking place on campus this week. The program brings international flamenco artists to Oberlin for performances and discussions covering traditional, experimental, and interdisciplinary flamenco in the United States.

The week-long symposium kicked off last Wednesday with Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Alice Blumenfeld’s installation piece in the Terrell Main Library. Audience members were led through the first and second floors as Blumenfeld performed experimental flamenco influenced by several works of literature.

The symposium was put together by Blumenfeld, who first began dancing flamenco when she was 12 years old

and fell in love with it.

Blumenfeld has been organizing the symposium since August 2018. She has been teaching flamenco technique and culture at Oberlin for nearly two semesters, as well as courses on contemporary technique and arts management. Flamenco is new to the Dance department course offerings, arriving with Blumenfeld last semester and adding to the range of multicultural styles of dance taught within the department.

Flamenco is a Spanish dance form with rigid techniques and artistic rules. College senior Izzy Moore is taking Introduction to Flamenco with Blumenfeld this semester.

“It looks extremely hard, then you start it and it is extremely hard,” Moore said.

Many flamenco dancers in the U.S.

are exploring different opportunities for experimentation amidst shifting cultural landscapes and navigating truth and stereotypes within American flamenco. Blumenfeld spoke about how she approaches dance with intention.

“What I really value in my own dancing and seeing other artists is not imitating people that came before you, but really using flamenco to tell your own story, which, like any language, means you have to be fluent in the language,” Blumenfeld said.

In light of this, Blumenfeld has recruited several world-renowned performers who are experts in traditional flamenco, and who use this foundation to push the boundaries of the form to participate in the symposium. They balance history with innovation, structure with experimentation, and stereotype with authenticity to redefine what it means to create flamenco in the United States.

As part of the conference, films on flamenco were also shown at the Apollo Theatre in downtown Oberlin last Wednesday night.

“I chose several flamenco films by artists who are doing more experimental work,” Blumenfeld said. “I think a couple of the films really show ... this more intimate and quiet side of flamenco and [the] introverted side of flamenco.”

Friday brought classes taught by dancer Wendy Clinard, researcher and performer Niruca Marquez Màrquez, and musician José Luis de la Paz, as well as a “Tiny Reference Desk” concert by de la Paz in the Conservatory Library.

There are still many exciting things to look forward to.

On Friday night Clinard, guitarist Marija Temo, and several other artists will perform Everyday People/Everyday Action. Clinard is a flamenco dancer and founder of the Clinard Dance Company based in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Virtuoso classical and flamenco guitarist Marija Temo will be accompanying Clinard’s performance.

Everyday People/Everyday Action is an interdisciplinary piece in collaboration with Japanese photographer Akito Tsuda. The piece is inspired by Tsuda’s photo series on Pilsen in the 1990s. Pilsen used to be a majority Latinx neighborhood but has been rapidly gentrified in recent years. The performance explores the rhythms, sights, and experiences in Pilsen through photography, dance, and music.

On Saturday morning, Marquez and academics Yuko Aoyama and Theresa Goldbach will speak at a talk titled “Transnational Politics and Poetics of Flamenco.” Later in the day, all visiting artists will sit on a panel to discuss flamenco and their individual work within the form.

Ayoma and Goldbach’s work explores cultural influences on Flamenco as an art form. Aoyama researches economic and industrial geography at Clark University and will discuss the ways in which consumerism and culture influence flamenco in Japan and the United States. Goldbach, a Ph.D. candidate in Critical Dance Studies at the University of California, Riverside, examines Francisco Franco’s influence on flamenco in Spain, especially focusing on how Franco’s regime used flamenco as a nationalized and propagandized art form.

See Flamenco, page 13

Visiting Jazz Pianist and Composer Blurs Musical Categories Matei Predescu Last week, the Conservatory’s Performance & Improvisation program hosted Venezuelan-born jazz pianist and composer Luis Perdomo in a residency which brought his original compositions to the student-led PI ensembles as part of the Conservatory’s Artist Recital Series. The residency culminated in a performance Saturday night which featured six of Perdomo’s compositions performed by the student ensembles, alongside a solo set of his own.

Perdomo looks to salsa and other Latin American styles of music, as well as classical music, as sources of inspiration for his original compositions.

The New York-based jazz pianist has collaborated and performed with contemporary innovators like saxophonists Miguel Zenón, Ravi Coltrane, David Sánchez, and trumpeter Pete Rodriguez.

He collaborated with Zenón on the saxophonist’s 2014 record Identities are Changeable, an homage to the musical identity of diasporic Puerto Ricans.

He also assisted with Rodriguez’s 2015 album El Conde Negro, arranging the classic 1979 salsa hit “Soy La Ley” by Rodriguez’s father, the legendary salsa singer Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez.

“What I am trying to adapt from

10

[songs in the salsa tradition] is their essence and core identities, but placed in a jazz context,” Perdomo said. “I want to work with jazz musicians who understand and have a connection with Latin American music and who can also play this music in a way which could be appreciated and understood by those who are familiar with its origins.”

During Perdomo’s residency at Oberlin last week he taught lessons and coached rehearsals for PI students, who are comprised of both Classical and Jazz Performance majors. Students in the PI program form ensembles which perform music introduced by guest artists, such as Perdomo, while receiving instruction from the artists themselves.

The PI program is led by Conservatory Professor of Advanced Improvisation and Percussion Jamey Haddad and Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Jay Ashby. Haddad and Ashby have each known Perdomo for a number of years and have previously collaborated with him in New York.

“The guy is authentic in the sense that he understands Venezuelan music at its core, but he’s also a great jazz player who really understands the lineage of the music,” Haddad said. “Most importantly, he empowered the students; he really hit it out of the park with the compositions he brought in

because it allowed both classical and jazz students to bring their unique skill sets to the music.”

Compositions performed at Perdomo’s PI concert contain a deep wistfulness and lyricism which hint at an openness and adaptability to style or interpretation. Perdomo’s music is characterized by his rare affinity for transcending musical categories.

During the performance at the Cat in the Cream on Saturday, Perdomo lauded the progressive attitude of the PI program.

“It’s really great to see this community between classical and jazz musicians [arise out of the PI program] because for most of my career, I’ve strived to make music beyond borders,” Perdomo said before launching into a playful solo piano piece which highlighted his diverse musical influences.

“It’s cool to see classical musicians improvise and jazz musicians placed in situations where they have to read a lot of music, but I think this concept can go even further: jazz musicians playing salsa, and African musicians playing classical music — it’s just great to enjoy music without borders.” Perdomo continued his set, which featured a duet with Ashby on trombone, as well as a trio rendition of a jazz standard with Haddad on drums and Conservatory

junior Dan Finn on bass.

Perdomo’s artistic direction also helps usher in a greater presence of underrepresented musical traditions in the Conservatory. Second-year Vocal Jazz Performance major Nicole Odreman, who is also of Venezuelan heritage, performed two of Perdomo’s pieces during the concert. Odreman reflected on the lack of a tangible presence of Latin American music in the Conservatory and how representation matters in these musical spaces.

“I think Latin American music could definitely be more celebrated and explored in the [Conservatory],” Odreman said. “It would be nice to have more vehicles to study and talk about this music, and it’s really refreshing when PI artists like Luis come through because I get to work with someone who is of my culture and who doesn’t separate it from jazz and classical, but integrates it in what we study.”

Luis Perdomo brings a fresh perspective to blurring lines between musical traditions while empowering students to collaborate beyond institutional categories. His work with the PI program illustrates the importance of community-building across musical spaces within Oberlin and should serve as inspiration for students interested in redefining musical borders.

Poet Alyesha Wise Performs at Cat in the Cream

Alyesha Wise shared her poetry at the Cat in the Cream last Sunday as part of programming sponsored by OSlam and the SIC. Photo by Meg Parker, Photo Editor

Kate Fishman, Arts & Culture Editor Lu Zucker, Contributing Writer Students jumped to their feet at the end of Alyesha Wise’s performance last Sunday night at the Cat in the Cream. Wise’s work as a poet and teaching artist has taken her from her hometown of Camden, NJ, to Philadelphia, and now to Los Angeles, where she currently resides. She is the cofounder of two slam poetry organizations, the Spoken Literature Art Movement (known as S.L.A.M.) and The Pigeon Presents: The Philadelphia Poetry Slam. She is also the winner of the 2013 Philadelphia Knight Arts Challenge Grant. In addition to her extensive slam poetry coaching experience, she is also the 2014 Hollywood Grand Slam Champion, a twotime Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist, a twotime Philly Pigeon Grand Poetry Slam champion, and a Southern Fried Poetry Slam team champion.

Wise’s Oberlin performance was sponsored by OSlam

and the Sexual Information Center. Her set was fiercely unapologetic, with several short poems punctuating her performance with thoughtfulness and intentionality. Her work is rooted firmly in her experience, which she articulates with grace and passion. She explores the intersections between womanhood and Blackness not only in her performed poems, but also in her conversations with the audience. In between two pieces, she remarked, “That’s it, I’m going off script. I can feel an energy.” Students were enraptured.

“My first priority is to write for the people,” Wise said. “I think about my message, and I think if it’s reaching someone. I think, ‘Can someone who needs this message get something from this?’”

While speaking to her roots remains a priority, Wise is also a working writer who recently published her first book Carnival. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that the craft elements of literary work are also important to her process and her experience of poetry.

“If you’re trying to get things published, you’re always trying to impress poets in some way,” she explained.

“Even if you’re like, ‘No, it’s not about the poets,’ it is in some way. Because other poets and people are looking, and they’re looking at how good your craft is — and even you’re looking. You want your craft to be good. If I was just trying to get a message [across], I’d just write a bunch of punch lines and show up to open mics.”

Wise also emphasized the essential process of editing, not just through her personal creative work but also through the multifaceted discipline of her teaching.

“I also really have fun writing this stuff and looking at how you can play with things on paper to use different writing forms and techniques,” she said. “Editing is fun to me now. My students look at me so wild when I tell them, ‘The editing process can be so fun!’”

College sophomore Elmo Tumbokon was one of Wise’s students as a teenager in Los Angeles. Though he’d never written any poetry, he found himself in a high school writing club when a friend of his had forgone their daily after-school ritual — visiting a doughnut shop — in order to attend the meetings. When Tumbokon was promised there would be food, he also joined. The teacher in charge made him write a poem, which the teacher loved so much that they brought him to the Get Lit poetry troupe’s auditions. There, Tumbokon performed the second poem he’d ever written, free-styling to fill in parts he’d forgotten. He was one of

10 students chosen for the team. Wise was one of the judges at that audition and served as his coach while he traveled the state and the country with the troupe, performing at nonprofits and leading workshops in schools.

“In a year’s time I went from that audition to the Kennedy Center, and that was all because of [Wise],” Tumbokon said. He appreciates the integrity that Wise brings to her coaching compared to others working in that field.

“There’s a problem with youth slam poetry coaches where they make you tap into your trauma and make you perform it for points, but they don’t do anything to help the kids who are unpacking that trauma,” he explained. “Alyesha Wise is the opposite of [coaches like that]. She heals you first, she attaches you to resources first, and then when you feel comfortable writing about it, we start making it into something that’s competition-worthy. But at the end of the day, it’s about [how] you’re doing this to heal yourself first.”

College senior and President and Artistic Director of OSlam Hanne Williams-Baron first discovered Wise’s work on the YouTube channel for Button Poetry. Williams-Baron said that, in a spiral of watching video after video, she stopped to replay Wise’s performances several times. She has been captivated by Wise’s poetry ever since.

Williams-Baron noted that she admires Wise’s “organizing around ... trauma-informed poetry spaces” and facilitation of “creative safe spaces for [both] youth and adults.”

Wise’s work in teaching, mentoring, and writing around a variety of heavy subjects is bound to be draining at times, but her way of coping and healing is grounded in activity and activism. When she’s having a hard time, Wise says she’ll go for a walk or stretch to get her blood flowing — being mobile is crucial for her.

It all stems from the selflessness and sense of responsibility that makes her not only a great writer, but a stellar teacher and organizer.

“I’m not just writing about it; I’m also trying to be there for people who have gone through certain things,” Wise said. “I don’t just write the poems. Sometimes I give speeches on certain topics, or I speak up on certain topics. I’ve created events and safe spaces around certain things. It bleeds into my life, or I could say my life bleeds into my work — I don’t know which way. It’s just all the same.”

Student Production Same Same Premieres at Cat in the Cream Carson Dowhan Senior Staff Writer

This weekend College senior Hanna Shykind will debut an intimate and honest presentation of her experiences growing up in the Middle East. Her original cabaret performance Same Same tells a story of adaptation and how Shykind coped with loneliness in a foreign place. Although Shykind’s circumstances were atypical, she creates a universal story.

“The show is a cabaret about my experiences living in Qatar from age 12 to 16,” she said. “It’s about dealing with change and combating loneliness. It was very world-altering for me to move since I grew up in New York City.”

The show attempts to bridge the gap in understanding that she experienced in reconnecting with her childhood friends from prior to her move.

“You change a lot between 12 and 16, especially if you move somewhere different,” she said. “All my friends didn’t get my obsession with New York City because they were there the whole time. It was a wonderful, life-changing experience, but also an isolating time to grow up in.”

The name Same Same also comes from Shykind’s experiences in the Middle East.

“The original name was Adaptation because the show is about dealing with change,” she said. “In Qatar, we met a tailor from India who would ‘same same’ things. You bring a piece of clothing, and he would make an exact replica. So, I’m playing off ‘same same, but different’ in a sense.”

It took a while for the move to settle with Shykind, but eventually, the transition became easier.

“I remember I would have moments stuck in traffic on the way to school, and just look outside,” she continued. “There was a lot of poverty there, and things were broken down. I had to remind myself that I lived there a lot. Soon, it didn’t feel weird to say.”

Shykind chose the cabaret format for Same Same The Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

after seeing her Broadway inspiration, Sierra Boggess, live.

“Cabaret is a common form of theater, and I saw Sierra Boggess talking about what inspired her, and [singing] the songs that inspired her,” she said. “I don’t want that time in my life to whisper away; I want people to know and talk about it.”

The creative process behind the show was an experiment in itself, and Shykind’s time at Oberlin helped determine how she put words into action.

“I was writing in novel form. That’s what my liberal arts education has turned me into as a writer. I’ve never taken any Creative Writing classes, but I’ve written a lot of essays as a Neuroscience major,” she said. “In the first draft, there was so much imagery, and I learned what I needed. Someone called it the ‘economy of words,’ so I needed to make every sentence count without using too many words. … Every word has to count.”

Despite the advantages of the cabaret style, Shykind still faced some difficulties in putting the show together.

“A big challenge is vocal strain. I love to belt, and I also love to sing very high,” she said. “There are soprano and belting songs; it’s a vocally taxing show.”

Shykind was not alone on her creative journey. She was thankful to have the support of other Oberlin students who helped her put together the show.

“Musical director and pianist [College senior] Kieran Minor, and my stage manager [College third-year] Casey Labbate both helped me in terms of the script as well,” she said. She was also excited to work with fifthyear double-degree cellist Linnea Scott on her final Oberlin performance.

Labbate spoke about how her role in the production has evolved in an email to the Review.

“I am the stage manager, but I’ve also been pretty deeply involved in supporting Hanna in the development of the script and acting as her eyes since she can’t watch herself.”

Putting this show on has been a vulnerable but ca-

College senior Hana Shykind rehearses her original cabaret, Same Same, accompanied by College senior Kieran Minor on the piano and double-degree fifth-year Linnea Scott on the cello to prepare for their performance this weekend.

Photo by Devin Cowan, Staff Photographer

thartic experience for Shykind. Her main focus now is to remain confident so that she can give her best performance.

“It’s scary but freeing at the same time,” Shykind commented. “It’s therapeutic for me to tell the world what happened, because it was a really important moment in my life. A lot of the journey in the past couple of weeks is telling myself I’m just talking to people about my story; we’re going on this adventure together.”

Shykind is excited to share her story as a farewell to Oberlin, and hopes to “uplift the audience by opening their hearts to the reality of new experiences.” This is not a performance to miss, and hopefully, it will encourage senior Theater majors to share their life experiences through original productions. In the end, for Shykind, it’s all about connection. As she said to me, “My inspiration behind the piece is to connect with each other.”

Same Same goes up at the Cat in the Cream at 8 p.m on March 15 and 16 and at 1 p.m. on March 17. Admission is free.

11

A r t s & C u lt u r e ON THE RECORD

Ed Helms, OC ’96, Comedian, Actor, Trustee Ed Helms, OC ’96, is a renowned comedian and actor, and is a member of Oberlin’s Board of Trustees. He is best known for his work on the American hit TV show The Office, his recurring roles on The Daily Show, his role in The Hangover trilogy, and his voiceover work in films like The Lorax and Captain Underpants. Helms visited Oberlin last weekend for the board’s quarterly meeting and took some time out of his schedule to speak with students in the Arts and Creative Professions Career Community alongside fellow trustee Steve Dolcemaschio, the former Chief Operating Officer for Universal Cable Productions and Wilshire Studios. The Career Communities program is based out of the Career Development Center and aims to connect students with funded internships in their areas of interest. Helms and Dolcemaschio spoke about their experiences in Hollywood, how they first broke into the industry, the massive variety of jobs in the production industry, and more. In addition to his work in front of the camera, in 2013 Helms founded the Pacific Electric Picture Company and launched his career as a producer.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sydney Allen, Editor-in-Chief Nathan Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief work than I like; my favorite thing still is to just be on set collaborating and working and trying to make people laugh. But there’s something really gratifying about building projects from the ground up and carrying them all the way through, and that’s what being a producer really is all about.

Ed Helms, OC ’96

Can you talk about your Career Communities presentation and why you decided to spend time presenting to that group?

So Steve [Dolcemaschio] and I, we’ve been friends now for a couple of years, and we’re always talking about how to open up pathways for Obies into show business. When I was young, it just seemed so far away and unattainable and exotic. We had been talking about doing something to try and demystify show business a little bit, bring it down to earth, and share our stories and what opportunities are out there. You know, everyone knows the obvious things like being an actor or a director or something, but there are so many different avenues into show business that are really cool.

And so that was our mission today, just to connect with students who are interested in it and try to break it down a little bit.

What was going through your mind when you were a spring semester senior at Oberlin, as someone who was interested in show business?

Well, it’s funny, one of the [Career Community] questions was really on the money. It was like, “Where do I go? From Oberlin, Ohio, where do I go to work my way into show business?” I ultimately decided New York was the best fit for me.

And then I really had to do a lot of my own legwork, trying to crack the facade of show business. Where are the entry points? For me, it was open mic, stand-up comedy shows. That was my entry point and I did that religiously for years.

When people ask what it’s like to be an Oberlin student and alumnus, what do you tell them?

It’s funny, the older that I get, the more I appreciate my time here, and [that’s] part of why being on the board has been such a fun and meaningful experience for me because I get to come back and be here ... When I talk about Oberlin, it’s really about the people — the people are so special here. I don’t know what it is.

They’re just curious and passionate and hilarious and annoying and wonderful and all of it mashed up. It’s a place with a point of view. It has a strong energy. Peo-

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Photo by Meg Parker, Photo Editor

ple are passionate about different things.

There’s lots of clashing opinions, but you know it’s always going to be interesting.

There’s always cool stuff going on.

That’s what I remember about it. The culture is so rich here: Having a conservatory here, having so many people who are passionate about science and the arts all mashed up in this tiny little crucible of a town. It’s an incredibly special place.

What was your favorite part of Oberlin while you were here?

I mean, it’s a similar answer I guess: The people, because, I mean, they’re still my favorite people — my best friends and roommates from college are my best friends now. I formed a bluegrass band while I was here. At the time it was called Weedkiller and then ... we all moved to New York City and we all kind of were doing different things, but we kept playing music together and three of us became The Lonesome Trio. And that’s been this really, really important part of my life — still is. I talk to the guys every week, there’s always something going on.

They live in New York and I live in Los Angeles now, but we’re still super tight and will be until the day we die.

I’m going to switch gears a little bit — I’m curious about what it was like for you to switch from being predominantly an actor to being more of a producer and owning your own production company.

You know, when you’re an actor, you’re a little bit of a pinball; you just kind of take opportunities. You can chase things, but you may not get them, and then you may get opportunities [that] you didn’t really want, but you have to take them.

And then it’s kind of a rare, wonderful, special thing when you actually chase something and you get it. But all that’s to say that being an actor, you have precious little control over your destiny, your professional destiny.

Starting this production company was a way for me to assert more autonomy as a creative person and also bring a little more entrepreneurial spirit to my profession and my life. And it’s been so fun and rewarding. It’s a little more office

What role of yours do people most reference when they run into you out and about?

Usually, it’s kind of the most recent thing, right? Whatever came out most recently. But I will say the most dominant thing for a while was The Hangover, but now it’s The Office. It’s crazy to me that The Office is more popular now than it ever was because of Netflix, and for some reason really young people are super into it. I’m really touched by how it’s just kind of persevered, and how it still connects with people. So now it’s definitely The Office. So many people come up to me about that.

What was that like, working on set with so many other iconic comedians?

I mean, I don’t know that anyone was particularly iconic at the time, and even The Hangover — we were all pretty unknown when that movie came out ... But being on the set of The Office was heaven.

It just is the best people. It’s the best vibe, the best writers, the best material. One of the great privileges of my life.

COMIC

Are there any projects you’re working on right now that you’re particularly excited about?

Yeah, there’s some stuff. My company made a movie that I have a fun cameo in. It’s called Corporate Animals. It just played at Sundance this year and it sold to a distributor at Sundance, so that’s going to come out later in the year. That was really, really fun — it’s kind of a dark comedy. And then in about six weeks, we’re going to start shooting a movie called Coffee & Kareem, and it’s me and Taraji Henson and some people we haven’t cast yet. That’s going to be really, really fun.

You and Steve [Dolcemaschio] just spent a lot of time giving advice to the folks in the Arts and Creative Professions Career Community. I’m curious if you could distill and offer just one nugget of advice for people entering the show business.

This is the most sort of hacky advice, but it’s also the best, which is, just keep your head down and work your ass off, right? I mean, it’s so tired, but it really is true. And don’t get discouraged by what looks like people getting shortcuts around you. When you see people that seem to get free passes, I think it’s easy to get discouraged, but if you just stay focused on your own thing and what you have to offer and what you’re passionate about, that’s what’ll get you where you want to be.

Clair Wang Staff Cartoonist

Captain Marvel: A Solid Superhero Movie, But Nothing More Kabir Karamchandandi Staff Writer As a die-hard Marvel fan and a general superhero buff, I was more than merely excited to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first female superhero-led movie. Yet, perhaps spoiled by last year’s Black Panther, I was somewhat disappointed by the movie. Captain Marvel is a fine film, and a much-needed step in the right direction in terms of female representation within the MCU, but it never truly excels, instead feeling like a by-the-numbers superhero movie with nothing special going for it.

Part of the reason Captain Marvel didn’t quite work for me is because of what came before it. In addition to Black Panther, which set the bar extremely high for new solo superhero movies, the superhero genre as a whole is often stale. We are at a point where superhero movies need to bring something new to the table in content or tone, and Captain Marvel, unfortunately, fails to do both.

As a female-led superhero movie, Captain Marvel also elicits comparisons to the recent female-led DC superhero movie, Wonder Woman, but this comparison does not favor the former. Not only was Wonder Woman bolder, as it represented female superheroes at a time when Hollywood was uncertain whether they could succeed economically, but it was also just a better movie and set a precedent that Captain Marvel didn’t quite meet.

Comparisons to other movies aside, Captain Marvel is a decent addition to the MCU, coming in around the midway point among Marvel Studios films. While I generally like to give a more detailed rundown of what did and didn’t work in the film I’m reviewing, there is little I can say about Captain Marvel without spoiling the movie. It neither fails nor succeeds spectacularly in most areas, and is instead solidly average most of the time.

There are, however, two major exceptions: The film’s humor is medio-

cre, and its action is outstanding. The humor is a rare miss on Marvel’s part; many of its jokes seem forced. While Marvel films are known for their quippy dialogue, many of Captain Marvel’s one-liners fail to land. On the other hand, both the action and the visual effects in the film are fantastic. Brie Larson’s titular Captain Marvel shines in combat, looking more badass than any Marvel hero before her.

In terms of female representation, Captain Marvel definitely carries its own. In film, getting representation right is often a function of avoiding the pitfalls and stereotypes so many studios have traditionally propagated. The film’s directors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, do an excellent job portraying Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, as her own person. The movie is defined by her own journey, rather than other characters’ actions.

The directors also chose to steer clear of a romantic subplot altogether, making it the first solo superhero movie of the MCU era to do so. This choice definitely works in the movie’s favor, preventing it from becoming another superhero cliché.

If you want to see a female superhero movie with lots of cool action, something that has long been missing in the MCU, then this movie is not to be missed. Similarly, if you’re a Marvel junkie, then even the worst Marvel films are enjoyable, and this is far from the worst of them.

However, if you’ve seen one too many generic superhero movies, then Captain Marvel is unlikely to stand out. Those who like tangible stakes in their movies may also want to steer clear, as this film takes place before most of the MCU and therefore focuses more on her story than its actual consequences. At the end of the day, if you would be interested in Captain Marvel, you were likely already planning on seeing it. I would only warn you not to set your expectations too high, for while it is a perfectly serviceable movie, it is no Wonder Woman or Black Panther.

Flamenco Symposium Held in Oberlin Through Weekend Continued from page 10

On Saturday night, Màrquez and de la Paz will perform Resonancias, a piece that explores family and memory through experimental flamenco dance and guitar. Màrquez is an experimental flamenco artist and researcher. De la Paz is Màrquez’s guitarist a composer, as well as her husband. He follows the oral traditions of flamenco to perform and compose music ranging from traditional to experimental flamenco. Màrquez and de la Paz co-founded Nu Flamenco Collaborative in 2010, an artistic initiative that introduces American audiences to the history and culture of flamenco, as well as its contemporary explorations and developments.

Blumenfeld spoke about the artists and researchers participating in this symposium.

“They really understand and deeply know flamenco’s structures and history, but they are courageous enough to then acknowledge The Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

what it means to be a flamenco dancer in the U.S. and [share] that experience through their work.”

Steve Volk, Professor Emeritus of History and former flamenco guitarist, spoke about innovation in dance. “It’s wonderful, it’s where flamenco is going. It’s an old culture, it’s an old tradition, but like all cultures, it doesn’t stay put. I think [Blumenfeld] is a great example of where [flamenco] can go in the future.”

This symposium creates a space for dialogue not only within Oberlin but also within the American flamenco community. The work presented and the discussions held truly break boundaries. They challenge stereotypes of flamenco and push past the limitations of the form, giving artists greater opportunities for expression and innovation within flamenco.

For more information about times and locations of symposium events, visit the Oberlin Dance department website.

CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Cherokee name meaning ‘myself’ 4 One who teaches the Torah 9 Combustion engine component 12 Garden dweller 13 Actor Chris of The IT Crowd 14 Un-rigid 16 A funny ____ 17 Ah’s companion 18 Most common English letter 19 The person Moby Dick takes a bite out of 20 Cardboard structure 21 One dash in Morse code 22 Famous crosswalkers, sometimes known as the ___ ___ 24 Audio effect 26 A well-known video game 27 With 48 Down, Han Solo quotation 29 “Sweet” 34 Swiss mountain 37 Intercept 38 Utterer of 6 Down 39 Generation of grumps, perhaps 41 Philosophy of Descartes DOWN 1 Giant in images 2 Russian Smirnoff 3 Credit cards 4 Mainstay of a float 5 Unnecessary fluster 6 Frightening noise 7 Camera setting 8 Like a paradise 9 Snicket villain 10 Dwarf axiom 11 Somewhat vulgar txt abbr.

12 Like a door 15 Drink that sounds like it belongs at a county fair, briefly 22 Boca Raton University abbr.

23 “Electric” dance 25 Thing people often forget to do 26 Like the sun 28 “Of course” 30 Org with Penguins and Sharks 31 Brand of microelectronics, or a moon of Jupiter put doubly 32 Speak impolitely 33 Only non-human to testify before Congress 34 Swedish pop group 35 “Stay (I missed you)” singer Lisa

Alex Metz

43 Central/South Asian royalty 44 Companion of “A Way” 45 Special Agent in children’s cartoon 46 They dropped __ ____ on me 47 Her addressing me 49 Canyon presence 51 Make negative 55 Popular object of theft 59 Boss of Bond 60 Salvation for one who needs a hand 61 Wise men 62 Letter after C 63 Not yet decided, abbr.

65 Men’s shirt brand 66 Grammatical abbreviation 67 Golfer’s mistake 69 River in central Italy 70 Pal of 12 Across 71 “___ __ Can” 72 Southeast Asian people

36 Famous stick 40 Mother to a Brit 41 Thing that is cast 42 Like some Frisbee 44 Doctor, or group of doctors 47 Not bold 48 See 27 Across 50 One who might replace 67 Across 52 Ancient region in present day Turkey 53 Titular character in 1920 swashbuckler film 54 Nigerian ethnic group 55 “Are you?” in first person 56 Stable 57 Purveyor of Flip or Flop 58 Where the rubber meets the road, say 63 Boob tubes 64 Bend at the waist 68 “in other words”

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Sp ort s IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Olivia Canning, Senior Basketball Center

College senior Olivia Canning has her hands full. As a starter on the Oberlin women’s basketball team, a Psychology and Sociology major and Anthropology minor, and an active member of various Oberlin College and community organizations, Canning seems to be doing everything at once. While she has garnered accolades as a powerhouse center on the basketball court, including NCAC Defensive Player of the Year and All-NCAC First Team in the 2017–18 season, Canning has also shown academic prowess through her Sociology honors thesis and many organization positions.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor Jane Agler, Sports Editor Tell me a little about yourself and what you’re involved in.

I am a Psychology and Sociology double major with a minor in Anthropology.

I’m doing a Sociology honors thesis, but I’m primarily interested in psychology and am looking for a research assistant job for a few years after college or applying to graduate school. I’m involved in a lot of different organizations: [Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct], [Oberlin Bystander Intervention], I was a [Peer Advising Leader], and I volunteer for the Nord Center Sexual Assault Care Unit Hotline.

Wow, that’s a lot of different activities. What is your honors thesis about?

It’s about how young women today

navigate fear in public spaces.

Tell me a little bit about your athletic background, and how and when you got into basketball.

I actually got into basketball really late, because I didn’t start playing AAU or club basketball until the spring of my freshman year of high school, which is really late. I honestly didn’t know if I wanted to go to school for basketball, but then I wound up at Oberlin. I love the team, and it is such a cool program.

Did you play other sports before basketball?

I was definitely someone who had played soccer their whole life, you know?

Although, I did run varsity track during my [first year of high school] until I start-

Olivia Canning

ed [taking] basketball more seriously.

Did you have any favorite players growing up, or any role models?

I wish I had watched the WNBA or women’s college basketball more growing up. But my dad really loves basketball, so I watched the Celtics — Kevin Garnett was my hero.

So, you’re a big Celtics fan?

I am a big Celtics fan. I’m from outside of Boston. I have to be, you know?

You and Alex [Stipano] have been playing together for years now. How have you seen her grow over the years, and how has she pushed you to be your best?

She’s grown so much. She tore her ACL her first year, which is incredibly tough, especially during your first year.

She’s had to move past that, and she did it in such an amazing way. She adapted to our coach and just does whatever is asked of her. I think that is really admirable. She’s headstrong. All of this has pushed me to work harder, because I’ll look at Alex and think, “Well, Alex is doing this, so I’ve got to do the same.” This year, as a senior, she hurt her elbow in the beginning of the season, too.

Olivia Canning scored her 1,000th point this season and was named to the All-NCAC Second Team for her efforts.

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

Athletic Symposium is Valuable Despite Excessive Length Continued from page 16

eryone would stay engaged throughout the entire event and really get the most out of it.”

Coach Russell expressed a similar critique, but also highlighted that this was only the first Heisman Club leadership symposium, and that future symposiums will likely be structured more efficiently and effectively.

“Absolutely [too long],” said Russell.

“The facilitators were amazing. Their energy was very different than what I would say athletes are used to. To me, when you read the energy in the room and recognize what is going to work for people to get them engaged and get them going [would be] helpful.

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I missed the first two hours because I had practice … and I still think it was [too long]. It may not have been as long if it had been done differently.”

Regardless, the event aligned with the Heisman Club’s mission statement, which stresses the need to provide opportunities to Oberlin’s student-athletes to pursue their career and academic endeavors.

Downing emphasized the value in the opportunity.

“I appreciated that the Heisman Club hosted a unique event like this,” she said. “[It] allowed us to interact with coaches and captains from other sports, as well as the Heisman Club members and administrators.”

It seems like the basketball alumni stay good friends and stay connected to the program after graduation.

What does this say about the program culture? We don’t really see that with other sports.

I think our team has a history of being really close and supportive. Maybe it’s

Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

just having to stay together during Winter Term and having that shared experience. And all of the alumni are still keeping contact. For me, I’m looking for jobs in D.C. and it’s cool to see that network [there]. It’s supportive, like a family. A lot of alumni work in D.C. right now. A [few] of our current players are from the DMV area as well.

Will you continue to stay involved in the program, and what will you miss most about being an Oberlin basketball player?

I’ve thought about becoming a sports psychologist, but I don’t think that’s my passion. Right now, I’m thinking, “Wow, a break!” But I’m sure I’ll be in some pick-up league wherever I end up. But I’ll really miss the community of the basketball program. I mean, we see them every day for six months during the year, whether we want to or not. But I’m definitely going to miss it.

If sports psychology isn’t your passion, then what is your passion?

I’m definitely interested in the field of trauma psychology, but I’m not sure what. I’m looking into the field of PTSD with veterans or victims of domestic violence, but I’d like to look into making a positive change in some way.

You and Alex are the veterans on the team. What advice would you like to impart on your younger teammates?

Don’t regret the effort you put in. Put in your all so that, at the end of the career, you can say you did your best with what you had.

Horseback Riding Class Sees Attendence from Student Athletes Continued from page 15

own in class, despite their lack of experience.

“I think we’re doing pretty well,” Tuzzolino said. “I feel like that’s because we genuinely like the horses and are very interested in what we’re doing.

A lot of it has to do with how competitive we are. After class I’m always like, ‘I’m better than you.’ I’ll always let [Bulucea] know that I’m better than him.”

Despite his satisfaction with the class and increased interest in the sport, Tuzzolino isn’t sure if he’ll continue horseback riding once the module is over.

“Horses are expensive, going to rid-

ing lessons is expensive, finding a stable is hard, and finding an instructor is hard,” Tuzzolino said. “It’s not something where you can just be like, ‘Oh, sweet! I’ve got five bucks in my pocket.

What am I doing to do today? Let’s go ride horses.’ In order to ride horses, you have to be dedicated to competing with them properly, or have enough financial stability. You can’t just pick it up.”

Even so, Tuzzolino and Bulucea said they are grateful to have stepped out of their comfort zone and learned something new. The class ends March 22, when the first module is finished, but will be offered again first module next fall.

Baseball Looks to Have a Rebound Year Luke Sprecher As small puddles accumulated on Dill Field’s bleachers from a brief rainstorm Saturday, the Oberlin College baseball team began its season with a doubleheader against the Capital University Crusaders. Despite the overcast weather, the stands were occupied with students and fans from both sides.

The baseball program’s roster has seen its ups and downs throughout the years, with its most dramatic lineup change taking place this year. The team hasn’t had this many first-year starters in a long time — in fact, first-years are currently getting a good chunk of time at shortstop, first base, the pitcher’s mound, and in the outfield. College first-year David Fineman has impressed at shortstop, while Conservatory first-year Ian Ashby and College first-year Jacob Thompson both hit, play first base, and pitch.

Thompson is currently the number-two ace after College senior and southpaw Zach Steer.

The rookies have had to assimilate to a team’s culture with no personal or emotional association to the team’s past.

However, after a disappointing season in which the team missed the conference tournament for the third time in seven years, this might be the best thing for the

program — a rebound year with a handful of new faces.

Ashby, the son of Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Jay Ashby, closed game one of Saturday’s double-header and believes in the potential of his team.

“We only win in odd years,” said Ashby, who has attended many of the team’s games as a high school student at nearby Lake Ridge Academy. “Last year we didn’t do very well, but this year’s our year because 2019 is an odd year.”

Last year was an even year, and the Yeomen had a losing record of 12–28.

However, last year’s disappointments have fueled and motivated this year’s squad. When asked if the team’s past seasons affect his approach going into the latest season, Assistant Coach Brandon Jossey said yes, but only to a degree.

“The approach we take is looking at a big sample size of past success and failure,” he said. “We typically go back in a three-year window and look at things we did right or wrong.”

Jossey said he is confident that this season isn’t going to be anything like last season. Not only is it an odd year, but the team’s practices have been more focused and disciplined all year.

“Practices have been intense and efficient,” Jossey said. “We have really worked hard on doing the little things

right. Our seniors have done a great job preaching what we teach all the time.”

College senior and tri-captain Brendan Mapes is one of the seniors Jossey referred to. His role on the field is rife with responsibilities beyond simply trying to perform well behind the dish as the team’s best hitter. He feels compelled to set an example for the new additions to the team.

“The legacy of the program is definitely important to us, but we don’t plan to dwell on the past,” Mapes said.

“No team is the same from one year to the next, so we start each year in that mind. That being said, we don’t forget the lessons we learned from previous seasons. We just acknowledge that this team has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. I think there are always valuable lessons to learn from past seasons, but this is a totally new team and we are excited to show that on the field.”

But more than a teammate’s individual responsibility to complete the physical tasks, every member must be unified mentally and in pursuit of a communal goal. When a team unifies under a common goal, it induces a comfort and sense of pride — even for a fan. It’s one of the reasons people enjoy being a fan of a team, even through the ups and downs.

Jacob Thompson swings during his at-bat against Capital University over the weekend. He recently was named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Rookie of the Week after his performance.

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

The Yeomen have a common goal: to acknowledge the past, but move on from it. With a handful of underclassmen who are eager to learn and grow and a group of upperclassmen who have stepped into leadership roles, the team is on the right track — they’re already 2–0.

Former Men’s Soccer Players Take Up Horseback Riding Alexis Dill Sports Editor As a child, College senior and former men’s soccer player Daniel Tuzzolino wanted to be a cowboy. In his last semester at Oberlin, he convinced his housemate and then-teammate Trenton Bulucea — also a College senior — to register with him for ATHL 147, a first-module horseback riding course worth half a credit. Bulucea had ridden horses at summer camps throughout his childhood, but for the most part, the class has been a completely new experience for both of them.

The class — which consists of 12 students — meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:45–6 p.m. at Equine Differences, located just north of the College on Leavitt Road. Instructing the class is the stable’s owner, Ric Weitzel. Weitzel has been competing and coaching for over 30 years and has supervised numerous world and national champion riders. He’s also the head coach of the Oberlin College Equestrian Team.

Tuzzolino and Bulucea’s interests didn’t include horseback riding before registering for the class. Tuzzolini, a Biology major, is looking to complete two years of research post-graduation. After that, he plans on attending graduate school for disease ecology or conservation biology. Bulucea, a Mathematics major and Sociology minor, plans to move to Columbus for a few years after graduation to get real-world experience in a corporate job.

Neither Tuzzolino or Bulucea knew much about horseback riding prior to this semester, but both are impressed by how much they have learned so far.

“I knew nothing coming in,” Bulucea said. “I didn’t even know there are two types of saddles. We’ve learned facts about horseback riding and its history, but we’ve also gotten experience setting up and taking care of the horses.”

The first thing students do when they get to the stable is take the blankets off the horses. According to Tuzzolino and Bulucea, the blankets are used as insulation during the winter to keep the horses’ hair short.

In addition, the lights in the stable are specially tuned to simulate the summer sun to further prevent the hair from growing. The longer the horses’ hair gets, the more likely they are to overheat.

Next, the class leads the horses out to one of the barns, where they proceed to groom the horses, brush them, and pick dirt and poop out of their hooves. According to Tuzzolino and Bulucea, the entire process only takes up to 15 minutes. However, cleaning their hooves is the most difficult part, as the horses often won’t lift their legs up.

The Oberlin Review | March 15, 2019

While Weitzel doesn’t administer quizzes throughout the module, the class is tested on their ability to properly saddle and groom the horses.

According to Tuzzolino, one of the most important and fascinating aspects of horseback riding basics is body language. The challenge in communicating with horses is striking a balance between calmness and toughness. Horses tend to be frightened easily, but because they’re herd animals, they need a leader — the rider — to follow. Like dogs, horses start training at a

very young age and respond to positive reinforcement.

“If the horse wanted to, it could kick you through the wall,” Tuzzolino said. “When you want the horse to slow down or stop, you say ‘whoa.’ You say ‘easy’ when you want the horse to walk. And to get the horse to trot or jog, you make a clicking noise and give the horse a kick with your heels. To get the horse to canter, you make a kissing noise.”

Tuzzolino said he and Bulucea are holding their See Horseback Riding, page 14

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March 15, 2019

SPORTS established 1874

Volume 147, Number 17

Megan Rapinoe Leads the Race for Women’s Rights in Sports Julie Schreiber Senior Staff Writer

Student-athletes and coaches gather for the first symposium session on Friday evening.

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

Heisman Club Symposium Offers Leadership Workshops Jane Agler Sports Editor Last weekend, Oberlin student-athletes and coaches were invited to the first Leadership Symposium sponsored by the Oberlin Heisman Club, titled “Leveraging the Leader in You.” On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, members of the athletic community gathered in the Knowlton Athletics Complex to listen to speakers and participate in workshops related to networking and how to use their leadership skills gleaned from athletics post-graduation.

The Heisman Club is an organization comprised of Oberlin College varsity letterers and others with an interest in Oberlin’s athletic program. A board of elected directors manages the organization and provides opportunities and events to Oberlin student-athletes. The Heisman Club’s primary goal is “to understand styles of leadership … understand personal strengths as leaders, learn ways to harness personal strengths, understand effective communication, unearth one’s personal story, and understand the application of leadership and unique strengths in the world after Oberlin,” according to Goyeo.com.

In light of the Heisman club’s mission, 49 team captains and 15 coaches came together last Friday to take part in a talk led by NCAA facilitators explaining the DiSC behavioral assessment. The assessment curates personality tests in order to decipher how different personality types interact with one another. The theme of Friday’s portion of the symposium was primarily job networking. Attendees heard Colleen O’Neill, OC ’79, present on the networking opportunities available to student-athletes. Attendees were also taught how to use Wisr — an online job networking source recently promoted by Oberlin.

After the comparatively relaxed two-hour symposium on Friday, attendees dove into a sixhour workshop Saturday. According to Oberlin Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Kim Russell, Saturday’s workshop — which centered around “self-awareness and embodiment,” as described by the event description — was more engaging, both physically and emotionally.

“I think that anything that allows athletes to

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move makes them more comfortable, but I think the way we had to move took most athletes out of their comfort zone — which I also think is a good thing. To sit with [discomfort] and move with it … I think that’s [effective and] great.”

Saturday also had a career-oriented edge, with a strong focus on how student-athletes could use their leadership skills outside of athletics, and on professional opportunities in particular. While the descriptions of the workshop activities of the day sound vague — “to spark understanding of the link between mind, body and spirit … to achieve their personal academic and professional [goals]” — the activities themselves were met with a relatively positive reception from coaches and athletes. Emma Downing, College senior and softball captain, spoke positively of the experience, highlighting that she “walked away with a deeper understanding of who [she is] and how [she] communicate[s] best.”

On Sunday, the congregation of Oberlin coaches attended a session without their student-athletes’ participation. This session focused on how to implement the lessons and strategies taught throughout the previous two days into practices and other team gatherings.

Coach Russell explained that she loves any opportunity to meet with other coaches, especially when it comes to having conversations about how to help student-athletes beyond their respective sports.

“I love these get-togethers [with the coaches],” said Russell. “I always learn something new from someone, or they ask a question that maybe I didn’t think of. That collaboration is always amazing for me.”

While the symposium was generally well-received, some attendees expressed qualms with the event. Many student-athletes were disappointed about missing the Oberlin baseball team’s season-opening double-header, played at Oberlin’s very own Dill Field. Generally, the significant amount of time and attention required was the most notable grievance.

“I think it would be beneficial in the future to condense the symposium from six hours long to two or three,” said Downing. “That way, evSee Athletic, page 14

If you’re in search of a hero during Women’s History Month, look no further than Megan Rapinoe. As one of the most important players on the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, Rapinoe played a big role at the 2015 World Cup in Canada, where the United States won it all with a victory over Japan. She was also instrumental in the United States winning the gold medal in women’s soccer at the 2012 London Olympics. At the same time, she has emerged as one of the boldest, most outspoken and justice-driven athletes in modern sports. No list of trailblazing female athletes is complete without her name at the top of it.

On the field, Rapinoe’s presence is hard to miss. As a forward, she scores her fair share of goals, but more importantly, she is often the mastermind behind the team’s offense, with a crafty, smart style of play that usually results in deft passes and scoring opportunities for her teammates, particularly Alex Morgan.

While her presence on the field is powerful, her impact off the field is equally notable. Rapinoe is involved in many sports-related social justice organizations, including Common Goal, a group that supports soccer-oriented charities around the globe, where she pledges a portion of her salary every year. Additionally, Rapinoe has spent many offseasons working with Boys and Girls Clubs in the Seattle area and raising disaster relief funds for her hometown of Redding, CA. She has also been a partner of Athlete Ally, an LGBTQ organization that fights homophobia in all levels of sports.

“I have an incredible platform [as an athlete] … I’m very lucky to be on one of the most recognizable teams and to have this huge following,” Rapinoe told the Los Angeles Times in September. “To not use that, to not give back, that’s selfish.

And I don’t feel right about that.”

Rapinoe’s latest mission is her highly visible involvement in a lawsuit filed against the United States Soccer Federation. The lawsuit, which also includes more than two dozen other female players, made headlines across the country last week. It takes aim at the longstanding issue of discrimination against women’s teams on the basis of sex, addressing the fact that the Women’s National Soccer Team receives comparatively fewer benefits than the Men’s National Soccer Team — which the U.S. women consistently outperform.

Rapinoe has been a leading voice in publicizing and explaining the lawsuit. This lawsuit follows one in 2016 in which Rapinoe, Morgan, and other top players sought equal pay for members of the Men’s and Women’s National Soccer Teams.

The current lawsuit, however, is a bigger animal than the one from 2016. Whereas the one from three years ago addressed mostly wage inequities, the discrepancies in treatment of the two teams cited in the new lawsuit include disparities in wages and salaries, training and field conditions, travel accommodations, and medical treatment, according to Refinery29. It is worth noting that after winning the 2015 World Cup, the women split a collective bonus of $1.73 million, while the men, who didn’t even qualify for the 2018 World Cup, split a bonus of $5.38 million after losing prematurely in the round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup, according to a report from The Washington Post.

While it is unclear whether the new lawsuit will produce tangible results, the sexist disparities between the treatment of the women’s and men’s national teams is finally receiving the attention it deserves, and Rapinoe can take some of the credit for that. She has not only contributed to the success of the women’s team on the field, which has certainly helped increase the popularity of soccer in this country, but has also made social justice a part of her platform off the field. Rapinoe has made herself a forceful, effective presence in the national landscape. So, during this year’s Women’s History Month, make sure you take a moment to honor Rapinoe, who remains not only one of the best players in the league, but also a leader beyond the world of professional sports.