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Community Gathers for Teach In on Russian Invasion of Ukraine
from March 4, 2022
Photo by Abe Frato, Photo Editor
Community Gathers for Teach-In on Russian Invasion of Ukraine
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Isaac Imas Production Editor
Over 250 students, professors, and community members attended yesterday’s Russian and East European Studies teach-in on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began Feb. 24. The event, moderated by Tom Newlin, chair of the Russian department, brought together seven faculty members from several departments on campus to help audience members better understand the history of the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the current violence, and the war’s implications for the international community.
Discussing and analyzing the details of the invasion was difficult and emotionally fraught for those on the panel and in the audience with personal ties to Russia and Ukraine. However, Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian Vladimir Ivantsov was heartened by the robust turnout.
“The situation is so difficult right now that it’s not about theoretical takeaways,” Ivantsov said after the event. “We need to talk, we need to discuss, and we need to feel ourselves as a sort of joint effort, as a community, because I think maybe some people here don’t really quite understand that it’s a real problem for the whole world now. … It shakes the principles of our existence and coexistence, and the whole idea of peace. So, we need to feel our ties as a community more than ever.”
Ivantsov was also glad for the opportunity to speak openly on the subject, though he expressed that mere discussion on the topic does little to ameliorate the crisis.
“We perceive this whole thing very personally — it’s very emotional, and it’s a kind of mixture of resentment, sharing some sort of shame that the Russian leaders impose on our country,” he said. “It’s really difficult just to say something about this, because you feel like whatever you say, it may be weak. … But I do think that the whole conversation allowed us to feel a little bit better, uplifted, and empowered.”
Panelist and Visiting Assistant Professor of Politics Amanda Zadorian urged students who attended the teach-in to continue to think critically about the crisis’ unfolding developments.
“The war is also one of narrative and disinformation, so paying attention to the sources of information, and also thinking when you’re consuming information about what interests that information is serving, and what stories are being told, is really important,” Zadorian said.
Students can support groups in Ukraine by donating to UNHCR, care. org, doctorswithoutborders.org, or directrelief.org.
Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022
12:03 a.m. Campus Safety officers and maintenance technicians responded to a report of two bats flying around the atrium of Peters Hall. The officers and maintenance team located and removed one of the bats but were unable to locate the second. 11:35 a.m. Facilities staff reported a strong odor of gas on the eastern exterior side of Fairchild House. Officers and Oberlin Fire Department members responded, and Columbia Gas was also contacted. Generator exhaust caused the odor; Columbia Gas shut down the generator for repairs. The building’s interior was checked and no issues were discovered. 12:48 p.m. A student reported the theft of the catalytic converter from their vehicle while it was parked in the Woodland Street lot sometime during winter break. They reported the theft to the Oberlin Police Department.
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022
1:08 p.m. Officers responded to a report of a suspicious person in Mudd Center on the second floor. The individual was described as 6 feet tall, between 30 and 40 years old, and wearing a dark hoodie. OPD also responded. The non-College individual was located and issued a summons by the police. The individual was then escorted off campus and advised not to return. 3:05 p.m. A student reported the theft of their bicycle from a bike rack near the Baldwin Cottage parking lot. The bicycle was last seen there Feb. 24 and was unlocked at the time. The bike is a women’s 24-speed, gray Trek, valued at approximately $750.
Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022
1:07 p.m. Officers arrived at Barrows Hall upon receiving a report of a large hole in the wall on the third floor near the common area. A large ceramic roof tile, which was being used as a doorstop, was collected and a work order was filed for repair of the wall. 6:08 p.m. A student reported being approached by a non-College individual who asked for help. The student ignored the person and contacted Campus Safety. The individual was located and found to be a local panhandler. The individual was on the sidewalk riding their bike.
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Iranian women’s march and will take place close to International Women’s Day, its driving objective is to call attention to the allegations against Mahallati. The march will use the premise of the Islamic Republic’s treatment of women as a catalyst for conversation about the regime’s corruption and injustice, while naming Mahallati as one of the regime’s supporters in his role as an Iranian diplomat in the 1980s.
Ray English, Oberlin College director of libraries emeritus and Oberlin City Council member, has been following the story of the allegations against Mahallati since Oct. 19, 2021, when he read an opinion piece written by then-communications director of the Ohio Republican Party, Tricia McLaughlin, published in the Columbus Dispatch.
“I was concerned when I received at my home address a well-designed, full-color card that announced the November 2 protest,” English wrote in a message to the Review. “Both the Columbus Dispatch column and the card raised many questions in my mind. I became actively engaged with the issues when I offered a quote about my knowledge of Professor Mahallati to a reporter from the Elyria Chronicle Telegram who was covering the November 2 demonstration. His story led to conversations and email exchanges with the main parties involved and to my efforts to understand the complexities of the controversy.”
English’s efforts have led him to study multiple reports on the 1988 executions in Iran and archived U.N. documents, speak with both Bazargan and Mahallati, and read contextual sources about the historical events involved. Although English said his research is ongoing, his preliminary findings have led him to two central conclusions.
“The 1988 executions in Iran were horrendous,” English wrote. “The executions were clear violations [of] international human rights law. The inhumane treatment of the families of the victims also violated human rights standards. It’s clear that Ambassador Mahallati became aware of allegations about the executions from a U.N. representative who received information about them from Amnesty International. It is also clear that, as Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. who was representing the position of his country, he cast doubt on those allegations. A key question for me is whether he knew about the executions at the time he made various statements about them to the U.N. He contends that he had no such knowledge.”
English also highlighted another part of Mahallati’s past, namely that he was imprisoned and tortured by his own regime upon his dismissal from his U.N. position in 1989.
“I think the Oberlin community should also know that Professor Mahallati was arrested, imprisoned, and subjected to harsh interrogation when he returned to Iran after being dismissed from his U.N. position,” English wrote.
According to an April 10, 1989 Washington Post article based on a leaked CIA report, Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta outlined how Mahallati was arrested and allegedly tortured by the Iranian regime.
“According to the CIA, Montazeri was furious over the arrest of Mohammed Mahallati, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations,” the article reads. “The Pasdaran, Khomeini’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed that Mahallati was not faithful to the revolution. They arrested him in Tehran and tortured him until he had a heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.”
Neither Mahallati nor the College provided comment for this story.
Ella Moxley News Editor
Construction will start on a new $80 million landfill gas processing plant this month. The new plant will convert methane from the Republic Services Lorain County Landfill into renewable natural gas. The plant, constructed by the energy company EDL, will be located on Hill Creek Drive and should create only minimal disturbance for local residents.
Since 2001, EDL has reclaimed landfill gas to create electricity on site, but the company decided that it will close the facility this year. The new plant will produce renewable natural gas which will largely be transported to California and western states that use RNG to meet their clean energy goals.
To produce the gas, the new plant will take the methane generated by the landfill and clean it. While renewable natural gas is not as sustainable as other forms of renewable energy, its usage emits less nitrogen oxides and particulate matter than traditional gasoline. The plant will significantly reduce the methane emissions that are an unavoidable product of the landfill.
“The issue of how to handle landfill gas is, of course, a difficult one,” said John Elder, a cofounder of the group Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy, an environmental group that fought against the construction of the NEXUS pipeline in Oberlin. “In terms of the environment, it’s probably less harmful to use that gas in transportation or other uses than simply flare it off into the environment. There’s no good solution to the landfill problem — it’s only a question of which is the least bad.”
Oberlin City Council Vice President Kelley Singleton echoed these statements saying that the methane created by the landfill was previously burned in the area, sending emissions into Oberlin’s atmosphere. Now, the methane will be transported away from the city.
“The alternative is for that methane just to stay there and seep up into the sky,” he said. “So it is still capturing it and keeping it away from at least our environment.”
When EDL initially announced plans to close their electrical plant, there was a possibility that Oberlin would lose an important revenue source. The City was making about $140,000 annually in rent leasing city power lines for EDL’s electricity distribution, as well as $500,000 in energy credit.
However, the new plant will require a significant amount of electricity to run. EDL will now purchase $800,000 worth of electricity a year from the City to operate the new plant, which will cost Oberlin $500,000 to generate. The $300,000 revenue from the sale will go into the City’s general fund.
The large amount of electricity used by the plant also raises the question of how this energy will be sourced sustainably, especially considering the City’s 2007 commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent before 2030.
“We’re going to have to buy a lot of electricity to feed that plant, but what they’re going to do within our agreement, [is] not only [are they] gonna pay us a lot of money to do that, but they’re also going to buy renewable energy credits to offset the carbon footprint of that electricity,” Singleton said.
In addition to concerns about electricity use and City revenue, the construction of the new plant has also prompted questions from community members about how it will impact residents living near the plant.
Elder explained that his friend, who visited a recently constructed EDL refinery in Indianapolis, reported that the Indiana refinery did not disturb local residents.
Construction of a new plant that will convert landfill methane into renewable natural gas has begun on Hill Creek Drive.
Photo by Ella Moxley, News Editor
“From his observation, it didn’t smell, it didn’t look offensive, it was across the street from a residential neighborhood,” Elder said. “It appears that as far as the refinery itself is concerned, it could be operated in a way that it’s not noxious for the neighborhood.”
The transfer of gas away from the facility should be unobtrusive to residents.
“It would be like any other gas line that runs to people’s houses,” said Carrie Porter, Oberlin’s director of planning and development. “There are several gas distribution pipelines that run through Oberlin or around the edges of Oberlin. … The pipe coming from the actual facility there on Hill Creek Drive … with the clean natural gas is going to be a 6-inch line.”
The project is set to finish sometime in 2023.
Lauren Krainess Contributing News Editor
Oberlin City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on Feb. 7, directing the Oberlin City Manager to purchase $50,900.02 worth of new extrication tools and hydraulic door openers for the Oberlin Fire Department. The new tools will replace the department’s outdated crash response tools and improve OFD’s response capability.
OFD requires two sets of hydraulic rescue tools which the department uses during emergencies to open car doors, remove car roofs, and lift cars. The department recently replaced one of these sets in 2018 and has benefitted from this replacement. The department is now replacing the older set of tools, which it purchased in 1998, as it still faces challenges that require the replacement of this set as well. According to Oberlin Fire Chief Robert Hanmer, the department has had to delay its responses in some situations because it needed to wait for the truck with the newer set of tools.
Although the older tools still worked, they were outdated, which created difficulties for the department. According to Hanmer, Oberlin firefighters struggle with cutting through newer, higher-strength metals in cars. Additionally, the older tools are attached to hoses, limiting firefighters’ mobility. The new, battery-powered, detached tools will alleviate these problems by offering firefighters portability and ease in cutting through strong metals.
“Over time, we just need to upgrade the tools and make sure that we’ve got the tools available that are capable of cutting the new cars that are out on the streets,” Hanmer said.
In addition to new extrication tools, the department will also receive hydraulic door openers. The department currently uses pry bars and sledgehammers to open doors and gain access to buildings. The new tools will increase the department’s efficiency and ease in opening doors during emergencies.
“With the new tools we have, it’s real simple to just slide it in, twist the handle, and it pops the door open for us,” Hanmer said. “So we’re hoping that we don’t have to use those, but if we do, it will be less strenuous for our guys, and a lot more efficient and faster.”
When asked about her decision to vote in favor of the ordinance approving the purchase of these tools, Oberlin City Councilmember Elizabeth Meadows said that equipping OFD with new tools puts the department in the best position possible to save lives in emergencies.
“[OFD members] don’t know what to expect when they show up at an accident scene,” she said. “They hope that they have all the tools necessary to deal with this so that there is no delay in their ability to deal with whatever they’re confronting.”
Both Hanmer and Meadows stated that when OFD has more efficient tools, the department can better respond to emergencies and serve the Oberlin community.
The department has not yet received the new tools, but according to Hanmer, the department anticipates their arrival within the next couple of weeks.
2022 Ohio Gubernatorial Primary Candidates
The Ohio 2022 primary will take place on May 3. The voter registration deadline is April 4.
Democrats
Nan Whaley, 46, is the former mayor of Dayton, OH, a position she held from 2014–22. During that time she oversaw the city’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies, the fallout from a series of tornadoes in 2019, and the response to a mass shooting, after which she gained national prominence. Her platform includes a jobs plan, investment in clean energy, and defense of abortion rights. She is also invested in decreasing corruption in state government after the $61 million FirstEnergy bribery scandal. Whaley is running alongside Lt. Gov. Candidate Cheryl Stephens. John Cranley, 48, served as mayor of Cincinnati, OH from 2013–22 and is running alongside State Senator Teresa Fedor. As mayor, Cranley achieved police reform and poverty reduction and focused on reducing Cincinnati’s carbon footprint. Cranley also cofounded the Ohio Innocence Project in 2002, which has used DNA technology to exonerate and free people wrongfully convicted of crimes. According to his campaign website, his platform includes rebuilding roads and bridges, expanding broadband access, creating jobs, and legalizing marijuana.
Republicans
Governor Mike DeWine, 75, is seeking reelection for a second term. Elected in 2018, DeWine oversaw the state’s COVID-19 response, which has drawn scrutiny from both parties. He is running alongside Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. “Guided by his family and faith, Mike has governed as a compassionate conservative,” his campaign’s website states. “He knows that when families are strong, Ohio communities are stronger — and our future is bright!” Jim Renacci, 63, served as mayor of Wadsworth, OH from 2004–08 and as a U.S. representative for Ohio’s 16th district from 2011–19. In Congress, Renacci served on the United States House Budget Committee. On his campaign website, Renacci’s political positions are described as “pro-life,” “pro-Second Amendment,” and “pro-border security.” His campaign website also states that he does not support critical race theory, transgender men competing in women’s sports, or mandated masks and vaccines. He is running alongside Lt. Gov. candidate Joe Knopp.
