College-UNITAR Partnership to Kick Off in with Carnegie Hall Performance

Alexa Stevens News Editor

On Sept. 29, the College announced its partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts. These partnerships are currently operating under a memorandum of understanding agreement but will come to represent various initiatives as they develop.

Representatives from the U.N. initially reached out to Dean of the Conservatory and Professor of Musicology William Quillen to explore the possibility of a partnership. According to President Carmen Twillie Ambar, the specifics of the partnership will be worked out by going through each section of the memorandum in phases.

“What we’ve agreed to do is to take each one of the sections of the MOU and start to work on the details,” Ambar said. “I think each one of the MOU sections will be finalized as new initiatives are developed. So I would expect that the more formal arrangement around something like [the] English as a second language [program] will happen pretty quickly. And every time we develop something new, that’s when they’ll have their tightness.”

The English immersion program will welcome international students to Oberlin’s campus during the summer and may start as early as next year according to Chief of Staff David Hertz. Other elements of the partnership may advance even sooner.

This December, Conservatory students will perform at Carnegie Hall in front of the U.N. General Assembly. Sudents will perform “Piano Concerto No. 2,” by Sergei Rachmaninoff “Fanfare on Amazing Grace” by Adolphus Hailstork, and “Symphony No. 9” by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

“We will be working very quickly to get this started because we want to move forward with the partnership as quickly as possible,” Hertz said. “And that’s why, for instance, we’ve already agreed on this concert to take place in New York at Carnegie Hall in December.”

Both the choir and orchestra will perform Beethoven’s ninth symphony. The symphony carries particular significance to the U.N. and Carnegie Hall; according to Quillen, in 1949, Leonard Bernstein led the Boston Symphony’s rendition of Beethoven’s ninth symphony — along with several other pieces — in front of the U.N. in Carnegie Hall, inaugurating a longstanding tradition in which this symphony was often performed before the U.N. when it gathered in New York.

However, according to President Ambar, this tradition was placed on hold and will be reinstated by the upcoming Conservatory performance.

“I don’t know how long they had discontinued the concert, but they hadn’t done it in a while. And so this is a reinstitution of this tradition,” Ambar said. “And the other powerful thing is that previously when they did these concerts in the past, it had always been professional orchestras. And so what is different about this decision is, and this came out of our discussion around this partnership, we thought wouldn’t it be great if the kickoff of this partnership was the Oberlin Orchestra and Choir performing at the concert?”

Both Quillen and President Ambar expressed the expansive nature of the possible results from this partnership.

“Really, the goal is a much broader institutional partnership that is not only relegated to specific courses or specific seminars or sorts of things, but really a much, much, much bigger, longer, lasting institutional partnership,” Quillen said. “Literally every time we talk, new horizons open up over the conversation just now… So I think that as we’re thinking about it, it is, yes, very specific discrete courses, potentially, but it’s also much more about this relationship between the two institutions.”

College and Conservatory administrative staff have discussed the potential implementation of study abroad programs, online courses, and programs during the academic year, but many of the specifics will remain unclear until the partnership develops further.

“I think when we’ve explored possibilities, it’s been a range of discussions such as, ‘What if we created programs that were specifically designed for the U.N. that Oberlin students could participate in?’” Ambar said. “And so I would say that initiatives like that are way down the line and further down the line the next year. But when we’ve talked about it, it’s been about making sure that the relationship is one that is really valuable for current Oberlin students as well as future students.”

President Ambar and Dean Quillen met with Conservatory orchestra and choir members in Finney Chapel during a partial City blackout to inform them that they would be performing before the U.N. in December.

Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

See “Orchestra, Choir to Perform at Carnegie Hall this December” on page 13 for more information about the upcoming Carnegie Hall concerts.

Dean Quillen Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

The Oberlin review

PublicaTiOn Of recOrd fOr Oberlin cOllege

October 7, 2022 Volume 152, Number 5 (ISSN 297–256)

Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch. 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

Editors-in-Chief

News Editors

Opinions Editors

Kushagra Kar Emma Benardete Alexa Stevens Nikki Keating Emily Vaughan Elle Giannandrea

Arts & Culture Editors Sports Editor Cont. Sports Editors

Juliana Gaspar Andrea Nguyen Zoe Kuzbari Kayla Kim This Week Editor Cal Ransom Conservatory Editor Walter Thomas-Patterson Operations Manager Abhisri Nath Photo Editors Abe Frato

Senior Staff Writers

Erin Koo Adrienne Sato Sofia Tomasic Ava Miller Gracie McFalls Chris Stoneman Julian Anderson Nada Aggadi

Production Manager Production Staff

Layout Editors

Illustrators Distributors

Lia Fawley Addie Breen Delaney Fox Ella Bernstein Isaac Imas Owen Do Sumner Wallace Trevor Smith Erin Koo Grace Gao Ginger Kohn Molly Chapin Holly Yelton Leah Potoff Nondini Nagarwalla Neva Taylor Will Young

Lorain County Public Health Collaborates with College to Provide Booster Clinic

Sofia Tomasic

Senior Staff Writer

From 1 to 6 p.m. today, Oberlin College, in collaboration with Lorain County Public Health, hosted a COVID-19 booster vaccine clinic for eligible students, faculty, and staff. The appointment-only clinic was held at Hales Gymnasium and offered bivalent COVID booster vaccinations manufactured by either Pfizer or Moderna — or both, depending on vaccine availability.

Executive Director of Student Safety and Wellbeing Andrew Oni reached out to LCPH to request this clinic to provide students with the latest COVID booster vaccinations on campus and to minimize potential transportation barriers. According to Oni, LCPH and Oberlin have collaborated previously to provide vaccine clinics. LCPH has been administering approximately 50 doses a day since Sept. 6 of this year.

The bivalent booster works by combining a strain of the initial COVID-19 virus with a strain of the Omicron variant. This double protection is what makes the new booster more effective. Prior vaccines were monovalent, meaning that they only protected against the original strain of COVID. Omicron is now one of the most common strains of COVID in the U.S.

According to College third-year Erin Duckett, there hasn’t been much communication from the College to students to make them aware of this opportunity and other matters surrounding COVID. Though Duckett had heard about the clinic, she wasn’t sure what resources would be offered. Though she feels that the College did a good job making COVID resources available to students in past years, she has been a little frustrated this year with the lack of communication.

“I generally think Oberlin’s done a good job, at least in past years,” Duckett said. “I think this year it kind of fell off because when I thought I was sick and I got tested, it took them a whole week to get me my test results back. By the time I got my test results back saying I was negative, I wasn’t even sick anymore.”

As for students who were unable to receive the booster vaccine at today’s clinic, Kat Solove a program manager at Lorain County Public Health states that LCPH will continue to offer it to eligible individuals.

“We do have other vaccine clinics coming up later in October that would be open to all Lorain County residents,” Solove said.

Although the clinic was only available to those associated with Oberlin College, LCPH offers the bivalent COVID booster vaccines Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 9880 Murray Ridge Rd. in Elyria. Anyone over the age of 12 who received their second dose of the COVID vaccine more than two months ago is eligible to receive the booster.

Oberlin hosted a COVID-19 vaccination booster clinic today. Courtesy of Khadijah Halliday

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022

Campus Safety officers responded to assist an injured truck driver in front of the west entrance to Wilder Hall.

An officer on routine patrol of King Building located unauthorized posters on the glass doors.

Friday, Sept. 30, 2022

An officer on routine patrol at the Conservatory located a student in the building after hours.

Officers transported a student with an ankle injury to Mercy Health - Allen Hospital.

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022

Officers transported an intoxicated student to Mercy Health - Allen Hospital for treatment.

Officers and Oberlin Fire Department members responded to a fire alarm on the second floor of Stevenson Dining Hall.

Monday, Oct. 3, 2022

Staff in Lord-Saunders Dining Hall reported that there had allegedly been a raccoon in the kitchen area.

Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022

An officer responded to a report of inappropriate drawings on an eraser board in Bibbins Hall.

Officers responded to a report of four individuals entering Carnegie Building after hours.

Campus Protests Proposed Bylaw Revisions, Support Faculty

Continued from page 1

CELA and descended the interior staircase in an attempt to confront the trustees. They were met by Campus Safety officers and Dean of Students Karen Goff.

Goff then agreed to facilitate a meeting between a member of the board and the students in the stairwell. Chief of Staff David Hertz and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Lillie Edwards, OC ’75, entered the stairwell, where Edwards proceeded to answer students’ questions.

Students discussed a variety of concerns with Edwards, including the College’s investments and professors’ power to provide mental health resources. Edwards answered questions through a megaphone while other board members remained in CELA.

“I’ve had meetings with administrators who have assured me that nothing will change with these bylaws, and that … the bylaws are just naming what’s already going on in the College and just clarifying that for legal purposes,” Dufour said. “And while it makes sense to have more straightforward bylaws, it does not specify the role of the faculty in the new administration, which is why so many people are mad.”

Students held signs, expressing solidarity with faculty. Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Goff, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Lillie Edwards, and security stood in the entryway to CELA, with a trash can creating a barrier between themselves and student protestors. Courtesy of Signe Meyer