The Oberlin Review
SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 VOLUME 145, NUMBER 5
Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week Lorain County Leads Ohio in Deer-Vehicle Crashes For the second year in a row, Lorain experienced the most deer-vehicle crashes of any Ohio county. The Ohio Insurance Institute released a report on Sept. 19 that said there were 596 such accidents throughout 2015 in Lorain. The number of crashes is up 16.9 percent from last year. Stark and Hamilton counties tied for second with 527 crashes, followed by Richland with 503 and Clermont with 491. The report also listed 37 passenger injuries from the deervehicle crashes in Lorain last year. Local Roller Skater Competes in World Championships Seventeen-year-old Sarah Massey competed at the World Championships for roller-skating in Novara, Italy yesterday. Massey, who regularly visits and practices at Oberlin’s Country Skateland park, was one of two Americans sent to the event and has attended three years in a row. Massey is coached by her mother Brenda, who also leads the Country Skateland precision team that competes annually in national roller-skating events. State Announces Grant Lorain County received a $1,062,500 grant from the Ohio Development Services Agency to go towards home repairs and rehabilitation. The Community Housing Impact and Preservation grant typically helps local contractors perform basic repairs such as furnace replacements, septic system repairs and roof replacements. Homeowners have to meet income eligibility requirements in order to benefit from the grant.
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Climate Conference Draws Leading Activists Sydney Allen Production Editor Some of the biggest names in environmentalism will come to town for The Hotel at Oberlin's first major event this week. In response to growing national awareness and urgency about climate change, the College will host “After Fossil Fuels: The Next Economy,” a conference Oct. 6–8 on transitioning to a clean-energy economy. According to David Orr, the event’s organizer and special assistant to the College president on sustainability and the environment, the conference will address ways to reconcile the economy with a sustainable environment. “We’re trying to begin to align the way the economy works with the way the world works,” Orr said. “Right now the economy is one of the drivers off the cliff, powered by fossil fuels, too much growth and producing a lot of inequity and unfairness and so forth, and the goal is to begin to rethink all of this.” The event is attracting many influential environmental, business and political leaders, such as former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben; Michael Brune, president of the Sierra Club; and Tom Steyer, founder of NextGen Climate and funder of environmentalist political campaigns. The Hotel at Oberlin is one of few LEED Platinum hotels in the United States, so it is fitting that the first major event at the center is meant to change the way the world approaches climate change. “For the Board of Trustees, they know what
A visitor at The Hotel at Oberlin strolls past the bar. While construction continues on portions of the Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center, the hotel will host its first large conference Oct. 6–8 with participation from Arnold Schwarzenegger and famous environmentalist Bill McKibben. Photo by Rick Yu, Photo editor
this place is and the goal is to show them what it can do. It can attract major people, it can attract big discussions — we can do that here,” Orr said. “The question is whether we can be part of this international and global dialogue in what is clearly a transitional era in human history. Time is not our friend here.” However, while Orr and other administrators hoped the new hotel would host many events for the College, they also intended it to be a way to sus-
See Community, page 2
Alumni Influenced Governance Process, Karega Says Eliza Guinn Staff Writer Breaking nearly two months of silence, Professor of Composition and Rhetoric Joy Karega returned to campus for a student-organized meeting in Afrikan Heritage House Wednesday night. Karega told those in attendance she was planning to teach this semester before the Oberlin Chapter of Alums for Campus Fairness sent a letter to the Board of Trustees in late July. According to Karega, the facultyled review held in June recommended neither dismissal nor suspension, and the College only suspended her after receiving the letter. She was originally put on leave last semester following the publication of Facebook posts that many found anti-Semitic. “The review process has stalled because many within and beyond the Oberlin community will not be satisfied with anything less than disciplinary action against me that involves my dismissal,” Karega wrote
in an email to the Review Thursday. “Since March, I have been subjected to things that have made it clear to me that I am not a valued and respected member of Oberlin’s faculty. And that’s unfortunate.” Karega claims that ACF targeted her as part of its efforts to overtake legitimate concerns of Jewish students on campus to push its own agenda. According to Karega, ACF targeted her due to her involvement both with ABUSUA’s list of demands and UCLA Professor Robin Kelley’s visit to campus. In July, ACF wrote a letter to Oberlin’s Board of Trustees demanding an update and questioning the fact that Karega was scheduled to teach this semester. A few days later, President Marvin Krislov announced that the governance process was ongoing and that Karega would remain suspended until the end of the process. “Professor Karega's Facebook posts speak for themselves,” Oberlin ACF President Melissa Landa wrote in an email to the Review. “Any pro-
fessional outcomes that Professor Karega experiences are based on decisions made by Oberlin College.” Krislov declined to answer questions from the Review regarding the validity of Karega’s allegations, continuing a silent streak from the administration. Instead, he noted that the strictly confidential faculty governance process remains ongoing. “It’s a fair process, a thorough process — we’re following it to the letter,” Krislov said. Krislov, who will depart Oberlin at the end of the academic year, wields wide-ranging discretion in this process. Along with deciding whether to continue the governance process, Krislov has the power to “remand” the process back to one of the faculty committees with “specific questions or concerns identified for reconsideration.” Faculty Handbook bylaws do not specify who can ultimately make the decision to suspend faculty members or on what grounds that decision can be made while the process is ongoing.
District Deliberates City School Board is considering major changes to buildings.
tainably build the local economy. When considering the project, Orr reflected on the community surrounding the College, a rust belt community with a poverty rate between 20 to 25 percent — a community that desperately needs an economic driver. Orr also wanted something that would reflect the priorities of the College. “The Hotel is not just a hotel; it’s a means to a
Title IX Talk Erica Rau discusses her new role as senior woman administrator.
Aisles of Dread Oberlin orchestra samples Russian masterpieces.
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See page 14
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INDEX:
Opinions 5
This Week in Oberlin 8
Arts 10
Sports 16
Associate Professor of Theater and Africana Studies Justin Emeka participated in the discussion Wednesday and identified the treatment of Karega as an example of how Black lives are not valued in the Oberlin faculty. Emeka said that as far as he is aware, no one has ever been dismissed for being bigoted at Oberlin, and asked whether the first person would really be a Black woman. “The fact is, certain ideas and people are dismissed and erased,” Emeka said. “Who has the right to have a voice on this campus? … The extreme antagonism Joy has faced was used as a tool to erase voices challenging power.” Karega said that while she was initially willing to return to Oberlin, she might reconsider given how the College has treated her. “I cannot accept being subjected to arbitrary standards and differential treatment,” Karega said. “I cannot accept the way that I have been treatSee Karega, page 4
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Feature Photo: Presidential Debate
Students watch the presidential debate at the Feve Monday night. A variety of venues across campus hosted presidential debate showings, including the 'Sco, Azariah's Café and Dye Lecture Hall. Oberlin has served as a center of activism for the Clinton campaign with many community members canvassing across campus and in town. The Clinton campaign hosted Parks and Recreation's Adam Scott Sunday and NSYNC's Lance Bass Tuesday to help energize the get-out-and-vote effort in Oberlin. Text by Oliver Bok, News editor Photo by Pearse Anderson
The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
Local Officer Cleared of Charges Louis Krauss News Editor Oberlin Police Chief Juan Torres said he would not pursue further action in response to a report of local police harassment. City residents Monique Brooks-Cochran and her fiancé Arvis Townsend, who are both Black, filed the complaint after officer Bashshar Wiley allegedly harassed and monitored their family over the last four years. Townsend, who has been arrested five times and had 49 encounters with Oberlin Police between 2012 and 2016 for charges including drug possession and robbery, complained that Wiley would frequently park his patrol car in front of his house for no reason and go out of his way to serve him warrants, sometimes doing so in the middle of the night. “It’s like every time he sees me he’s harassing me," Townsend said. "It never stops. He constantly runs my name and is always laughing like it’s a joke, and my kids are now terrified of Oberlin police.” Townsend and Brooks-Cochran filed the report in early August in response to a traffic stop on July 25 by both Wiley and officer Corey Shoemaker, during which Townsend claimed the officers intimidated and racially discriminated against them. In total, the report cited at least five cases where Wiley allegedly harassed Townsend and his family. Wiley did not respond to any of the Review’s interview requests. In order to eliminate possible conflicts of interest, Torres gave the investigation to detective Heath Tester from the Lorain County Sheriff ’s Office. “I have the confidence in our staff to do the investigation,” Torres said. “But in order to have a transparent process and avoid any accusations of paritiality, it was better to go outside on this case.” After Tester investigated the case for approximately two months and consulted with his supervisor and Sheriff Phil Stammitti, he decided the
complaint was without basis and unfounded before returning it to Torres to make the final decision last week. Torres told Brooks-Cochran over the phone he would take several weeks to look into the report, but decided several days later that no further action would be taken. “I could see that officer Wiley was very distraught about this, so I went full time and read as hard as I could,” Torres said. “I put priority on this big time because I don’t want my officer to be under so much stress.” But while Torres says he took the case seriously and spent over 30 hours on it, Townsend was upset and said he thinks Torres rushed it unfairly. “He didn’t look over it, I know he didn’t,” Townsend said. “There’s no possible way he looked over all that paperwork in just four days and found Wiley was not negligent.” One issue Torres faced was that Townsend refused to give investigators any of his video footage of police harassing him, which made it harder to prove whether police made racist remarks and laughed at him during the traffic stop as the report claims. Townsend said he wanted to meet with his lawyer and make a more formal case before giving the police access to his footage. It is unclear why Tester’s report was only concerned with the traffic stop in July. After reporting multiple cases of harassment to Torres, Brooks-Cochran was surprised to find that the report only really went in detail on the most recent case. “I told Tester I didn’t want him to just investigate that one day, I wanted them to look at all of them, around ten altogether,” Brooks-Cochran said. Torres said in an email to the Review that the investigation did consider all the cases Brooks-Cochran listed. However, three out of the four pages of Tester’s report are in regards to the traffic stop and does not reference any other specific cases of harassment. Additionally, the report explained that it is unsurprising Wiley was of-
ten involved with Townsend due to the small size of Oberlin — around 8,300 residents — and its police force. The report found that Wiley was involved in 17 of the 49 police encounters Townsend experienced. Part of the reason Wiley dealt with Townsend more than other officers is because he is a field-training officer, which Torres said entails being more forward about dealing with repeat offenders. “Field-training officer means he needs to be very proactive and go out to people’s houses,” Torres said. “Aside from that, he’s a very proactive person and that’s his nature, not to mention he works night shifts and we only have two officers at night.” Townsend wonders whether the fact that his son used to date Wiley’s niece played a role in the increased harassment. Specifically, Brooks-Cochran pointed to an alleged incident in 2014 when she caught the officer’s niece sneaking into her son’s room and made the girl’s father take her home. “I don’t know if that information ever got back to officer Wiley, but soon after he told us he would make our lives hell, and since then it has been,” Brooks-Cochran said. “So I wonder whether that made him come around our house more.” Torres said he was surprised to hear of these complaints, calling Wiley an “outstanding” officer. Torres stated that he and Tester both knew Wiley's niece dated Townsend's son and felt it didn't impact Wiley's professionalism. Torres added that Wiley was unhappy about the situation and felt as though his reputation was tarnished. This was the first harassment complaint Torres received since he began as chief last fall, but said he would take the situation very seriously and review if changes need to be made. “In the next month we will be reviewing the report,” Torres said. “My goal is to get zero complaints. I still want to make contact with him personally.”
Community Debates Hotel Project as Conference Arrives Continued from page 1 larger end, a bigger conversation about the role we want to play in today’s world,” Orr said. “We want to see some changes in everything from Oberlin College curriculum, to local economic planning and thinking to next events elsewhere around the country and around the world.” Some students have questioned the utility of spending at least $18 million on a building that appears only tangentially related to the mission of the College. Double-degree senior and Student Senate Liaison Jeremy Poe said it is not yet clear if the Hotel’s benefits will outweigh the cost. “When evaluating benefits, Oberlin can't simply ask what the space is being used for, but
rather how well it is being used,” Poe wrote in an email to the Review. “The Gateway Center will reportedly include a new office for Admissions, a performance space, multiple classrooms and the Hotel. But the lesson that should be learned from the Kohl and Kahn buildings is that however impressive a project may be, the buildings may not work as well or the same way as intended.” College junior and Student Senator Jesse Docter noted how the College often claims to have no money when students make demands, only to later announce multimillion-dollar capital projects put into motion with no student input. “It’s difficult for us to assess the financial picture of the College because the financial-plan-
The Oberlin Review — Established 1874 —
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September 30, 2016
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. Second-class postage paid at Oberlin, Ohio. Entered as second-class matter at the Oberlin, Ohio post office April 2, 1911. POSTMASTER SEND CHANGES TO: Wilder Box 90, Oberlin, Ohio 44074-1081. Office of Publication: Burton Basement, Oberlin, Ohio 44074. Phone: (440) 775-8123 Fax: (440) 775-6733 On theOn web: thehttp://www.oberlinreview.org web: oberlinreview.org
ning picture is so different from the answers we get about day-to-day demands,” Docter said. To President Marvin Krislov, however, the choice to build a new facility instead of renovating the old one was clear. “We were having a difficulty retaining business,” Krislov said. “Conferences were not willing to come there. Visitors were not happy. I thought there were many positive things about the Inn, but overall the analysis was that it needed to be replaced and the money that we would spent to renovate it was not going to change the fundamentals, which was that it was not a great facility.” Krislov also noted that much of the funding for the Hotel came from sources that would have been unavailable for other projects.
Editors-in-Chief Editors-in-chief Tyler Liv Combe Sloan Allegra Vida Weisblum Kirkland Managing editor Samantha Kiley Petersen Link News editors Rosemary Oliver Boeglin Bok Alex LouisHoward Krauss Opinions editor WillSami Rubenstein Mericle This Week Weekeditor editor Zoë Andrea Strassman Wang Arts editors Christian Kara Brooks Bolles Victoria Georgia Garber Horn Sports editors Jackie McDermott Quinn Hull Madeleine Darren O’Meara Zazlau Layout editors Abby Tiffany Carlstad Fung Ben Alexa Garfinkel Corey Alanna TaliaSandoval Rodwin Photo editors Anya OliviaSpector Gericke Photo editors Brannon Rockwell-Charland Bryan Rubin Online editor Rick Alanna Bennett Yu
“There were many people who very excited about the vision for the Hotel — a LEED Platinum Hotel with more space for conferences — so we were able to get money both from private individuals ... and new market tax credits and other devices," Krislov said. Most of the prominent discussions and seminars will be aired by the environmentalstreaming company NMG Live and will be available online for anyone who wants to watch. Financial support for the conference is being provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, Veris Wealth Partners, the George Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, the Lorain County Community Foundation and 12 anonymous donors.
Business manager Maureen CurtisCoffey Cook Business manager Savi Sedlacek Ads manager Caley Watnick Ads manager Reshard el-Shair Online editor Hazel Galloway Production manager Sophia Bamert Production manager Ryanne Berry Production staff Stephanie Bonner Production staff Auden Granger Emma Eisenberg Taylor Field Julia Peterson Katherine Hamilton Giselle Glaspie Julia Hubay Sydney Allen Tracey Knott Anna Rubenstein Noah Morris Anna Peckham Courtney Loeb Silvia Sheffield Melissa Harris Drew Wise Kendall Mahavier Distributors Joe Camper Distributors Bryan Rubin Joseph Dilworth James Ben Steger Kuntz
Corrections: Corrections In "Ohio Voting Has Built-In The Review is not awareSafeguards," of (Sept. 23, 2016), Alison Ricker and Mary any corrections this week. Kirtz Van Nortwick were incorrectly identified. They strives are co-presidents The Review to print all of the League ofas Women Voters Ohio. information accurately as of possible. If you feel the Review has made an To error, submitplease a correction, send an email e-mailmanagto ingeditor@oberlinreview.org. managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.
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The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
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Off the Cuff: Cindy Frantz, Psychology Professor Cindy Frantz is a Psychology professor who studies social psychology with an emphasis on bias and discrimination. Frantz teaches classes about implicit bias and ran a workshop with faculty and staff on reducing implicit bias Thursday. Frantz also researches environmental psychology, works with the Environmental Studies Program and directs the Community Based Social Marketing Research Project, an initiative that finds ways to help reduce carbon emissions at the College. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Can you briefly define implicit bias? Implicit bias is the result of the way we’re hardwired to function. There are several things about human beings that lead to implicit bias, and they’re really adaptive most of the time, but then you combine them in a situation where you have marginalized groups and negative stereotypes, and it becomes very toxic. A lot of our decision making and processing happens completely unconsciously. So we don’t know what’s going on in our minds. And so someone might look in their mind and say, “I’m not racist,” but they can’t know that because so much of what’s going on is happening below conscious awareness. Another really important thing is that we categorize constantly. So when you walked into the room, you had a category for chair that made it possible for you to know where to put your butt. We absolutely, positively have to categorize or we could not function, and one of the things that we spend a lot of time categorizing is people. And we also do that completely automatically. So anyone who says, “I don’t judge people based on their group, I always look at them as individuals” — they do. They categorize people. And then they might look at them as individuals as a second step, but the categorizing happens completely automatically. And then if we pretend we’re not categorizing, that’s not helpful, that’s ridiculous. Then the third thing that I think is really important to understand is that we are social creatures. We are very influenced by our social
Thursday, Sept. 22 8:45 a.m. Safety and Security officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Union Street Village Housing caused by smoke from cooking. The windows were opened and the alarm reset.
Friday, Sept. 23 10:50 a.m. Officers responded to an alarm in the animal lab at the Science Center. They found nothing out of place and reset the alarm. 2:07 p.m. A student reported the theft of their locked bicycle from the north end of the carport at Firelands Apartments. The $500 bicycle is a black Trek Fx2 with
environment and the people around us. Right now we live in a racist world. We’re exposed to negative depictions of people of color constantly. Whether or not we believe them or endorse them, they are in the air that we’re breathing, so they’re going to influence us. When is implicit bias most likely to happen? That’s a really important question, and then the next question is: What can we do about it? So we can override our biases. You can have a correction process, basically. Let me give an example. I’m walking down a city street at night, I notice there’s a Black man walking behind me, I have an implicit immediate reaction of fear, then my rational mind can say, “I don’t need to be afraid, I’m OK.” So there’s a correction process that can happen. If we’re distracted or cognitively tired, that correction process doesn’t happen and then the implicit bias is more likely to happen. Implicit bias is more likely to happen if we don’t know we have the bias. If we don’t know we have the bias, we can’t correct for it. So becoming aware of your own bias is a really important first step to doing something about it. The other circumstance in which we’re more likely to engage in implicit bias is if we’re feeling defensive or threatened. Sometimes we use our implicit biases to feel better about ourselves or to defend ourselves. There’s actually a lot of research on what can do we about this. For white people who don’t want to be racist or don’t want to be biased, it’s really important to not take it personally and not feel like anyone is saying, “You’re a bad person.” Because it’s not about you. It’s about the way humans are hardwired and it’s about this racist society that we grew up in. So don’t waste any time on shame. Instead just focus on, “I have this good intention, how can I act on this good intention?” Becoming aware of your own bias is the first step. There’s actually a number of things you can do to kind of retrain your brain. There’s research showing that when we’re exposed to counter stereotypic exemplars, like Barack Obama — incredibly competent, the President of the United States, I really think he’s helping people develop a new association with Blackness. They’ve also done exercises with police officers where they’ve
a 20-inch frame and 26-inch wheels. 8 p.m. A student reported the theft of their unattended silver MacBook Air computer from a study carrel on the second floor of Mudd library. The computer was in a gray wool case with black elastic straps and is valued at $1,200. The Oberlin Police Department was notified and the theft is being investigated.
Saturday, Sept. 24 1:20 a.m. Officers assisted a student ill from alcohol consumption in the front yard of a Village Housing unit on Cedar Street. An ambulance transported the student to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.
Sunday, Sept. 25 12:42 a.m. Officers responded to a noise complaint at a Village housing
Cindy Frantz, Psychology professor
had them do this categorization task where they’re associating Black faces with positive words, and that actually helps them literally retrain the wiring in their brain. But you have to be committed, you have to put effort into doing that. Perspective-taking seems to be important — really understanding what it’s like to be another person. … We have these things called mirror neurons. So when you are writing, and I’m watching you, the part of the brain that’s involved in me writing lights up a bit, since I’m watching you write. It’s a really important part of empathy — when you’re doing something, my brain is kind of doing the same thing too. White people don’t do that when they’re watching Black people. Those mirror neurons don’t light up. So perspective-taking is a way basically to get those mirror neurons to light up. What can be done about implicit bias in police shootings? Think about a situation where a police officer doesn’t know whether it’s a life or death situation, has to make a decision really, really quickly, there could be a lot of noise or it’s dark. Those are objectively really difficult decision-making moments. What we know is that simply seeing a Black face makes people more likely to perceive an object as a weapon. So that’s a problem. And I think that another huge problem that we have right now is there
unit on Woodland Street. They met with students at the house and transported a student to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment of injuries received from a broken window. 2:45 a.m. An officer observed several individuals on the roof of Severance Hall. Seven students and one non-student were instructed to come down from the roof and advised them of the College’s policy. A work order was filed to check the roof for broken tiles. 7:30 a.m. A student reported the theft of their unlocked bicycle from the north side of Johnson House. The registered bicycle is a green touring-style Raleigh with a silver book rack. 5:12 p.m. Officers responded to a leak on the first floor of Saunders House. Maintenance technicians also responded and found a washer leaking in the laundry room. The water was turned off until repairs were made and a fan and blower
really is no accountability. And that’s not about implicit bias. It’s really true that many of these police officers are acting really quickly. They’re completely acting from a place of implicit bias, but they’re not doing it on purpose. It’s not like they’re sitting there thinking, “I’m a racist, I’m going to shoot this person.” They’re genuinely thinking they’re doing the right thing in that moment. So that’s a problem, and we as a society need to change the implicit associations with Blackness. That’s a long process, but that’s something we can work on. Why should police officers be motivated to do that if they’re not held accountable for their actions? Because that process of relearning associations takes effort and commitment. If there’s no accountability for their behavior, why should they bother? I think that’s the other part of the problem. There needs to be accountability. Are racial stereotypes always the strongest and most persistent biases? No. We can be biased on any dimension at all. It’s whatever category is most salient and important in that social context. So in Sweden, for example, the distinction between Swedes and Finns is really important even though they’re all blond-haired and blue-eyed. So it is not inevitable that we do this about race, it’s just that right now, in our cultural context, race matters. Are there things that our society can do to make future generations less biased? I think we really need to try to not teach the stereotypes in the first place. That is the ultimate prevention strategy. That means kids see people of all backgrounds in their history books doing important things, people see pictures in the media and the bad guys are all different colors and the good guys are all different colors. We learn those associations really deeply and they basically haunt us for the rest of our lives, so I think that efforts to make sure that media representations are not biased is a really important place to put energy. Interview by Oliver Bok, News editor Photo courtesy of Cindy Frantz
were placed in the hallway to dry the area.
Monday, Sept. 26 6:53 p.m. A student reported the theft of their locked bicycle from the west side of Keep Cottage. The bicycle is registered as a black 24-speed Specialized Ariel valued at approximately $50.
Tuesday, Sept. 27 3:41 p.m. A student reported the theft of their locked bicycle from the north side of Saunders House. The bicycle is a gray, black and red Roadmaster Granite Peak. 9:37 p.m. An officer responded to a report of an odor consistent with burnt marijuana coming from a room on the first floor of East Hall. The area was checked, but no one was located.
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News
The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
Students Advocate for More Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Melissa Harris Production Editor When Conservatory students William Adams and Zoe Cutler brought up the lack of gender-neutral bathrooms in the Conservatory last year to Title IX coordinators, the initial feedback gave them hope. Administrators said they would consider making additional gender-neutral bathrooms a component of last summer’s renovations to Bibbins Hall’s first floor, Cutler, a junior, and Adams, a sophomore, returned this fall to find the situation unchanged. “One of the big things that seemed obvious to Will and I when we brought it up is that they renovated the first floor of Bibbins last year,” Cutler said. “So when we were talking to the [Title IX administration] about that, they were like, ‘Oh yeah, maybe because we’re renovating the first floor of Bibbins, maybe we can just convert some of the bathrooms,’ … and then it just didn’t happen.” There are only two gender-neutral bathrooms in the cluster of Conservatory buildings: one in Robertson and one in Kohl, both on the third floors. According to Cutler, that causes problems for students who use gender-neutral bathrooms. “Bibbins is where a lot of the classes are, and there are no gender-neutral bathrooms in that whole building out of the six bathrooms there, which means there’s no access there,” Cutler said. “If you’re in your Bibbins class and you’re like, ‘I need to use a gender-neutral restroom,’ you need to walk down to the first floor of Bibbins, across Central, to Robertson, up to the third floor — which is annoying.” Adams and Cutler, both members of the trans and nonbinary student group Lilac, plan to get back on track with Interim Title IX Coordinator
Rebecca Mosley, who took on the position July this year. Mosley said there is a difference between residential and academic buildings on campus concerning Title IX, a federal statue that “protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.” “When you live in a space, you have more of a say of how the spaces are used,” Mosley said. “In the residence halls, the designations that are created are changed as frequently as the users need or want them to be changed, versus in a classroom building, the users are constantly changing. So it’s a different type of a challenge about how you would go about creating that space in a way that would be comfortable since you never know who’s going in and out throughout the day and [from] semester to semester.” Mosley added that Title IX rules make it difficult to add gender-neutral bathrooms in academic buildings. “Where some of this gets tricky is that there’s codes out there that we have to follow,” Mosley said. “So we’re trying to find ways of following codes and also make sure we have gender-neutral spaces.” Mosley said she has only met with faculty and staff individuals so far in her first months as Oberlin’s Title IX coordinator, but stressed her enthusiasm to work with students engaged with the issues around gender-neutral spaces and restrooms on campus. She noted the example of how student opinions helped establish a singleuse restroom in Wilder Hall’s basement to make the building’s restroom facilities more inclusive to nonbinary users. Mosley emphasized that making these additions would require meeting with staff from the facilities and finance groups to see how feasible
A student walks into a bathroom in the Science Center. Students have recently questioned the lack of gender-neutral restrooms in academic buildings. Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor
the renovations are, and that the logistics are the main thing in the way. “This is something we are very supportive of and we want to make happen,” Mosley said. “We see the need for this. It’s just trying to figure out how to make it happen, that’s the current issue.” Multiple students wrote and discussed the issue in the Oberlin 2019 Facebook group Sept. 22 after College sophomore Shira Cohen voiced her concerns about a lack of gender-neutral bathrooms in academic buildings at the College. “Who do I fight (talk to fine) about making all the bathrooms in King, Science Center, etc. gender neutral?” she asked in the group. Although a self-identified cis-female, Cohen said that after living in Zechiel House this year — a dormitory with a gender-neutral and a single-use bathroom on each floor — she believes this configuration would be ideal in all campus
buildings. “If we get enough people to be loud about it, they’ll have to do something about it, because Oberlin is really good about having safe spaces and accepting people outside the gender binary,” Cohen said. “In all of the [dorms], there’s always at least one gender-neutral or single-use bathroom on every floor, and I think that’s great. So why don’t we transfer that to academic buildings, where a lot of people spend even more time?” Adams also noted how these changes would become much more probable with greater support from students and faculty. “If other students want this to change also, everyone should be speaking up about it,” Adams said. “Because there can be a very vocal just a few of us but that may not be enough to make things change. But if we have a lot of student support about it, it will be easier to change the situation.”
City's School Board to Consider Consolidation Karega QuesJack Brewster
at the price of tearing down Prospect Elementary. “We haven’t found a repurposing use for Prospect, so it might be torn down,” Stanley said. Other plans call for creating one K-12 school to house all district students; another proposes keeping all four schools and renovating them. “There a number of people who feel we need to start fresh, build a single campus that would house all students,” Stanley said. “Or we tear down and repurpose different buildings. Some would be torn down, some would be repurposed. Some people feel we should continue to maintain four buildings, and there’s an argument for that.” At the moment, even the superintendent is undecided what the town should do next. “Consolidation, renovation, construction, everything is on the table,” Hall said. “I don’t have a favor either way. I don’t need a new building to say, ‘You know what, hey, I did that,’ so I’m not in favor of that. Whatever is best for the community, I’m in favor of.” The committee is comprised of teachers, ad-
ministrators, community members and people with expertise in construction and finance, but members are reluctant to identify themselves at such an early stage in planning. Prospect Elementary Principal Jim Eibel acknowledged he is on the committee, but declined to say who else was on it. In order to come to a decision, the committee will pull together more information regarding each plan. Once they reach a consensus, they will make a recommendation to the school board regarding what should be done. The school board will then vote on the proposed plan. Stanley expects to have a set committee by the end of the year. “It’s something we have to make a decision on, but it’s something we have to get right,” Stanley added. “It’s a big decision, obviously. It’s a huge decision. Whichever way we go we’re likely to stick with it. If we build a new building, we’re obviously stuck with it for 25-30 years minimum. If we go another route, we’re probably precluding the new school building route for a while.”
The City’s public schools are all over 50-years old and in substantial need of repair, forcing the Oberlin Public School board to consider a multitude of plans to revamp the run-down buildings, including even tearing down a few schools. In the coming months, the board will put together a committee tasked with finding the best way to update the aging infrastructure. “Something has to be done to the buildings to upgrade them and get them up to par,” Superintendent Dr. David Hall said. “Whether that’s going to be a consolidation, renovation —we need to address the facilities’ issues, which we will.” Chief among the problems at the schools — Prospect Elementary School, Eastwood Elementary School, Langston Middle School, and Oberlin High School — is inefficient heating. Many classrooms also do not have air conditioning. According to Ken Stanley, Oberlin Board of Education President, more than half of the district’s students study in classrooms without air conditioning. “In many cases the temperature can get up to 85-90 degrees in classrooms [without] air conditioning] at some time during the year,” Stanley said. Other maintenance issues, in combination with aging infrastructure, have rendered the buildings severely outdated, according to Hall. However, the board has not yet found a single plan they can rally behind. Some members feel the best solution lies in consolidation. They contend that Oberlin has too many public schools and simply cannot maintain all of them. According to Stanley, the city’s four schools are designed for approximately 2,000 students in total, but only around 1,000 students are actually enrolled. “We have a lot of space, but we in many cases have the wrong sort of space,” Stanley said. “That means it is expensive to maintain all of that space. We have four separate schools all of which are smaller than what the state considers to be One of the Oberlin school district's four schools, Langston Middle School, sits on North Pleasant Street. The the minimum size for an efficient school.” district is considering a variety of plans to consolidate space, as the current facilities are far larger than the Stanley hinted that consolidation could come district requires. Photo by Rick Yu, Photo editor
tions Faculty Review Board
Continued from page 1 ed as a Black woman on Oberlin’s faculty. That is another reason why the review process has stalled. I am objecting to the way that I have been treated through the avenues that I have available to me. … You can disagree with the posts and still think I’m being treated this way because I am a Black woman.” Karega also framed the issue around the concept of academic freedom. “College campuses should be somewhere where the most conservative and the most radical faculty can find a place,” Karega said. For double-degree senior and Student Senate Liaison Jeremy Poe, who wrote a letter criticizing ACF last week, the revelations raise concerns about how governance works at the College. “Public comments by members of faculty in the last year raise serious questions about how this school is governed,” Poe wrote in an email to the Review. “Of course, these are concerns that students have been raising for a long time. The letter Senate released last week — condemning the alumni who have marginalized, intimidated and harassed students — successfully drew attention to student concerns about Oberlin governance.”
Opinions The Oberlin Review
September 30, 2016
Letters to the Editors Symposium Features Constructive Dialogue To the Editors: On behalf of the Oberlin Chapter of Alums for Campus Fairness, I want to thank all who attended our symposium, “Building a Hate-Free Campus Through Civil Discourse.” More than 60 people participated in the event, including students, faculty, administrators, clergy and town residents. Despite some pre-event concerns voiced by students, the symposium was productive. For 45 minutes before the symposium began and during the 45-minute questionand-answer session, interactions occurred among students, alumni and the speakers — Kenneth L. Marcus, Chloe Simone Valdary and Stacey Aviva Flint. In spite of difficult questions, student criticism of ACF and complex and sensitive topics, the tone remained respectful and civil. At the end of the evening, I was glad to exchange contact information with a member of the Student Senate. In the same vein, I was pleased when Interim Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo expressed her hope that alumni and students will pursue partnerships in the near future, suggesting that students plan another event with alumni support. It is my sincere hope that all interested members of Oberlin’s greater community can work together to address the concerns that we have communicated, as well as the concerns expressed on Thursday night. We all hope to see Oberlin grow from strength to strength, maintain-
ing its proud legacy of social justice, respect for individual self-expression and intellectual rigor. – Melissa Landa, Ph.D. President, Oberlin Alums for Campus Fairness
Alumni Misrepresent Student Experiences To the Editors: In light of the recent [Oberlin Alums for Campus Fairness] symposium, “Building a Hate-Free Campus through Civil Discourse,” it is important for students to come together and engage with the complicated dynamics of anti-Semitism, IsraelPalestine politics on campus and alumni involvement in the narratives portrayed about Oberlin. Student Senate wrote a letter with the intent to engage with these topics (“Student Senate Condemns OCACF Actions,” Sept. 23, 2016, The Oberlin Review). J Street U’s lack of involvement in the letter was due to numerous circumstances, including differences of opinion with some of its content and limited time to contribute effectively. While individuals associated with J Street U were in conversation with Student Senate, J Street U as an organization did not contribute. It is important for students to work toward representing a collective student voice in opposition to the alumni. However, we feel that elements of the Student Senate letter lacked nuance when it came to the difference between actual anti-Semitism and claims of anti-Semitism conflated with anti-Zionism. We agree with the Student Senate letter
that the way in which ACF highlighted Professor Karega’s posts was out of the context of student experiences with anti-Semitism on campus. In addition, we believe that some of Professor Karega’s Facebook posts were anti-Semitic. The actions taken by the alumni do not preclude the need to acknowledge legitimate anti-Semitism when it presents itself. We need to separate the alumni’s conflation of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment from actual anti-Semitic tropes and rhetoric. The conflation of antiZionism and anti-Semitism made by ACF contributes to our inability as a student body to recognize legitimate anti-Semitism. Student Senate’s interest in a collective voice determined by different student organizations is an important one. While, symbolically, a co-signed letter demonstrates that organizations are working together, in reality, the important conversations have not yet happened. We are looking to Student Senate to convene a conversation with relevant groups so together we can grapple with underlying dynamics on campus. How do we identify and act on real anti-Semitism when we see it? How do we foster an environment that creates an intersectional understanding of racial justice and anti-Semitism and pursues justice in all forms? How can students take ownership of narratives about our institution? Student organizations must develop relationships so students can respectfully engage with each other’s work in an authentic way. We look forward to having these conversations on a campus that is unencumbered by the unrepresentative narratives driven by ACF. - J Street U Oberlin Board
Clinton Brings Lifetime of Service to Presidency Amber Scherer Contributing Writer One of my first conversations while phone banking for the Clinton campaign was also one of my most memorable. An elderly man picked up. I gave him my pitch, then paused for his response. He was polite but hesitant. I asked which candidate he planned to support in November. Eventually, overly conscious of the silence, I offered, “Yeah… it’s a difficult choice.” We said goodnight, I finished my shift, and I sat quietly, vaguely irritated.
What’s so difficult about it? Nothing, really — and I could have said as much. I want to share what I wish I’d said to that man. Hillary Rodham Clinton should be the next President of the United States. Her qualifications are rooted in a lifetime of service, and her abilities are incomparable to any other nominee’s. She’s a human rights advocate. She has defended the equality of women on a global scale, particularly in terms of equal pay, education and abortion access. She denounces the oppression of African Americans, Muslim Americans and low-income See Clinton’s, page 7
Submissions Policy The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and column submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in the following Friday’s Review. Letters may not exceed 600 words and columns may not exceed 800 words, except with the consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names, for all signers. All electronic submissions from multiple writers should be carbon-copied to all signers to confirm authorship. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for content, space, spelling, grammar and libel. Editors will work with columnists and contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. In no case will editors change the opinions expressed in any submission. The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review. In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response. The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to the author of a letter to the editors. Opinions expressed in letters, columns, essays, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review.
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The Oberlin Review Publication of Record for Oberlin College — Established 1874 —
Editors-in-Chief Tyler Sloan Vida Weisblum Managing Editor Kiley Petersen Opinions Editor Sami Mericle
Protest Votes Selfish with Trump at Stake Ohio’s electoral votes have favored the winning candidate in 93 percent presidential elections since 1900, and most polls currently show Republican nominee Donald Trump winning Ohio by a small margin this November. With so much at stake in the Buckeye state, now is not the time for a protest vote. While most Obies will likely not cast a ballot for Trump, they might commit an act just as dangerous by voting for a third-party candidate this election or deciding not to vote at all. Perhaps this decision is motivated by a desire to abstain from an election in which many feel like they must choose between “the lesser of two evils.” Or maybe some are still riding Senator Bernie Sanders’ momentum from the primary and believe now is the time to revolutionize and change the system. Either way you spin it, the logic flops. The reality is that Sanders’ campaign is over, the Green Party’s Jill Stein will not be the next U.S. president and neither will Libertarian Gary Johnson. Like it or not, this is the political reality that voters must reckon with in approximately five weeks: It’s Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Most voting-age students are too young to remember the 2000 presidential election in which former President George W. Bush defeated Democratic nominee Al Gore by only five electoral votes. Bloggers and political science buffs love to argue over whether the Green Party’s Ralph Nader acted as a spoiler for Gore in the election. While many factors could have swung the results either way, one of them was most certainly Nader, who received 97,000 votes in Florida, likely tipping the state’s 25 electoral votes to Bush. As of Sept. 23 polls, Real Clear Politics estimates 1.8 percent of Ohio votes going to Stein. If those votes went to Clinton instead, the race would suddenly become much closer. To decline to vote or to vote for a candidate whose chances at defeating Trump are exceptionally slim is not only illogical but an act of privilege. Both President Barack Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders have reiterated the importance of voting. To allow Trump to get ahead is to spit in the face of many Americans for whom the election’s result is literally a life or death situation. “I represent the poor, I represent the condemned, I represent the people who live on the margins of society — for them, their lives are at stake,” said acclaimed public interest lawyer and Equal Justice Initiative-founder Bryan Stevenson in a recent video. “I’ve got clients who might be executed depending on who wins an election. I represent people who might die depending on who will provide health coverage to them or not. I represent people who are facing deportation, whose freedom turns on who wins an election.” Stevenson makes the point that while most voters have the privilege not to fear for their life at the thought of a Trump presidency, some can only hope that voters won’t throw away their votes. “If you don’t want to vote for yourself, vote for them,” Stevenson said. Who we elect determines whether our government and Supreme Court Justices will support all Americans or strip entire communities of their rights. It’s no secret that Trump has called for “punishment” of women who opt for abortions, a ban on Muslims entering the country and erecting a wall at the Mexican border. Who we elect determines whether these plans will have a chance at fruition. Holding out for a perfect candidate and taking a symbolic stand against an arguably flawed two-party system has no place in the 2016 election when the future of the country is precariously perched at a historical turning point. The risk of a Trump presidency is too great to disengage from the reality that voting for a third party, or simply not at all, will allow him a straight path to the White House. Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, Managing editor and Opinions editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.
Opinions
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The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
Oberlin ACF Actions Polarize Campus Josh Koller Contributing Writer This is the first installment in the Review’s new Student Senate column. In an effort to increase communication and transparency, Student Senators will provide personal perspectives on recent events on campus and in the community. Oberlin College’s student body is never at rest, nor should it be, given the current state of global, national and campus-wide affairs. The event generating the most noise at the beginning of this week was the panel centered on anti-Semitism held by Oberlin Alums for Campus Fairness on Sept. 22. Along with my fellow Student Senators, I took part in sending an open letter to the student body condemning the actions of ACF. Some people may wonder why Senate chose to take this stance, and I would like to address why I participated in sending the condemnation letter. The most pivotal point that the letter made was the assertion that the Oberlin community should be more responsive to its largest stakeholders: its students. Alumni have a stake in Oberlin’s success, but I believe student concerns deserve priority. The intention to bolster student voices is a positive one. But in reality ACF’s actions — primarily the acts of harassment referenced in Student Senate’s letter, as well as a letter regarding anti-Semitism that ACF published — served to polarize campus and pit students against each other rather than bring them together. It did not result in increased empathy and understanding but rather animosity and distance. I believe the positive emails and reactions we received in response to Senate’s letter reflect that we accurately represented our constituents. I attended the panel that ACF hosted. While I was thankful for the dialogue stimulated by the College students and Oberlin community members who attended, I found that the panel fell short of being a productive, educational tool. Kenneth Marcus, one of the speakers on the event panel and a former employee of the U.S. federal government, shared a statistic claiming that 54 percent of Jewish college students experience anti-Semitism. Marcus also shared a story about his experience on a college campus asking Jewish students if they had experienced anti-Semitism at school. When hardly any students replied that they had experienced anti-Jewish sentiments, he listed examples of acts that he personally interpreted as anti-Semitic until a sufficient number of students replied that they had experienced those acts. While I think that discussion around bigotry is important, defining what a student or any person experiences on their behalf is not a positive action. I also believe that the panel’s characterization of anti-Semitism on Oberlin’s campus as “rampant” is ill-fitting. Approximately 15 Jewish students signed Oberlin ACF’s Jan. 5, 2016 letter to the administration regarding anti-Semitism. While this number may neglect some students who were afraid to sign the letter — as Oberlin ACF President Melissa Landa pointed out — it still falls far short of the national average that Marcus provided. Do not get me wrong; even one act of anti-Semitism is one too many. There is no place for racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, anti-queerness or any form of bigotry on this campus. However, characterizing anti-Semitism reported by a minute portion of the Jewish student body as “rampant” and holding a panel on anti-Semitism in response, juxtaposed with the ways Oberlin alumni have responded to allegations of racism from Black students, paints an unsatisfying picture. Some have addressed Black students’ claims, and others have mocked them or neglected them. I do not mean to imply that the struggles or oppression of any two groups of people should be compared; I merely mean to ask people to think critically about the ways we respond to requests for help from different bodies of people. Now more than ever is a time for everyone — and as a Jew, I call specifically to Jews — to practice empathy and understanding, particularly to people of color nationally and internationally experiencing oppression. I began this week hearing about the ACF panel, but I ended my week hearing, for the upteenth time, about Black people in the United States being gunned down by police. I would like to extend whatever empathy I can to affected communities and reaffirm that #BlackLivesMatter. I call on Oberlin College and its governing bodies to place themselves on the side of empathy and declare that #BlackLivesMatter.
Nick Endicott
McMullin Represents Inclusive Brand of Conservatism Jack Derwin Contributing Writer In a field of divisive candidates, Independent Evan McMullin hopes to represent a trustworthy alternative to the major parties’ presidential nominees, and his common-sense approach to policy and governing makes him just that candidate. I conducted a phone interview with Mr. McMullin on Sept. 19, and the candidate made it clear he wants to embody a new, socially inclusive conservatism — an ideology that stands up against the bigotry and racism associated with Republican nominee Donald Trump. McMullin, a 40-year-old from Utah, earned a bachelor’s degree in Law and Diplomacy from Brigham Young University and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career overseas working for the United Nations as a volunteer refugee resettlement officer in Amman, Jordan. He later turned his international experience into a career with the CIA, where he operated primarily in the Middle East for more than 10 years. McMullin broke into the policy world by serving as a senior advisor to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. His work there led to his appointment as chief policy director of the House Republican Conference. McMullin’s positions in all of these fields have required him to think on his feet and adapt to various problems — qualities that make him well suited for America’s highest-elected office. Because of his time overseas, McMullin emphasizes his national security expertise in his campaign. “I’m the only candidate who has direct foreign policy and national security experience. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, so she has foreign policy experience, but not di-
rect national security experience. ... I have the right experience, temperament and the right judgment to make very difficult decisions that will keep us safe,” McMullin said. Like many Republicans this election cycle, McMullin has serious issues with his party’s nomination of Donald Trump. He described Trump’s shot at the presidency as “certainly concerning, [because] he’s not a conservative and [because of ] all of his ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“I’m the only candidate who has direct foreign policy and national security experience. ... I have the right experience, temperament and the right judgment to make very difficult decisions that will keep us safe.” Evan McMullin Independent candidate –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– racist rhetoric and rhetoric condoning violence.” Knowing that many shared these concerns, McMullin hoped a true conservative without Trump’s lessdesirable qualities would emerge and run as an independent. Following the two parties’ conventions, however, McMullin realized that such a candidate was nowhere to be found. Soon thereafter, prominent Republican political operatives identified McMullin himself as an option to run against the major-party candidates and asked him if he was interested. According to McMullin, he spent 10 days considering the offer. “[I] ultimately decided that it was important enough to do, even though
I had hoped someone else would do it,” McMullin told me. “I believe that we need a new generation of leadership in this country, and so that’s what I’m campaigning for.” McMullin is not running out of vanity or in pursuit of attention. If fame were his goal, he could have run for elected office long ago. Nearly all of the work McMullin has done in his professional career has been in the interest of his party, his country or the world at large. Both major-party candidates have spent large parts of their careers advancing their own self-interests and lined their pockets along the way. In speaking with him, it was clear McMullin takes a level-headed, nonpartisan approach to problem solving. When I asked him about his plans for helping college students with debt, he pointed out that he is the only candidate who still has student debt today, and detailed a multifaceted approach centered around tying interest rates to current market rates. He also suggested a system of holding colleges and universities accountable by making them help pay off loans that their students default on. He believes this concept would “inspire schools to keep the cost of education down and the quality of education high.” McMullin’s platform is based on personal liberty and national unity. He hopes to be the antithesis to Donald Trump, who McMullin feels “divides [Americans] along racial and religious lines,” and is playing right into the hands of enemies like the Islamic State, “who want us to abandon our ideals and attack each other.” With his candidacy, McMullin hopes to represent a new type of conservatism: a movement including common-sense policy ideas from the right but leaving behind the bigotry and racism so commonly associated with the current Republican Party.
Opinions
The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
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Trump Reveals True Character in First Debate Ben Silverman Contributing Writer Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has confounded the country about his core values. His rambunctious arrival on the scene and subsequent climb in the polls left much of the U.S. confused as to why this particular candidate has slid into the political world. Since his candidacy announcement speech, however, some of his motivations have become clear and illuminated the current nature of the country. On Aug. 17, 2015, The Atlantic published an extensive article titled “Why Do People Support Donald Trump?” It featured articulate letters from Trump supporters elucidating their reasons for supporting him, including a desire for an upheaval of the new cultural hegemony, restoration of the American Dream and four years of quality entertainment. But despite
fixed Republican support, the character of Donald Trump is still an enigma — perhaps more so than any other candidate in history. He has spouted an absurd number of falsehoods on the trail, so much so that his fans support him less for his policies and more for a sense of emotional connection. But no more; with over 80 million viewers, Monday’s debate left our candidates no reason to bring anything but their most perfect selves in all aspects of their character, including rhetoric. This new dynamic had particular consequences for Donald Trump, as both supporters and critics must now face the full reality of his candidacy. As November draws closer, his status as a reality TV figure is replaced by his potential role as a powerful political figure. In the transition from character to world leader, he will be increasingly judged for his tangible influence rather than what he represents in people’s minds.
“Words matter,” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said last Monday, welcoming Trump to the arena of political discourse. From this point on, his words carry more weight than in the early months of the race, finally giving us a chance to draw conclusions about Donald Trump’s values. A major area in which Trump’s rhetoric does not match his supporters’ perception of him is on his signature issue: the economy. A unifying point among Republicans today is the need for a return to an older conception of the American Dream in which someone could feel proud of the wealth they amassed in their life, as it represented their success and achievement. In this world, a white man could feel truly successful without being shamed by elites saying the system was tilted in their favor. Today, Trump supporters look to “The Donald” in hope that that dream may yet be realized.
Stein Touts Pseudoscience for Votes Nick Bassman Contributing Writer Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein represents a much-needed voice on progressive issues. As 2016’s most nuanced and righteously dissident candidate on issues from race to renewable energy, Stein has made her campaign a rallying point for leftists, so it feels like a betrayal when she entertains harmful pseudoscientific conspiracy theories. Despite her background as a physician, Stein regularly flip-flops on a wide range of liberal pseudoscience, most disturbingly the anti-vaccination movement. She has referred to autism as a “disease,” an “epidemic” and a “public health calamity” — rhetoric that dishonors autistic people, reinforces ableist perspectives on neurodivergence and raises suspicion about supposed “environmental” causes of autism. She has asserted her personal support for vaccinations, but responded to a Reddit question about vaccinations by describing collusion between pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies: “The foxes are guarding the chicken coop as usual in the U.S. So who wouldn’t be skeptical?” As Gizmodo night editor Eve Peyser, OC ’14, pointed out, Stein tweeted on July 31, “There’s no evidence that autism is caused by vaccines,” then promptly deleted it and posted instead, “I’m not aware of evidence linking autism with vaccines.” Given the scientific consensus on this issue, her shift from definitive to skeptical language strikes me as solely politically motivated. Regarding homeopathy, Stein has suggested that “just because something is untested doesn’t mean it’s not safe.”
Again, while she’s not actively declaring her support for homeopathy, her statements are certainly a wink to those with faith in it. Stein’s hardline anti-GMO stance is also troubling. Do we have a right to know what’s in our food? Of course. Is there inappropriate interplay between agricultural corporations and the agencies that regulate them? I certainly think so. But is it scientifically sound to call for a moratorium on GMOs? Not when so many major studies have declared them safe. At this point, Stein’s suspicion toward scientists of certain disciplines rivals that of climate change deniers. While Stein’s climate plan is stellarand she has participated in crucial direct actions such as protesting the pipeline at Standing Rock — which mainstream media largely ignored — her pseudoscientific stances draw attention away from her advocacy of these legitimate environmental justice causes. Viewed collectively, her hodgepodge of positions gives credence to the harmful notion that environmentalism is an out-of-touch New Age fringe movement. I suspect that Stein’s fear of losing supporters has led her to trade scientific credibility for political clout. She panders to the dangerous medical fads of middle- and upper-class liberals, in large part because they’re the demographic most able to fund third parties. But the environmental movement has no business profiting off of misinformation and fear, even for the advancement of other, more righteous causes. In an era of calamitous science denial, the Green Party and other environmental organizations have a responsibility to give voice to nothing but provable scientific truth.
Clinton’s Diplomacy Can Heal Worldwide Rifts Continued from page 5 Americans. As Secretary of State, Clinton reinvigorated our global standing. She coordinated a 30 percent increase in exports, authored sanctions against Iran’s nuclear weapons and spearheaded “Feed the Future,” which significantly expanded international agricultural productivity. Altogether, Clinton’s diplomatic policies have and can heal the rifts of a divided world. Clinton’s career is marked by her dedication to social justice. As a junior at Wellesley College, she protested systemic racism by pushing for the recruitment of Black students and faculty members. She interned at law firms specializing in civil rights. During her postgraduate studies, Clinton worked as an attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund. These longrunning efforts came to a head in 1997 when Clinton championed the Children’s Health Insurance Program. CHIP has since provided healthcare to millions of children. Some of us might distrust Clinton’s reputation for moderate poli-
cies, but the facts tell a different story. Clinton has made historical strides in turning the American Dream of equality into reality. Projects such as CHIP and “Feed the Future,” as well as the conversations she has sparked on women’s rights, are only the most famous examples of her accomplishments. Clinton has produced change with uncommon efficiency. Looking forward, that change will only continue under a Clinton administration. Recently, Clinton worked with Bernie Sanders to bolster her college affordability plan, proposing tuition-free schooling at public institutions for families with incomes under $125,000. Clinton and the Democratic Party also introduced the most ambitious major party platform in U.S. history this summer, particularly with regards to climate change and the federal minimum wage. Former Secretary Clinton’s record isn’t flawless. But her missteps cannot compare to her achievements in health care, equality and education. For more information, I encourage you to watch the Sept. 25 installment of the best news source on television, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
“We must go forward together or not at all.” The woman who said these words strives to live them. She has defended the oppressed and vulnerable even when it was not popular to do so. We need that. We need Hillary Clinton as President. The U.S. may have recovered economically from the 2008 recession, but it will only stay strong in the hands of a Democrat. The wealth gap, which has grown to unconscionable heights, will only decrease with her proposals. Every American needs a President who will serve and protect them, because every Americans’ livelihood is on the ballot. Clinton’s career proves that she can be that leader. She possesses the character, experience and policies to uphold America’s founding principle “that all [people] are created equal.” And as much as we need her, she needs us in this election. Vote. Volunteer. Visit the Clinton Campaign at the FirstMerit Bank — our office is staffed every day from 4–10 p.m., and we want your help. Any one of us could make a difference, and I can’t think of a more important time to try.
In a failure of tact, Trump revealed Monday night that he didn’t pay taxes on multiple occasions and that he thinks himself smart for doing so. At this moment, a floodgate opened to reveal Trump’s true character. Within the tirade of cynicism that constituted his first 30 minutes of the debate — a cynicism that brought him to the point of a jab at LaGuardia Airport that could have been written for Seinfeld — his empty, singular view of the world became clear. Personal achievement and power, whether in the form of money or ownership of vapid clubhouses, is what making America great again is all about. This code of ethics is derived from business practice, leading to a morality that sanctifies capital over welfare. His condescension towards African-American communities, disrespect of women and dehumanization of Mexicans and Muslims is not another Southern Strategy-style conceit. It’s just the mark of a man with a vision of a dark future.
Domesticated Animals Deserve Compassion William Cramer Contributing Writer Editor’s note: This op-ed contains description of animal torture and slaughter. Bon Appétit, the company in charge of Oberlin’s Campus Dining Services, ceased buying pork raised in gestation crates in early 2016, according to their website. Gestation crates are used in many factory farms to confine a sow to lie her side, preventing her from moving. Companies often forcibly impregnate these sows in order to increase pork production. The pregnancy lasts around three months, after which her piglets are allowed to suckle until they are old enough to be slaughtered. Undercover PETA journalists have found that pigs are castrated, have the ends of their teeth removed with pliers and are then driven to the slaughterhouse where they are hung upside-down, left to bleed to death. This occurs all while the animals are still conscious. The sows, however, are often kept in their crates for their entire adult lives. After about five to eight litters, they are also slaughtered. Bon Appétit took a positive step forward by halting the purchase of pork raised in gestation crates. Unfortunately, we have much further to go. Every time you eat pork, regardless of how you kill it, you’re killing an animal with the same cognitive abilities as a 3-year-old child, according to Dr. Donald Broom, professor of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University. Eating meat is an immoral act, and no matter the circumstances, students should avoid it. Now, Oberlin is fairly progressive on this issue. We have 600 students eating in primarily vegetarian or vegan co-ops. But this is not enough. While there are plenty of arguments for not eating meat, such as personal health or the environment, the most important case is the moral one. Basic morality requires us to not cause unnecessary suffering to other beings. Killing animals causes them pain and suffering. Meat eaters commonly ask, “Well, what if they’re killed humanely?” Does it really matter? Whether they’re pigs, cows, chickens or any other being, it is unjust to condemn them to suffering and death. Not caring about animal suffering is a perfectly valid way to refute this argument. If this is how you truly feel, I have no argument. I only ask you to honestly look inside yourself and ask if this is the case. Do you have a dog? A cat? A fish? Have you ever been to a petting zoo? Pet a dog on the street? You likely felt some degree of connection with that animal. That animal feels pleasure and pain, joy and sadness, just like you do. What really separates a cow, pig or chicken from a cat or a dog? It’s certainly not intelligence or the capacity to be happy. It’s certainly not that some are “more alive” than others. It’s that we’ve domesticated certain animals to be killed and others to be cute. We judge the lives of farm animals to be worth less. They’re expendable. For much of human history, domesticated animals were necessary for food security. Certain cultures or traditions still use meat in their rituals and believe it to be an important part of their culture. I appreciate that and do not condemn it. The vast majority of us, however, are past needing to slaughter animals to survive. We as Oberlin students need only to sacrifice the extra 10 yard walk to the vegetarian option line of Stevenson Dining Hall. I don’t think that is too much to ask to save a life.
LIVING MACHINE A conglomerate of plants, microorganisms and aquatic organisms form the Living Machine, a complex system that turns waste water into clean water. Located in the atrium of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center, this machine is engineered to mimic the natural filtration capabilities of wetland ecosystems and acts as an on-site wastewater treatment plant for the AJLC. Wastewater enters the system to be cleaned and refined through a series of biological processes; at the end, the filtered water is recirculated back to the Center’s toilets and grounds as greywater. The next time you are passing by the AJLC, go use the bathrooms there; your contribution will help power this innovative system!
E C R U O S E R N O I T A V R E CONS TEAM The Resource Conservation Team works to reduce waste and conserve resources on campus and in the Oberlin community with a focus on keeping Oberlin’s resources within a closed-loop system.The RCT works to redistribute clothes, furniture and other necessities to students and the community through the Free Store, located in the basement of Asia House, and Big Swap, a major event at the end of each year to donate and collect students’ unwanted items as they move out of their houses and dorms. The RCT manages two gardens on campus, the J-House garden and the Harkness green patio space. The gardens are functional as well as educational and are open to student volunteers. The RCT also manages the dorm compost system. Recently the RCT has also taken over Oberlin Food Rescue, which strives to connect sources of excess food with those in the community who need it.
E C I T S U J E T A M I L C RADIO Tune in on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. to College junior Christopher Kennedy’s WOBC show about climate justice. In the midst of a climate and human rights crisis, Climate Justice Radio brings you news and perspectives on climate change, community power, and the rights of the earth and its people, featuring interviews, news, art, music, humans from Oberlin and around the world. Another world is not only possible—she’s on her way.
Ways to
STUDENTS FOIRCE ENERGY JUST
GO GREEN*
T S O P M O C M R O D Wondering what to do with food waste instead of throwing it away? Talk to your dorm’s designated Compost Captain about composting in your residential hall! Most residential halls on campus have a compost bin placed in a designated location. Every Sunday, these bins are picked up by the RCT and emptied at the Johnson House Garden. The compost is then used as a nutrient source in the Garden’s planting beds. Vegetables from the garden are sold to Campus Dining Services and student dining co-ops. Composting in your residential hall is a great way to dispose of food waste properly while contributing to on-campus food production and considering the impact of waste. If your dorm doesn’t have a compost captain and you are interested in taking on the role, email recycle@oberlin.edu.
Have you ever wanted to go green at Oberlin? Here’s some cool ways you could go green at Oberlin. Read this thingy to learn stuff about the stuff that you could learn or read about in terms of going green at Oberlin. Background photo: A student tends to the AJLC’s Living Machine.
CALENDAR Empanadas y Poesía Friday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.–9 p.m. Harvey House
Allie’s Mums Extravaganza Saturday, Oct. 1, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 14804 Gore Orphanage Rd. Wakeman, OH (1 mile north of Rt. 20)
Join Spanish House residents for an evening of preparing and enjoying Chilean Empanadas, and sharing selections of Latin American poetry. This event is sponsored by the Latin American Studies Department in celebration of Las Fiestas Patrias de Chile, or Chilean Independence Day. If you want to learn how to make empanadas, there will be a tutorial starting at 5:45 p.m.
Come enjoy a fun-filled day with family and friends at Allie’s Mum Extravaganza! It will be a day of face-painting, live music and general camaraderie. There will be pumpkins and chrysanthemum flowers for sale at this event hosted by Allie’s Mums.
Hootenanny 2016 Saturday, Oct. 1, 4–11 p.m. George Jones Farm 44333 OH-511 Oberlin, OH Celebrate fall with an evening of live music, bonfires, drinks and food trucks at George Jones Farm! This family-friendly event is held annually to raise money for George Jones Farm and The New Agrarian Center. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $12 for students. They are available at your local CityFresh stop: check cityfresh.org for details.
DESIGN AND CONTENT BY ANDREA WANG PHOTO COURTESY OF OBERLIN COLLEGE
Students for Energy Justice works to unite students and community members around resisting extreme energy extraction and defending community rights over corporate interests. Currently, SEJ is working to fight hydraulic fracturing (fracking) throughout Ohio and prevent the construction of the Nexus Pipeline, a proposed pipeline which would carry natural gas from Kensington, OH to refineries in Ontario, Canada. SEJ meets Sundays at 5 p.m in Wilder 211, and anyone with interest in energy justice is welcome to join. All levels of time commitment and experience are welcome.
D N U O R A E R U T NA Get intimate with the local ecology! You don’t have to look YOU hard — natural beauty can be found in and around Oberlin.
The 70-acre George Jones Farm is both an educational site and nature preserve, and provides valuable learning and recreational opportunities for students and the greater community. The farm’s nature preserve is home to a variety of local wildlife and open to the public for activities including trail hiking, bird watching and for research: many opportunities are available for students who desire to work with farm staff. Another natural destination is the Oberlin Arboretum, or “The Arb”, popular with joggers and students seeking the perfect date spot. This preserve has hiking trails, lush wooded areas, and a reservoir. If you are looking for natural serenity a little farther away, take a trip to Chance Creek, a beautiful getaway located a couple of miles northwest from Oberlin. It’s a vibrant spot, popular with science classes for its biodiversity.
Shansi Fellowship Information Session Wednesday, Oct. 5, 12 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Science Center, A154
“The Diversity Blues: Reframing the Diversity Agenda at HWCU” Thursday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.–9 p.m. Dye Lecture Hall
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Oct. 6–8, at 8 p.m. and Oct 8 and 9, at 2 p.m. Little Theater (Hall Auditorium Annex)
Graduating seniors interested in applying for fellowships in China, India, Indonesia and Japan should attend this information session. These one-to-two-year long fellowships are challenging and rewarding opportunities with universities and non-governmental organizations. These fellowships are open to students of any academic department. Food will be served.
Duke University sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva will present a public lecture regarding implicit racism in higher education, specifically historically white colleges and universities. Bonilla-Silva’s work addresses the stagnation of racial progress and racial inequality as it exists in the 21st century.
In Dennis Kelly’s dark comedy, a group of teenagers grow closer together after committing the perfect crime; however, as tensions rise, this newfound bond begins to unravel. General admission tickets for this production directed by senior Alex Bernui cost $5 and can be purchased from the Central Ticket Office in Hall Auditorium.
LIVING MACHINE A conglomerate of plants, microorganisms and aquatic organisms form the Living Machine, a complex system that turns waste water into clean water. Located in the atrium of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center, this machine is engineered to mimic the natural filtration capabilities of wetland ecosystems and acts as an on-site wastewater treatment plant for the AJLC. Wastewater enters the system to be cleaned and refined through a series of biological processes; at the end, the filtered water is recirculated back to the Center’s toilets and grounds as greywater. The next time you are passing by the AJLC, go use the bathrooms there; your contribution will help power this innovative system!
E C R U O S E R N O I T A V R E CONS TEAM The Resource Conservation Team works to reduce waste and conserve resources on campus and in the Oberlin community with a focus on keeping Oberlin’s resources within a closed-loop system.The RCT works to redistribute clothes, furniture and other necessities to students and the community through the Free Store, located in the basement of Asia House, and Big Swap, a major event at the end of each year to donate and collect students’ unwanted items as they move out of their houses and dorms. The RCT manages two gardens on campus, the J-House garden and the Harkness green patio space. The gardens are functional as well as educational and are open to student volunteers. The RCT also manages the dorm compost system. Recently the RCT has also taken over Oberlin Food Rescue, which strives to connect sources of excess food with those in the community who need it.
E C I T S U J E T A M I L C RADIO Tune in on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. to College junior Christopher Kennedy’s WOBC show about climate justice. In the midst of a climate and human rights crisis, Climate Justice Radio brings you news and perspectives on climate change, community power, and the rights of the earth and its people, featuring interviews, news, art, music, humans from Oberlin and around the world. Another world is not only possible—she’s on her way.
Ways to
STUDENTS FOIRCE ENERGY JUST
GO GREEN*
T S O P M O C M R O D Wondering what to do with food waste instead of throwing it away? Talk to your dorm’s designated Compost Captain about composting in your residential hall! Most residential halls on campus have a compost bin placed in a designated location. Every Sunday, these bins are picked up by the RCT and emptied at the Johnson House Garden. The compost is then used as a nutrient source in the Garden’s planting beds. Vegetables from the garden are sold to Campus Dining Services and student dining co-ops. Composting in your residential hall is a great way to dispose of food waste properly while contributing to on-campus food production and considering the impact of waste. If your dorm doesn’t have a compost captain and you are interested in taking on the role, email recycle@oberlin.edu.
Have you ever wanted to go green at Oberlin? Here’s some cool ways you could go green at Oberlin. Read this thingy to learn stuff about the stuff that you could learn or read about in terms of going green at Oberlin. Background photo: A student tends to the AJLC’s Living Machine.
CALENDAR Empanadas y Poesía Friday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.–9 p.m. Harvey House
Allie’s Mums Extravaganza Saturday, Oct. 1, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 14804 Gore Orphanage Rd. Wakeman, OH (1 mile north of Rt. 20)
Join Spanish House residents for an evening of preparing and enjoying Chilean Empanadas, and sharing selections of Latin American poetry. This event is sponsored by the Latin American Studies Department in celebration of Las Fiestas Patrias de Chile, or Chilean Independence Day. If you want to learn how to make empanadas, there will be a tutorial starting at 5:45 p.m.
Come enjoy a fun-filled day with family and friends at Allie’s Mum Extravaganza! It will be a day of face-painting, live music and general camaraderie. There will be pumpkins and chrysanthemum flowers for sale at this event hosted by Allie’s Mums.
Hootenanny 2016 Saturday, Oct. 1, 4–11 p.m. George Jones Farm 44333 OH-511 Oberlin, OH Celebrate fall with an evening of live music, bonfires, drinks and food trucks at George Jones Farm! This family-friendly event is held annually to raise money for George Jones Farm and The New Agrarian Center. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $12 for students. They are available at your local CityFresh stop: check cityfresh.org for details.
DESIGN AND CONTENT BY ANDREA WANG PHOTO COURTESY OF OBERLIN COLLEGE
Students for Energy Justice works to unite students and community members around resisting extreme energy extraction and defending community rights over corporate interests. Currently, SEJ is working to fight hydraulic fracturing (fracking) throughout Ohio and prevent the construction of the Nexus Pipeline, a proposed pipeline which would carry natural gas from Kensington, OH to refineries in Ontario, Canada. SEJ meets Sundays at 5 p.m in Wilder 211, and anyone with interest in energy justice is welcome to join. All levels of time commitment and experience are welcome.
D N U O R A E R U T NA Get intimate with the local ecology! You don’t have to look YOU hard — natural beauty can be found in and around Oberlin.
The 70-acre George Jones Farm is both an educational site and nature preserve, and provides valuable learning and recreational opportunities for students and the greater community. The farm’s nature preserve is home to a variety of local wildlife and open to the public for activities including trail hiking, bird watching and for research: many opportunities are available for students who desire to work with farm staff. Another natural destination is the Oberlin Arboretum, or “The Arb”, popular with joggers and students seeking the perfect date spot. This preserve has hiking trails, lush wooded areas, and a reservoir. If you are looking for natural serenity a little farther away, take a trip to Chance Creek, a beautiful getaway located a couple of miles northwest from Oberlin. It’s a vibrant spot, popular with science classes for its biodiversity.
Shansi Fellowship Information Session Wednesday, Oct. 5, 12 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Science Center, A154
“The Diversity Blues: Reframing the Diversity Agenda at HWCU” Thursday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.–9 p.m. Dye Lecture Hall
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Oct. 6–8, at 8 p.m. and Oct 8 and 9, at 2 p.m. Little Theater (Hall Auditorium Annex)
Graduating seniors interested in applying for fellowships in China, India, Indonesia and Japan should attend this information session. These one-to-two-year long fellowships are challenging and rewarding opportunities with universities and non-governmental organizations. These fellowships are open to students of any academic department. Food will be served.
Duke University sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva will present a public lecture regarding implicit racism in higher education, specifically historically white colleges and universities. Bonilla-Silva’s work addresses the stagnation of racial progress and racial inequality as it exists in the 21st century.
In Dennis Kelly’s dark comedy, a group of teenagers grow closer together after committing the perfect crime; however, as tensions rise, this newfound bond begins to unravel. General admission tickets for this production directed by senior Alex Bernui cost $5 and can be purchased from the Central Ticket Office in Hall Auditorium.
Arts The Oberlin Review
Page 10
September 30, 2016
Eastwood’s Sully Sheds New Light on Historic Event Christian Bolles Arts Editor There are few industry veterans more seasoned than Clint Eastwood. The legendary actor and director has delivered many winning examples of both trades, taking part in over 50 films since his career took off in 1959 with his appearance on the television show Rawhide. Known in equal parts for grit and artistry, Eastwood’s legacy will endure as myth in the world of filmmaking. Though his last film, American Sniper, garnered mixed reactions from critics and general audiences, his most recent effort, Sully, puts any notions of creative atrophy to rest. Given its premise, the existence of a film like Sully was predictable. The box office demands that inspiring stories be commodified and repackaged, and Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s daring attempt to land a commercial jet on the Hudson River — better known as the “miracle on the Hudson” — is no exception. Subject to fierce media coverage, the near-catastrophe of January 2009 seems tailor-made for a dramatic reenactment starring an Oscar-winning actor. As with every cinematic portrayal of a popular story, Sully faced the challenge of shattering expectations and delivering an original experience. Without a director as experienced as Eastwood and a star as beloved as Tom Hanks, that predicament may have broken the film. However, with the help of a strong supporting cast and a killer nar-
rative structure, Sully is an understated triumph of biographical filmmaking. Based on Sullenberger’s autobiography Highest Duty, Sully follows the famed pilot in the wake of his water landing. A brilliant opening sequence highlights the film’s goal to subvert its rote subject matter, set within a nonlinear framework of flashbacks, dream sequences and real-time conflict. That conflict is orchestrated to hold audience engagement throughout — well aware that the landing itself wouldn’t be enough to carry more than half an hour of dramatic tension, the film focuses on the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of Sullenberger’s methods during the incident. By engaging with the question of whether the Captain should have ever attempted to land on the Hudson, endangering the lives of 155 passengers, Sully packs a sur–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
As with every cinematic portrayal of a popular story, Sully faced the challenge of shattering expectations and delivering an original experience. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– prising amount of heft. The twists and turns of these government reviews, unlike their subject, are little-known enough to provide a compelling central conflict. Hanks’ performance is what brings Sullenberger’s internal struggle to the forefront. The
Sully, directed by Clint Eastwood, dramatizes the 2009 “miracle on the Hudson,” where Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger successfully performed a water landing of a commercial airliner without a single casualty. Photo courtesy of the Warner Brothers
complicated pain in his eyes at the most trying moments renders this story a personal one. Hanks plays Sullenberger as a softspoken, humble man whose life has been devoted to his identity as a pilot. Hanks’ spot-on delivery skillfully clarifies the irony of a lifetime of experience being eclipsed by just over 200 seconds of quick thinking, not in his spoken lines — which, due to a sparse script, are few and far between — but in his weathered mannerisms, which embody the character’s weariness with the flinching anxiety of an everyman thrown beneath a white-hot spotlight. In fact, some of the film’s most poignant moments come during Sullenberger’s late-night broodings, where all the weight of the day
collapses from his shoulders and he is inundated with flashbacks. Credit for the feat should not, of course, be taken from Sullenberger’s co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, whose calm demeanor under pressure was integral to the landing’s success. With charismatic aplomb, Aaron Eckhart portrays Skiles, who acts as the talkative counterpart to his captain, while remaining deferential to Sullenberger’s expertise both in and out of the cockpit. The film places the relationship between the two center-stage, as the support Skiles provides gives Sullenberger the strength to face the investigation despite mounting evidence against his judgment. In a way, Sully sustains its running time by telling two stories
at once — that of the water landing itself, as well as of the investigations. The former is split into fragments and scattered throughout the film, sometimes looking at the same moment from different perspectives. This all serves not only to reinforce Sullenberger’s traumatic recollection of the incident but also to call attention to the multiplicity of the rescue effort launched to retrieve him and his passengers. In the throes of a harsh Manhattan winter, the Hudson turns to an icy death-trap, posing an even greater threat than the plane’s now-drowned engines. When Sullenberger sighs out the final count of lives rescued, “155,” his See Miracle, page 12
Monika Herzig Workshop Addresses Gender Disparities in Jazz Julia Peterson Production Editor Despite the fact that the Conservatory itself has enrolled around 45 percent women in its classes over the past five years, the Jazz department reached a peak of 14.2 percent women in 2015. The number of female Jazz majors in the department is often in the single digits—a discrepancy that has not gone unnoticed. German-born Jazz Pianist Monika Herzig and members of her ensemble visited Oberlin Monday for the Women in Jazz workshop, which addressed the pervasive gender disparity in the jazz community. Herzig seeks to highlight the achievements of past and present female musicians while encouraging female visibility in jazz. Herzig commenced her presentation by recounting stories of some notable women and trans musicians and composers in the history of jazz, such as Lil Hardin Armstrong, The Hampton Sisters and Billy Tipton. Herzig stressed the lack of genderdiverse role models as being one major deterrent to women — and nonbinary individuals — from going into jazz, especially those struggling with the pressures of society. “When [girls] learn to improvise in middle school, that’s a really bad time because the last thing you want to do when you get right into puberty is stand up in front of
your peers and do something that might make you look stupid,” Herzig said. “Girls don’t do that — the girls are just a little more shy, so they’re not the ones taking the solos. … There’s still a little instrument stigma — [the idea that girls] should play the flute, or the violin.” Double-degree first-year Gavin VanWinkle-Bright, who attended the workshop, agreed with Herzig that female role models are an important part of a jazz education. “I think role models are a big issue,” they wrote in an email to the Review. “Women in jazz simply aren’t talked about as much. … Jazz often feels like a boy’s club kind of ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“There’s still a little instrument stigma — [the idea that girls] should play the flute, or the violin.” Monika Herzig Jazz Pianist –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– thing, so it’s easy for guys to treat it like that. It’s easy for women’s voices to be lost or discredited.” Lack of awareness of female accomplishment in music translates to this “boys’ club” mentality, an atmosphere of mascu-
line exclusivity, that wany women have run up against. At the talk, Herzig cited cited an experience she had while playing an undergraduate fusion band where she felt she was treated differently than — and by — her male peers. “The guys [in the band] were pretty young, and for them, I was so different,” she said. “I spoke different, I looked different. They didn’t know how to talk to me. It was like [they were thinking,] ‘I don’t know, I’ve never met a girl from Germany playing jazz, how do I do this?’ I caught them a few times talking [about me] to my boyfriend when I was standing right next to them.” As part of the workshop, Herzig performed an arrangement of “The Whole World in Her Hands” — the title song of her latest album — with ensemble members Jennifer Vincent, who attended Oberlin from 1988 to 1991, Rosa Avila and Reut Regev. All four musicians answered audience questions and shared stories of their own experiences as students and performers. Herzig deliberately sought to perform alongside other female jazz musicians. “[Gender dynamics are] absolutely changing, but ... there’s just more hurdles to overcome. … There’s a whole bunch more [ female musicians] in the middle who could … make music and contribute their voice that don’t get that far because they’re too afraid to jump over those hurdles.” The issues raised by Herzig certainly
ring true with students in the Jazz department at Oberlin, to whom the lack of female members is clear. “The Oberlin Jazz department is a pretty male-dominated environment, both within the students and faculty,” Conservatory first-year Adriana Vergara wrote in an ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“It’s easy for women’s voices to be lost or discredited.” Gavin VanWinkle-Bright Double-degree first-year –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– email to the Review. “That is sometimes intimidating as a woman and a vocalist because there are times I worry I will not be taken as seriously as the extremely talented male instrumentalists here.” “In my experience, Oberlin’s Jazz department has much more gender diversity than most,” VanWinkle-Bright wrote in an email to the Review. “That said, there are still plenty of ensembles without women, and it seems like it would be easy to play a lot of music without ever working with some of the women in the Jazz department.” La Tanya Hall, professor of Jazz Voice in the Conservatory and the only female Jazz See Women, page 13
Arts
The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
Page 11
On the Record with Suzanne Overstreet Community member and long-time Creative Writing Program Coordinator Suzanne Overstreet released her debut novel, Wait for Me, through eLectio Publishing in August. Overstreet spent over four years on the project, a historical fiction piece about her parents and their circumstances before and during World War II. Formerly a special interest writer for The Morning Journal, Overstreet has spent 28 years in various College administrative positions, including in the Office of the Chaplain (now Religious Life) and the Sociology department. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. This being your first novel, what has your writing experience looked like in the past? You know, I’ve always been interested in writing, ever since I can remember. Having a large family didn’t leave me a lot of time to really pursue that. I would send off little stories every now and then, not very many, over the years. And when this project came up I knew that the usual path would probably be to get short stories published or go through journals. I didn’t feel I really had
that luxury of time, because I knew that’s very time consuming. As an employee, you’ve taken classes at Oberlin, including Creative Writing classes. Were those in preparation for this project or out of general interest? I’ve taken Psychology here, I took a horseback riding class through the [Athletics] department and most recently, about seven years ago I took two Creative Writing classes in alternate semesters — not in the same semester — so [it’s been] a little bit of a variety.
Do you feel your perspective from within the administrative side of the program has changed since you’ve experienced being a student here? I was always encouraged to take classes I was interested in by the people that I work with here. When I [was first hired] … I thought, “Well, I really don’t have time to do that, I don’t have time to do the assignments,” but … I was interested in writing, and I had the opportunity, fortunately, to get into an intro class first, and I loved it. … I asked [ former visiting faculty member Chelsea Johnson] if she’d be willing to
Creative Writing Program Coordinator Suzanne Overstreet released her novel Wait for Me in August. Photo courtesy of Suzanne Overstreet
work with me on an independent project, which is 400 level. She said, “Sure,” so I then worked with her on that 30 page story, and again I really loved the process. I really soaked in everything that I was told, found it very interesting, asked a lot of questions and it just sort of fit in with what I do here. I could actually answer questions better because I sat in on those classes, so when I talked to prospective students and their families I could say, “Well, I was actually in that class,” so it actually was helpful for my job here too. It was a really good experience. Your novel centers around your parents during World War II. What inspired you to explore that history in writing? The [real] driving force was that I didn’t want my children — especially my younger son — to forget [their] grandfather. He was so young, he wouldn’t remember him. He was so small when my father passed away, and that really troubled me, … that all the things he used to tell us about what happened in the war and so on would just be forgotten, and no one would really know. And then I began to realize that not only was it important for my family to know that, but also in general I think it’s important for people to remember history, whatever history that is. In my case, it’s these stories about World War II and the letters that [my father] wrote my mother — the feeling that he put in there about really appreciating the fact that he would be able to eat off a plate when he got home instead of [out of ] a can. … Sometimes it’s helpful to sort of look at what other people [have] gone through that I think sometimes we don’t relate to because it’s so long ago. … Reading the feeling that he had when he was overseas, how much he missed his family, how much he wanted to come home and the struggles that he went through, I think I was really appreciative of … how good we have it now. When people are at war now, they can Skype, and they can see their loved ones; they don’t have to rely on getting a letter seven or 10 days after it was written. They can certainly be more in touch, and I think in some ways that’s really helpful for people who are away from their families. I realize that he didn’t have that luxury. It was a totally different scenario for those soldiers. Those are the kinds of really personal details that don’t make it into textbooks. Exactly. So it turned out that there were many things about the book that I see now ... are actually helpful to people who read it that I didn’t realize when I was writing it. I had a certain tunnel vision at first about what I wanted to accomplish; then, after it was completed, I realized that there are actually things you can learn when you read it.
Do you plan to continue writing projects like books or longer short stories? I’ve been asked by many people if there’ll be a sequel to this book, because it ends when my parents marry in 1946, and I think a lot of people who are outside my family … wonder what happened next. So there may very well be a sequel to that. What did your publishing process look like? I took it in stages. First of all, I did a lot of research about what publishing companies were out there, what they were looking for. … I certainly didn’t send my manuscript off to publishing companies that were only interested in, for example, sci-fi, so I would rule those out. And then I just started sending query letters. … And then, as I think is true in a lot of cases unless you hit it lucky, sometimes you just don’t get responses at all, and sometimes you get responses that [say] “This project isn’t right for us,” but I got some encouragement that I should keep trying. … Every couple of months I would do this — I would send out five or 10 and then I would wait. … I was determined that the project had some value, and I was hoping that someone would see that. What advice would you give to anyone looking to navigate the publication process, particularly someone who might not have the first clue how to do it? Take time to do research about the industry, about what people are looking for. If you know you’re going to do a specific project like I [did], then you’ll have to find publishing companies or agents who are interested in that specific genre. … Be persistent. Don’t give up. It’s a long process, typically. Again, I’m sure there are people who’ve sent off a couple of queries and immediately got a hit, but I think that’s … an exception rather than the rule … and I think you really have to believe in what you’ve done, because … it’s easy to think that maybe your project is really not good at all, because when you get so many rejections, … self doubt starts to seep in, and you have to keep reminding yourself that this has value, that you have confidence in it, and that’s really all you can do. You hope that someone else will see the value in it, but you really don’t know, and so you’re stepping into unfamiliar territory. … It’s really frustrating when you don’t get any feedback at all, but you also have to realize that … many of these people are getting hundreds — if not thousands — of queries, and they may not have even seen yours, or they may just not able to write you back. So try not to take it personally. Interview by Victoria Garber, Arts editor
Ariel Miller
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The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
Miracle Flick Sticks Landing
Feature Photo: Bulgarika
Continued from page 10
The trans-Atlantic band Bulgarika played at the ’Sco Monday afternoon, led by New York-based husband and wife Nikolay and Donka Koley, versed in the gadulka and vocals respectively. Both graduates of Bulgarian conservatories, the pair performed alongside band members Temelko Ivanoy (kaval) and Kikolay Kodzhabashey (tambura) from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, delivering unique tempos and line dancing music.
Text by Christi an Bolles, Arts Editor Photo by Sawyer Brooks
Zukerman Trio Returns to Oberlin Eilish Spear Staff Writer
For 138 years, the Oberlin Artists Recital Series has brought top artists to the Oberlin community. Tonight, in the Series’ next installment, the Zukerman Trio — comprised of world famous violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman, his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth and pianist Angela Cheng — will perform a program of piano trios and string duets at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel. Since its conception in 2011, the trio has garnered critical acclaim all over the world, performing in Japan, China, Australia, South Africa, Russia and throughout the United States and Europe. Its appearance at Oberlin comes in the midst of another busy performance season. A piano professor in the Conservatory, Cheng met Zuckerman in Ottawa in 2008, where he approached her and asked if she wanted to play chamber music with him. The two began by playing sonatas together, and Cheng eventually joined Zukerman’s pet project ChamberPlayers, a piano quintet devoted to inspiring and engaging with young musicians around the world. A few years later, the trio formed. “There is the intimacy of … chamber music that is different from playing in front of an orchestra,” Cheng told the Review. “In a trio, especially when working with such incredible artists, I personally feel I can learn so much … about the music we’re working on, and about music in general.” Zukerman, Forsyth and Cheng have performed at music festivals including the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Verbier and Bravo! Vail. This season, they will perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra (Perth) and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in addition to their chamber music concerts. The trio’s upcoming performance at
Oberlin holds special significance. “Performing for fellow musicians at one of the most prestigious music schools in the country is always a pleasure and we look ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“There is the intimacy of … chamber music that is different from playing in front of an orchestra.” Angela Cheng Pianist of the Zukerman Trio –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– forward to sharing music with the community,” Zukerman wrote to the Review. Cheng agreed. “For me, as a professor [at Oberlin], to play in front of my students, my family and my colleagues has a special feeling to it,” she said. For Cheng, Friday’s concert is a celebration for the group as well as the Oberlin community as a whole. Dean Julia Lin, director of the Artists Recital Series, commented on how fortunate the Oberlin community has been to have the opportunity to hear Zukerman multiple times over the years, since 1972. “Happily, one of his regular collaborators in recent years is Oberlin Professor of Piano Angela Cheng,” Lin said. “It’s especially gratifying to welcome Mr. Zukerman back to Oberlin and ARS, this time for an evening of chamber music.” Mr. Zukerman also gave a master class to violinists and violists in the Conservatory Thursday night, “so students [had] another opportunity to experience a different facet of this legendary artist.” The concert program for Friday night is full of contrasts, beginning with Glière’s “Selections from Eight Pieces for Violin and Cello,” a series of vignettes for a violin and cello duet. Cheng said that the conversations between the two instruments are particularly powerful when performed
by this immensely talented husband and wife duo. She joins the pair for the infamous Piano Trio No. 2 by Shostakovich and Schubert’s Piano Trio, which Cheng described as “a wonderful contrast.” “[The Shostakovich] goes through [an] incredible journey of emotions … [it’s] a wonderful perception of what Shostakovich was going through [while living] under Stalin’s regime,” Cheng said. “You can feel the pain and suffering, the mournfulness and the kind of life [the Russian people] went through.” She described the progression from a bleak, dark first movement through great angst and frustration, finally ending in “great charm and happiness” in the last. The Schubert, however, is “like speaking to God. It’s so serene and pure. It melts one’s heart when one listens to it. … It’s just beautiful, beautiful music.” This group of world-class musicians harbors a deep and simple love for the work that they do. “The piano is so often alone or in front of an orchestra,” Cheng said. “And to have that blend of sounds with two strings instead... The repertoire ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
This group of world-class musicians harbors a deep and simple love for the work that they do. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– is very special, and very vast. It really encompasses all the different types of feelings that one has and gives the audience a beautiful gambit of taste and style.” For Cheng, the group’s collaborative structure is what allows it to thrive. “The wonderful thing about being a musician is that you never have all the answers,” she said. “It’s a lifelong discovery, constantly searching for what [the] composer has in mind. It’s so nurturing to be able to ... absorb so many ideas when you’re [playing] with such great musicians.”
relief is the direct result of the professionalism and compassion displayed by an array of what the film’s epilogue calls “Manhattan’s best,” all of whom are granted affectionate screen-time. These scenes consist of universally excellent performances, even for characters with only one or two lines. Sully’s proficiency in fleshing out the crisis is one of its strongest qualities, quite a feat given that the entire sequence occurs in chopped-up flashbacks. The chopping itself, though, could have used more work. Eastwood is notorious for pushing production deadlines, giving his editing and specialeffect teams scant windows of time to do their job. This neglect is evident in Sully. The film’s many jarring cuts between scenes — both visual and auditory — make for occasionally awkward viewing, while uninspired, unrealistic CGI robs external shots of the plane of potential immediacy. The odd shot or sequence succeeds in being memorable, making good use of mist and pulling off some legitimately shocking –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Sully’s proficiency in fleshing out the crisis is one of its strongest qualities, quite a feat given that the entire sequence occurs in chopped-up flashbacks. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– dream sequences. But in most scenes, anything from the tops of characters’ heads lingering out of frame to a sore lack of creativity in framing potentially arresting shots keeps Sully’s visuals from matching the layers of production beneath. For all the media plugging of Sullenberger’s feat as an inspiring example of human achievement, Sully is admirably low on moments of victory. In fact, even when the water landing is finally shown to its completion, there’s almost no musical accompaniment whatsoever, refusing to accept the landing itself as a triumph. In this moment and others, the film relies on the transition from fear to gratitude on the passengers’ faces as they’re lifted to safety and wrapped in blankets to protect them from the cold. Hanks’ humble compassion makes Sullenberger’s insistence to search the flooding plane one last time for survivors seem like the sensible thing to do rather than the topper on an act of great heroism. Sully mirrors its protagonist’s pervasive sensibility. The film threads a needle in a haystack of stale sensationalist biopics by making its voice that of Sullenberger’s. It’s an inherently understated approach, but one that never fails to make perfect sense, leaving behind satisfaction and ultimately hope once the epilogue kicks in. Though some of the movie’s finer artistic details keep Sully from masterpiece status, its sure sense of self, humble performances and well-tuned structure constitute a short, steady movie-going experience. Among rivers of by-the-numbers biopics, the experience in the cockpit guides Sully to a smooth landing.
The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
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Oberlin Orchestra Delves into Russian History Jacob Narin Staff Writer
In its first performance of the year, the Oberlin Orchestra, conducted by Raphael Jiménez, returned to play at Finney Chapel Saturday night. Contrasting the feelings of composers who lived during two fraught periods in Russian history, the pieces selected for the performance complemented each other well. Though the tone of the second was underdeveloped, the concert remained engaging from its first note to the last. The concert began with Sergei Rachmaninoff ’s Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, a piece based on Arnold Böcklin’s painting of the same name in which two figures on a wooden boat bear a coffin to a looming island. From the outset, an ominous precedent was established as a bass and harp emerged from silence. The
unusual 5/8 tempo created two uneven groupings per bar, producing a wave-like soundscape as the instruments mounted and receded, drawing connections to the painting’s eerie waters. This structure continued as the remaining strings were introduced, the orchestra slowly building until muted brass seemed to reveal the island itself. The piece was striking at first, and then evolved to more resonant melodies that fittingly gave the impression of spiritual departure in their ethereality. But as the flutes and violins bled into the dissonance of the cellos and horns, an impression of failure sunk in, as if Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead did not serve as a passage for the deceased but as a purgatory for the damned. On this note, the piece reached its first climax. The brass’ accompanying swells recalled the waves from the performance’s start, but this
change to harsher instrumentation suggested approaching steps. The effect was unsettling, and as the orchestra moved to a crescendo, so too did the bleakness of the motifs at play. Horns growled, and the piccolo’s trills added to this sense of unease. A reprieve followed as the company returned to the bass and harp’s calmer waves, but dread lingered. To the orchestra’s great credit, the nuances of the piece were finely developed, such that Rachmaninoff ’s frustration with the seeming futility of Russian progress at the time came across clearly. The piece concluded as ominously as one would expect when imagining the uncertain dangers looming over the composer’s world. After an intermission, Jiménez and the orchestra led the audience to the heart of Joseph Stalin’s Great Terror with Shosta-
With conductor Raphael Jimenez at the helm, the Oberlin Orchestra performed the somber The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 by Sergei Rachmaninoff and the complex Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47 by Dmitri Shostakovich, bookending a tumultuous stretch of Russian history. Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor
kovich’s classic Symphony no. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47. Most of the performance, though, seemed as if it were quaking in the dictator’s shadow, fitting and disappointing in equal measure. Whether intentional or not, the first movement was a filtered experience that failed to fully capture
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The effect was unsettling, and as the orchestra moved to a crescendo, so too did the bleakness of the motifs at play. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– the existential ideas buried deep within Shostakovich’s marvel. The rest of the initial movement was marred by odd imbalances. Woodwind solos were left exposed by quiet string accompaniments, and the brass was occasionally overshadowed in its climactic moments. The second movement fared similarly, as a central melody was passed among various instruments with differing interpretations and results. This highlighted some inconsistencies within the orchestra, as each solo, while objectively in tune, varied in musicality. Some were overly mechanical, while others soared into the furthest pews of Finney. However, the orchestra succeeded in Shostakovich’s spontaneous orchestral interruptions, abruptly silencing solos — these served as a commentary on censorship in the composer’s time. A flute might be interrupted by a celeste or a violin solo could be intercepted by a carnival theme, allowing insight into the anxieties of the era. The third movement fell into the same pattern as the first, as the orchestra was too subdued
to graduate from a lament to the all-out dread that one might expect from a section meant to mourn the murder of Shostakovich’s close friend. As the brass faded, the strings and woodwinds were left alone, then swallowed whole by further waves of sorrow before the fourth movement burst onto the scene. With a straightforward march theme from the trombones, the fourth movement attempted to disrupt the tension of the previous three, and a battle quickly ensued. The thunderous blaring of the trombones was complemented by the fury of the strings, and the trumpets and horns returned with reinvigorated majesty. At times, this movement arrived at a triumphant celebration of freedom and success before being dragged back into the pits of repression. Parade and funeral were interspersed so often that this musical skirmish became its own spectacle. Eventually, the piece mellowed to a subdued conversation between violins, low strings and horns. Their discussion had reached a level of intimacy by the time a harp, acting as a harbinger of hope, entered, bringing the march tune previously borne by the trombones back into the fray. As the movement developed into climax, it introduced a joyous, dazzling sense of triumph. The concert managed to balance the thoughtfulness of Isle of the Dead with the complexity of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony, but the performances were not equal. While the former expertly encapsulated the story of painter Böcklin’s isle and the composer’s frustrations with pre-Soviet Russia, the latter was too repressed for its own good, suffering until the final movement. But given the raucous applause that followed, this climax was more than enough.
Women Underrepresented in Jazz Globally, at Oberlin Continued from page 10 professor currently at Oberlin, reflected on how she views the current and changing roles of women in the genre. “I do think there are more [men] in the jazz arena, but it’s certainly become a lot more popular with women, in particular in the last couple of generations,” she said. “There’s always been a very strong contribution of women in jazz, and I think they have not been as heralded as some of their male counterparts. … There were just a lot of great female composers that never got their due.” If Herzig’s talk had one overarching message, it was that women in jazz have made and are making important, diverse contributions that deserve to be recognized. “[It’s important] to not be afraid if you sound a little different,” she said. “You don’t have to imitate how everybody else sounds. It’s
okay to find your own voice and contribute it to the mix. I think that’s the important message — to not feel pressure to sound like everything before you has sounded. ... –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“There’s always been very strong contribution of women in jazz, and I think they have not been heralded as some of their male counterparts.” Monika Herzig Jazz Pianist –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– It’s not trying to be something that you’re not, but contributing a voice that’s missing.”
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The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
In the Locker Room
Erica Rau
This week, the Review sat down with Erica Rau, head volleyball coach and senior woman administrator, to discuss Title IX, women’s roles in sports and Oberlin’s current athletics culture.
short, so it’s definitely a focus and a priority for everyone. Has being the head coach of the volleyball team helped you in your role as the senior woman administrator? ER: Absolutely. Number one, just being a coach, you deal with pretty much anything and everything, like whatever fire you have to put out that day. I think just getting to talk to a lot of different student-athletes and dealing with a lot of different situations has prepared me for this role. I’ve also been lucky that as a head coach, I’m still given other responsibilities outside my scope of just coaching, like working with [the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee], running some programming in the gym for females on campus, so that definitely prepared me for my role as well.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What are your daily responsibilities as the senior woman administrator? Erica Rau: With my new role, I’m going to have more of a hand in the administrative processes with the department. So I get to sit in the bigger meetings with [Delta Lodge Director of Athletics and Physical Education] Natalie [Winkelfoos], [Senior Associate Director of Athletics] Creg [Jantz] and [Head Baseball Coach] Eric [Lahetta] and just be involved more with the day-to-day processes of the department. We want to work a lot with not only the women coaches, but also the women athletes to come up with some programming to empower them a little bit more and get them to really find their voice. I’m also the deputy Title IX coordinator for athletics now, which means I work with the Title IX office. I go to a weekly meeting and we discuss all of the Title IX cases that are happening on campus, and then I can advise students in those cases as well. Do you think Title IX is well enforced within our athletics department? ER: I do. I think there has been a lot of evaluation of it over the past couple of years. Our administrators now have done a really good job of making any fixes that they’ve seen or anything we need to do to get in line with Title IX.
Head Volleyball Coach and Senior Woman Administrator Erica Rau From your experiences, have you noticed a difference in attention from our athletics department toward men’s and women’s sports? ER: I think, here, it’s very equal. We are really lucky to have someone like Natalie, who is a smart, strong, independent woman. She really does a good job at being an advocate for our males and our females. I’ve been lucky to be at Carnegie Mellon University and Gettysburg College, where I think that women and men were supported equally also. I don’t think that’s the case at all institutions from a lot of talking to colleagues, but I think we are doing a really good job here.
Home Games This Week Saturday, Oct. 1 1 p.m. 3 p.m. 5 p.m.
As the senior woman administrator, what are your goals? ER: I think my short-term goal is just to be here and to be a support system for all studentathletes, not just women. I’m another voice that student-athletes can come and talk to if they need support or anything. My more mid-term goal is to get some more programming going for women athletes and help them find their voice, empower them. Long-term, it’s a really exciting time to be a part of Oberlin College athletics and I’m excited to be here and I really believe in it, so I’m looking to see what we can do as a department next.
Are there differences in funding between the male and female sports teams? ER: The biggest thing I’ve seen, and not just here, is that women are not as likely to give back in any type of fundraising. So women alums are not as likely to donate; men are more likely to donate to their programs. I also think our women’s programs here have not all been in existence as long as the men’s programs or may not have had a lot of stability and coaching, so the alumni network is also not as strong, which makes it difficult to give back and fundraise. But it’s something we all have to focus on for men and women coaches in this day and age. Budgets are
How have you seen the culture of Oberlin College athletics grow? ER: This is my sixth year here. I actually was a little reluctant to take this job, but once I was here, after six months, I knew that this is a special place and a special department. It is an exciting time to be here. I’ve seen a lot of new coaching turnover in a positive way and a lot more support from the rest of campus — not just in terms of funding, but in terms of how people view us on campus. It’s changed so much in six years for the positive which is a big part of why I wanted to step into this new role and be part of the bigger picture. Interview conducted by Darren Zaslau, Sports editor Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor
Wertman Spearheads Yeomen Victories Darren Zaslau Sports Editor After scoring game-winning goals over the Baldwin Wallace University Yellow Jackets and the DePauw University Tigers last week, senior midfielder
Nick Wertman was named the North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week. The Westlake, Ohio, native is currently tied for the team lead with three goals and eight points. A two-time Second Team All-NCAC selection, Wertman is a key factor in
Volleyball vs. DePauw University at Philips gym Women’s soccer vs. The College of Wooster at Fred Shults Field Men’s soccer vs. The College of Wooster at Fred Shults Field
Sunday, Oct. 2 12 p.m. Field hockey vs. Kenyon College at the Knowlton Athletics Complex Senior midfielder Nick Wertman was named the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week after scoring two game-winning goals last week. The Yeomen are currently 7–1–1. Photo courtesy of Erik Andrews
the team being ranked No. 25 in the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America top-25 poll released Sept. 27. In a Homecoming-weekend thriller, Wertman netted a game-winner in the game’s closing minutes against DePauw. The 2–1 victory extended the Yeomen’s win streak to six games. Last year, Wertman tallied five goals — three of which came after the 85th minute — which led the Yeomen to two wins and a draw against No. 20 Case Western Reserve University. One of the most memorable moments of his career came in the team’s 2015 regular-season finale at Denison University. Wertman’s double-overtime, game-winning header catapulted the Yeomen into the NCAC Tournament for the second time in the past three years. During Wertman’s rookie season, he was part of the All-NCAC Honorable Mention squad while helping the Yeomen receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Currently, the Yeomen are 7–1–1 after a 1–1 tie against Otterbein University Wednesday. Tomorrow, the team looks to secure its second NCAC victory of the season against The College of Wooster under the lights of Fred Shults Field at 7 p.m.
The Oberlin Review, September 30, 2016
— Volleyball —
Crucial Conference Matches Await Yeowomen Julie Schreiber The women’s volleyball team wrapped up Homecoming weekend with Senior Day festivities at home last Friday night, but the celebrations stopped there. The team, which is currently on a four-game losing streak, fell 3–2 on its home court in Philips gym in a close match to North Coast Athletic Conference rival, the Kenyon College Ladies. The setback pushed the Yeowomen back to 0–2 in conference and 4–7 overall. Moving forward, the team will focus on the opportunities that the remainder of the season presents. Head Coach Erica Rau said that her team is like family, and that she expects them to continue lifting each other up in the face of adversity. “This is the most supportive, thoughtful, friendly group of young women that I have ever met,” she said. “I am consistently amazed with the way they encourage each other, and I am so excited to keep working hard and supporting each other.” In celebration of the graduating class and its leadership, the Yeowomen opened Friday’s match against the Ladies by honoring the seniors: captain Meredith Leung, Krista Langhans, Jill Hostetler, Maggie Middleton and Ave Spencer. “Senior Day was incredibly special,” Middleton said. “Our class of five really stuck together through the past four years — being able to celebrate all our dedication and hard work was incredible.” Using that momentum, Oberlin battled through five tough sets and maintained control for roughly half the game, but ultimately could not clinch the win. Despite the loss, sophomore rightside hitter Sara Chang said she enjoyed playing the team’s rivals in an intense environment. “Playing Kenyon was definitely the highlight of our season so far,” Chang said. “After every great point the entire gym was so loud and the energy was so high, and although we lost, it was the best we’ve played all season.” Against Kenyon, the Yeowomen saw strong plays by first-year Lexi Mitchell, who led the team with 20 kills, eight digs
and two assists and blocks. Junior Dana Thomas also had a standout performance, tallying nine kills, while Chang added 20 assists. One day later, the Yeowomen traveled to face the College of Wooster Fighting Scots. Another pivotal NCAC match, Oberlin started off strong and won the first set but could not hold on to the lead as the Scots took the following three sets to earn the win. It was another big game for Mitchell, who led the team with 15 kills and 12 digs while Spencer and Chang checked in with seven kills each. It was also a strong day for sophomore Emily Kelkar, who owned the floor with 14 digs and five assists on the day. In order to improve, Rau said she thinks an important change can come from the team’s mental game. “We are very good athletically,” Rau said. “But sometimes we let the game –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“This is the most supportive, thoughtful, friendly group of young women that I have ever met. I am consistently amazed with the way they encourage each other and I am so excited to keep working hard and supporting each other.” Erica Rau Head Coach ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– get away from us if we don’t keep focusing on doing the little things well all the time.” The Yeowomen continued with their jam-packed schedule Wednesday when they played an away match against Hiram College. The team dropped three straight sets before losing 3–0 and moving its NCAC record to 0–3. Rau and her squad will look to turn things around when they host DePauw University in a crucial conference matchup at 1 p.m. tomorrow in Philips gym.
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Editorial: Menstruation Education Needed Continued from page 16 Half of the participants trained with high frequency — five times per week — during the first two weeks of the monthly cycle and eventually tapered off to once a week at the end of the cycle. The other half concentrated the frequency of training at the end of the cycle. While the athletes under the other condition also improved over the course of the training, Wikström-Frisén found that the group that front-loaded training and reduced lifting days closer to their periods saw better results. These women showed “significant increase in jump height, peak torque values in hamstrings, [and] increased lean body mass of the legs,” according to the abstract of the study. Though this is only one report, it provides crucial information for athletes and coaches in planning a training schedule and maximizing athletic abilities. More beneficial discoveries like this are possible if other researchers could conquer the scientific and medical challenges posed and help break the silence around the topic. Several high-profile female athletes have made important strides toward starting an important dialogue about sports and periods. This year in the Rio Summer Olympics, Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui made waves when she doubled over on the pool deck after her leg of the 4x100-meter medley relay. When the commentator asked if she suffered from a stomach ache, Fu candidly said, “It’s because I just got my period yesterday, so I’m still a bit weak
and really tired.” Danny Kerry tailored his team’s Social media erupted in workouts to their cycles, in the support of Fu. The hashtag leadup to the London Olympics related to her comments was in 2012. He allowed women in searched half a million times the latter part of their cycles to on China’s Twitter-like plat- lift lighter weights and modify form Weibo and the majority which exercises they did. There of users’ posts commended Fu is no reason why other coaches bravery. can’t adopt Kerry’s strategy of While Fu was courageous tailoring practice to players’ enough to speak out, many needs. female athletes still shy away Sports’ governing bodies from voicing concerns or seek- can also make athletes feel ing treatment. A 2015 study more comfortable by loosenthat surveyed 1,862 women, ing some rules of the game. 90 of whom were considered For instance, on the pro tour, elite level athletes, found that tennis players are only allowed 41.7 percent of women explained that their menstrual ––––––––––––––––––––––––– cycle impacted their performance. Only 22.3 percent, Wikström-Frisén however, sought help for pe- found that the group riod problems. that front-loaded Many menstruating people are uneducated about the med- training and reduced ical options that can treat peri- lifting days closer od side effects and unaware of to their periods saw the existence of some periodrelated conditions that require better results. serious medical treatment. –––––––––––––––––––––––– Endometriosis, for example, is a condition that some people one bathroom break per set. may construe as extremely For a player who is menstrupainful period cramps, but ating, waiting for their next actually occurs when tissue bathroom break can mean grows outside of the uterus. worrying about having embarEndometriosis can be treated rassing leakage on a white tenwith hormonal or surgical pro- nis skirt broadcast on worldcedures, but only if the person wide television. seeks medical attention. PreWhile the goodwill momenstrual dysphoric disorder tive of helping menstruating is a period-related emotional athletes should be incentive condition with similarly life-al- enough, sports-health compatering side effects — including nies should also consider the hopelessness, extreme sadness profit motive of a totally unand anger in the week before explored period-management the onset of menstruation — market. There are workout that can be treated with anti- supplements for just about evdepressants. If encouraged by ery goal — fat burning, muscle team leaders to seek medical building, increased energy — attention for these problems, why not for period relief ? athletes wouldn’t have to play Athletes are slowly becomthrough emotional and physi- ing more and more comfortcal pain. able with publicly discussing In addition to encouraging their menstrual cycles as they medical treatment, coaches relate to their athletic perforcan also gear the workout mance, chipping away at one of schedule to players’ cycles, in sports’ major taboos. It’s time line with Wikström-Frisén’s for more sports’ governing study. Head Coach of the Brit- bodies, researchers and coachish Olympic Field Hockey team es to join the conversation.
Yeowomen Kneel to Take Stand Continued from page 16 er Maggie Gossiaux gave a strong performance, blocking six out of Ohio Wesleyan’s eight shots on goal. Enzerink and Coffey contributed four and five shots respectively, and rookie Libby Royer rifled two shots. The following Sunday, Oberlin traveled to Wittenberg University and continued to kneel in solidarity. “One of the parents in the crowd said something to one of our parents,” Birenbaum said. “They were like, ‘What is the Oberlin team kneeling for?’” The response was: ‘It’s exactly what you think it is.’” Although Wittenberg eventually defeated the Oberlin 4–1, sophomore midfielder Meg Parker recorded her first goal of the season in the 33rd minute. As the team approaches the halfway mark in the 2016 campaign, it remains winless at 0–8, but Coffey
said the squad’s chemistry is constantly improving. “Team dynamics have been really great this year,” Coffey said. “The level of trust in our playing has increased so much, and it’s such a positive feeling to know that everyone has your back, on and off the field.” The players plan to kneel for the duration of the season, as long as the team to continues to agree upon it. “I wouldn’t do anything that the rest of the team wouldn’t want to do, but I personally really want to [continue the protest],” Birenbaum said. The coaching staff is also on board with the protest. Head Coach Tiffany Saunders and Assistant Coach Jessica Franklin said they value players’ rights to use their voices. “We support the ability to let our student-athletes express themselves. This is a freedom of speech movement, so I think it’s important,” Saunders said. “Field hockey is a platform, and they can use it.”
Sports The Oberlin Review
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September 30, 2016
— Football —
Yeomen Still Looking for First Win Sydney Allen Production Editor
The Yeomen were dealt a tough Homecoming defeat last Saturday against the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops, falling 29–16. The game, which celebrated the Yeomen’s 125th year of football, left the team in search of its first win as it dropped to 0–4 overall and 0–3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. “It was a rough loss because we were in it with them the entire time,” said first-year defensive tackle Justin Godfrey. “At any point either of us could’ve pulled ahead.” The first half offered a promising start for the Yeomen, who were only down 14–13 by its end. But the team stalled on offense during the second half as it was outscored by the Bishops 15–3. Despite Oberlin possessing the ball for over 31 minutes, the Bishops dominated the Yeomen in total yardage, 429–263. Senior co-captain and wide receiver Justin Cruz cited issues with consistency and cohesion as the Yeomen’s major troubles. “We’ve got to play four quarters of football — and that’s more of a mental thing, I guess,” Cruz said. “There’s games where we don’t show up in the first half necessarily, and then we show up
in the second half, or vice versa.” Still, the weekend offered ample opportunity for newcomers to find their footing. First-year defensive back Jubreel Hason made his first career start Saturday, finishing with a team-high 12 tackles with one sack. “I think our defense played better than we’ve played in our last three games, which is awesome,” said first-year defensive lineman Justin Godfrey. “We really stepped up this game.” As the team approaches the halfway point in its season this weekend, Head Coach Jay Anderson sees much room for improvement. Last year, the team had its
that we have to compete to try and get better.” Anderson echoed Cruz’s comments on the team’s consistency, saying the team could improve by “being more consistent across the board in all three phases, playing better offensively, staying on schedule, making plays and scoring touchdowns.” The Yeomen hope to turn their momentum around in their next game against the Allegheny College Gators in Meadville, PA, tomorrow. The Gators are 0–4 overall and 0–3 in conference play. With a three-year winning streak over the Gators on the line
tomorrow, the Yeomen will look to duplicate their success from last year, when they rolled past Allegheny 48–9. Traditionally, this battle against the Gators has been a momentous one for the Yeomen — last year, they set the school record for 690 offensive yards during the game. “This week against Allegheny is actually really big for us,” Cruz said. “If we could come out with a win and get some momentum going for our other games that would be great.” Anderson is also enthusiastic about the team’s chances. “I’ve got this great plan,” Anderson said. “It’s called winning.”
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“I think our defense played better than we’ve played in our last three games, which is awesome. We really stepped up this game.” Justin Godfrey First-year defensive lineman ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– fair share of struggles as well, finishing 3–7 overall and 3–6 in the NCAC. “I don’t think that we’re playing a good brand of football right now,” Anderson said. “I think
Junior defensive back Bennett Jackson dodges defenders after intercepting a pass against Ohio Wesleyan University Saturday. Jackson eventually returned the interception 55 yards for a touchdown in Oberlin’s 29–16 loss. Photo Courtesy of OC Athletics
— Field Hockey —
Field Hockey Team Joins Anthem Protest Marissa Maxfield National anthem protests in athletics have drawn a range of reactions from scorn to admiration. That national debate came to Knowlton Athletics Complex when the field hockey team kneeled during the Star Spangled Banner last Friday before facing off against the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops. “[We want] to express to fellow students, community members and people everywhere that we will not accept racial violence and police brutality as a part of our country,” said senior captain Maureen Coffey. Coffey said the team was inspired to protest police violence against Black people after recent events in Charlotte, NC, including the shooting of Keith Scott, who was unarmed. Upon the suggestion of senior Julia Birenbaum, the Yeowomen followed in the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, an NFL quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick sparked the movement in August by refusing to stand for the national anthem during a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks. “[Our protest] is for the same reason,” said Birenbaum, a San Francisco native. “I read about Colin Kaepernick and why he did it, and I thought, ‘That’s a really good reason.’” When the national media buzz surrounding Kaepernick’s protest made its way to the field hockey team, Coffey said the team coalesced around the chance to join the conversation. “[Kaepernick’s] actions got a lot of attention in the media, and I know I had been
thinking about it for a while,” Coffey said. “When Julia said she wanted to kneel, most of the team was already considering it. Right away everyone was very supportive of the idea.” After the team’s demonstration during the game’s opening ceremony Homecoming weekend, the Yeowomen came out strong against Ohio Wesleyan. Fending off numerous barrages from the Battling Bishops, the Yeowomen successfully kept the ball on the attacking side of the field. Coffey and senior classmate Ariana Enzerink struck two hard-
hitting shots, both of which the Battling Bishops goalkeeper managed to turn away. The match was even until the 58th minute of play, when Ohio Wesleyan found the back of the net twice in 11 minutes. Both teams finished with a total of 13 shots, and despite outshooting the Battling Bishops 9–8, Oberlin outshot OWU 9–8, the Yeowomen still came up short, falling 2-0. Individual successes were present, however, on both sides of the field. Senior goalkeepSee Yeowomen, page 15
Periods Still Taboo in Sports Jackie McDermott Sports Editor People who get their periods know the drill. Strategically hide tampons inside pocket of gym bag. Don’t wear white shorts. Chalk poor performance up to a stomach ache if a coach asks, but later confess the real reason to teammates. Or don’t mention it at all. The menstrual cycle is often referred to as sports’ last taboo. Athletes compete while menstruating at some of the biggest competitions of their careers but shy away from any discussion of the impact their cycles have on athletic performance. Anyone who hosts a monthly visitor can attest to the fatigue, cramping, bloating, weakness, mood swings, tearfulness and anger it can bring. While severity varies from person to person, for many menstruating athletes, symptoms affect mental, emotional and physical well-being and make practicing and competing a challenge. Coaches, trainers and professional sports organizations are trained to help players tackle many challenges, but menstruation doesn’t seem to be one of them. Apprehension about discussing menstruation and an egregious lack of research investigating its effects on athletes have left the sports world without the resources or tools it needs to manage menstrual symptoms. Lisbeth Wikström-Frisén, a doctoral student at Umeå University in Sweden, decided to expand the conversation with a study, published last week. Wikström-Frisén examined strength training in relation to the menstrual cycle. Her subjects, 59 female athletes, participated in high-intensity leg strength training. See Editorial, page 15
The Yeowomen kneel during the national anthem before facing off against NCAC foe Denison University Thursday. Photo by Emma Webster