November 8, 2019

The Oberlin Review November 8, 2019

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 8

Proposal for Journalism Concentration Passes Alana Blumenstein

Further, Singleton noted that the execution of the roundabouts did not line up with the original drawings of the roundabouts.

“I was more comfortable when I saw the final plan — unfortunately, right now, what’s out there is not what the plan that we passed was,” Singleton said. “It doesn’t look the way that the drawing looked. ... The roundabouts are not centered.

They’re cockeyed. If you’re going around one way, you can just keep your speed and just go right through it. If you’re going the other way, you have to slow your car down almost to an idle to go around these tight turns.”

Some additional concerns have been voiced following the completion of the roundabouts.

Roderic Knight, professor emeritus of ethnomusicology, lives on Pyle South Amherst, near one of the roundabouts.

“I was involved in the community discussions about improving our street a year ago when we learned it would be resurfaced,” Knight wrote in an email to the Review. “Some months later I heard, only by word of mouth, that mini-roundabouts were being proposed. I was against them from the start and spoke several times at City Council meetings this past spring. ... I am actually in favor of traffic circles (the proper term), but [think] that they are totally unsuitable for our location.”

Knight believes that there is not enough traffic on the street to warrant these roundabouts.

“I have actually been monitoring [the traffic] today, for four hours,” Knight wrote. “The count is approximately 15 vehicles total (cars, trucks, delivery vans), per hour … Most drivers follow the markings, veering to the right, then left, through a dangerously tight curve to do so. Others simply drive straight over the barely-raised circle in the street. By my count, approximately 25 percent of the southbound vehicles opt for going straight over, or left of center.”

Other residents also disapproved of the roundabouts, with one putting up a sign that read “Someone actually thought this roundabout was a

The College Faculty committee passed an Educational Plans and Policies Committee proposal on Wednesday to establish a journalism concentration at Oberlin. The motion passed with 49 out of 51 committee members’ approval and is currently set to begin in fall 2020.

Although Oberlin has a long history of producing successful journalists, this is the institution’s first formal academic program in journalism.

Proposed by John C. Reid Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition and English Jan Cooper, Professor of Rhetoric and Composition Laurie McMillin, and Professor of Hispanic Studies Sebastiaan Faber, the integrative concentration will combine academic coursework with co-curricular experiences.

“I am very happy that the proposal passed with so much support from our colleagues,” Faber said. “The concentration has been a long time coming, as a result of several students being denied individualized majors in journalism.”

The concentration will require students to take five journalism-focused courses, engage in one semester of on-campus co-curricular work, complete a professional experience such as a summer internship, submit of an electronic portfolio of journalistic work, and write a post-concentration reflection. Faculty in the Rhetoric and Composition program are set to oversee the concentration, coordinating courses with Creative Writing,Cinema Studies, and other departments and programs.

Classes that will fulfill the course requirements include Journalism Basics, Writing in the Sciences, and Literary Journalism, as well as classes throughout other departments feature a journalism component.

According to McMillin, the integrative approach adds a practical, hands-on component for students interested in pursuing journalism at Oberlin and beyond.

“We have the Rhetoric [and Composition] minor, but this has that experiential part,” McMillin said. “In addition to writing for a student publication, interested students will engage in at least one internship in their field of choice, providing them with real-world experience.”

The first step towards implementation for fall 2020 for will be compiling a list of qualifying courses across academic departments and programs.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Faber said. “Most of the courses we already teach here.”

Some professors have reached out with additional course ideas that would fulfill requirements for the concentration, such as Research Methods I, Introduction to Music Journalism, and Sociology of Popular Culture.

“I think that it’s important that it isn’t a major,” McMillan said, referencing her hope to instill strong writing skills in future journalists, regardless of their area of focus. “I think that it should be allied with another field.”

Associate Dean of Students and Executive Director of the Career Development Center Dana Hamdan feels that the Career Communities program can add another layer of support for the new concentration — including funded internships — that will ensure students are prepared to pursue careers in journalism.

“The integration between the two can and should be seamless, allowing students to put their liberal arts education into practice,” Hamdan wrote in an email to the Review.

The concentration could also increase student interest in coming to Oberlin. In a 2018 survey, 44 percent of returning students and 38 percent of prospective students

See Roundabouts, page 3

See Journalism, page 3

A newly-installed roundabout on Pyle South Amherst Road in Oberlin.

Photo by Lucie Weismueller

Residents Respond to Construction of Pyle South Amherst Road Roundabouts Anisa Curry Vietze News Editor After almost a year of planning and discussion between residents and city officials, four roundabouts on Pyle South Amherst Road were completed last Friday. The roundabouts were part of a larger repavement project that also included cement stabilization, resurfacing, the addition of pavement markings, new signage, a golf cart crossing.

The project began after Public Works Director Jeff Bauman applied for and received an Ohio Public Works Commission grant to repave the 20-yearold pavement. This project’s cost of $720,270 was not totally covered by grant funding. According to Bauman, the roundabouts cost somewhere between $70,000 and $90,000.

The repaving sparked some concerns among those living on Pyle South Amherst, explained City Engineer Randall Roberts.

“There [were] concerns with the residents that once it had been resurfaced, speeding would be even more of an issue,” Roberts said, noting a plethora of potholes along the road. “Roads are smoother, people go faster.”

In response to this concern, members of City Council, city planning officials, and residents living on Pyle South Amherst brainstormed several ideas to mitigate the problem of speeding. These ideas included speed bumps, elevated speed tables, increased police enforcement, and “rumble strips” — grooves in the road that make noise and vibrate when they are driven over.

Ultimately, on June 3, City Council voted to approve the roundabouts idea, with five council members voting for and two voting against. City Councilmember Kelley Singleton opposed the roundabouts.

“I wasn’t positive that this was the best result that we could’ve come up with,” Singleton said. “I was concerned [about] how it was going to affect residents and their driveways ... especially if you live right next to one, you might have to back your car up into a roundabout.”

CONTENTS NEWS

OPINIONS

THIS WEEK

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS

02 Newly-Elected City Council Members Set Priorities for Term

06 Oberlin in Late ’60s, early ’70s Leaves Lessons for Today

10 Krystal Butler Choreographs Dance with Oberlin Students

14 Quadmates Find Support in Athletics, Classroom, Beyond

facebook.com/oberlinreview

03 New Alcohol Education Program Launched

07 Cyclical Intervention Leaves Syria in Tatters

08–09 Six Months Later: A snapshot of where the Class of 2019 is now

11 Oberlin Opera Invites You to Dream with Them

16 Football QB Looks to Pass the Torch

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The Oberlin Review | November 8, 2019

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Newly-Elected City Council Members Set Priorities for Term Lila Michaels Layout Editor

Voters elected seven members of City Council on Nov. 5, including incumbents Heather Adelman, Kristen Peterson, Kelley Singleton, and Linda Slocum; and newly-elected members Ray English, Elizabeth J. Meadows, and Mary Price.

Photos courtesy of The Chronicle-Telegram

After a competitive race for Oberlin City Council, voters elected seven of twelve candidates into office on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Four incumbent councilors, Heather Adelman, Kristen Peterson, Kelley Singleton, and Linda Slocum were re-elected for another term. Ray English, Elizabeth J. Meadows, and Mary Price will replace three current councilors. Ronnie Rimbert was the only incumbent candidate who ran but was not re-elected. Bryan Burgess, who served as council president, did not run for re-election because he was term-limited. Councilmember Sharon Pearson also did not run for re-election.

Following the election, Councilmembers English, Peterson, and Slocum each spoke of their commitment to environmental sustainability.

“The most pressing issue is sustainability of the entire community, in every way,” Peterson wrote in an email to the Review. “For example, in addition to considering environmental sustainability, the City needs to address pedestrian access and safety in areas where it does not currently exist.”

When it comes to her goals for this term in office, Peterson plans to reinforce existing services.

“My top priority is to continue to support the excellent city services we have,” wrote Peterson. “I hope to continue as the City representative on the Ohio Municipal Electric Association Board, the focus of which is to support and protect municipal electric systems. The ultimate use of the Sustainable Reserve Funds will be a priority as well, assuring their use in line with the Climate Action Plan in a way to benefit the entire community.”

Slocum expressed her desire to involve the Oberlin community as a whole in communal decisions.

“We need to continue to find ways to engage the entire community in decision-making and be certain to lift up the entire community as we

address city services, social and racial equity, community development, environmental justice, and neighborhood outreach,” Slocum wrote in an email to the Review.

English, a new addition to City Council, echoed the need for communication and unity.

“Our biggest challenge is to work cooperatively and effectively to address the issues we face as a community,” he wrote in an email to the Review. “To do that we need to resolve conflicts before they get out of hand; we need to increase understanding across lines of difference; we need to improve communication between the city and its citizens, among citizens themselves, and between the college and the town; and we especially need to develop a shared vision of how we want to develop as a community.”

Continuing the theme of community involvement in addressing the city’s issues, the councilmembers spoke on how College students and community members can participate in local government.

“First and foremost, being registered and voting is critical,” wrote Peterson. “There are often vacancies on City Boards and Commissions, and residents can apply to serve on any of interest.”

Slocum, too, urged all Oberlin residents to become more involved in their community.

“Small town Oberlin is a microcosm of any big city,” Slocum wrote. “Learn about food scarcity by volunteering at Oberlin Community Services or Oberlin weekday meals. Learn about educational disadvantage due to poverty by volunteering in the schools. Get to know townspeople personally by going to community meetings and faith communities.

Apply to be on a city commission. Attend council meetings and speak out when there are issues that interest you.”

City Council meets on the first and third Mondays of the month at 7 p.m. in City Hall on 85 South Main Street. These meetings are held every month except for July and August and almost all meetings are open to the public.

Changing Landscape of Higher Ed Admissions Impacts Oberlin

A tour guide leads a group on a campus tour. Demographic factors are impacting admissions strategies at colleges and universities across the country.

Photo by Chris Schmucki, Photo Editor

Alexa Stevens Staff Writer Oberlin’s enrollment grew two percent this past year, from 2,785 students last year to 2,846 this year, making it one of three private colleges in the region to experience growth amid shrinking enrollments at colleges and universities throughout Northeast Ohio. This

increase in enrollment was accompanied by a higher acceptance rate.

“We are in a time of real change in admissions and enrollment in higher education,” Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Manuel Carballo wrote in an email to the Review.

“Many schools have seen both a drop in applications and in enrollment over the last couple of years.”

The Oberlin r eview Nov. 8, 2019 Volume 148, Number 8 (ISSN 297–256) Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch.

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Editors-in-Chief

Nathan Carpenter Katherine MacPhail Managing Editor Ananya Gupta News Editors Anisa Curry Vietze Katie Lucey Opinions Editor Jackie Brant This Week Editor Lily Jones Arts Editors Kate Fishman Aly Fogel Sports Editor Jane Agler Cont. Sports Editors Khalid McCalla Zoë Martin del Campo Photo Editors Mallika Pandey Chris Schmucki Senior Staff Writers Imani Badillo Ella Moxley

Part of this changing landscape is the shrinking size of the prospective applicant pool.

“Fewer students are graduating from high school, particularly from our feeder states,” Carballo wrote. “We are seeing increased competition, not just from peer schools, but also from state schools providing honors programs that mimic the environment at liberal arts institutions.”

This year’s acceptance rate of 40 percent is the highest rate since 2004, and is the result of several factors, including the size of the applicant pool.

Carballo emphasized that enrollment is not the only factor that the College looks at in evaluating admissions outcomes. Oberlin operates under a need-aware system for admissions, meaning that the College weighs how much tuition a student’s family will be able to pay in deciding whether to admit that student.

“After two years of missed enrollments, we have met our headcount for College and Con the last two years, but continue to look at our net revenue

Layout Editors

Emma Jane Haas Lila Michaels Parker Shatkin Nico Vickers Ads Manager Jabree Hason Web Manager Sheng Kao Production Manager Devyn Malouf Production Staff Gigi Ewing Christo Hays Jimmy Holland Olive Hwang Kushagra Kar Allison Schmitt Ivy Fernandez Smith Jaimie Yue

targets as well in a model that is highly tuition-dependent,” Carballo wrote.

Despite varying acceptance rates, enrollment has remained relatively consistent from year to year; since 2009, undergraduate enrollment has ranged from 2,961 in 2014 to 2,785 in 2017.

Further, Carballo maintains confidence in the academic abilities of each incoming class.

“I would highlight that we’ve been able to maintain a similar admit and enroll profile academically for students over the last 5 years,” wrote Carballo.

Since 2015, Oberlin’s admit profile has maintained a consistent average GPA of 4.1 weighted, 3.7 unweighted, and an average ACT score of 32, with the exception of 2017, when it dropped to 31.

Academic statistics for enrolled students are similar: 4.0 weighted, 3.6 unweighted, and 31 ACT. College fourth-year and Senior Admissions Fellow Monica Dix says that part of the pitch she makes to prospective students is the way that See Liberal Arts, page 4

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

New Alcohol Education Program Launched, Emphasizes Safety, Responsible Drinking Arman Luczkow Staff Writer Oberlin will implement an online alcohol education tool called AlcoholEdu in the coming weeks. The program is designed to educate students on alcohol consumption and reduce harmful behavior associated with alcohol.

In the future, AlcoholEdu will be a prematriculation requirement. For the current academic year, first and second-year students will be required to complete the course by Jan. 15. AlcoholEdu takes one to three hours and can be completed in multiple sittings. It is an interactive program that covers information including key definitions, what constitutes a standard drink, and the consequences of mixing alcohol with other substances.

Although AlcoholEdu is not being implemented in response to a singular incident, Thom Julian, the director of student conduct and community standards at Oberlin, noted that his office saw a small increase in conduct violations related to drug use and possession of drug paraphernalia between 2017 and 2018.

Additionally, there was a slight increase in alcohol use on Oberlin’s campus from 2015 to 2017.

“One of the things that I know is what the biannual review tells me — that’s a report that I am supposed to create and provide to the Department of Education that summarizes our prevention efforts and the outcomes,” said Director of Health Promotion for Students Edward Gisemba.

“What we see is that the number of incidents surrounding cannabis and alcohol are going up. So it’s important for us to, at the very least, provide baseline education so that we can get those numbers to start to trend downwards.”

Despite these trends, Director of Campus Safety Mike Martinsen — who has worked in public safety and law enforcement for 32 years — believes Oberlin students are generally responsible.

“Our students do look after each other, and their decisions seem to be more informed when it comes to looking after each other and themselves and not drinking so excessively,” Martinsen said.

All institutions of higher education receiving federal funds must implement a program to reduce the illegal use of alcohol and drugs on campus, as stipulated in the Drug Free Schools and Campuses Act of 1989. Previously, Oberlin College mandated the eCHECKUP To Go program for pre-matriculation.

However, eCHUG has since been reserved solely for sanctions in response to substance misuse on campus, rather than being a proactive educational tool.

Gisemba began looking into AlcoholEdu as a pre-matriculation alternative to eCHUG in Oct. 2017, the same year he was hired.

“With AlcoholEdu, they acknowledge that roughly one in two college students are what are referred to as current drinkers, and of that a very small fraction are high-risk drinkers,” Gisemba said. “So eCHUG approaches it from an ‘everyone drinks, we just need to get them to drink less,’ sort of standpoint, versus AlcoholEdu that acknowledges that some students either don’t drink or don’t want to drink, and it supports them if they made that decision for themselves. It really empowers them to make an autonomous decision regarding what they want their relationship with alcohol to be.”

AlcoholEdu is not the only step toward comprehensive substance education on campus. Students from Oberlin Bystander Intervention developed and piloted educational sessions titled Substance Safety 101 and 102 in previous semesters.

Each session operates on a peer-topeer level, with OBI members educating students on topics such as misinformation surrounding alcohol use and the effects of mixing cannabis and alcohol. One hundred percent of the students who participated in the pilot indicated that they prefer peer-topeer education rather than instruction from Oberlin staff or an equal authority figure. “[Associate Dean of Students] Matthew Hayden and [Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith] Raimondo have both been very big fans of OBI,” said Rebecca Kades, chair of OBI. The alcohol educational programs are intended to work in conjunction with existing campus structures, such as PRSM workshops and Community 101 sessions.

Even though AlcoholEdu will be mandated for students, Julian is hopeful that students will see the educational benefits of the program in tandem with peer-to-peer trainings.

“I hope that students get a few things out of it,” Julian said. “One, that we are dedicated to their health and safety … and I think the second thing is giving them the tools to make responsible decisions. I also hope that preemptively they understand why we have the mandate and the value of the tool inherently.”

Journalism Concentration Passes

Roundabouts Met with Contention

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

had a high curricular interest in a journalism program.

“I tried to carve a journalism path for myself here, and I think that if I would have had institutional support, I definitely would have taken advantage of it,” said Molly Bryson, College fourth-year and editor-in-chief of The Grape.

Oberlin has a long history of graduating successful journalists. In a survey of Oberlin alumni who graduated from 1970 to 2009, 5.8 percent reported a career in writing, while 1.7 percent reported working in TV or radio. Journalist alumni include NPR science correspondent Robert Krulwich, OC ’69, Fox Sports 1 commentator Chris Broussard, OC ’90, and chief White House correspondent for The New York Times Peter Baker, OC ’88, among others.

The skills that journalism teaches, Faber argued, are beneficial no matter what students ultimately pursue as a career. According to Faber, these abilities include writing a good lede, negotiating with editors, and communicating effectively.

McMillan shared that she hopes the concentration will add an extra layer to all students’ education. “[Students] get a wonderful education and wonderful experience,” she said. “And I want them to be able to share that with the world.”

good idea! It wasn’t anyone living here.

Thanks to Oberlin City Council for ignoring its constituents.”

Bauman is more hopeful about the future of the neighborhood.

“We think that in combination with the [potential] future addition of sidewalks that it will make it feel a whole lot more like a neighborhood than it has previously, where you basically had a one-mile-long stretch of road that you could damn near see from end to end, so people went fast,” Bauman said. “I’ve been up and down the street a bunch of times and it’s pretty clear to me that you can’t drive, you know, 45 mph from end to end like you used to be able to do.”

Moving forward there continue to be conversations about additional infrastructure improvements in the area, though some residents have expressed opposition towards the idea of sidewalks.

The Oberlin Review | November 8, 2019

Security Notebook Thursday, October 31, 2019 12:30 a.m. A Campus Safety officer on patrol observed an individual struggling to walk near Wilder Hall. The officer approached the student, and detected a strong odor of alcohol. The individual was identified as a student, answered all questions asked, and was assisted to their room for the night.

1:20 a.m. Officers were requested to assist with a student who was ill from alcohol consumption in the bathroom of Price House. The student was located and was coherent.

The student answered all questions asked and was able to walk on their own. Officers assisted the student to their room for the night.

3:58 a.m. Campus Safety officers responded to a report of a person sleeping in a lounge at Barrows Hall. Officers located the individual who was identified as a student who had fallen asleep. The officers left with no further issues.

7:52 p.m. Officers and the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at an Elm Street Village Housing Unit. The cause of the alarm was smoke from burnt food.

The area was cleared and the alarm reset.

Friday, November 1, 2019 3:36 a.m. A student requested a transport from an office campus address to the emergency room due to a possible allergic reaction. Officers responded and the transport was completed.

11:36 a.m. Officers and the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Union Street Housing Unit.

The cause of the alarm was steam from the shower. The alarm was silenced and reset with no further problems.

4:03 p.m. Officers and a College electrician responded to assist a student stuck in the elevator at Bibbins Hall.

The student was removed from the elevator safely. The electrician reset the elevator, which was determined to be in working condition after several tests.

Saturday, November 2, 2019 1:01 a.m. Officers were requested to assist a student, who was ill from alcohol consumption, in the first-floor bathroom at Harvey House. The student was unable to stand; an ambulance was requested, and the student was transported to the emergency room for treatment.

1:37 a.m. A student reported being followed by a suspicious person in Tappan Square. Officers responded to the area and located an individual fitting the description.

The individual said they were working out by walking. A short time later, the individual was observed leaving the area.

2:50 p.m. A student reported the theft of their bicycle from the bicycle rack on the south side of Talcott Hall.

The bicycle is a men’s Trek 820, blue and black in color, 21-speed, and valued at approximately $400. A lock had been cut off the bike.

3:56 p.m. Officers and Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm in the kitchen on the second floor of Burton Hall. The cause of the alarm was smoke from burnt food. The area was cleared and alarm reset.

Sunday, November 3, 2019 12:37 a.m. An officer securing Kohl Building observed several papers scattered throughout the third-floor hallway. The papers were collected and left with a note in a nearby office.

1:28 a.m. Officers were requested to assist with a student who was ill from alcohol consumption at an off-campus party on North Main Street. An ambulance was requested and the student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

12:09 p.m. A student reported that their vehicle was damaged while it was parked in the Gray Gables lot.

The damage consisted of a few scratches and a vertical puncture mark about an inch in length to the driver’s side front bumper. The source of the damage is unknown.

11:49 p.m. An officer conducting routine rounds at Williams Field House observed the exit sign broken at the southeast door. A work order was filed for repair of the sign.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019 1:44 p.m. Staff working in Harkness House reported a bagged smoke detector in a room on the third floor.

An officer responded and the bag was removed from the detector.

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Jen Deerwater, Indigenous Activist and Journalist

Jen Deerinwater Photo courtesy of Jen Deerinwater

Jen Deerinwater is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, bisexual, Two Spirit, multiply-disabled journalist, and organizer. Deerinwater writes on a variety of topics, including national politics, reproductive justice, ableism, resource extraction, and justice for indigenous communities.

Deerinwater is a contributor at Truthout, a Freedomways and New Economies Reporting Project fellow, and the Founder and Executive Director of Crushing Colonialism, an international, Indigenous, multi-media collective. Several campus departments and organizations invited Deerinwater to campus — including the Comparative American Studies program, the Environmental Studies program, the Multicultural Resource Center, and Students for Energy Justice — to deliver a talk titled “Resource Extraction and Environmental Racism’s Impacts on Native Communities,” which took place on Tuesday.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief Ella Moxley Senior Staff Writer Could you speak a little bit about your work in general?

I’m a freelance journalist. I originally worked in the political world — I ran electoral-issue-based campaigns for

years. I eventually got tired of that and felt like that world was not the way to get free; it wasn’t the way to bring revolution and to take care of me and my communities and other oppressed communities. So I eventually got into journalism. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, but I felt like journalism was a way to use the natural gifts and talents that I have to also expose the corruption and the injustices in the world and to help ... tell the stories of people who are often not heard. And so for me, that includes my communities: indigenous people, Two Spirits, bisexuals, disabled folks, and other communities as well that are not often heard.

Crushing Colonialism is an international indigenous multimedia media collective. We’re still a fairly new organization. We have some presence online, but we’re still in those early phases of building a board of directors, an advisory committee, and all those non-glamorous things that you have to do to start an organization. But the idea is that we will help provide support to indigenous multimedia makers across the world. That support will be the things that we often don’t get — grants, fellowships, professional representation, agents, managers, access to attorneys who know not just the colonizer’s law, but also tribal law to help with contract negotiations.

Eventually I’d like to have a research arm of the organization where we look at the state of indigenous people in journalism; for example, how many indigenous people are running newsrooms? How many of us are editors? What kind of money are we making? Things of that nature.

more about my own oppressions and the intersections of those and the intersections of oppressions for other people, I realized the work I was doing wasn’t enough. That kind of brought me into environmental justice as I learned more about the reproductive health impacts of resource extraction as well as the violence that it brings to native communities by bringing in these large camps [of men]. As I learned more about those things just in conversation with my communities, I learned that, “Oh hey, I’m not the only disabled person who’s been raped.” A lot of us have, you know, so it was realizing those things that kind of brought me, oddly enough, to Standing Rock.

For me it’s about stopping the pipeline, stopping the mining, all of that. But it’s also just all of the human rights abuses and injustices that go with it. After my first trip to Standing Rock, I was forever changed. I was pretty radical before and now I’m very radical.

I don’t believe in law enforcement. I don’t believe in the criminal injustice system. I saw too much out there and experienced too much. But it also kept me motivated to stay in the environmental justice movement.

I went from covering the Dakota Access Pipeline to covering Energy Transfer Partners Mariner East Two, which runs through Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. And then from there, I’m kind of a research nerd.

I just dug in, and it was like, “Oh, I wonder what this means. Let me do a little more digging.” And then I saw this interconnectedness that it is not just pipelines, it’s not just mining — it’s this push to take all of the dirty fossil fuels possible from the Earth and to hell with the outcomes, basically.

Can you talk about how you first got involved in Standing Rock and other pipeline resistance camps?

I’ve always considered myself an environmentalist. I feel like that label isn’t even entirely accurate because as an indigenous person it’s my responsibility to do this work, to take care of the land, to be a steward of the land. That is one of my duties as an indigenous person, so it’s always been something I cared about. But in terms of issues, for a really long time I worked more on things like pro-choice issues or LGBTQ+ issues and such. But as I was in that world Jen Deerinwater records an interview. and I explored more and I thought Photo courtesy of Jen Deerinwater

So from your perspective, in the context of these sites of resource extraction, what does repair look like? Could there be repair?

Well, nothing’s going to ever undo what’s been done. That’s just not possible. But there are things that can be done and that starts with giving us back our lands — and when I say our lands, I don’t mean that in terms of private property. I mean that in terms of where we are from and who we are.

Who we are as a people is so intrinsically tied to the lands — our ancestral lands.

So that’s the first one. As there’s been more conversation around reparations for Black folks, some people have said, “Well, let’s pay the Native Americans.”

Well that’s not really what a lot of us are looking for. Most of us want our land back. For the Lakota people there’s millions of dollars staying in a trust for the Black Hills that they won’t take because they just want their Black Hills back.

So that’s one of the first ones: Give us our land back. Honor the treaties, honor our tribal sovereignty. We are the only people that can make decisions about what we need and what is best for our people. We don’t need outsiders coming in and doing that. We do need support though. We need the American government to get out of our way so that we can practice sovereignty. There needs to be a program in place of coming in and cleaning up all the destruction that’s been done to our land, you know, uranium, copper mining, coal mining, all of that. That cleanup needs to happen and that … needs to happen for everybody really.

For those who couldn’t attend your talk, what are you hoping that people come away with?

I guess what I would really like people to walk away with is not just an increased knowledge of the problem, but an understanding of the way all of these issues come together and and how there are different fights and different ways to be in the fight. We all have a role to play and I want people to play those roles because we don’t have a choice. We’re past the point of no return, and if we don’t stop the damage now, I can’t even imagine the harm, the travesty, that we’re going to eventually suffer within our own lifetimes.

Liberal Arts Institutions Seeing National Enrollment Decline Continued from page 2

Oberlin prioritizes experiential learning. In particular, Dix cites her own experience running a lab space — a privilege not generally given to undergraduate students at larger institutions.

“This hands-on engagement is something that has really fostered an incredible depth of experience,” Dix said. “That’s not the kind of thing that you’d experience at a big state school or at a school with less resources.”

According to a study conducted by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center in spring 2019,

institutions of post-secondary education across the United States experienced a collective loss of enrollment by 1.7 percent. The subgroup “Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities” was hit the second hardest, with a decrease of 7.1 percent to undergraduate enrollment — second only to Personal and Culinary Services, which faced a 16.7 percent decrease.

In an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success at Trinity College Angel B. Pérez comments about these changes in college admissions processes across the country.

“The enrollment game is fiercely competitive, and every college plays it — which means that every college will have to decrease its dependence on traditional enrollment,” Pérez wrote (“The Definition of Insanity,” October 2, 2019). “In short, colleges must be willing to radically reimagine their business models. This does not mean redefining who they are and what they do; it’s about doing new things.”

Ultimately, it is unclear whether this year’s increase in enrollment and decrease in selectivity is an expected fluctuation in admissions statistics or a permanent trend that will impact Oberlin moving forward.

Ohio Legislative Update Abortion bills pass in Ohio Senate Two bills regarding abortion, SB 155 and SB 208, were passed in the Ohio Senate on Wednesday. The so-called “reversal” procedure was previously described as “unproven and unethical” in a 2017 bulletin by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. SB 208 mandates criminal penalties for doctors and medical staff who fail to provide medical care to newborns who survive abortion procedures.

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Menstrual Hygiene Products Tax Repealed Certain goods characterized as menstrual hygiene products, such as tampons, will no longer be subject to sales tax. On Wednesday, Governor Mike DeWine signed into law a measure that would repeal the so-called “pink tax.” The law was co-sponsored by state representatives Brigid Kelly (D-Cincinnati) and Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg).

Amusement Park Safety Law Signed Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed a bill into law that requires higher safety standards for amusement park rides in the state on Wednesday. The bill, known as “Tyler’s Law,” is named for the 2017 death of 18-year-old Tyler Jarrell, who died after a ride malfunction at the Ohio State Fair.

opinions November 8, 2019

Established 1874

lEttErs to thE Editors College’s Appeal in Gibson’s Case Misguided, Avoidable

Koppel’s Gibson’s Coverage Provides Biased Perspective

I urge the College to refrain from appealing the Gibson’s case. Instead, Oberlin must turn inward and reflect on what led to this unfortunate state of affairs in the first place. The behavior of the College, by which I mean students and administrators alike, revolves around the false premise that Gibson’s was a racist institution. The College’s actions towards Gibson’s were arrogant and mean-spirited throughout.

My sense is that Gibson’s would not have filed suit if the College had treated them well, even if they had already suffered some losses. My experience as a physician is that, in most cases, patients do not sue unless they are disgruntled, even if the physician makes a mistake.

Certainly, Gibson’s had more than enough reasons to become disgruntled.

This incident is not about systemic racism or injustice, it is about kindness and respect in human interaction. It is about the need for the adults in the room to act like adults and mentor their students positively. If such an incident is to be avoided in the future, there needs to be a little house cleaning in the administration.

Furthermore, the current and future administrators need to display some courage when interacting with unreasonable students.

After the $44 million verdict, President Carmen Twillie Ambar wrote to faculty and alumni, “This is, in fact, just one step along the way of what may turn out to be a lengthy and complex legal process.

I want to assure you that none of this will sway us from our core values.” President Ambar conflates political ideology with “core values.” That is not a formula for overcoming the arrogance that led to this incident in the first place.

Oberlin’s original motto was “learning and labor.” It bespeaks humility. As students, we labor to learn and learn to labor.

That should be enough of a core value for the College to restore its reputation and thrive well into the future.

Ted Koppel struck out with the bases loaded this past Sunday on CBS News’ “Sunday Morning.” The segment focused on the nearly $50 million lawsuit filed by Gibson’s Bakery against Oberlin College; Koppel’s question was, “What is the fair price for a family’s good name?” Koppel was easily one of America’s most respected, and perhaps most admired, TV journalists over the past 40 years because his approach to find the truth was undergirded by the fiercest resolve to be fair and balanced — until now.

Informally known as “Grandpa Gibson,” Allyn Gibson, who is around 90 years old, should not have to pass away being forever remembered as a racist. Nor should his son, David, have to spend any time fighting this legal matter while also fighting pancreatic cancer. These are facts that have moved to tears all but the cruelest and most heartless viewers, no matter what side they sit on. All jurors and fellow Americans should want the Gibson name to be unstained by unsubstantiated cries made by College students, however heartfelt and no matter the protection of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.

In 1833, Oberlin’s founders had at the core of their hearts, souls, and minds the supreme importance of fairness and justice — values which fueled their desire to end slavery, to be the first college to enroll students of color and women, and to be a model for progressivism. More importantly, in the intervening 200 years, the College has attained, arguably, a stature of excellence in academia, music, and social justice unsurpassed, in my opinion, by any other institution. Though the College’s tuition exceeds $50,000, for many years the College has offered free tuition to local students who have been accepted. Additionally, for the past 50 years, the College has provided free academic tutoring to prepare local children for college.

Koppel framed the segment around the question: “What is the fair price for a family’s good name?”

We should also ask: What is the fair price for a college’s? Do these accusations against Oberlin contradict or undermine its historical claims to championing such values, notwithstanding its brand of being fair and just, never mind what its founders had in mind?

– David Marwil OC ’70

See Letters, page 7 SUBMISSIONS POLICY

The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and op-ed 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 | November 8, 2019

Volume 148, Number 8

Editorial Board Editors-in-ChiEf

Nathan Carpenter

Katherine MacPhail

Managing Editor Ananya Gupta

opinions Editor Jackie Brant

Winter Term Changes Prove Promising Oberlin has long boasted about its Winter Term program and the opportunity it provides students to travel or explore new projects that they otherwise wouldn’t have time for. However, students have often criticized the program for its lack of structure and meaningful options available to make it worth their while.

It is, therefore, heartening to see that the Winter Term program is finally going through significant reforms that will allow students to use their time purposefully, rather than merely ticking off a graduation requirement. The changes are detailed in last week’s issue of the Review (“College Adds On-Campus Winter Term Projects” Nov. 1, 2019). Winter Term reforms propose to improve financial accessibility for existing projects, increase the number of structured on-campus projects offered by faculty and staff, and revitalize campus life over the month of January. These changes are a significant improvement from previous years and are some of the first instances of One Oberlin implementation that are visible to students.

Larger-scale shifts like the ones being instituted to Winter Term are easy to fumble, but they appear to have been handled with grace.

The fact that Winter Term reform has been met with a positive response from the College community at large — especially the faculty — shows that they have been carefully implemented. A high level of faculty engagement has proven critical to these efforts and must be sustained into the future so that Winter Term and One Oberlin can prove successful.

The move to make Winter Term more financially accessible is a long-overdue change that AAPR has brought to the limelight. The Office of Winter Term has shifted away from offering merit-based aid for student projects, which it previously considered alongside need-based aid. This switch improves equitable access to valuable opportunities. Still, students are expected to complete three winter term projects, none of which can be paid opportunities. Coupled with the office’s past merit-based practices, these factors have previously created a burden for low-income students. The changes that have been made this year are a step in the right direction, and we hope to see more work to improve financial accessibility in the future.

A major factor that has kept students from staying on campus is the lack of community. If Oberlin meets its enrollment goals for on-campus project participation, then simply having more people on campus will alleviate some of the sense of isolation. New programming for students, including bus trips to Cleveland, is an exciting development with the potential to significantly improve the student experience. While the College is working hard to try and improve campus life, students are an integral part of the process of improving the on-campus Winter Term experience. Community building is a two-way street, and we as students are also responsible for fostering a positive campus environment.

Forty-four on-campus Winter Term projects are being offered this year, an impressive increase from last year’s catalog. Many of these projects offer curricular experiences that aren’t available to students during the regular school year, including education on 3D printing, podcast production, and flute maintenance and repair, among many others. Faculty and staff have imagined many new opportunities for the upcoming Winter Term program. In the past, Winter Term hasn’t been fully utilized. Faculty have offered few projects, and the topics haven’t covered the depth and breadth found in this year’s catalog.

The kind of engagement that has been fostered this year directly contributes to the value that this College has to offer its students.

The One Oberlin implementation committees and the faculty and staff members who will be enacting these changes need our engagement to sustain their momentum moving forward.

While Winter Term may prove to be one of the smoother areas of implementation, it has set a positive example for the energy that the College will need to implement more difficult changes moving forward.

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

Oberlin in Late ’60s, Early ’70s Course Registration Issues Leaves Lessons for Today Remain Unaddressed Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief Editor’s note: This column is part of a series that will focus on Oberlin’s history as a town and an institution.

The series will be published regularly throughout the fall semester.

Over the course of just a couple weeks in the spring of 1970, Oberlin students heralded the first Earth Day with a series of campus speakers and workshops, held an anti-war protest following a national address by President Richard Nixon, and mourned the traumatic deaths of four Kent State University students at the hands of the Ohio National Guard just an hour down the road.

It was one of the most politicallyand emotionally-charged moments this campus has ever seen. A confluence of issues was at the forefront of the community’s consciousness, from the war in Vietnam to the persecution of the Black Panthers at the hands of the federal government; from the smoothing of town-gown relations within Oberlin to the mounting environmental crisis that increasingly captured the nation’s attention.

While all of these issues had their own nuances, they were all interconnected for the Oberlin community — and had been for some time.

Illustrating this synergy, the Class of 1969’s commencement gift the previous spring took the form of donations to four different causes. One, the creation of a pollution filter for Oberlin’s Service Building. Two, a local day care center. Three, a scholarship fund for high school seniors in Gary, Indiana. Four, the defense fund for Black Panthers indicted in New York for conspiring to bomb police stations and a department store.

During that same school year, students were also involved in protests of the Oberlin Police Department, following conduct that they felt was discriminatory — demonstrations that would peak in the days following the Kent State shooting, after Oberlin’s faculty decided to shut down traditional classes for the remainder of the academic year. On the whole, students had a strong sense that their political responsibilities extended beyond the confines of the campus.

Still, despite this strong consciousness that existed on campus prior to

Students gather at a 1969 rally in support of the Black Panther Party.

Photo courtesy of Review archives.

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the spring of 1970, it’s clear, both in hindsight and from examining the Review’s archives, that nobody in Oberlin or elsewhere was prepared for the whirlwind that spring would bring — a whirlwind that would push many on campus to consider Oberlin’s true mission in an ugly, violent world.

That process of soul-searching made several things incredibly clear.

First, that local and national issues could not be truly understood in siloes. Oberlin’s anti-war activism alone made this plain. The night of April 30, after Nixon addressed the nation about military action in Cambodia, hundreds of students held a campus-wide protest which concluded in an occupation of Cox Administration Building that lasted into the early hours of the morning.

The Cox occupiers presented Acting Provost Ellsworth Carlson with a resolution they wanted the College to endorse. The first two items on the resolution called for troops to be withdrawn from Vietnam immediately and for the legal proceedings regarding the New York Black Panthers to be paused indefinitely, until fair trials could be assured. In the minds of the protestors, these two issues could not be separated; success on one front would not be a victory without accompanying success on the other.

Similarly, campus programming for the first Earth Day represented the vast number of interconnected issues that contribute to a global environmental crisis. Speakers focused on a range of topics that fell outside of the day’s hippie reputation, including water and air pollution, space and land use, and more. Oberlin was talking about environmental challenges for urban communities, not just for rural or ‘natural’ areas — a progressive stand for the time.

The second important realization to come from this brief but important moment in Oberlin’s history was that faculty and students are often joined by more than what separates them. This became particularly evident in the wake of the horrific Kent State massacre, which fell closely on the heels of the anti-war, pro-Panther Cox occupation.

Following the students’ lead, the College agreed to shut down for the rest of the semester and focus on how to respond to the tragedy that took place just over an hour down the road. It was a difficult and debated decision, but one that led to greater unity between students, faculty, staff, and administrators than had existed in the years prior to the shooting. And in the weeks following, when students left the classroom and stepped out into the world to speak their truths and values, they found many of their professors right alongside them — marching, demonstrating, making their voices heard.

For some faculty, it was an unusual yet extraordinarily powerful moment.

“To those who would claim that these weeks had nothing to do with education, I would request that [they] discuss the subject with those who were here,” wrote Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition Randolph Coleman, in a May See Activists, page 7

David Mathisson Columnist The student community elected me to Student Senate so that I could push a three-point policy plan. You’ve probably heard about the first point: improving the variety, quality, and value of goods at DeCafé. While there’s plenty to be done, we’ve made substantial progress since the beginning of the semester. We’ve also been working hard at the second point, which is improving transparency in the Office of Residential Education. The third point is pushing a multifaceted policy package to fix course selection. With course selection for the spring semester coming up, there’s no better time to share my policy package than now.

While I was campaigning, several firstyear students asked me why my course registration policy package is necessary. I first drafted many of these policies in Review article printed last spring (“We Need to Fix Course Registration — Here’s How,” April 12, 2019), in which I wrote extensively about the perils of course selection.

To summarize, the following is what the course selection process looks like for the average Obie.

Before course selection begins, you have the option to apply to application-based courses. You often have to wait until after course selection is over to find out if you’ve been accepted, so in the meantime you sift through several sets of webpages to find courses that meet your needs and also allow you to fulfill your many graduation and major requirements.

After some time, you have a handy list of all the courses that could work. In addition to prerequisites, which ensure that students have enough foundational knowledge to move into higher-level courses, Oberlin also operates with a consent system. Some professors prefer to hand-select the students who will take their course for a variety of reasons, and so will not grant you “consent” to register for the course until you have emailed them to express interest or met with them to discuss why you are qualified to take that class. Supporters of consent restrictions argue this is good because of the autonomy it gives professors. Opponents argue it’s an extremely time-consuming process for students which leaves many in consent limbo.

Depending on how many students are interested in taking a course, some professors reply promptly, but they may take anywhere from a few days to more than a week to respond to your email. As you continue researching potential courses, you discover that many courses don’t count for things it seems they should count for — and that not a single syllabus (a very common motivator amongst Oberlin students for dropping a class) is available on the course registration website.

When your registration slot finally opens, and you don’t know if you’ve been accepted to the courses you applied to or asked for consent into, the selection of courses you are able to register for shrinks and shrinks — especially for younger students with less favorable registration times. To compensate, you register for courses you aren’t actually interested in, taking those spots from someone else who did want them. You couldn’t select any courses you could actually take during course selection.

When you’re done with course selection, it gets even worse. You have no idea what courses you’re going to end up taking.

Stress permeates the back of your mind for the rest of the semester. Add/Drop

becomes a mad and desperate scramble.

You can’t buy your textbooks until you’ve got a working schedule, so you buy them a week into your classes. Since textbooks are priced based on demand, you just paid a lot more than you should have paid for them, because the system gave you no choice.

If you think our course selection system is broken, you’re not alone — but I’ve got a plan to fix it.

The first policy in my package deals with seminars, private readings, practicum courses, and all other application-based courses. Any professor teaching an application-only course should be given two choices: accept and consent students in before the first course selection time opens, or guarantee every applicant a spot. The wave of student displacement that has come from holding up these decisions is unacceptable.

The second policy deals with the consent system. Each course that requires consent should be re-evaluated to determine if that consent requirement could be replaced by a set of prerequisites, which would ideally be broad and inclusive. If so, prerequisites should be listed more clearly, and if not, guidelines on how students are selected for consent should be made available.

The third policy is to address the problems created by course requirements. Many of these requirements funnel students into a small number of courses regardless of whether students are interested. I think we should reappraise every general graduation and major requirement, choosing either to remove or reduce each. We should also expand the number of attributes on each course, to make requirements less stressful to fulfill. All courses that involve some application of science or mathematics should fulfill the Natural Sciences and Mathematics requirement, and the Cultural Diversity requirement should be opened up to all courses that expand students’ cultural understanding, et cetera.

Major requirements should also be reevaluated. In my opinion, the current graduation and major requirements are harsh, stringent, and unnecessary examples of an institution that doesn’t trust its students.

Oberlin College, which generally attracts a demographic of mature and responsible students, should not support an educational philosophy based on the idea that we can’t make our own course choices. Policies denigrating our independence and our agency do not reflect our values and should be re-evaluated accordingly. We must alter graduation and major requirements to free the student body from an institution that does not understand our needs.

The final policy is simple: We must require the public availability of all syllabi on OberView. One of the most common reasons a student drops a course on the first day is when they receive the syllabus.

This problem is extremely easy to fix, and would substantially reduce turnover. And this simple action would go a long way to raise the standards of transparency.

In summary, we must regulate application-only courses, reevaluate how and why professors consent students into their courses, reconsider our restrictive graduation and major requirements, and make syllabi available on OberView. If this policy package is implemented as described, we can fix course selection. With my policy package, students can save hundreds of dollars every semester and actually select courses that meet their needs during course selection. With just four policies, we can turn course selection from a time of stress to a time of excitement.

Cyclical Intervention Leaves Syria in Tatters Leo Hochberg Contributing Writer

In mid-October, President Trump announced that he would withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from Syria, citing his desire to remove the U.S. from “endless wars” in the Middle East. The announcement was met with blistering protests from both sides of the congressional aisle. The decision’s impact has been immediate and catastrophic: Turkey has taken Trump’s announcement as an invitation to invade Northern Syria; Kurdish forces — once allied with the U.S. — now face a Turkish ethnic cleansing campaign in Syria; and Russian and Syrian government forces have rushed in to fill the void. With hundreds of civilians already dead amidst the violence and a new wave of internally displaced people now racing away from the Turkish border, the situation is a humanitarian catastrophe with long-term political implications.

Trump’s decision follows decades of debilitating interventions in the Middle East. From Bush-era involvements in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Obama administration’s failed or half-baked bids to break strongman regimes in Libya and Syria, most American attempts to intervene in Arabic countries have only ended in power vacuums and mass atrocities.

But Trump’s Syria policy is as unique as it is horrifying, replete with a stunning betrayal of U.S. allies and underscoring everything that is wrong with America’s interference in the Middle East.

The U.S. has had a precarious position in Syria since war first broke out in 2011, following the Syrian

government’s brutal crackdown on civilian protests during the Arab Spring. Along with most European governments, President Obama turned against long-standing U.S.-allied dictators throughout the Middle East and backed Arab Spring protests, demanding Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s resignation. Obama also announced his famous “red line:” threatening to strike Syrian government assets if Assad used chemical weapons against the Syrian uprising.

But when Assad launched a brutal chemical attack against rebels in the suburbs of Damascus, killing hundreds of people, Obama bowed to pressure from Assad’s government and agreed to seek congressional authority before striking. Republicans resisted, claiming that it would be unconstitutional and illegal to strike a foreign government if there was no imminent threat to President Obama’s red-line commitment went unpursued, and it would be another year before the U.S. became involved in Syria, this time to prop up Kurdish forces in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Despite protests from Turkey, which generally views Kurdish forces in Syria as sympathetic to Kurdish terrorist organizations, the U.S. proved to be the Kurds’ most substantial ally in routing ISIL. The U.S. was instrumental in reclaiming ISIL-held territory in Syria and Iraq for these respective countries, which once covered an area larger than Britain.

But as ISIL was beaten back, international attention turned away from the Syrian government, which used ISIL’s news dominance as a cover to slaughter thousands of civilians and

Letters to the editors (cont.)

Continued from page 5

The shame or sadness isn’t that CBS and Ted Koppel’s answer might have been that the price is nothing. The surprise is that they may not have thought to ask it in the first place, except when Koppel asked it of President Carmen Twillie Ambar, seemingly as an afterthought and at a time and manner designed to strengthen the case for the Gibsons.

Koppel may remind us that a jury has already ruled in favor of the Gibsons, arguing that it is the Gibsons who have been wronged, not the College. Therefore, neither the College nor a journalist should have reason to ask the question about the protection of the College’s name. This argument discounts the importance of America’s appeal process and asks all to accept, say, the call of an umpire in baseball without considering what a slow-motion replay may show. Furthermore, just as CBS and Koppel did not present both sides for America to consider, the jury — which had at first been instructed not to take or use any notes at all during a trial lasting all day for a month — might likewise not have considered the College’s reputation for fairness and justice for all. It strains credulity to believe that the jury never thought about Gibson’s reputation — at the beginning or at any other time.

Though Koppel probably never intended to ask the question, “What is the fair price for damage done to Oberlin’s name?”, some viewers probably have, The Oberlin Review | November 8, 2019

especially those who may have seen parts of the almost 4,000 pages of the court transcript. I join those who cannot yet determine who the clear winner is, preferring instead that the two sides reach a private settlement, which to date appears to be an ever-impossible goal. I feel CBS and Ted Koppel deserve another chance to educate the public on the matter, which can best be done when Koppel returns to his approach that always enlightened or challenged viewers to think critically.

Last Sunday he struck out, making it quite easy to favor the plaintiffs.

The Gibsons have indicated their intentions to ask for many millions of dollars more, even though Oberlin College, perhaps for the first time ever in 75 years, was not able to give its professors any raise at all for two straight years and has planned to reduce its vaunted Conservatory of Music enrollment by a whopping 100 students.

Viewers need to know why Gibson’s lead attorney appeared, but not Oberlin’s; why Mr. Koppel couldn’t resist interrupting President Ambar unless one or the other was pushed for time; and other parts of Oberlin’s defense that weren’t included. This was not a fair and balanced presentation. But Babe Ruth struck out many times and returned to hit home runs. Ted Koppel can do the same.

– Booker C. Peek Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies

moderate rebels in indiscriminate attacks throughout Syria. The rebel movement collapsed, and by the time Trump won the 2016 presidential election, the Obama administration’s support of the Syrian people in their uprising against Assad had yielded nothing but failure. ISIL fell back and Assad’s forces marched forward, effectively taking back all of Syria aside from the Kurdish-controlled Northeast. Obama’s attempts to walk the line between involvement and non-involvement were unsuccessful; the U.S. failed to broker peace, catalyze a democratic transition, and prevent Assad from using chemical weapons to kill thousands.

Enter Trump. After winning the 2016 election, the Trump administration waited until ISIL had lost its last territorial holds in Eastern Syria before announcing that U.S. troops would withdraw, leaving Syria to Russia and Iran.

Criticism arose on both sides of the aisle. First and foremost, the Kurds, a longtime ally in the fight against ISIL, were now unsupported in their struggle to prevent ISIL from rising from the ashes — reports warn that hundreds of ISIL-associated detainees have already escaped from Kurdish prisons. Then, immediately after the U.S. withdrawal, Turkey launched a cross-border assault into Syria to strike down the Kurds’ dream of self-governance and regional autonomy, which Turkey views as a massive security threat.

Fearing genocide and ethnic cleansing, the Kurds turned to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, agreeing to allow Syrian government troops into Northern Syria in order to pre-

vent Turkish forces from establishing a Turkish military zone over what had previously been Kurdish and Syrian territory. The Northeast has collapsed back into violence, with blood once again on the U.S. government’s hands.

This particular cycle of U.S. interventionism in the Middle East is now drawing to yet another bloody close.

Much like previous attempts in Iraq and Afghanistan, America’s desire to involve itself in Syria has only resulted in yet another power vacuum — with betrayed U.S. allies caught in its middle. America’s get-in, get-out strategy, which destabilizes regimes without ensuring an effective transfer of power, has once again led to violence and greater instability. Terrible in his own right, Trump is simply ending yet another chapter in the enduring American tradition of ill-fated Middle East interventions, with little to show for American efforts beyond bitter resentment in Congress, increasing partisan division among Americans, and little to no positive change in Syrian society.

So, where will the U.S. intervene and destabilize next? Iran, or maybe Venezuela? Trump seems indecisive as ever. The U.S. has always been a can-do country, and no administration — Democratic or Republican — seems willing to face the simple fact that there are some things in the world about which the U.S. can do nothing, some countries that do not want nor need democracy, and some conflicts in which the U.S.’s involvement will do nothing but cause more pain. But the U.S. seems unlikely and unwilling to change its tune — we can only hope that next time, it won’t end so poorly.

Activists Can Learn From ’70s Continued from page 6

23, 1970 public tetter to the editor of the Review. “Students have frequently argued that it was the most significant educational experience of their lives.

We were coping with real problems not theoretical abstractions, albeit many of us now appreciate these abstractions in a different light after seeing some of their potential applications.”

While the campus climate today is not as fraught as it was in May 1970, we again find ourselves in a tense, dangerous political moment. The challenges we face — the rising tide of climate change, racialized police violence, an epidemic of school shootings, and many others — closely mirror those

faced at the launch of the 1970s. And, as they were then, all of these issues are linked — they cannot be tackled in isolation.

The headline of the Review’s 1970 commencement issue read simply, “An End to ‘Business as Usual.’” They meant it, and they made something of a moment that may have otherwise felt overwhelmingly tragic and complex.

Looking back, the campus’ reaction seems perfectly reasonable and, indeed, inevitable. But in reading the Review’s coverage of that time, I can imagine that those decisions felt anything but safe. What can we learn from the courage this school had in that moment? Can we find it again in our present day?

Athina Apazidis, Staff Cartoonist

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Claire Wong: Publications Fellow at the American Conservatory Theater I majored in Creative Writing and minored in East Asian Studies. All four years at Oberlin, I was a part of, and then was president of, Welcome Nursing Home Friends, a student organization that visits Welcome Nursing Home in Oberlin and engages with residents in arts and crafts activities. I was also a teaching assistant for five Creative Writing courses. Since August, I’ve been working at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as a fellow in marketing and public relations. I write for and edit the program and A.C.T.’s in-depth performance guide, Words on Plays. I also write and manage A.C.T.’s blog. I use my writing and editing skills, of course, but one exciting part of my job is that we write about the subject matter of the plays — this season, that includes anything from cricket to colonialism to being present. Writing about the range of topics covered from show to show allows me to tap into the deep curiosity I exercised at Oberlin, which was facilitated through the liberal arts structure of learning and delving into many different subjects.

Birsa Chatterjee: Pursuing a Master of Music degree in Jazz Performance at The Juilliard School I was a Jazz Performance major on the saxophone and also minored in Jazz Voice. In my time at Oberlin, I was the president of the student organization called the Oberlin Jazz Society, which brought various jazz ensembles to come play at Oberlin. I was also the Jazz admissions liaison where I worked with auditioning students, as well as a Resident Assistant. I am now pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Performance at The Juilliard School in New York City. The faculty at Oberlin really allowed me to be myself and fostered my own musical voice. I was able to cultivate my skills in a very nurturing environment with some of the best musicians and instructors in the world. This made me more equipped to handle the rigors of living in a place like New York City where the level of other musicians is one of the highest in the world.

Sadie Keller: Fulbright English Teaching Assistant I majored in Politics and was mostly involved with the El Centro Volunteer Initiative, J Street U, Office of Communications, Obies for Undocumented Inclusion, and Student Senate while at Oberlin. I’m currently teaching English at a public university in Mexico City. I teach people between 18 and 40 years old, at almost every level of English. I think Oberlin taught me how to think on my feet and be critical of the world around me, which has helped me be a better teacher and foreigner in a new country!

Six months later: A snapshot of where the Class of 2019 is now Layout by Lily Jones, This Week Editor Whether you’re a senior considering post-grad options, or a first-year wondering what courses to take next semester, now is the time that the question begins to rear its head: Where is this expensive Oberlin education taking me?

This week, we’re featuring six Obies from the Class of 2019 who not only demonstrate the many paths one can take after graduation, but the wide variety of Oberlin experiences that led them there.

All photos courtesy of the respective alumni.

Haven King-Nobels: Co-founder of the Fish Welfare Initiative

Julie Schreiber: Paralegal at the National Immigrant Justice Center

I majored in Philosophy and Computer Science. In terms of clubs, I was involved with Effective Altruism Oberlin, Oberlin Animal Rights, Eclectic Christians of Oberlin, and the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association.

Right now, I’m starting a new organization to advocate for the interests of fish used for human consumption. Oberlin taught me how to motivate people and really gave me a reason to start caring about animals in the first place.

At Oberlin, I was a Politics major and a Hispanic Studies and Rhetoric & Composition minor. My hobbies outside of academia were playing field hockey, working at the ’Sco and Student Union Program Board, working as a Writing Associate, eating in every co-op, writing for the Review, and drinking cappuccinos at Slow Train Cafe.

Now I am working as a paralegal for the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, specifically with LGBTQ+ immigrants. This job was definitely informed by Oberlin because I felt like at Oberlin, no matter what classes I was taking, everything I studied was underscored with a sense of justice and doing right in the world. Oberlin was where I learned about queer histories and hegemonies and developed my own queer identity, so it’s cool to take that out into the world. Also, I live in a co-op with 16 people, and Oberlin taught me that living with large groups of people is not only doable but actually enjoyable.

Weekly Events: Saturday, Nov. 9

Monday, Nov. 12

Paper Mâché Hand Puppet Workshop Learn how to make puppets with Donna Coleman. All materials provided. Open to students and community members.

1–4 p.m. // Warner Center

Multicultural Sports Day Participate in sports and activities, such as kicking shuttlecock/Jianzi, table tennis, long rope, badminton, and bamboo dance. Hosted by the Chinese Students Association.

3–5 p.m. // Phillips West Gym Wednesday, Nov. 14

WOBC Presents: The Cover Band Showcase Watch students perform covers of famous songs from bands like Bjork and The Dixie Chicks.

9 p.m.–1 a.m. // The ’Sco

Black Marble Watch synth-pop artist Black Marble, also known as Chris Stewart, perform at the ’Sco. Stewart recently released his third album, Bigger Than Life.

10 p.m.–1 a.m. // The ‘Sco

Ify Ezimora: Clinical Research Assistant at the Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital Emergency Medicine Department I double majored in Psychology and Environmental Studies at Oberlin and was heavily involved in the Bonner Scholars program, the varsity track and field team, the Student Finance Committee, and Residential Education. Before I graduated, I knew I wanted to take a few gap years before applying to Ph.D. programs in Clinical Psychology, so I was looking into different full-time research assistant positions. I ended up committing to my current position because I found out another Oberlin grad (Becca Chant, OC ’19) was moving to Providence, RI, and now we’re housemates. At Oberlin, I gained interdisciplinary experience in Psychology and Environmental Studies, but I had not really delved into medical research, so working at the hospital has been really eye opening. The research and clinical experience I gained at Oberlin and through summer internships funded by Oberlin — doing literature reviews, designing surveys, conducting long form interviews, analyzing data, and working at a wilderness therapy camp for children and adolescents — is a great foundation for my current position and has provided me with the confidence and comfort I need to recruit a wide range of patients into different studies that we run, including studies on the opioid crisis, adult and adolescent trauma, gastroenteritis, nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior, and Lyme disease.

A r t s & C u lt u r e

ARTS & CULTURE November 8, 2019

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 8

Krystal Butler Choreographs Dance with Oberlin Students

College third-year Evelyn Morrison, fourth-year Georgie Johnson, first-years Lena Golia and Emmacate Sauer, and second-year Analise LaRiviere in a piece choreographed by visiting artist Krystal Butler.

Photo courtesy of John Seyfried

Kara Nepomuceno Six figures in electric blue shorts huddle in a circle on the smooth wooden stage, their arms held tightly around each other. Walking clockwise, their circle begins to spin, whirling faster and faster until every other dancer is able to lift off the ground. Supported on the shoulders of their peers, their legs spiral outwards, and the circle blooms like a parachute

with air. Just as suddenly, they land and careen to separate ends of the room, the circle dispersing into blue light.

The moment is one among many delightful experiences from Work in Progress, a Fall Forward performance developed by visiting artist Krystal Butler, a member of the Pilobolus repertory company. A graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Long Island University, Butler had a strong background

in different dance techniques.

“I did a lot of Horton [technique], a lot of ballet everyday, and I just knew that I was a little different,” Butler said. “I liked contact improv, I liked making work, I liked being very free in my movement and not so technical and strict. I saw Pilobolus perform at American Dance Festival in North Carolina, in 2004 and 2008, when I graduated college, and I fell in love. They were amazing.”

The style spoke to Butler’s athletic background in both gymnastics and dance, and she began performing with Pilobolus on tours. She joined the repertory company in 2014, learning seven repertory pieces in just two weeks under the guidance of veteran dancers.

Prior to Pilobolus, Butler danced with the all-women dance company Inspirit, where she first met Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos in 2008. Later, the two reconnected at a Pilobolus summer workshop. In her brief one-week residency at Oberlin, Butler has already taught over 20 students contemporary dance and choreographed a six-minute piece on a group of student dancers.

“I really want to make my pieces for the people, not just putting work on people but making them part of the conversation as well,” Butler said.

She has been teaching six dancers the basics of weight-sharing, base and perch, and other foundations of lifting.

“I wanted to share their physicality

and also their strength because especially within my company that I work with, it’s very male-dominated,” Butler said.

“But we do make sure to show our audience that women are as strong as men and we can lift each other up and throw each other around, put ’em upside our heads .… [I tried] to push [my dancers] as much as I can with the limited time that I had.”

Ramos noted the importance of students seeing Krystal’s four-day project, as the endeavor combines professional work with fun experimentation.

“It was really important to me that Krystal make a piece,” Ramos said.

“What’s so great about a college dance program is that you can just try stuff out. … It’s fun to make dances. It shouldn’t be so scary and pressured — just make something!”

Ramos further reflected on what students can learn from Butler’s work in partnering.

“I thought it would be great to bring her because, one, it is all that spirit of making stuff fast on the people who are there — it’s play, and it’s fun — but also there are not a lot of women of color who do partnering here,” Ramos said.

“It feels like a little bit of an obstacle for people of color to take contact improv, and I thought it would be great to show a strong woman of color who’s made her career doing this, and is phenomenal at it See Fall, page 13

German Department Celebrates 50-Year Anniversary Casey Troost Staff Writer Visiting German Writer-in-Residence Nora Gomringer gave a public reading of her book Hydra’s Heads on Thursday, Nov. 7, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Max Kade German Writer-in-Residence Program’s partnership with Oberlin College. The book, released in 2018, contains the first official English translation of her poetry. The publisher, Burning Eye Books, describes the book as “poems about the darker times of Germany’s modern history, reworkings of myths and fairytales and a threepage-long ode to sex against a wall.”

Since 1968, the Max Kade Writer-in-Residence program has sent German authors to Oberlin to share their writing experiences and literature with German-language students. The Max Kade Foundation, after which Oberlin’s German House is named, was created in 1944 to support cross-cultural exchange between Germany and America.

In 2005, Professor Emeritus and Former Chair of German Language and Literature Heidi Thomann Tewarson wrote Willkommen und Abschied: Thirty-Five Years of German Writers-in-Residence at Oberlin College to celebrate the program’s history.

As Oberlin’s 48th German writer-in-residence, Gomringer brings to campus her life of work in spoken word poetry, short films, books, essays, plays, operas, magazine articles, and live readings. The European Literature Network describes Gomringer as “arguably the best known and loved German-language poet of her generation,” celebrated for poetry that is “clear-sighted” yet “surreal.”

At Oberlin, Gomringer teaches a seminar, in which she shares her literature and writing advice with students. Before taking the seminar, College fourth-year Milena Kagel described herself as “anti-poetry,” but seeing Gomringer’s work performed live in class has changed her opinion.

“It’s not words on a page,” Kagel said. “It has this beat, rhyme, and structure because of the effect of when it’s performed.”

Before coming to Oberlin, Gomringer was a member of the German division of the writer’s coalition PEN International, began studies for a Ph.D., and secured board seats for a German art museum and two universities.

As the child of a canonical German-Bolivian poet and a

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college professor, Gomringer explained that she grew up immersed in poetry.

“My mom got to know my father because she wrote her thesis at the end of her university education about his work,” she said. “I’m the child of a groupie, completely. It was always about literature, and so they made me their literature animal.”

Because of her upbringing, Gomringer always wanted to become a writer. Even so, she felt apprehensive about telling her parents that she would like to follow in their footsteps.

“I was deeply embarrassed to come out to my parents saying I would like to be a poet,” she said. “My father reacted in the nicest way possible, … he didn’t object. I realized a lack of objection made me the freest person I can be.”

Gomringer affectionately refers to her Oberlin seminar as a “curriculum-free.” She performs her poetry in class, answers questions about her work, and has even given students the chance to participate in a Skype call with her English translator Annie Rutherford. One of her regular homework assignments is “guerrilla-style poetry,” where students will leave a German poem stuck to its subject matter around campus.

According to Kagel, the seminar has been a valuable chance to personally engage with a talented German author.

“A lot of times, poetry needs to be demystified,” Kagel said. “I’d see something and … have no idea of how someone would [write] this … [or] what it means. She really shows us her process, explains why she chooses words and what things are supposed to evoke.”

College third-year Hannah Scholl adds that she is grateful to interact with Gomringer as she reads Gomringer’s work, especially because she often studies historically significant authors who are now deceased.

“I hadn’t been exposed to any modern German writing, especially poetry,” Scholl said. “[This seminar] makes German writing more accessible for people who may not want to take a class on authors like Goethe.”

Thanks to the seminar’s emphasis on modern German poetry, Scholl says that she has become inspired to write her own poetry in German. Although Gomringer’s poetry has had a profound impact on her seminar students, Gom-

Nora Gomringer

Photo courtesy of Nora Gomringer

ringer herself hesitates to discuss her poetry as a learning tool.

“Since didactics took over in the 70s, every product of culture is evaluated for its nutritional value to students,” she said. “I wish a lot of poetry would be left alone from this idea of usefulness.”

Outside of this criticism, Gomringer acknowledges that poetry still performs an important function.

“One poem doesn’t change the world, but if the sensitivities and sensibilities that are kept alive that foster a climate where poetry can exist, be read, and be discussed, then I think it can be very beneficial to society,” Gomringer said.

Last night’s filled-to-the-brim reading was not just a celebration of Gomringer’s writing, but of the 50-year contributions to society and to the Oberlin community by the Max Kade Writer-in-Residence program. Gomringer and the writers to follow her are sure to leave lasting impacts on Oberlin.

Oberlin Opera Invites You to Dream With Them

Singers doing hair and makeup for the production.

Conservatory second-year Evan Tiapula preparing for the production.

Andrew Lipian, OC ’12, who plays the fairy king Oberon, putting on makeup.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream takes the viewer on an adventure, following the lives of humans and fairies alike. With magical twist and turns instigated by the fairy king, Oberon, the opera delves deep into the emotional journey between four lovers and their confusion in the fairy woods. Premiering in 1960, the operatic performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, composed by Benjamin Britten, has remained fresh throughout the decades.

This week, the production comes to the Oberlin Opera Theater.

Performers of all ages have come together to create the ethereal opera, which features the Oberlin Choristers, a community children’s vocal group, and Andrew Lipian, OC ’12, in the role of Oberon. “[This type of art] is uplifting and can transport you for a few hours,” said Conservatory second-year and Vocal Performance major Julia Alexander, who plays Hermia, one of the four leads.

“This is one of the most beautiful shows we have put on during my time at Oberlin, and not just because I am in it.” said Maggie Kinabrew, a double-degree fourth-year majoring in Mathematics and Vocal Performance. “The camaraderie I have found between the whole cast has been really amazing. Our Oberon, Andrew Lipian, is an alum, and it has been really great to work alongside him. Aside from his wonderful voice, he brings a maturity in his artistry and demeanor that has been really inspiring to watch.”

The show runs tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in Hall Auditorium Tickets are $10 for the public and $8 for students, and are available through Oberlin Central Ticket Services or on the Conservatory website.

Text by Mayan Levin Photos by Anokha Venugopal

Evan Tiapula getting ready in the dressing room.

Conservatory second-year Sagana Ondande getting into costume.

The Lighthouse: A Romp of Madness and Stylistic Flair Christo Hays Production Editor Amid the unending maelstrom of sequels, reboots, and spinoffs that define today’s new releases, watching The Lighthouse feels like a breath of fresh, salty, ocean air. The film requires no lore research, no prequel catch-up, not even an understanding of pop culture references. What you see is what you get: 110 minutes of black-and-white madness, the tale of two men mentally unraveling while trapped on an austere island, tending a lighthouse in a tempestuous storm.

The film, directed by Robert Eggers, opens with Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), a young man new to lighthouse keeping, arriving on an unnamed lighthouse island off the coast of New England during the 1890s. Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) — a wild-eyed, heavily bearded, pipe-smoking former sailor — tends the lighthouse permanently, cycling through partners who succumb to the bleak work. The film is a two-man, one island drama, confined only to Winslow, Wake, and the mysterious power of sea and lighthouse.

Actors Dafoe and Pattinson bring the talkative, boisterous Wake and the mute, anti-social Winslow to kinetic

The Oberlin Review | November 8, 2019

life. The crux of their clash is the light atop the tower itself.

As the veteran lighthouse keeper, Wake tends the light by night. Why he alone tends the light isn’t always clear.

At one point, Wake claims the light drove his last partner to suicide, and that there was a seductive magic to it.

At another, we see Wake slumped in the room that encases the light, staring into its sparkling crystal encasement, as if he is entranced. Tension builds as Winslow attempts to discover what Wake is hiding. Pattinson and Dafoe shine in this conflict, their game of cat-and-mouse continually shifting. At points, it’s unclear if they are friends or enemies, or if neither — or both — are deceiving the other.

The unfolding drama between the two — not necessarily where it leads — is the crux of the excitement of watching The Lighthouse. The film keeps the audience engaged by forcing them to guess at the truth. The viewer wonders, “Who’s deceiving who? Is Winslow imagining the sinister images that disturb his stay on the island? Which one of them is going mad?” Prepare yourself for continual disorientation because The Lighthouse gets unnervingly, phantasmagorically weird.

The film sits comfortably under the

psychological horror umbrella, but it’s also a period piece — which works to its advantage. Eggers uses stylistic elements that evoke the feeling of the 1890s in a creative way that combines the new with the old. The sound design and Mark Korven’s score are a great example of this use of historical references. Droning woodwinds; shifty, distant horns; and even an occasional accordion subvert contemporary viewer’s expectation of a typical modern score. Korven’s work, coupled with the ominous, metronomic rumble of a foghorn creates an immersive soundscape that heightens the film’s claustrophobic atmosphere.

Even more impressive is Director of Photography Jarin Blaschke’s cinematography. The constraints of the film — one setting, no color, two actors — again work in its favor. Eggers and Blaschke shot The Lighthouse on 35mm film with a 1.19:1 aspect ratio, aka the “Movietone” ratio, which came into use during the 1920s. Even if this jargon sounds unfamiliar, the grainy, boxy effect of the format references an older style of film that all viewers will recognize. However, it’s the use of shadows that steal the show. A recurring visual motif involves Winslow peering up from the bottom of the stairs at Wake, who is

bathed in light at the top. The way Blaschke plays shadows off Pattinson’s face, emphasizing his eyes, adds a truly spooky dimension to his performance.

If The Lighthouse has a flaw, and it would be a minor one, it’s the editing. For about thirty minutes, the film sits with Winslow and Wake as they size each other up, establishing the layout of the island and lighthouse in the process. It drags ever so slightly — but not as much as the rest of the film. Though we’re treated to electric acting throughout the film, the madness of the second half feels a touch drawn out. Eggers and editor Louise Ford could’ve left another 10 minutes on the cutting room floor, preferably taken from one of the multiple scenes where Wake gaslights Winslow. No one scene drags but, taken together in a steam that lasts most of the film, each is somewhat diluted.

Aside from that, The Lighthouse excels. It’s mercurial and hair-raising, but most of all, it’s a romp. The seamless blending of sound design, cinematography, and acting represent one of the most remarkable feats of filmmaking in recent memory. Go see The Lighthouse and fall into its chaos. Movies this strange and fun don’t come around often.

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

Omid Shekari, Visiting Assistant Professor & Artist they just stay there because that’s the way to put pressure on the country and to push the policies that the United States wants to impose on another country. So, I call it “For the Best” because of the advertising of the best for the people in [American] society.

I noticed that a lot of your pieces are multimedia. What was your intention behind this artistic choice?

I was trained as a very academic painter, painting on canvas and drawing on paper. But as I looked at a lot of artists and I learned about art and art practice, I thought that drawing is a thought process. Anything is inside of you; you can just create and see what is inside your brain. It doesn’t matter if you create a line with graphite on paper or create a line with a piece of metal in a parking lot. That line is a line. So I try to teach students that you can make drawings within any kind of media. It could be on a paper, it could be on canvas, it could be a sculpture, it could be a video animation, etc.

Have your students seen the show?

Most of my students saw the show, and I tried to show them a lot of artists that I admire that work with the same ideology and the same manifestation, not necessarily about U.S. politics, but art as a means of increasing awareness, increasing activism. I think they kind of understand what I’m doing after seeing all those artists.

Omid Shekari.

Photo courtesy of Omid Shekari

Omid Shekari is a visiting assistant professor in the Studio Art department. His exhibition, Of Aggression and Domination, focuses on the lacking media portrayal of United States military occupations abroad. His work looks into the militarization of the government, the violence committed against civilians, and the meaning of nationalism and patriotism. Shekari’s art has been exhibited around the world, and he has participated in residencies at MASS MoCA and OMI, among many others. He spoke with the Review about the inspiration for his work, the meaning of art, and biased portrayals in the media. Of Aggression and Domination opened in the Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery on Nov. 7 and will be featured until Dec. 7.

don’t want to read, [and] that is affecting me personally and millions of other people around the world.

The last series of work that I had in Philadelphia, which led to this exhibition, began with researching a lot about the reasons why the United States creates this military culture, how everything is around this military, either being a part of this military, or a lot of benefits for the people who serve for the military. One thing that was very big for me was looking back in history and seeing all of these imperial societies. … We are very close to the rise of fascism [again]; it always comes out of militaries, imperialists, and very powerful countries. So the U.S. now has more than 800 military bases around the world everywhere, in each country you can This interview has been edited for length and clarity. imagine, except maybe three or four. And as you see in [the “For the Best”] list [featured in this exhibition], these are the military interventions since the Civil War Imani Badillo in the United States, and they’ve been to so many placSenior Staff Writer es in South America, in Africa, in Southeast Asia, in Asia, in the Middle East, [the] Balkan[s] — everywhere What message are you hoping to send with Of Ag- you can imagine, they had their military presence. And gression and Domination?

I really wanted to communicate that with the viewers.

When I was offered to have a show here, I was thinking about who my viewers are, and a majority of my viewers Can you tell me a little bit about the piece “For the are students — 18, 19, 20 years old. They read a lot about Best”? different issues, they are involved a lot in social issues, It’s called “For the Best” because I was thinking they’re very aware of a lot of things. And I wanted to let about all the ways they sell this military, how the polthem know that there’s something that happened in the iticians for their own interests find a way to sell it. history of this country that the liberal and conservative They said for national security, they have to send some media never covered because if the media covers it, they troops, and so they send troops that never come back; cannot sell it to people. Since it doesn’t bring benefits for them, they never cover such news. But I thought that if some people come here and see art about their history, maybe they can vote for someone that is anti-war, and they can think about outside the country, too.

In what ways does Of Aggression and Domination touch on other themes that you haven’t explored in exhibitions before?

[This exhibition is different] in the case of the form I’m using here, probably like this piece, [called] “I can’t read it.” People can just sit and read the testimonies of the people who joined the Marines and the troops that joined the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War. They came back, and they gathered together as a group called Winter Soldier. They spoke about their experiences [of things] that they’ve done to people or they witnessed other U.S. troops [do] to people. They’re very shocking. They cut off heads, they cut off limbs, they did horrible things that you can’t imagine. One person said something, and then they just kill[ed] a whole village because they had the power to do it, and there was no [consequence] for them.

For example, one of them is this one that I read [called] “My right leg is 4 inches shorter than the left one!” [in which] he talks about his first confirmed kill. And he says that [the] person was innocent, and because he hit him and this guy was protesting “Why are you screaming? Why are you hitting me?” He just killed him. And he was congratulated by his commander because he killed someone. This is the culture of militaries, that people in the United States — when I’m talking about people in the United States, I’m talking about people like the middle and higher class, mostly white people — don’t experience this level of violence. I’m not sure that a lot of people coming to this show like what I’m doing. But for me, art is not entertainment.

For me, art is a way of communication and revealing the truth, and also [to] a great extent, a level of activism.

What was your motivation for this exhibition?

I grew up in Iran, and the government was highly religious. I participated in various protests, and I was detained, and while I went through a lot of the process, I always thought, “What is death? How can we create a free world for ourselves?” And for whatever reason, that moved me to apply for grad school and to come to the U.S. I know about the problems, like racial problems … surrounding society in the U.S., [and I knew that I had] moved to the country [where there were] already more than 3 billion guns in the hands of people, and [there was a] culture of massacring millions of Indigenous Americans and animals. And the culture which has enslaved, raped, humiliated, lynched, and generally brutalized millions of other humans within these centuries. A culture of aggressively meddling, murdering, and dehumanizing tens of millions of people around the world. Yet I was the one who looked like a threat; that was, for me, what told me something was wrong in this society. … Because I have brown skin and I look like a person that the media targeted, and I’m a victim of Islamophobia. I was thinking that if I make art for American viewers, I have to make something to be able to communicate and increase Artwork at Omid Shekari’s exhibition Of Aggression and Domination. some awareness about the history that they probably

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Photo courtesy of Omid Shekari

Fall Forward Works with Pilobolus Dancer

CROSSWORD Lauren O’Hear

Continued from page 10

… just to mix up peoples’ expectations of what you can do and what bodies do what movement.”

Butler’s Work in Progress has challenged student dancers Georgie Johnson, Lena Golia, Maeve Dick, Analise LaRiviere, Emmacate Sauer, and Evelyn Morrison to partner and relate to gravity in novel ways. They spin, sway, slide, and invert their bodies, gently leaning on each other’s shoulders and using each other’s momentum to trace crescents on Warner Main’s wooden floor.

“It’s been a really fun experience, because [Butler] came in and built work based on what we could do instead of coming in with previously choreographed material,” said College second-year Analise LaRiviere. “So it was really interesting to watch her creative process and watch her choreograph on our bodies specifically.”

LaRaviere enjoyed developing her skills in weight-sharing and partner acrobatics while working with the other dancers.

“I feel like we’ve become like a little team in the past four days,” she said.

Georgie Johnson, a College fourth-year, was captured

by Butler’s seamless movement style.

“It’s great the way that Krystal seems to have taken information from her time at Pilobolus and before that as well, making something look weightless when it’s actually a lot of work,” said Johnson. “Creating illusions like that, of someone floating but they’re actually being supported, images like that are really strong images in the piece.”

Johnson, LaRiviere, and four other students will perform Butler’s piece at Fall Forward, an annual showcase of student and faculty choreography. Directed this year by Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Alice Blumenfeld, students are able to audition and develop their work with the guidance of a faculty advisor. This year’s show also features eight new student works and a performance by dancers in Blumenfeld’s Introduction to Flamenco Dance course.

Several performances in Fall Forward explore human connections to the natural world. Inventive works in collaboration with skilled musicians, along with trapeze, aerial silks, and other props, investigate our relationships to the local environment in surprising ways. Undoubtedly, this is a show the audience will fall for.

Fall Forward runs Nov. 7–9 at 8 p.m. in Warner Main Space, with floor and bleacher seating accessible by wheelchair through an electronic lift. Tickets are $5.

Independently-Produced Athena to Run this Weekend College second-year and Theater major Clara Zucker wanted to put on a play with two of her friends, College second-years Jane Hobson and Claudia Kelly — she just needed to figure out what the play should be. Her high school drama teacher recommended Athena, a play about high schoolers Mary Wallace and Athena, two fencers training for the Junior Olympics “After fencing each other for the first time, [Mary and Athena] happen upon an unlikely friendship,” Hobson, who plays Mary Wallace, wrote in an email to the Review. “The rest of the play follows the growth of that relationship.”

Athena follows the pair as they train together for the Junior Olympic Fencing Tournament.

“It’s about maintaining a relationship in the face of competition,” Zucker explained.

Zucker decided to produce her own show this semester, without backing by the department or by a student group like the Oberlin Student Theater Association. The set is simple, there are minimal props, and the department agreed to cover the cost of the playbills.

“It’s not an expensive show, and since we’re not selling tickets we didn’t have to buy the rights,” Zucker said.

Additionally, shows that are not affiliated with a larger office or organization don’t have the same requirements for purchasing rights.

Of course, putting on a show without that institutional support requires a versatile director and a legion of supporters — Oberlin’s fencing club supplied costumes, Zucker’s friends College second-years Noah Plotkin and Anisa Curry-Vietze are helping to run the lights, and College second-year Josh Turner is doing the sound design, among others.

The Oberlin Review | November 8, 2019

“[College second-year] Katie Kunka has been coming in during this week and helping,” Zucker said. “She’s just acting as a fresh pair of eyes and giving me some notes and giving the actors notes, which is nice.”

Zucker became interested in directing through the theater program at her high school, where she was able to take a directing class and later put on Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation. While at Oberlin, Zucker plans to complete a directing concentration within her Theater major.

“Coming from being a senior in high school to then a first-year, I was like, ‘Oh, I need to find some way to feel old or feel in control of something,’” she laughed. “And I think directing really allows me to do that.”

Athena will run Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. in South Studios. Tickets are free.

Text by Kate Fishman, Arts & Culture Editor Photo by Chris Schmucki, Photo Editor

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Sp ort s IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Jack McMillin, Fourth-Year Varsity Soccer Player

College fourth-year Jack McMillin’s experience at Oberlin College has been, in a word, multifaceted. Not only has he found success on the field playing as a starting midfielder for the men’s soccer team, he is also graduating with a Creative Writing major and Africana Studies and Studio Art minors. Having been born and raised in Oberlin, OH, McMillin has been involved with the men’s soccer team from a young age. But looking beyond his college career, McMillin hopes to be able to work in a creative field. He is currently exploring his passion for woodwork and sculpture, and has created a number of wooden chairs.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jane Agler Sports Editor

Having grown up in Oberlin, you’ve been a part of the varsity soccer program well before your time as a College student. How do you feel now that you’re graduating?

[Assistant Men’s Soccer Coach David Wilson] played here, and I was watching him play here when I was 11 years old. So, it’s been really cool to see and be a part of the program in many different ways, and just to be able to have a bigger role going forward. So many people come through [this team] and it’s definitely a close-knit group. Alumni really like to keep a family feel and [they] make sure to come back. It’s been amazing to see the progression of this team culture.

Either way, it’s Division III, so the main thing is the relationships. I don’t feel any regret because I met all of these people and established really strong relationships.

Has it been difficult to balance your academics with athletics?

Definitely, but one thing that makes it easier for me is that a lot of it is very creative. I’m a Creative Writing major and minoring in Africana Studies and Studio Art as well. So, I don’t mind investing a lot of time in making things with my hands or writing or spending time on a piece. The workload isn’t overbearing when you’re really enjoying what you’re doing. It definitely will be nice and chill a little bit to be a fuller person outside of soccer. But it’s manageable.

I heard you make wooden chairs?

Yeah, I make chairs. I’ve made a couple of chairs.

One of Jack McMillin’s chairs, which he crafted and built himself.

Photo courtesy of Jack McMillian

Where do you learn to do that? How did you get into making chairs?

Mostly working with people like [Professor of Studio Art and Africana Studies] Johnny Coleman and [Professor of Studio Art, Installation, Sculpture, and Book Arts] Nanette [Yannuzzi] in the Art department and the people in the [Oberlin Art] Fabrication Lab. It’s a lot of picking up little things from them and — I don’t know, I don’t want to say self-taught, but mostly just hours

College fourth-year Jack McMillin

of screwing around with wood and tinkering. I do a lot of functional stuff like chairs and furniture, but I want to get more into out-there-design. I like the art aspect of it. I love chairs.

Where does this love of chairs come from?

That’s a good question. I don’t really know. I have a book at home on my coffee table with a thousand chairs in it and it a [bunch] of different chair designs, and I love looking through that.

Yeah. I don’t know — I just love chairs.

So, your parents are both professors here. In fact, you’re in a class taught by your dad right now. What is that like?

My mom is in Rhetoric and Composition, and my dad is an English professor. It’s kind of fun. We keep it pretty low-key. A lot of people ask me, “Isn’t it weird to be in class with your parents?” but they’re super professional and love what they do. A lot of my conversations with my dad are already pseudo-academic or about literature, anyways — [class is] just a more formal space for that. It’s kind of funny going into class and [my dad] will shake my hand [because] we don’t really know

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

what to do. I can’t really hug my dad in class, but it’s been great. They’re just such intelligent people. It’s not weird, it’s really nice. My brother went here too, and he took classes with both of them.

Do you think you’ll stay involved in the men’s soccer team postgraduation, like your assistant coach?

Do you think you’ll stay in Oberlin at all?

I don’t think I’ll [take on] a role postgraduation, not necessarily. Not in a very hands-on way. I would love to put myself in a position to be able to speak to [future Oberlin players] and tell them about my experience, because that was helpful for me.

Leaving Oberlin — that’s the big question. It’s hard to know. I’ve gotten so much out of it, but I think you kind of need to move around. But I want to find spaces in which I can create — whether it’s super utility-based like furniture or actually working on my art and sculpture installation. That would be incredible. Long-term, I want to teach at some point. I don’t know if it’s the high school or middle school level specifically, or [what] subject. But we’ll see if that happens.

Quadmates Find Support in Athletics, Classroom, Beyond Zoë Martin del Campo Contributing Sports Editor When College second-years Lucca Abele, Anna Scott, Phoebe von Conta, and Maggie Allen are together, they often cannot hold a conversation without it eventually dissolving into laughter. In addition to being teammates on the cross country and track and field teams, the four live together, have overlapping academic interests, and take many of the same classes; all of which have fostered deep friendships that shape many aspects of their Oberlin lives.

The four initially met as first-years during cross country preseason, which required them to be on campus a month before orientation. Allen and von Conta both agreed that they remembered Abele because she is vegan and from Vermont. Scott was more reserved her first semester because she came to Oberlin knowing older students. However, she became closer with teammates and friends in her class as the year progressed.

Both running and the dynamic of the women’s cross country team have influenced their friendship, as they all

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have found a support system in each other and the team.

“The cross country team as a whole is an incredibly tight-knit group — I wouldn’t even call it a team, it’s more of a family,” said Allen. “I also think that the close friendships that we’ve fostered in the place that we live in together and the dynamics that we have formed outside of actual practice and competition have really helped develop trust because we know that we have each other’s backs at practice, during workouts, during races, and after.”

While the four live together, the quad has also become a space for all members of the cross country team to congregate.

“Our quad is kind of a revolving door for the entire cross country team,” von Conta said. “A lot of people come and go, so it does feel like a home base for the team.”

Similar to the supportive environment nurtured by the team, the four encourage each other to pursue new opportunities. Scott is particularly interested in visual arts and decorated the living space with her artwork.

“I remember this one specific night that I came home and I played a song

sample for you guys of what I had been working on,” Scott said, speaking to her three roommates. “And immediately you were like, ‘Oh my God, you have to join the Conservatory.’ You all inspired me so much and were supportive and loved hearing my music [so much] that I got on my bike and immediately rode to the Conservatory to pick up an independent study for voice lessons form.

The living space that we’ve created is incredibly supportive of all our diverse interests.”

Abele, von Conta, and Scott are interested in Environmental Studies and work on the Environmental Dashboard together. Last semester, von Conta took Practicum in Communication with Paul Sears Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology John Petersen, OC ’88. She later recommended it to Abele and Scott, who are in the course this semester and working together to create training material for the guest engagement staff at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.

This semester, von Conta is working as a community voices manager, working closely with Petersen and students in the practicum.

“Even when I’m not interacting

with Lucca and Anna, I’m still working on the same work that they’re doing,” von Conta said. “It’s an interesting way to stay connected and get experience with different technological tools I would never have used if I wasn’t a member of the [Environmental] Dashboard.”

While they share many academic interests, there is variation in terms of what each wants to pursue in the future. Allen in particular is interested in STEM but has learned more about Environmental Studies through her quad mates.

“Because the other three are all in similar classes, I’ve become more aware of things I probably wouldn’t have been if [they] weren’t all in those classes and talking about it,” Allen said. “And also it’s kind of nice because when [they] are all really stressed about something, I can sometimes be the voice of reason because I’m not experiencing it.”

Von Conta shared similar sentiments and felt that living with a group with shared academic fields and focuses has deepened her appreciation for her studies.

See Quadmates, page 15

Despite Slow Season, Volleyball Looks to Impress in Season-Ending NCAC Championship Tournament Jane Agler Sports Editor As their season comes to an end, Oberlin’s varsity volleyball team has one more opportunity to seek success after a relatively slow season. The team hopes to defeat their North Coast Athletic Conference counterparts in an attempt to receive an automatic bid to move forward into the NCAA Division III tournament.

Seeded eighth out of nine teams, the Yeowomen (1-7) will travel to the Pam Evans Smith Arena in Springfield, OH tomorrow, home of the previous NCAC league champions Wittenberg University.

Wittenberg (8-0) has the first seed, has earned this honor for the past 12 seasons — winning 24 NCAC titles in all — and snagged it again after a 14-game conference winning streak. Despite the differences in success between the nine competing teams, College second-year and outside hitter Natasha Radic explained that the tournament can produce very surprising results.

“I feel as though the work goes into getting a good seed [during the season], but then the real competition comes in the tournament, where it’s win or go home,” she said. “I think that our team is filled with talented individuals and that especially this year in our conference

there is a lot of unexpected variability, and I think Oberlin is a team [that is] adding to that.”

Their first face-off against No. 5 seed Hiram College (4–4) today. Conveniently, Hiram is the most recent opponent that the team has faced.

College fourth-year and setter Samantha Lam said that much of the team’s preparation has been centered around the loss against Hiram.

“We have been watching film from the previous match [against Hiram] to pinpoint what exactly their strengths and weaknesses are and figuring out ways we can combat those,” she said. “We’ve been especially stressing to everyone on the team that, because this is literally the end of the season, nobody should be holding back, and that 110 percent effort and energy is needed from everybody both on the court and on the sidelines.”

The tournament is particularly high stakes for players who are graduating. Of the 11-person roster, four are seniors.

“This tournament is especially exciting this year being that I’m a senior,” said College fourth-year and outside hitter Maura Gibbs. “I am really going to miss playing with my teammates every day and this is our final weekend playing together.”

This season’s seniors have also cultivated an especially close team environ-

Field Hocky Alumni Visit Senior Day Celebration

Last Saturday, field hockey alumni from the class of 2019 returned to Oberlin to catch the final game of the season and celebrate this year’s four College fourthyears Fatima Escalera, Hayley Segall, Libby Royer, and Luisa McGarvey. Their return to Oberlin served as a reflection of the team’s bond — one that exists between different generations of Oberlin varsity field hockey players, even beyond graduation.

In an article published in the Review over a year ago that detailed the unique friendships developed within the field hockey team, former captain Emma Broun, OC ’19, who attended this year’s senior commemoration and is pictured above in the middle, described the importance of team bonding over winning — a value that this year’s group of fourthyears has continued to cultivate.

The Oberlin Review November 8, 2019

“The general culture [of the field hockey team] is very focused on kindness, care, and love,” Broun said in 2018.

“Nobody told our team that we have to love each other and spend time together off the field — we just do. Of course, we all have the common goal of playing good field hockey and winning games, but basing an entire two months of our lives on beating other teams won’t necessarily create the kind of environment we all want to live in. Instead, the common goal we are encouraged to pursue by our coaches [and each other] is being kind to others.”

Text by Jane Agler Sports Editor Photo by Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief

Oberlin women’s volleyball players gather around College second-year Lauren Fitts.

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

ment. The chemistry has been strong, despite having lost three seniors after the 2018 season.

“I think because we’re [closer] on and off the court, and I feel a lot of closeness in this team that built on how close our team was last year,” said Radic. “Our seniors this year are doing a great job of picking up where our captains left us last year and pushing everyone else to work hard and play hard by leading by example.”

If the Yeowomen beat Hiram at their 4 p.m. game today, they will go on to face

No. 4 seed DePauw at 7:30 p.m., with only a few hours to recover.

“This tournament of course means a lot to me as a graduating senior,” Lam said. “I’ve been playing volleyball since third grade, and this tournament will be a culmination of all the years of work I’ve put into practices, all the hours of driving to tournaments that my parents had to do, and all the memories with teammates I’ve played with up until now. I have no idea how I will react when we finish, but I’m sure it involves some amount of tears.”

Team Network Promotes Responsibility, Accountability

Continued from page 14

“We’re doing our thing along with each other, but each of us has our own special track even though we’re all interested in environmental studies,” von Conta said. “It makes my understanding of my potential major even deeper because I hear about the interests from different people, which affects how I approach my interests.”

Because they are so close, the four have often discussed what their friendship and Oberlin experience would be like if they had not met through the women’s cross country team.

“We’ve actually had this discussion many times,” Abele said, as the four broke into laughter. “We decided that some of us would be friends and some of us wouldn’t know each other at all. I think that cross country and track have completely shaped our experience at Oberlin, in terms of who we know and the structure of our lives and days because it is a lot of time with the same people.”

All four agree that living together as friends and teammates was the best decision for them because they understand the work that goes into balancing academic and athletic responsibilities and are able to hold each other accountable. This includes providing emotional support and waking each other up for 8 a.m. long runs on Sunday morning.

“Running with the same people that I live with is nice because I know [about] everything that’s going on in all areas of [their lives],” Allen said.

“If I see [them] at practice and [they] seem really stressed out, I probably know why. I also understand how running affects the rest of your life.

Whether it’s a great race or not a good

workout, I know how to approach it.

It’s also that [they] understand if I’m in a bad mood because of running, or in a good mood because we all understand why we do the sport.”

Reflecting on living in a quad as a whole, von Conta emphasized the importance of having a strong network.

“I truly feel like the most badass thing is having strong female friendship,” said von Conta. “I’ve never felt so empowered by the existence of other people [as I do] when I’m with the team. I feel that even more strongly because I’m part of a badass women’s cross country team that just won conference and is going on to do amazing things.”

Scott reflected on the importance of the close-knit family that cross country has created for them.

“As [Director of Track and Field and Cross Country] Coach Ray [Appenheimer] always says, ‘You chose to be here, to do this, and be a part of this amazing thing, so why not pour your heart into it?’” Scott wrote in an email to the Review. “This sport is more than just running a fast race; it is about the community and family that we have around us and the friendships and trust that we hold amongst ourselves.”

This philosophy holds true as the season comes to a close. All four are looking forward to a strong ending to the cross country season and the upcoming track season.

“During races, [Coach] Ray always says one team, one energy,” said Allen.

“With the team, it’s not just during a race, your energy contributes to the whole, it’s in everything we do, everybody else’s energy is there to back you up and supporting you.”

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SPORTS November 8, 2019

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 8

OC Athletics Off-Season: The Grind Never Stops Maranda Phillips

College fourth-year Zach Taylor stands beside College first-year Chris Allen Jr. Photo courtesy of Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Football QB Looks to Pass the Torch Khalid McCalla Contributing Sports Editor The Oberlin College football team suffered through one of its worst seasons in recent memory in 2016, going 0–10. However, for followers of the Yeomen, there was a bright spot. Then first-year quarterback Zach Taylor was able to excite fans with his dynamic play, accounting for 2,284 total yards and 16 total touchdowns. This impressive season would be the beginning of one of the most accomplished individual careers in Oberlin history. Unfortunately, now in his fourth year, Taylor has been plagued by injuries in his final season, forcing him to appear in only four of the team’s eight games this season.

On Nov. 16, Taylor will see his illustrious Oberlin career come to a close, but, like a true leader, he is leaving the program in good hands. First-year Chris Allen Jr. has appeared in every game this year, throwing for 891 yards and 2 touchdowns. Coming into the season listed as Taylor’s backup, Allen wasn’t expected to contribute.

“I didn’t really expect to play right away,” Allen said. “Maybe some garbage time throughout the season, but playing in the important moments of games was definitely something that I did not expect.”

An injury to Taylor in the closing minutes of the Yeomen’s week-one matchup against Kalamazoo College forced Allen into the game. Since then, he’s been the team’s primary quarterback.

“I think that he’s done a really good job in a really tough situation,” said Head Football Coach Jay Anderson. “Whenever you’re a [first-year] and get thrown in there, it’s not easy. Especially at the quarterback position.”

While Taylor and Allen have different play styles, the way their first years as college football players unfolded is eerily similar. Both were thrown into the fire early in their first seasons, both were surrounded by a bunch of other young players, and both teams struggled to get wins. However, these circumstances aren’t the only similarity between the two that Anderson has noticed.

“The thing that pops to me is their arm talent,” Anderson said. “You could see a couple years ago, when Zach was starting out for us, that he had a lot of talent and just needed some experience. It’s the same thing for Chris. … They’re both great leaders, confident on and off the field. Extremely poised. [This mentality] struck me with Zach and Chris is the same.”

Like most young quarterbacks, Taylor took time to reach his potential, but his development over his career paid off for the team. Before injuries stole this season from him, he gradually improved each year, going from a talented newcomer in his first year to an All-North Coast Athletic Conference Honorable Mention selection as a third-year. While Allen’s rookie numbers might not match up to Taylor’s, he has

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one advantage over Taylor that could help his overall development in the long run: Taylor has been helping him along all season.

“Zach has been a great mentor for me,” Allen said.

“He knows what it’s like to be in this position. Being able to learn under him has been extremely beneficial because he has seen so much at the college level, so being able to pick his brain to prepare is helpful.”

Taylor’s influence on Allen hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Anderson has seen the pair interact since August, when the team returned to campus for their fall camp, and has enjoyed watching that relationship unfold.

“I think [Zach’s influence] is just keeping Chris calm,” Anderson said. “Having a guy like Zach who’s been through all of it these past few years to be this calming presence has helped Chris grow.”

As a result of the injuries, Taylor hasn’t been able to contribute on the field, but he has willingly stepped into his new role as a mentor.

“I’ve just been coaching up the young guys and making sure they’re prepared for Saturdays,” Taylor said. “It’s been awesome to see [Allen] grow throughout every game this season.”

At this point in the season, growth seems to be a major theme for the Yeomen. In addition to Allen, the team’s offense has seen major contributions from a host of other first- and second-year players. Top running backs Kobe Brooks and Ryan McCrum, and top receivers Brandon Davies, Brian Colarusso, and Tim Martin have all been key players for the team this season.

“We’re young and talented on offense, but they’re growing together,” Anderson said.

While the season has not gone according to plan, Allen recognizes that it could be an important stepping stone for the future of the program.

“I really think this season will only make us better and stronger for the years to come,” Allen said. “Even with losses, there’s always something that we can take from each game and build off of. … The goal for sure is to win conference championships in the next two to three years, [as well as] being able to compete in the national playoffs. I’m not really worried about personal accolades as long as we’re winning.”

Allen might not want to talk about personal accolades, but it is hard for others to not talk about the immense potential that he possesses.

“The future is bright,” Anderson said. “He’s extremely talented and extremely committed. … We’re excited to see where he can go.”

As far as replacing Taylor, Oberlin’s all-time leader in total offense with 7,594 total yards and 61 total touchdowns, Allen has a long way to go. However, he has at least one person who thinks he’s up to the challenge.

“I think Chris will have a great career here,” Taylor said. “I hope he [breaks my records]. That’s what records are for.”

Oberlin’s varsity athletes never stop working. Even after the end of their seasons, athletes continue to practice, work out, and push themselves to refine and perfect their athletic craft. As the semester reaches its final weeks and the weather transitions from fall to winter, sports like soccer and field hockey have come to an end, while winter sports like basketball are just beginning.

Sometimes, off-season conditioning can even be more strenuous than during the regular season — the idea being that this hard work and perseverance will pay off for athletes when their sport comes back the next year. After the season ends, however, athletes normally get one to two weeks for recovery.

Sydnie Savarese, a College third-year and member of the women’s soccer team, knows the importance of taking some time off after a grueling season.

“After our season [ends], it’s all about recovery,” said Savarese. “We tend to take a week off to relax and then get back in the swing of things in terms of conditioning.

We start lifting and prepping for spring season so we can stay in shape for the 2020 fall season. We also have indoor practices in Williams [Field House] that are light and fun.”

Oberlin’s varsity athletes must follow protocols during the school year set by the NCAA, which regulates collegiate athletes at over 1,200 North American colleges, as well as numerous conferences and affiliates.

Oberlin is a Division III institution, meaning that the school encourages the integration between academic success and competitive athletics, with meaningful non-athletics opportunities. Students who choose Division III play for the love of the game and the opportunity to balance academics and athletics.

During Division III’s offseason, coaches are only allowed to be a part of fifteen practices with an extra day either for practice or competition. These practices are similar to season practices with an emphasis on skill-building and other preparation for the next season.

“For the season coming up I’m really excited; captains’ practices gives us the opportunity to work on team chemistry without the coaches involved,” said Tom Decker, a College third-year and varsity lacrosse player.

“In the fall we worked on specific plays and now we can see how we each play naturally in terms of the offense and defensive technique. By concentrating on how we play as a team, this will enable us to focus for [the upcoming] season.”

Zoe Kuzbari, a College second-year and volleyball player, is a defensive specialist who feels off-season is all about individual work.

“During the offseason, we work on technique for volleyball games,” she said. “We focus on individual goals. I think season is all about working as a team and competing with one another, not working on an individual level.

We have practices [led by our captains] twice a week and lift twice a week in order to stay in shape.”

Decker also emphasized the importance of the off-season in building stronger team chemistry to capitalize on the successes of the previous season.

“Fall ball went really well [because] a lot of the [firstyears] were able to become part of the program athletically and socially,” Decker said. “The [first-years] also made strides and pushed the upperclassmen to work harder and improve our game.”

Even the impending winter does not prevent athletes from practicing. Many outdoor teams utilize Williams Field House, located next to Knowlton Athletics Complex. The half turf field inside Williams allows athletes to train without having to face frigid outdoor temperatures from November through February. Thus, being a varsity athlete does not end when a sport’s season does.

Rather, until graduation, varsity athletes of all seasons are constantly focusing and working on their athleticism through rain, snow, and extreme heat, all year around.