September 28, 2018

The Oberlin Review September 28, 2018

established 1874

Volume 147, Number 4

Residents to Vote on School Consolidation Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief

“I’m always reluctant to post someone’s face on an alert because I figure you’re innocent until proven guilty,” said Mike Martinsen, director of Campus Safety. “But in this situation, he continues to violate and ignore our ban. He continues to prey on our students.”

Freeman has been on Oberlin College’s no-trespass list since March 27, 2017, after he was caught using Oberlin’s facilities multiple times without authorization. The first incident occurred March 9, 2017, when a student reported that Freeman was eating in Fairchild co-op as neither a student nor a paying co-op member.

Although that was the first official complaint filed with Campus Safety regarding Freeman, he had lived illicitly in a Fairchild House dorm room with another student, Daniel Gonzales, for abut four months. Gonzales’ roommate was “ghosting” their room, meaning that the roommate was technically registered in to the room, but was living elsewhere.

“It was hard, because I believe he was on [Campus Safety’s] no-trespass list,” Gonzales said. “And it was difficult because he was born and raised in Oberlin, and Oberlin College and Conservatory campus make up a significant amount of downtown Oberlin.

And so a lot of places were deemed offlimits to him in a place he’d lived his entire life. I thought that was pretty screwed up and I tried to have compassion for him, and we started spending a lot of time together. “

Oberlin residents will vote this November on Issue 11, a controversial proposed levy that would consolidate Oberlin City Schools into a single building by winter 2025. If approved, residents with a home value of $100,000 will see their taxes increase by $133 per year over the bond issues’ 37year term, according to the school district.

The proposal was motivated by declining enrollment in OCS, as well as concern over the state of existing facilities. Currently, the district is comprised of four schools — Eastwood Elementary, Prospect Elementary, Langston Middle School, and Oberlin High School.

“We have too few students and too many buildings,” wrote Oberlin Board of Education President Anne Schaum in an email to the Review. “Our current situation is not financially or practically sustainable.”

Total enrollment between the four locations is just under 1,000 students according to the district’s 2017–18 report card issued by the Ohio Department of Education. The proposed consolidation, which would take place in two phases, would eventually move all students pre-K–12 into a single facility.

Should Issue 11 pass, OCS estimates that it would save $1.1 million annually once the consolidated pre-K–12 building is completed, according to a handout distributed to residents.

Despite the potential savings for the district, some community members feel that the proposed consolidation and corresponding tax increase would create too high a burden on local residents to justify the project’s benefits.

“When they say property tax increase, it’s very few of us,” said Sandra Redd, longtime Oberlin resident and former OCS parent. “It’s all in the rural areas, and it’s killing us.”

Cheryl Butler, a longtime Oberlin resident who attended OCS and has sent her children and grandchildren to OCS, feels that tax increases will disproportionately impact lower-income members of the Oberlin community, particularly given that Oberlin College and Kendal at Oberlin — two of Oberlin’s largest residential spaces — are exempt from paying property tax. “[There are] so many taxes in Oberlin, it’s ridiculous,” Butler said. “The College doesn’t pay taxes, Kendal doesn’t pay taxes, but the townspeople are the ones who are paying all the taxes and we’re not getting any benefits from it.”

Butler believes that rising tax levels are forcing lower-income families to move away from Oberlin.

“A lot of people have moved out of Oberlin because of the taxes being so high and them not being able to afford it,” she said. “I’m on a fixed income myself, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stay at my house.”

Butler and Redd are not alone in their concerns.

Debbie Walsh and Lorrie Chmura are both longtime Oberlin residents with connections to OCS as parents, and, in Chmura’s case, as a student.

“I’ve supported the schools,” said Walsh. “In 27 years, I’ve voted on every levy but one for the

See Trespasser, page 4

See Levy, page 3

College sophomore James Dryden sits in his Langston Hall dorm room. Langston and other dorms experienced a string of thefts in recent weeks.

Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Series of Thefts Result in Arrest of Local Resident Sydney Allen Editor-in-Chief

Oberlin resident Que Freeman, 20, was arrested by members of the Oberlin Police Department and charged with three counts of receiving stolen property, a fifth-degree felony, on Sunday, Sept. 23. Over a three-to-five-day period, Freeman allegedly broke into Harkness House and Langston Hall and removed student property including two laptops, Beats headphones, a debit card, and various other Apple products.

Freeman was apprehended after College sophomore Kyra Aviles returned to her Langston single around 12:40 p.m. Sunday afternoon and discovered her MacBook Air laptop was missing. Aviles had left the room around 11:30 a.m. and had left her door unlocked.

Aviles used her iPhone’s tracking feature to locate her laptop and realized it was on the move near Tappan Square and the Bibbins Conservatory building, at which point Aviles contacted Campus Safety and the Oberlin Police Department.

When OPD apprehended Freeman, he had two computers in his backpack — one that matched Aviles’ description, and a red MacBook Pro laptop that was consistent with a police report filed by College junior Puma Guerrero Thursday, Sept. 20.

Guerrero’s laptop was stolen from Harkness House along with a wallet containing a debit card. Officers recovered Guerrero’s debit card as well as other electronics and charging devices

in the bag. Each laptop was valued at more than $1,500, which surpasses the $950 minimum for a felony charge of receiving stolen property.

Freeman was also in possession of a student ID card that he had used for at least three days to enter campus dorms. The ID was missing for a total of five days and was never deactivated or reported missing. At this point, it is unclear how Freeman acquired the ID. Aviles described how the intrusion has made her fear for her safety and wellbeing.

“I don’t feel safe at all sleeping in my room,” she said. “The thought of someone coming into my personal space with all of my stuff. Not even the thought of someone taking anything, just the idea that someone I didn’t know was in my room. And in this day and age in security, I don’t understand how this could happen. And I know it’s not the school’s fault that someone didn’t report their ID missing or lost.

But the fact that he was able to get into the building is terrifying.”

For some students, it took time for the magnitude of the break-ins to set in.

“At first it was funny, and then I realized I kind of live here,” said College first-year Maddie Zapour, a resident of Langston Hall. “I lock my door, and I didn’t know there was a problem until there was an email. It’s kind of creepy.”

The news was released publicly Monday night in an email from Oberlin’s Office of Campus Safety. In an unusual move, the email included Freeman’s mugshots and a photo of him entering Langston.

CONTENTS NEWS

OPINIONS

THIS WEEK

02 Students, Staff Chart New Course for Accessibility at Oberlin

05 Faculty Body Should Follow Junior Faculty Lead Through AAPR

08 Fashion at Oberlin Through the 10 Sunset Baby Captivates OberAges lin Audiences

03 Annual Fund in Limbo Amid Staffing Changes

06 Understanding Kavanaugh and His Flawed Jesuit Education

12 Oberlin Band Blankat to Open for Laura Stevenson

The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS 15 Remembering Love is the Way in 16 Journalists Give Depth, Nuance to Sports Stories

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Students, Staff Chart Course For Accessibility at Oberlin

College sophomores Madeleine Faubert (left) and Jessie Julian (right) converse in Disability Solidarity Hall. Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Roman Broszkowski Senior Staff Writer Disability Resources will start testing a new electronic management system in the coming months, according to Director Eric Wagenfeld, who took on the position in July after a 10-month hiring process. The Accessibility Information Management system — one of many new disability-oriented programs that have developed in the last year — will simplify the accommodations process.

“There is a lot of superfluous paperwork right now. AIM will allow students to use their single

sign-on to upload documentation, receive approval for accommodations, and access letters for faculty,” Wagenfeld said.

While Disability Resources works to improve student life through the Center for Student Success, other student-led groups have also worked to create a stronger community among students with disabilities. Obility, a dis/ability student solidarity organization, was founded last semester. In addition, a Dis/ ability Solidarity Wing became part of Burton Hall this year.

“Fall semester [2017], people weren’t getting the accommodations that they needed until

midterms,” College senior Justin Biggi said. “We wanted to create a community to support each other and organize around a dis/ ability identity.”

Biggi and College junior Rachel Sanders worked with the Office of Residential Education to organize the new hall and seek out interested students. Both hope to create a supportive space for Oberlin’s growing population of students with disabilities.

“The number of students who have been using this office has gone from 200 to 800 in the last few years,” Wagenfeld said. “I think this comes from a shift in the national conversation over the last 10 years.”

The national conversation may be changing, but many students still say that they often face a lack of resources. Some of the new initiatives meant to support those with disabilities have risen in the wake of a significant 2017 controversy surrounding the former Office of Disability Resources. This controversy ultimately fueled the creation of Obility.

“An alarming number of people don’t realize how inaccessible a lot of campus is,” College senior Rita Pérez-Padilla, one of the founding members of the group, wrote in an email to the

Review in Fall 2017. “Given the [fall 2017] crises with the [ODR], we saw an immediate need for students to organize [and] support each other as much as possible since we weren’t being supported by the College.”

While the new year brought improvements like the establishment of Disability Solidarity Wing and the hiring of full-time director Eric Wagenfeld, not all issues are resolved. Former interim Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Multicultural Resource Center Toni Myers was appointed as the hall’s permanent advisor. Myers left the College over the summer, with an interim advisor taking their place. In addition, the hall was unable to accept as many people as had been interested. Other students were unable to live in the hall due to accessibility issues.

“About 17 to 20 people applied, but we only had enough space for nine,” Biggi said. “We had to offer people doubles even if they had requested singles.

That didn’t work for some people, so they had to decline and live somewhere else.”

Both Biggi and Sanders also have concerns about some of the hall’s features, though no official

complaints have been filed with facilities or the Office of Residential Education.

“The doors to the bathroom and the hall don’t have push buttons,” Biggi said. “Feel how heavy these doors are.”

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act’s “Checklist for Existing Facilities,” bathroom doors must be easily opened by five pounds of force. There are exemptions for older buildings.

“Burton Hall was originally constructed in 1946-1947,” College architect Steven Varelmann wrote in an email to the Review.

“A major renovation took place in 2009, which upgraded the building, including the restrooms, to be ADA compliant.”

The Office of Residential Education echoed a similar point in an email to the Review.

“Burton Hall is in full compliance with the ADA,” wrote Andrew Sadouskas, Director of Residential Education and Assistant Dean of Students.

Many advocates believe more can be done to improve the hall.

“The ADA is not the gold standard,” College senior and Obility member EmmaLia Mariner said.

“But it’s amazing how much the school isn’t even ADA compliant.”

OCOPE Files New Grievances Against College Jenna Gyimesi News Editor The Oberlin College Office and Professional Employees union has filed multiple grievances against the College. OCOPE claims the College violated their contract by eliminating or reducing union jobs and then assigning the work to outside companies or non-union members.

Earlier this year, the College was found to be in violation of OCOPE’s collective bargaining agreement following an arbitration process with the National Labor Relations Board. If the newly-filed grievances reach the level of arbitration, it will be the second time in two years that OCOPE has brought the College to a hearing.

OCOPE represents approximately 170 employees. Within the year, three OCOPE positions have been eliminated — a building services specialist, an assistant in the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, and an administrative assistant in Disability Resources. This is in the wake of a financial deficit that has resulted in cuts across the board for all divisions and departments of the College and Conservatory.

Additionally, two OCOPE positions have seen their hours reduced — a building services specialist and an administrative assistant in the Office of Residential Education.

OCOPE President Tracy Tucker feels that the positions were wrongfully eliminated.

“When they eliminate a position, it’s because the work no longer exists,” Tucker said. “We know that’s not the case here.”

She emphasized that many affected positions conducted work that directly helps students.

“Meredith Raimondo is the one who had to make these reductions,” Tucker said. “She is telling us that these services weren’t needed. I don’t quite understand why you wouldn’t need to serve the students.”

One affected employee is Scott Stanfield, a building service’s specialist who has worked with the College for 23 years.

“They took a full-time position and reduced it. They let [Stanfield] do the work of a full-time person in three-and-a-half hours a day,” said OCOPE Vice President Diane Lee. “Scott Stanfield was busy all the time.

The Oberlin R eview September 28, 2018 Volume 147, Number 3 (ISSN 297–256) Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch.

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Editors-in-Chief

Sydney Allen Nathan Carpenter Managing Editor Ananya Gupta News Editors Gabby Greene

Jenna Gyimesi Opinions Editor Jackie Brant Cont. Opinions Editor Luce Nguyen This Week Editor Mikaela Fishman Arts Editors Kate Fishman

Katie Lucey Sports Editors Alexis Dill

Ify Ezimora Photo Editors Mallika Pandey Maria Turner

Everyone was blindsided by his job being reduced,” added Tucker.

Tucker explained that after Stanfield’s hours were reduced, he often had to instruct outside workers on how to complete the tasks he once performed as a full-time employee.

“Scott had to tell these moving companies where and how to do his work orders,” said Tucker. “It cost them more money and wasted more time than if they had just left Scott’s position alone.”

Workers hired from outside OCOPE may not have undergone sufficient security checks, according to Tucker.

“We raised concern with the College because these movers were given key card access to all student rooms, to all dorms,” Tucker said. “We asked whether they had been given background checks because we have no idea about these people.”

The eliminations and reductions were motivated by financial concerns.

“The College faces ongoing structural deficits because expenditures continue to grow faster than revenue,” Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo wrote in an email to the Review.

“To create financial resiliency — which includes both bringing down costs and

Layout Editors

Anya Spector Tori Fisher Lila Michaels Lillian Jones Business Manager Jared Steinberg Ads Manager Jabree Hason Web Manager Mikaela Fishman Production Manager Giselle Glaspie Production Staff Olive Hwang Lior Krancer Leo Lasdun Courtney Loeb Devyn Malouf Katherine MacPhail Madi Mettenburg Annie Schoonover

creating opportunities to invest in the areas most central to Oberlin’s mission — the College will need to make changes in the way it functions, including a review of staffing models.”

OCOPE representatives feel there are more effective ways for the College to reach financial stability.

“Raimondo said that she had to cut $1 million,” Tucker said. “I do not see how that has been accomplished with the reductions of OCOPE positions when money is spent to have other people do the work.”

Tucker added that OCOPE made efforts to find solutions that did not involve eliminating jobs.

“We asked to sit down with the College to offer remedies to avoid cutting these positions that active people held,” Tucker said. “We wanted to come up with other ideas. We asked the College if they would put a hold on this elimination and reduction for 30 days and work with us. They said they could not. That they had to move forward. There were vacant positions that they could have eliminated.”

Ultimately, OCOPE hopes to convince the College to reinstate the eliminated positions.

Corrections: College senior Kameron Dunbar was misquoted in “Alumni, Students Try Reversing Staff Cuts With Petition” (Sept. 21, 2018). The corrected quote is available at oberlinreview.org.

The photo for “More Than Just ‘Sore’” was attributed to Photo Editor Mallika Panduy. The correct spelling is Mallika Pandey.

Levy Creates Financial Concerns in Community Continued from page 1

schools.”

This time around, however, Walsh and Chmura oppose the levy to consolidate the school district. They’ve formed a group called Oberlin Concerned Citizens with the goal of distributing information to residents about the proposal and its potential impacts.

“So basically our goal is to provide alternative [information] or more information than the school offers [about] the new school building,” Chmura said.

Included in that alternative information are different approaches the district could take in consolidating its student population. Walsh and Chmura both agree that enrollment has fallen low enough to warrant consolidation measures, but think that solutions can be found within the district’s existing infrastructure.

“We could take our elementary schools and put them into one of our buildings,” Chmura said. “We could take our middle and high school and put them into a building … without any new square footage.”

According to Schaum, however, other factors need to be considered.

“The reality is that our current buildings are too costly to maintain and operate based on current and projected enrollment,” she wrote. “We can’t afford to do nothing and full renovation is as expensive as the proposed building project.”

Jason Williams, OC ’05, agrees. He’s also a member of the Board of Education, but spoke with the Review in his personal capacity as a resident and father of three children, two of whom currently attend OCS, and one who will begin school soon.

“It’s something that needs to happen,” Williams said. “We are in dire need of new buildings.” He echoed Schaum’s point that the renovation and maintenance costs associated with continuing to use existing facilities are essentially the same as the new building’s construction costs, and mentioned that safety considerations — including measures to regulate who can enter school buildings — are also a factor with the district’s aging facilities.

The district has explored possibilities besides full renovation.

In 2017, Walsh was a member of the Oberlin Schools Facility Committee, tasked with researching and evaluating different paths to consolidation.

The committee considered three options besides the construction of a singular building for the entire district, each of which proposed using existing facilities in order to make more effective use of space. The report, including all three plans, was presented at a June 2017 school board meeting.

Walsh, however, feels that the committee’s work wasn’t taken seriously by the district. “[The report] wasn’t looked at for a year,” Walsh said. “We went through this whole pretense and wrote this report and it [wasn’t looked at for a year]. So those of us on the committee were really frustrated and efforts were spent.”

Schaum argues that none of the options presented by the committee would have ultimately been viable.

“The current structures would require substantial investment to accommodate consolidation,” Schaum wrote.

“The only two structures big enough to handle half of the district are Langston and the high school. Langston is the

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018

Eastwood Elementary School is in session. A levy will appear on the November ballot, proposing a consolidation all four of Oberlin’s city Schools into one building.

Photo by Patrick McBride, Staff Photographer

oldest building (originally built in 1923) and would require significant investment to address anticipated maintenance needed to accommodate six grades of students.”

Another point of contention is over what role college students should play in voting either for or against the levy.

With an enrollment of nearly 3,000, the College can play a significant role in local politics, but many residents feel that students not from Oberlin should sit this one out.

“I don’t think [Oberlin College students] should [vote] because they don’t live here,” Butler said. “The second thing is, I don’t think they know what it does to the townspeople when they vote yes, and I think they’re being encouraged to vote yes.”

Williams sees things slightly differently but emphasizes that if students vote, they should be well-informed.

“I would say [students should vote] because they are stakeholders in the community,” he said. “A lot of them participate in different groups that work with the schools. But I also think they should be mindful. I just think they should do their due diligence around issues, especially something like this.”

College junior and Oberlin College Democrats Co-Chair Emily Jacobson believes that most students aren’t aware of the proposal.

“Voter information on Issue 11 is super low among students,” Jacobson wrote in a statement to the Review.

“We’ve been meeting with community members regarding the school levy issue and still haven’t had a chance to gather all the relevant information we need to draw conclusions. We are, however, working to bring more information about the levy onto campus and give community voices a platform with the students. Sometimes students are hesitant to vote when it comes to tax levies, but Issue 11 is really about so much more than that.”

For Williams, it all comes down to the quality of education that the district is able to provide.

“What I would like to see is, while we’re considering passing this bond issue, that we not lose focus that it’s about education, and that we make sure that our academics are on point to match a new facility,” he said.

Annual Fund in Limbo Amid Staffing Changes Anisa Curry Vietze The Annual Fund will lose two of its senior staff this semester. With no permanent replacements selected, the Student Fundraising Assistants at the Annual Fund will make do with creative management strategies.

“There was confusion at the beginning of the year about who was going to supervise us, because we didn’t quite know what was going to happen,” student supervisor and College senior Claudia Baker said.

During shifts, Student Fundraising Assistants make calls to alumni to invite them to donate current-use gifts to the College.

“Essentially, students are raising money for scholarships and financial aid and then again, the operating costs,” Baker said. “So stu-

dents will get on the phone in the evenings — we just have lists and lists of alumni, we have a program and a computer, and we just hop on these headsets and call alumni and ask if they can give.”

Following the departures of Director of Annual Giving Connie Schultz and Assistant Director for Undergraduate and Young Alumni Philanthropy Jack Fissinger, the student phoning room will alternate supervisors.

“Two of our professional staff members from the annual fund team are managing the student phoning program while a search is underway for the next Assistant Director of Annual Fund,” wrote Chief of Staff of the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs Lauren Haynes in an email to the Review. “One of the staff members stepping in to help until the vacancy

The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

Security Notebook

is filled used to supervise the student phoning program before moving into her current role, so she brings a lot of experience and will provide support to the students.”

Oberlin’s Annual Fund staff raise money to support financial aid and other everyday costs of running the institution. In contrast to donations to Oberlin’s endowment — which is used to create interest for the future — donations to Oberlin’s annual fund are more immediate because they are used within the year that they are donated.

“87 percent of the money that we raise goes directly to scholarships and financial aid, and the 13 percent goes to operating costs like keeping the lights on, paying professors, and stuff like that,” Baker explained. “It’s separate from the endowment, which is a big pile of money that is in-

vested, so we take the interest of that to help pay for anything the annual fund doesn’t cover.”

As for the successive staff resignations, Haynes wrote, “The director and assistant director of the Annual Fund did resign after successful three year tenures in their respective positions. This is typical in the development field as the demand for talented fundraisers far exceeds the supply.

Both have accepted exciting new positions that offer professional growth, which reflects well on our program here at Oberlin College.”

This staffing change follows two successful years of “All In For Oberlin,” an annual all-day event during which students, staff, and community members canvas the town and the web to raise donations that will be matched by alumni.

10:09 a.m. Campus Safety officers were requested to assist with a student feeling ill at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Museum security officers responded. The student declined an offer for medical assistance. The individual was provided a drink and said they were feeling better.

1:20 p.m. A student reported that an unknown person entered their room at Harkness House Wednesday morning and took their computer and wallet.

The computer is a MacBook Air, white in color, and valued at approximately $1150.00. A report was filed with the Oberlin Police Department.

4:16 p.m. A student reported the theft of their bicycle, which was last seen on the east side of Barrows Hall last May. The bicycle was not registered and was locked at the time of the theft.

Friday, Sept. 21, 2018

3:11 p.m.

A student reported observing their stolen bicycle (not reported to Campus Safety) locked outside of the Conservatory. After some investigation, the bicycle was returned to the original owner.

7:27 p.m. A student reported that they either lost their wallet or that it was stolen while jogging near the North Fields. The wallet contained credit cards and a driver’s license.

Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018

12:01 a.m. A resident of a Union Street Housing Complex requested assistance in dispersing over 150 uninvited individuals from their apartment. The area was eventually cleared with the assistance of Oberlin Police officers.

1:31 a.m. Officers were requested to assist an intoxicated student sitting on the pavement outside of Kahn Hall. The student was able to answer all questions and was escorted back to their room for the night, with the assistance of friends.

1:25 p.m. A student reported their laptop was stolen. Officers and Oberlin Police officers responded. The student tracked it in the Conservatory area and then onto North Main Street. The individual in possession of the laptop was located and taken into police custody.

2:23 p.m. A student reported the theft of their scooter, which was locked to the bike rack at Kade House.

Monday, Sept. 24, 2018

3:30 p.m. A student reported a suspicious individual inside their Goldsmith Village Housing Unit.

Campus Safety and Oberlin Police officers checked the interior and exterior of the apartment, but the individual was not located.

Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018

4:44 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student having an allergic reaction to a bee sting at Keep Cottage.

The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

7:39 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a staff member who was injured when the ceiling collapsed in an elevator at Stevenson Dining Hall.

The individual was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

The elevator has been turned off until further notice.

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Trespasser Arrested in Langston Thefts Continued from page 1

Gonzales and Freeman became friends in 2016, while Freeman was a student at Oberlin High School and an employee at Gibson’s Bakery.

The two connected over music and proceeded to create a number of songs on the audio distribution platform Soundcloud. Freeman moved into Gonzales’ room in Fairchild House spring 2017.

According to Gonzales, Freeman was kicked out of his home when he graduated high school.

“At that time, Que was in kind of a tough spot,” Gonzales said. “He’d been kicked out of his parents’ house and had recently graduated from Oberlin High School. But for a period of time, he didn’t have very many resources. So … when I was dining in Harkness, I would invite him to come eat with me. ... He came to some of our meals and did a crew [shift] a couple of times.”

Martinsen acknowledged the good intentions behind such invitations but reinforced the priority of student safety.

“This individual, in particular, became a threat to our campus community because he was able to prey on our students’ kindheartedness, and our students’ willingness and desire to help someone in need,” Martinsen said. “It’s challenging for us as a campus community because as important as it is to reach out and help someone in need, we ask that you don’t place a stranger’s safety above your own safety and the safety of your roommates. Because you just don’t know who you’re inviting in.”

A second incident was filed with Campus Safety on March 15, 2017, when Freeman was found sleeping in the Harkness lounge. He was found in the lounge again March 16, 2017, at which point he was reported to the Oberlin Police Department and detained on charges of trespassing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

Freeman pled guilty to the charges at the Oberlin Municipal Court and was put on five years probation. He was charged a $350 fine, including court fees.

College senior Chantal Anavian, Harkness’s Head Loose Ends Coordinator — the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association equivalent of a Residential Assistant — said that she doesn’t believe anyone intentionally let Freeman into the building.

“To our knowledge, no one in Harkness housing or dining knew the non-student responsible for the thefts, and no one let him into our building,” Anavian said.

Martinsen said that many problems arise from students holding doors for others when entering residence halls, a polite gesture that can have larger consequences. He added that students should be more mindful of locking doors to their dorm rooms.

“I really strongly encourage students to lock your residence hall room door when you leave,” he said. “Because if someone is there and has the intention to steal ... it only takes a second.”

Freeman had a hearing at the Oberlin Municipal Court last Wednesday, at which point his case was transferred to a Lorain County grand jury. He was released on bond Wednesday and is awaiting a hearing with the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas. It will likley be several weeks before Freeman is indicted.

Freeman declined to comment for this article.

OFF THE CUFF

Eliza Griswold, Journalist Award-winning journalist and poet Eliza Griswold visited Oberlin Sunday, Sept. 23 to discuss her book Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America, which focuses on the impact of fracking on a small community in southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to her work on fracking, Griswold has reported from the field on the “War on Terror,” written about the Christian-Muslim divide, and published a book of poetry. She spoke at Oberlin at a time when northeast Ohio — similar to the Pennsylvania communities in her recent book — is grappling with the impacts of fracking on public health, family life, and the economy.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Nathan Carpenter, Editor-in-Chief Maranda Phillips First off, I was hoping you could talk a little bit about your work with fracking and how you came to be doing it.

Sure. I came to it, oddly enough, by way of northern Nigeria. I was in Nigeria years ago when a bridge collapsed, and I had to get over a river and I did what you do as a journalist, which is use an old empty oil barrel.

It was a couple weeks after the bridge in Minneapolis had collapsed, [Interstate-35 West], killing 13 people.

There was something about that.

Really, it was about a call to come back to the United States and look at our failing systems. Look at our lifeline systems, our roads, our bridges, and how they’re not working anymore.

And it was in the course of doing that kind of reporting in southwestern Pennsylvania that I came to learn about fracking and its impact on local communities, and it was through that I began working on the book.

Over the course of your time covering fracking in Pennsylvania, I’m wondering if there is a specific experience, or time, or series of experiences that stand out as being particularly profound and particularly representative of why this is so important to you.

Yeah, there’s a boy at the heart of this story named Harley Haney, who was 14 when the story began.

He wanted to be a veterinarian and [was a] smart kid, liked school. He got a series of illnesses that his family believed were related to the fracking going on next door and the waste pond in particular. He has gone from that boy who was so hopeful about being the first boy in his family to go to college to, you know, successive hard knocks that have landed him working on the pipeline, which is the very industry that sickened him. And he lived in his mother’s basement for much of his life, severely, severely depressed and angry.

There’s a story by Ursula K. Le Guin about the road to Omelas which is about the ones who walked away from Omelas. It’s a long story that plays out with a child who’s paying for the cost of all of us by living in

a basement and being chained to a wall — his suffering is the cost that the whole town pays for its progress and its success. There’s a parallel to Harley’s life there that really gave me pause and made me think much more about my relationship to energy and what I consume and why I consume it and who pays that cost, which is rural Americans.

There’s a lot of this also going on in Northeast Ohio. What can we do about it as residents?

You can realize that energy is actually shockingly local. Everything from microgrids to breaking pressure, are in your community and looking into what the community’s investment portfolio looks like, in terms of energy. What kind of energy do you guys use, composting. All of these aspects can actually make a difference. I know at Oberlin, fighting pipelines has beåen very much something that students have been involved in. Pipelines are federal most of the time — infrastructure is federal — which makes it an impossible fight, not one that’s not honorable to wage, but there are other ways to get off the grid, to not rely on the fossil fuels that are so problematic.

To move to that national scale for a little bit, I think climate change and environmental issues are often framed as partisan issues. So I’m curious on a national level what the partisan breakdown is in reality between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to these issues of fracking.

There wouldn’t be a national thumbnail like that I don’t think, you know, there are many Democrats — including the governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf — who [are] supportive of the oil and gas industry. It has much more to do with what resource bases are and contingencies state-bystate. … I mean in some sense, you think of climate and environment as a left/right issue, but when it really gets into the nitty-gritty, you’ll see that Democrats in much of the country where natural gas is, part of their industrial revenue stream are also pro-natural gas.

Oberlin Community News Bulletin Wendy’s Restaurant to Franchise in Oberlin Construction has begun for a new Wendy’s restaurant, set to open in December. The fast-food establishment will open at the Oberlin Shopping Plaza, located at the northwest intersection of Rt. 58 and US 20. The restaurant will have a drive-thru and a parking lot with a 38car capacity. It will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to midnight.

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Fava Holds Poetry Reading Ohio Poet Laureate Dave Lucas and Cleveland Arts Prize-winning poet George Bilgere will give a poetry reading at the Oberlin Center for the Arts’ Fava Gallery this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Lucas teaches at Case Western University, and his book of poetry, Weather, recently won the Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Bilgere teaches at John Carroll University and recently published his seventh book of poetry, Blood Pages.

Eliza Griswold Photo by Malcolm Brainerd

So for these communities that have been impacted by fracking, what is the long-term outlook? What is the sustainability of those communities moving forward?

Well, it’s pushed a huge awakening about energy in general, and in some of these rural places it really helps people thinking of moving to renewables on their farms and in their small communities because they want no part of this. Also [renewables are] economically viable. So I think what we’ve seen is that this has just sped up a huge awareness for some people who have had negative experiences of oil and gas. It’s sped up their sense of how doomed fossil fuels are and what their actual impacts are in communities and families.

One thing that I was really interested to learn about you is that you’re also a poet! I’m curious how you see that playing into your journalism and specifically this work that you’ve done in Pennsylvania?

So, you know, both being a reporter and being a poet have in common paying attention. The more you pay attention, the better the work’s gonna be, and I often say in reporting classes [that] no piece of writing can be better than the reporting that supports it. And I think that’s true of poetry as well. I really gravitate towards poetry that’s attempting to locate itself in truth, big-T truth, which requires accurate paying attention to both an interior and an exterior landscape.

What is next for you?

I’ve been writing quite a bit. As a journalist, I have mostly written about religion, and I am coming back to writing about religion and how religion in America has become politicized and what people are doing to reclaim it.

Ask Your Questions at the Oberlin Community Candidates Night Meet the local candidates for the November 2018 general election at the Meet the Candidates roundtable, which will feature a facilitated discussion and a moderated question-and-answer session. Participants will include candidates for County Auditor, County Commissioner, Ohio State Representative, Ohio State Senator, and U.S. House of Representatives, District 4. The event will occur Tuesday, Oct. 2 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the New Russia Township Lodge.

OPINIONS September 28, 2018

Letters to the Editors

Tom Reid Must Be Reinstated as Associate Director of Student Union

We, the undersigned group of students and alumni, created and distributed a petition on Sept.13, 2018, calling for the reinstatement of Tom Reid, OC ’80, in his position as associate director of the Student Union. In less than one week, 1,100 current students, alumni, and community members signed in support of that demand. Nearly 500 individuals also wrote testimonials sharing stories about Tom and his value to the Oberlin experience and College-town relations. One can tell from the outpouring of support that Tom influenced student life in a unique and deeply significant way.

Based on last week’s Review article titled “Alumni, Students Try Reversing Staff Cuts With Petition,” it is clear that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the depth and breadth of Tom’s impact on Oberlin.

The notion that he sat behind a desk in Wilder Hall all day does not accurately characterize his work. In addition to managing the information desk, Tom oversaw Oberlin College Lanes, the Cat in the Cream, Folk Fest, and the Hales Late Nighter.

He taught two courses for credit that regularly demanded waitlists of over 30 students, and he was one of the highest-rated instructors at Oberlin among his students. In his position, he trained and mentored student staff at three different facilities, held numerous meetings at the Cat in the Cream, worked as a pinsetter mechanic at the College Lanes, and welcomed community members to campus in ways that fostered respect for the College’s place within the town of Oberlin.

His position took him well beyond Wilder Hall and directly into the lives of students on a daily basis.

We stand firm in our commitment to the reinstatement of Tom

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Reid and his position. We will continue to make our voices heard. We understand that Oberlin faces challenges as a liberal arts school with financial uncertainty, but eliminating the position of someone who positively impacted thousands of students will neither help Oberlin reach its financial goals nor invest in the core mission of the institution.

We would appreciate the chance to address our concerns directly with the administration in the next two weeks so we can express the importance of Tom, his position, and his effect on student experience.

Johnnie Kallas, OC ’14 See full list of signees on oberlinreview.org

Group Meetings Will Support People With Autoimmune Diseases I was interested to read about Jackie Brant’s trials with ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disease, in last week’s issue of the Review (“More Than Just ‘Sore’”).

It is so encouraging that she has found a treatment that allows her to continue to do things she loves, like play soccer.

BOFE Lupus Foundation provides monthly, free, and confidential in-person support groups (with free coffee and other hot drinks) for those who suffer from or have connections — including caregivers, family, and friends — to autoimmune diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and lupus.

The next Coffee Talk will be at the Oberlin Public Library on Tuesday, Oct. 16 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., in one of the smaller meeting rooms.

We find that those who attend benContinued on page 7

SUBMISSIONS POLICY

The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and op-ed submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board.

All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in that week’s issue. Letters may not exceed 600 words and op-eds may not exceed 800 words, except with consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names and any relevant titles, for all signers. All writers must individually confirm authorship on electronic submissions. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity, length, grammar, accuracy, strength of argument and in consultation with Review style. Editors will work with contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. Headlines are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. Opinions expressed in editorials, letters, op-eds, columns, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review. The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to a contributor.

The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

Volume 147, Number 4

Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief

Sydney Allen

Nathan Carpenter

Managing Editor Ananya Gupta

Opinions Editors

Jackie Brant Luce Nguyen

Faculty Body Should Follow Junior Faculty Lead Through AAPR “We chose to begin our careers at Oberlin College for a variety of reasons. Chief among those are Oberlin’s commitment to fostering a research-engaged faculty of the highest caliber, emphasizing an outstanding and socially-minded liberal arts education, and supporting deep faculty engagement in the governing of the College. We write with concern that these commitments are currently being compromised, and we hope to work with other members of our community to ensure that the College’s mission remains intact.”

So collectively wrote Oberlin College’s Assistant and Visiting Assistant Professors in a May letter sent to the entire faculty body, as well as the College’s senior staff, members of the Academic and Administrative Program Review committee, and other campus leaders.

The letter, which was signed by 64 junior faculty members and is available in full on the Review’s website, outlined several concerns with decisions made by the College under its financial duress, specifically with regard to expectations around faculty labor. It followed a controversial spring in which many faculty openly criticized the formation and approach of the newly-formed AAPR committee.

Of the critical voices, many were those of senior faculty members, who have already received tenure and thus have greater financial stability than untenured and visiting faculty, both in terms of pay level and job security.

Since the uproar of the spring, AAPR leadership has addressed many concerns voiced by faculty — namely that their perspectives will be passed over in the review process. In a Sept. 4 email to the Oberlin community at large, the AAPR committee assured campus that the principles of faculty governance enshrined in Oberlin’s bylaws would remain intact, and that any decisions regarding academic programs would be routed through appropriate faculty committees for review.

It was an important assurance that quelled many faculty concerns. However, a number of the dynamics discussed in the junior faculty letter are still present as difficult decisions are made on campus, and warrant discussion as the review process advances.

In May, the junior faculty articulated four main arguments. First, while change is necessary, crisis language is counterproductive. Second, that Oberlin should maintain its commitment to faculty research. Third, that reliance on visiting faculty is exploitative and undermines faculty stability and, fourth, that much faculty labor goes unrecognized and uncompensated, particularly among junior faculty. The letter concludes by encouraging College administrators to engage with faculty as partners in the difficult years to come.

While we believe that senior faculty contribute important critiques of Oberlin’s approach to its financial problems, we also feel that in situations when jobs and livelihoods are at stake, it is important to follow the lead of the people whose proverbial necks are on the line.

It is clear that, in this time of budget cuts and financial uncertainty, junior faculty are in a more unstable position than their tenured colleagues — particularly as College leadership has repeatedly indicated that it will not eliminate any tenured lines without faculty approval, per the College’s bylaws and the Finney Compact. As such, it is appropriate for the faculty as a whole to look to the junior faculty — who have taken a significant risk by advocating for themselves without the security afforded by tenure — for direction.

We believe the junior faculty to be articulating an impressive and constructive vision of Oberlin’s future. Furthermore we agree with their assertion that a disproportionate burden of unrecognized labor will fall on their shoulders should expectations around teaching and advising increase, potentially at the expense of resources allocated towards faculty scholarship. Attaining tenure is an arduous process that depends heavily on research published and grants received; while junior faculty are just as passionate about developing strong relationships with students as their tenured colleagues, it is undeniable that their opportunity cost of doing so is higher.

Additionally, an increased reliance on visiting faculty would prompt major concerns about institutional stability, especially when it comes to advising and valuable professorstudent relationships.

While a lot has changed since the junior faculty sent their letter in May, much of what they said at that time still rings true. We continue to fear that the student experience at Oberlin could be negatively impacted by an increased reliance on the temporary and exploited labor of junior faculty. We are also concerned by the long-term implications that such a callous regard for faculty labor would create.

Part of what gives us hope for Oberlin’s future is that our community is filled with people — faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni — who care about identifying and correcting power dynamics in order to achieve more equitable outcomes.

The junior faculty have identified a significant and serious dynamic, which calls to action not only the administration but their senior colleagues as well. We hope both groups will listen well as we collectively seek a future for Oberlin that promotes growth, academic rigor, and equity on all levels.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and Opinions Editors — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

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Opi n ions

CDS Must Address All Accessibility, Health Concerns Eilish Spear Amber Scherer Contributing Writers

Eilish Spear and Amber Scherer are members of the Conservatory Council of Students, an elected body of four students that works closely with the Conservatory and College administration to represent the Conservatory student body and foster a greater sense of community.

Two weeks ago, Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo hosted a forum to address students’ concerns regarding the changes to campus dining. Troubled by what she heard from Conservatory students about their difficulties in accessing healthy and timely meals, Dean Raimondo reached out to the Conservatory Council of Students to discuss further concerns and identify potential solutions. CCS quickly sent out a preliminary survey about the dining situation to our student body to ensure that we could bring concrete and comprehensive data to our meeting with Dean Raimondo.

The survey results tell a dramatic story about the changes in Conservatory students’ access to food with the removal of Dascomb and the changes to DeCafé, and demonstrate a need for immediate changes to the current structure of Campus Dining Services.

We received responses from 123 of the Conservatory’s 580 students. These broke down fairly evenly between each class: 34.1 percent first-years, 21.1 percent sophomores, 22.8 percent juniors, 18.7 percent seniors, and 3.3 percent fifth years. Initially, we were concerned that the responses would be skewed due to a dislike of change — i.e., would the upperclassmen respond far more negatively than the firstyears? These concerns were not realized. The distribution of responses across the five classes indicates a consensus that recognizes the immense challenges for Conservatory students in accessing healthy and timely sustenance.

Of the 79.7 percent of Conservatory students who eat in CDS, most eat their meals in Stevenson Dining Hall, followed closely by DeCafé, coops, buying their own, and Lord Saunders Dining Hall. Despite the number of people who reported eating mostly at DeCafé, more than two-thirds (68.6 percent) of respondents stated that they preferred eating in dining halls over grab-and-go.

Most shockingly, of the 105 respondents to this question, 71 said that they do not eat regular meals, and 99 out of 104 indicated that they skip several meals a week. Time was the most common factor preventing regular meals, although

several indicated struggling immensely with the quality and choice of food available. One student, who identified as vegan for personal health reasons, described a choice between unhealthy, unfilling grab-andgo food that they could obtain quickly, or a balanced and filling meal at a dining hall that would take far more time out of their schedule. A choice between time and health. Another student, with Type 1 diabetes (one of several in the Conservatory), said it was almost impossible to meet their needs with the grab-and-go options at DeCafé and elsewhere on campus. Only two out of 94 say that the changes to dining this year have not affected them, while the rest indicate largely negative changes.

Finally, and perhaps most disturbingly, 67.5 percent of respondents say they purchased one or more meals in the last week, rather than using remaining meal swipes, due to the inaccessibility of CDS meals.

For a dining service that costs at the minimum $4,592.00 per year for upperclassmen, and a required $8,230.00 per year for every first-year and sophomore, the burden of purchasing one’s own food on top of this is unacceptable.

For readers who haven’t experienced Conservatory life, some context is probably necessary. Most students’ week-

days are oriented around set orchestra or choir and opera rehearsal schedules. Our largest orchestra, consisting of nearly 100 members, meets from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, right after lunch.

For instrumentalists, rehearsals require at least ten minutes of unpacking, warming up, and preparation, and as such, students are expected to be in Finney Chapel by at least 12:50 p.m. Considering that many College and Conservatory classes end at 11:50 a.m. or 12:15 p.m., this has put Conservatory students in a particular bind when it comes to lunch.

The time it takes to get from the Conservatory to Stevenson to eat, and then to Finney, has proved prohibitive for most of the respondents to our survey.

The changes to Campus Dining Services have had farreaching effects in both the College and Conservatory. On March 12 of last year, the administration sent out an email to the student body detailing the changes to campus dining. There was immense and widespread concern in the Conservatory over the lack of proposed options on South Campus, and a follow-up email came a month later describing the potential for grab-and-go options in the South Hall bakeshop, intended to support Conservatory students. This has

not happened, and the current system is clearly not working.

CCS has made a point to the administration that there is almost no access to efficient and healthy dining options on South Campus, where Conservatory students are concentrated. Lord Saunders grab-and-go lunch is minimal, unhealthy, and described by many to be almost inedible at times. There is no breakfast option on South Campus, and no accessibility to efficient dining hall service that meets the needs of Conservatory students’ unique schedules.

It can and will be argued that Stevenson is really only a block and a half away, and DeCafé is hardly too far, but the issue is one of time. When 94 percent of respondents to our survey indicate that they are skipping several meals a week due to time and health concerns, something needs to change.

CCS has met with Conservatory deans and with Meredith Raimondo to discuss potential solutions. These meetings have been productive and indicate the possibility of a concrete solution, and CCS is optimistic about the changes to come. But the Oberlin administration’s current lack of regard for student health and accessibility is alarming. Regardless of the severity of Oberlin’s financial state, the health of Oberlin students should not be sacrificed to bear the school’s burden.

Kavanaugh Coverage Perpetuates Stigmas Understanding Kavanaugh’s Katie Friedemann Contributing Writer Editor’s Note: This article contains discussion of sexual misconduct and sexual assault.

“Let’s make consent a conversation.”

Oberlin students have heard this phrase a million times before, and, hopefully, take it seriously. According to a survey by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 11.2 percent of students on a college campus will experience rape or sexual assault, and chances are, you know someone who is a survivor. Oberlin students are held to high standards of respect and care so that everyone on campus can feel safe. You would think we could expect the same standards for members of the Supreme Court.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford wrote a letter on July 30, 2018 to Senator Dianne Feinstein accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers. According to Ford’s account, a drunk Kavanaugh physically forced her down on a bed, attempted to pull her clothes off, groped her, and covered her mouth when she screamed.

If that weren’t bad enough, more accusations came out later from a woman named Deborah Ramirez, and lawyer Michael Avenatti has stated that he is representing a third accuser, Julie Swetnick. Ramirez alleges that at a Yale University party, Kavanaugh exposed himself to her, directly in front of her face, and forced her to touch him. Swetnick recalls attending parties where women were impaired and gangraped, and while she does not directly accuse Kavanaugh of raping her, she remembers him taking part in the assaults.

Throughout all of this, Republicans have dismissed the accusations against Kavanaugh.

President Donald Trump recently tweeted, “The Democrats are playing a high level CON GAME in their vicious effort to destroy a fine person.”

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas claimed that Democrats “are engaged in a campaign of delay

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and character assassination against Judge Kavanaugh.” Reasons for defending Kavanaugh could include a hesitation to “ruin Kavanaugh’s career,” an eagerness to gain more power for the political right through his confirmation, or because of the way indivduals misrepresent women.

While accusations against the likes of Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey feel like they were made ages ago, the #MeToo movement is still new, and people are still navigating standards of respect they previously dismissed.

If the movement has taught us anything, though, it’s that we must believe accusers.

No one makes a sexual assault allegation for their own benefit. While some have accused Dr. Ford of seeking recognition through her accusation, in reality she has moved out of her home following death threats and harassment.

Kavanaugh, however, is still supported by his party, despite three separate allegations against him.

Furthermore, many people are accusing Democrats of simply using Dr. Ford to prevent Kavanaugh from being approved before the midterm elections. These people ignore the fact that Ford initially sent her letter to Senator Feinstein anonymously and had no intention of coming forward unless it became absolutely necessary.

The ramifications of Ford’s bravery aren’t unusual; many sexual assault cases are not reported because of threats made against survivors, or fear that they won’t be believed.

It is up to us living in the #MeToo era to give survivors our trust, faith, and support. This will give them strength, and will encourage others to come forward with their stories if they can. If consent is going to be a conversation, someone has to start it.

I want to live in a world where laws aren’t made by men who endeavor to silence women, metaphorically and literally. If you agree with me, please don’t forget to call your senators, here and at home, and urge them to vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh.

Flawed Jesuit Education Kameron Dunbar Columnist Mattie Gittings Contributing Writer

Editor’s Note: This article contains discussion of sexual misconduct and sexual assault.

The motto “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” — which translates to “to the greater glory of God” — is a beloved trademark of the Jesuit schooling experience.

Fordham Preparatory School and the University of Detroit Jesuit High School & Academy, our respective alma maters, instilled in us this vision of living a life for others.

Another graduate of an all-boys Jesuit school, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, is now a nominee for the Supreme Court. Watching the weeks of coverage culminating in yesterday’s hearing — where Dr. Christine Blasey Ford detailed how Kavanaugh, in the midst of his Jesuit education, assaulted her, has been gut-wrenching. Watching the world attempt to destroy Dr. Ford’s credibility affirms everything that feminists and assault prevention advocates have highlighted for decades.

Kavanaugh and his band of boys from high school have drawn national attention to a dangerous truth of their high school experience: a synthesis of privilege, power, and brotherhood through

masculinity.

The idea of brotherhood is core to the Jesuit schooling experience for boys, creating a community that permeates every part of a young adult’s life. Your brothers are with you in class, after school at Robotics or a soccer game, and with you on the weekends. You grow with them, experience difficulty with them, and by the end of your four years, love them unconditionally.

A stark reality is that women often carry the burden of this unconditional brotherhood.

It is the persistent presence of subtle misogyny that taints the virtuous educational mission of these historic institutions. As more details develop around Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assaults, it is becoming apparent that he and his boys lived comfortable lives. They attended a highpowered institution in the heart of the nation’s capital, drank heavily before they even touched the ACT, held the popularity of playing sports, and spent extravagant weekends performing all kinds of misdeeds.

They also openly disparaged women in the most public of settings — cruelty to women feeds the brotherhood.

Kavanaugh boldly slut-shamed women on his own yearbook page. He joined many of his See Kavanaugh, page 7

Letters To The Editors (cont.)

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efit from frank discussions about the infuriating and unknown nature of these conditions, what works and doesn’t work for each of us, sharing information about pharmacies and doctors, and tangential discussions about things like concussions, depression, and whatever else comes up. I invite anyone suffering with an autoimmune disorder to attend a Coffee Talk and to spread the word to others who might be interested.

Contact the BOFE Lupus Foundation — which is local to Lorain County — at bofelupus@gmail.com for more information.

Kathy Perales, Brittany Blakely, BOFE Lupus Foundation Members

Oberlin Should Start Respecting Football Rivalry with Hiram On Nov. 3, the Oberlin Yeomen football team will compete against the Hiram College Terriers in Hiram, OH. Few spectators may realize the contest will be the 61st meeting between the two competitors since 1895. Those who bother to read the game program or listen carefully to the announcer may note that the all-time rivalry currently stands tied at 30–30. Even so, few people within either of the two college communities will be overly excited about which competitor takes the lead in this hard-fought rivalry beginning back in the Gilded Age. The Oberlin College administration disregards the significance of the Hiram College football rivalry by choice.

Hiram officials have reached out to the Oberlin administration twice in the past 12 years to discuss celebration of the rivalry with a trophy. Both proposals were quickly dismissed.

Despite the negative reaction of the Oberlin officials, history binds the two college competitors together. These two Western Reserve-based liberal arts colleges were founded before the Civil War, and both schools pioneered collegiate education for women. Lucretia Rudolph, an 1854 Hiram alumna, was one of the first women with a college education to become First Lady in the White House.

Every time Oberlin community members walk into the Cox Administration Building, they are entering a facility named after Jacob Cox, OC 1850, the best friend of Hiram’s most celebrated alumnus, U.S. President James Garfield. Cox and Garfield roomed together in Columbus when they joined the Ohio Senate. Both men eventually served as troop commanders in the Union Army, and they both went on to serve as statesmen in Washington, D.C. Cox and Garfield remained life-long friends, and their camaraderie reflects the warmspirited goodwill that has always existed between Oberlin and Hiram.

Both colleges started their respective football programs during the 1890s.

Oberlin has a rich football tradition with Coach John Heisman, victories over the Ohio State Buckeyes, and a celebrated dispute with the University of Michigan Wolverines. Hiram boasts a similar type of heritage with larger-than-life victories over the University of Akron Zips, The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

the Kent State Golden Flashes, and the Bowling Green Falcons.

Both football programs have competed against the teams of superb research universities such as Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Chicago. Hiram and Oberlin are also fellow members of the North Coast Athletic Conference along with other excellent Ohio-based liberal arts colleges such as Denison University, the College of Wooster, Kenyon College, and Ohio Wesleyan University. To say that the Oberlin Yeomen and the Hiram Terriers have a lot in common is to say the very least.

Celebrations of college rivalry raise the morale and increase the value of athletic programs for both fan bases, and they can even raise the spirits of entire communities. Many colleges and universities have wisely chosen to celebrate multiple rivalries because they bolster support for their athletic programs. Imagine the value of a rivalry celebration for a football game played between Hiram and Oberlin every November. A rather average annual contest might transform into the capstone victory of an entire season.

The NCAC requires its member institutions to advocate a sportsmanship pledge. The pledge is centered on fan behavior and stresses the value of being respectful and positive. Oberlin’s rejection of sharing a rivalry trophy with Hiram violates the spirit of the NCAC pledge, and the twice-made negative decision is a failing comment to the Oberlin College administration’s rectitude and judgement. The Oberlin community can now choose to bear the shame, or they can challenge the current administration to re-examine its values.

Jim Clarke, Resident of Cuyahoga Falls, OH

Students Must Register in Time for Midterm Election National Voter Registration Day has just passed, and I was gratified to talk to and register Oberlin College voters and help them prepare for the 2018 midterm elections. If you intend to vote in Oberlin and have not updated your voter registration (i.e., if you changed dorms or moved since the last time you voted in Oberlin), please do so before the deadline: Tuesday, Oct. 9. Voter registration is offered at the Science Center Library any time that the library is open. I will make the last mad-dash delivery of voter registration forms at 5 p.m. Oct. 9.

On-campus students: Please look for the internet utility bill from the College, which should have arrived in your OCMR box this week. Off-campus students: Please follow the suggestion in the email message from the Dean of Students to request a government document from Rep. Dan Ramos. I am happy to answer any other questions you might have about voter registration!

Alison Ricker, Head, Science Library; Co-President, League of Women Voters of Ohio

CARTOON OF THE WEEK Maddie Shaw

Kavanaugh Fueled by Brotherhood Continued from page 6

other classmates in identifying himself as an “alumnus” of a woman at a local high school. At a 1982 party, Dr. Ford reports that Kavanaugh attacked her while his buddy Mark Judge drunkenly laughed.

As other commenters have identified, the laughing here is what’s important. Judge and Kavanaugh laughed and enjoyed it. They bonded over it, were fed by it. The brotherhood strengthens at the expense of women.

Kavanaugh is a running example of what happens when we allow young men — especially those who are wealthy, white, and starkly aware of their privilege — to live fearlessly and recklessly, simply because they’re men.

Many examples come to mind of instances when we witnessed sexism manifest in our own Jesuit institutions and sat silently by. At Fordham Prep, a young librarian had to resign after she received constant, covert harassment from her young male students. At UDJ, students would often remark on the appearances of young women teachers, and, at worst, make crude comments attempting to strip them of agency over their own bodies.

In another instance, two students reported “Eiffel towering” a young woman from a different high school; news made its ways around the school and became a topic of conversation for a week.

Potentially even more pervasive at these schools is the culture of intellectual superiority that posits men as more sophisticated. Students were less willing to challenge men than women — they often made cruel jokes regarding women teachers’ weight, intelligence, and permission to teach at and be in an all-boys school.

Some might argue that acts of misogyny and inappropriateness in the mentioned academic settings are isolated instances. Others might question the similarities between U of D Jesuit, Fordham Prep, and Georgetown Prep — Georgetown Prep, Kavanaugh’s alma mater, being considerably richer, connected to D.C. elites, and a boarding school. Individual bad actors shouldn’t represent an entire philosophy of education. Just because some bad boys did some bad things doesn’t mean that the whole brotherhood is corrupt, right?

Wrong. These are not isolated instances; they exist in an ecosystem that feeds off the degradation of women. Jesuit schools, single-sex education, and the brotherhood may not be the origin of these challenges, but they are certainly incubators.

Furthermore, it is our inability as men to tackle difficult questions head on, in fear of damaging the coveted brotherhood, that stops us from identifying our complicity and allows these grave ills to live in perpetuity.

The brotherhood isn’t stronger than our communities standing together and saying that enough is enough, that boys won’t be boys. The dignity of women should be non-negotiable at any point in young development or life.

Brett Kavanaugh seems to be a man who lived out the five “grad at grads” — virtuous pillars of values ideally developed by a graduate at the time of their graduation. He represents respected values — a family man, strong in faith with a deep community.

But he also represents the not-sohidden social and developmental realities of the Jesuit preparatory school experience.

As America experiences a longoverdue reckoning on the realities of patriarchy, masculinity, and womanhood, Jesuit institutions with missions like UDJ’s and Fordham Prep’s should not shy away from problems in their own communities.

In fact, we should be leading the way.

Helping reinforce the nonnegotiable dignity of women in all facets of their experience, and calling ourselves out when we fall short, is essential to making sure we fulfill the word of God and our basic duty as responsible people on this earth. We must battle patriarchy in all manifestations — whether that be misogyny, homophobia, or class consciousness.

So many women — courageous, bold, and brave beyond our conception — are leading a brigade towards a society where women are treated in all facets of life as equal, autonomous, respected individuals. Men should let women speak without reservation, and at this point in 2018, all good men must feel compelled to vocally and passionately reject the same supremacist institutions from which we continue to benefit.

Institutionally, Jesuit schools across the nation must deeply consider the realities, both intentional and otherwise, of the experiences their young men are having, and at whose expense. St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits, remarked, “He who goes about to reform the world must begin with himself, or he loses his labor.” If we are to really continue building Men for Others, we must start by building men for women.

No more silent good men. Good men aren’t silent.

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OBERLIN THROUGH THROUGH THE THE DECADES DECADES Layout and text by Mikaela Fishman, This Week Editor Photos courtesy of Oberlin College Archives

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 Butch Dawson, rapper

Butch Dawson is one of the most talented rappers and producers coming out of Baltimore this year. He’s collaborated with artists such as Lil Peep, Lil Yachty, JPEGMafia, and Kane Grocerys.

Since his highly anticipated album Swamp Boy was released this August, he’s gained popularity and is sure to put on a great show.

10 p.m. – midnight The ’Sco, Wilder Hall

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1

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Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood

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n a , s t e k c a j e g n i r f as everywhere – bell bottoms,

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CALENDAR

Alumnus Joshua Keating, OC ’07, a senior editor and writer at Slate, will speak about the ideas explored in his first book, Invisible Countries. He investigates the term “country” and areas that are self-proclaimed countries but do not fit the term’s normal criteria, such as Abkhazia, Kurdistan, and the Somaliland Mohawk reservation on the United States-Canada border.

4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

King Building, Room 101

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2

Oberlin Community Candidates Night Participate in a facilitated roundtable discussion with local candidates running in November’s general election, including for positions like county auditor, county commissioner, Ohio House, Ohio Senate, and Ohio’s Fourth Congressional District. Transportation from campus will be provided starting at 6 p.m.

6:30 – 9 p.m.

New Russia Township Lodge, 46300 Butternut Ridge Road

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3 Brandon Seabrook Trio

Avant-garde banjo and guitar player Brandon Seabrook comes to Oberlin with his trio, described by Noisey as a “dissonant guitar army…(with) mindblowing prog-rock complexities.” The group explores the relationship between improvisation and structure, as well as punk rock and avant-garde jazz.

6:30 – 8 p.m.

David H. Stull Recital Hall

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4 Winter Term Fair

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An opportunity to learn about Winter Term options offered by Oberlin faculty and staff this coming January, both in the country and abroad.

7 – 8:30 p.m.

Wilder Hall

A r t s & C u lt u r e

ARTS & CULTURE September 28, 2018

established 1874

Volume 147, Number 4

Grasshopper Rebellion Circus Presents Political Puppet Theater

Puppeteers from the Bread and Puppet Theater enact a scene as part of their political activism performance in the Grasshopper Rebellion Circus. The group performed at the Clark Bandstand in Tappan Square Tuesday afternoon.

Photo by Maria Turner, Photo Editor Delaney Kelly The historic political theater group Bread and Puppet Theater performed The Grasshopper Rebellion Circus in Tappan Square as part of their nationwide tour on a chilly fall day last Tuesday.

This unique, immersive theater experience uses costumes and large papier-mâché puppets to distill relevant political issues into both entertaining and radical statements. Some of the issues covered include unethical labor practices in India, ICE and Trump’s “Zero Tolerance Policy,” Puerto Rican victims of Hurricane Maria, and the Second Amendment.

“The theater has started off with the understanding that any work made in public is inherently political,” said Aleksandra Bragozstewska, a Bread and Puppet puppeteer currently working for the Glover, VT, compa-

ny. “The fact that you agreed to perform for an audience is political.”

Bread and Puppet Theater is a political puppetry theater that has been in operation for over 50 years.

Each year, the theater company attracts artists from all over the world to their summer apprenticeship program.

Program participants receive training in the art of puppet making and performance during an intensive five week period. In addition to its nationwide tour, there are Bread and Puppet companies traveling in locales such as Austria, France, and soon, South Korea.

“It’s a self-sustaining theater, so we do not solicit any governmental or grant funding,” Bragozstewska said.

“Whatever audiences put into our hats at the end of the show is what keeps the theater running.”

According to their website, The Grasshopper Rebel-

lion Circus, is a “celebration of 6,000 years of human revolution against human management.”

“I enjoyed how the performance balanced moments of laughter and silence as the performers alternated between comedic antics and reminders of current events,” Conservatory junior Franco Ortiz said in an email to the Review.

There were also “Possibilitarians,” who would arrive at the scene to show a more peaceful possibility in the midst of disaster. In a show that had the potential to be weighed down by its morose topics, Bread and Puppet maintained an uplifting, hopeful tone. A band comprised of a violin, flute, accordion, drum set, tuba, and trumpet, accompanied the action. The style was reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel, like indie rock without the vocals.

After the show, bread and aioli was served.

The main attraction of the performance was the papier-mâché puppets that artistically demonstrate divisive and emotional political issues. While the topics were often difficult, the puppets and bite-sized scenes make the issues accessible to a wide audience. In addition to the students in attendance, local families with children enjoyed the free outdoor theater.

“It was relevant and not too preachy and one of the best shows I’ve seen them do,” Isak Saaf, OC ’18, said in an email to the Review.

Aside from mirroring the political activism for which Oberlin is notorious, Bread and Puppet Theater has a direct Oberlin connection. Julie Taymor, OC ’74, apprenticed at the theater during her time as a student.

This experience would lead her to direct The Lion King on Broadway with ground-breaking puppetry, and her 2007 film Across the Universe also references the Bread and Puppet Theater. Amidst a wide variety of entertainment options, this kind of radical performance art upholds its relevance and eccentric flair in a way that feels right at home in Oberlin.

“Bread and Puppet uses a radical art form to both lighten and deepen our conversations around what is happening in the world,” event organizers and College seniors Emma Doyle and Hannah Tishkoff said in a joint email statement to the Review. “Through their art, the theater is able to confront complex and difficult issues in a way that makes us laugh and makes us feel full — which is where the bread comes in.”

Sunset Baby Captivates Oberlin Audiences

Katherine MacPhail

A group of Oberlin students and faculty traveled to the Dobama Theatre in Cleveland to see the premiere of Sunset Baby Friday, Sept. 7. The play, which will continue to run through this weekend, was directed by Associate Professor of Theater and Africana Studies Justin Emeka, OC ’95. Emeka worked alongside College juniors Miyah Byers and Jaris Owens, along with other Oberlin affiliates.

Sunset Baby follows the story of Nina, a fiercely independent woman who is caught in a moment of contention with her boyfriend and estranged father. The play explores the characters’ struggles with emotional vulnerability, generational differences, and the nature of liberation. Nina’s boyfriend, Damon, wants to move away with Nina and leave their street hustle behind. Nina’s father, Kenyatta, is a former Black Liberation movement revolutionary who wants to connect with Nina and preserve the memory of her late mother. The play follows Nina’s journey as she contends with these two forces.

In an email to the Review, Emeka explained his approach to the deeply flawed characters in this play: “I want the audience to love each of [the char-

10

acters] while witnessing their painful shortcomings.”

College junior Kathleen Leonard’s response to the performance proved Emeka successful.

“I thought this production gave even more life and depth to characters that were already pretty fully dimensional on the page,” said Leonard. “[Emeka and the actors] made some interesting choices to make [the characters] all really fully human and sympathetic people.”

Both Leonard and College junior Dylan Purvis read the play in Theater of the Millennium, taught by Professor of Theater and Africana Studies Caroline Jackson-Smith, before going to see the production.

“Contrary to what I would’ve expected, there were still surprises,” said Purvis. “You think you know what’s going to happen from reading it, but they add so much more and they bring it on stage. …

The moment that didn’t hit me as hard when I was reading it was Kenyatta not being able to say ‘I love you.’ That carried way more weight.”

Emeka was able to translate the drama evocatively from script to stage, captivating audiences and winning their sympathies.

“Black people and the stories we have

Associate Professor of Theater and Africana Studies Justin Emeka, top, is the director of Sunset Baby.

Photo Courtesy of Justin Emeka to tell aren’t given many platforms in the world of theater, or the broader arts and entertainment industry as a whole,”said Byers in an email to the Review. “As a collective society, we are not taught to identify with Blackness, not in life and thus not even when we see it on stage.

I think the best theater works to chal-

lenge this reality.”

The audience’s emotional investment helped them draw connections between the experiences of the characters in the play and those of real-life people. Emeka was inspired by the play’s narrative See Oberlin, page 13

Oberlin Band Blankat to Open for Laura Stevenson Carson Dowhan Indie folk-rock artist Laura Stevenson will appear at the ’Sco tonight at 10 p.m., featuring Blankat, Oberlin’s very own shoegaze group.

Stevenson has been perfecting her craft since 2006, when she released Laura Stevenson: A Record.

The album showcases a poignant voice, dynamic percussion, and distorted rhythmic guitars — all of which Stevenson has worked to develop as her signature style. Some of her influences include The Lemonheads, Liz Phair, and The Replacements.

Not one to stray away from genre exploration, some of Stevenson’s early tracks, like “Baby Bones,” feature harmonizing vocals led by a fingerpicked guitar, segueing into eclectic compositions featuring brass and strings sections.

Stevenson’s lyricism provides insight into her life.

“Everything is autobiographical,” she wrote in an email to the Review. “Things happen in life; people die, people are born, your life shifts, the world is exploding. It’s just still about everything in my own scope but that’s always growing and changing. … It’s interesting to look back and listen to older songs and see where I was at and what I was going through.”

Her 2015 album, Cocksure, was a huge step in Stevenson’s musical progress. She rented a former brothel in New York’s Hudson Valley and turned its attic into a studio to demo 11 songs with her band, all of which are featured in Cocksure.

The album’s instrumentation was recorded live, without the use of click tracks and comping, which captured the session’s vibrant and raw energy.

Stevenson described the tone of Cocksure in a 2015 interview with Allston Pudding.

“I try not to be so melodramatic because life is just so much happiness and sadness juxtaposed,” she said. “I feel like it helps me embrace what the song is about more so than if it were to be set to sad music because it would just be too much. The contrast makes it more fun and easier to deal with. Life’s going to be hard, but at the end of the day, it’s going to beautiful and fun.”

Stevenson has worked on numerous musical projects alongside her solo albums. She recently had an energetic metal track featured on Cartoon Network’s “Craig of the Creek,” and lent her voice to “Angel in the Snow” for a 2017 collection of Elliott Smith covers. Her appearance in the 2014 album I Saved Latin!

A Tribute to Wes Anderson was another notable project.

In the last two years, Stevenson and her band have had a heavy touring schedule.

“I try to get as much rest as I can, and I try to get a little time alone or just time to be quiet and think,” she said. “That’s the only way to really maintain your sanity when you’re around people all the time.”

Oberlin’s Blankat is a perfect opener for Stevenson. The group focuses on shoegaze rock, a style that blurs the lines between different instruments

and vocals. The eclectic quintet of College seniors Sara Calderon, Henry Korpi, and Abby Lee, and College juniors PJ McCormick and Reuben Gifford has played local house shows and been featured on WOBC’s Live from Studio B Program. Their sound has evolved from Soundcloud demos to live tracks on Bandcamp. Their authenticity has remained the same through their time together as a group, showcasing reverb-heavy guitar and spacey, harmonized vocals.

“We’re so excited to be opening for Laura Stevenson,” Lee wrote in an email to the Review. “I think it’s every Oberlin band’s dream to play the ’Sco, where we’ve seen so many shows and bands we love over the years — to be up there ourselves is really cool.”

The group was formed by Lee and Calderon in their first year, through a shared interest in the shoegaze genre. Gifford, Korpi, and McCormick joined as enthusiasm built over time.

“Because we were all excited about being in this band, we just happened to become amazing friends,” Lee said.

College sophomore Rob Stott commented on their sound: “Listening to them reminds me of a dream I’ve woken up from — whether that be happy or sad, I’m always wanting to go back in for more.”

Blankat plans to release an EP and to play more shows in the area in November. Their eclectic rock sound should be an excellent complement to Stevenson this Friday.

Autumn at Oberlin: The First Annual TGIF Okt’Scoberfest is Bringing in the New Season Gwen Gemmell Wilder Bowl will be converted into a biergarten today during the first annual Okt’Scoberfest at TGIF. The event, hosted by the Dionysus Disco, will take place from 4 – 7 p.m.

Students on the way to and from class this past week may have noticed a large white tent pitched outside of Mudd library.

As opposed to other TGIF events, which are typically informal gatherings on the grass, Okt’Scoberfest will take place in the tent — one of several unique offerings students will not want to miss out on. In case of rain, the event will be held in the ’Sco. For starters, ’Sco employees will be offering $1 bratwursts, a traditional German sausage. Non-meat options will also be available.

Additionally, the first 75 people to order a Great Lakes Brewery Oktoberfest beer will be given a free commemorative glass stein. The offer is a nod to the Great Lakes Brewing Company, a microbrewery

headquartered in Cleveland. Though traditional German beverages are often served at Oktoberfest — a European tradition dating back to the nineteenth century — the ’Sco has decided to celebrate locally-crafted beer.

“This event is special because it’s the first in its history,” said College senior Julie Schreiber, who works at the ’Sco. “It’s important to participate in these kinds of events because they’re provided by students and for students. Also, no one does homework on a Friday afternoon, [so] why not have some fun.”

College senior Meg Parker is also convinced of the event’s important role in fostering community.

“I think it’s important for Oberlin students to engage in events like this because it builds community,” she said. “Events like TGIF, open mics at the Cat, and workshops in Wilder are all opportunities for us to build community. Events like Okt’Scoberfest can serve as a catalyst for building relationships between students

across social communities.”

Both Parker and Schreiber acknowledged the importance of the event’s originators, College sophomore Will Hagan and senior Dan Nerenhausen, who took the lead on planning Okt’Scoberfest.

“They’re putting a huge push behind this and that’s what makes me so excited,” Parker said. “I love seeing students energized for things; that type of energy is contagious.”

In addition to being entertaining and energizing, it is also important to note that TGIF events — put on every Friday in Wilder Bowl, weather permitting — are completely free to attend.

“I always believe in seeing other cultures and experiencing them is important,” College first-year Estrella Gomez Hernandez said. “Experiencing the culture of another country makes you feel a slight connection or understanding with the people who live there.”

Oktoberfest — the event from which Okt’Scoberfest draws its name — has been

a long-standing tradition in Munich since 1810. Originating from a Bavarian tradition, it’s categorized as a Volksfest — a German festival celebrated with all types of food, beer, and activities. In 2010, the festival, which is taking place this year Sept. 22 – Oct. 7, celebrated its 200th anniversary with a horse race complete with ceremonial attire.

Though there will be no horse race at Okt’Scoberfest — that we know of yet — there will be cornhole and other games, as well as live music. Attendees should also keep in mind that this is not the last event the ’Sco has planned for this fall. Indeed, the venue has a plethora of events and activities planned for the entirety of the fall semester.

“Okt’Scoberfest is really the kick-off event for us — we have a lot planned for Halloweek, stress relievers for midterms, and more,” Parker said in an email to the Review. “The staff knows that the ’Sco is a multi-purpose space and we’re hoping to showcase its variety this fall.”

COMIC Claire Wang

The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

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

On The Record with Oberlin Center for the Arts Executive Director Darren Hamm

Darren Hamm currently serves as the executive director of the Oberlin Center for the Arts. The not-forprofit organization was founded in July 2016, with help from both College students and community members. Hamm has been executive director since March 2017. The organization seeks to connect students and community members to different opportunities in the arts around Lorain County. With the mission of cultivating lifelong creativity and engagement with the arts, OCA leadership has spent the last two years developing and implementing programs and initiatives around the county.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Katie Lucey Arts & Culture Editor

Darren Hamm is the Executive Director of Oberlin Center for the Arts, founded two years ago as a platform for greater community outreach through the arts.

Courtesy of Darren Hamm What does the Oberlin Center for the Arts hope to accomplish this year?

The first order of business is getting our business together — finding the right people to help define the cause, establish the vision, which has really been our work for the past year. What can we expect to accomplish? What’s most meaningful to everybody in the community? It’s really great to have a team of people who are broadly touching different segments of the community.

Once that’s in order, getting our house in order, figuring out how we’re going to staff it, what we’re going to develop in terms of programming. I think then we hope to accomplish most broadly connecting the arts to meaningful change in the community. We’re thinking about the community causes that most deeply affect Lorain County or immediate communities within Lorain County, and then how can we use the arts to advance those things or attach those things and support these causes.

Our founding mission was more-or-less thinking of ourselves as an arts center in this New Union Center for the Arts.

But I think that mission is sort of limiting. When you think of an arts center, you think of a community-based building that offers various disciplines to the public and that immediate community — sometimes outlying communities. But you think of a place that people come to. I like to think of us in the exact opposite way.

We bring arts to people where they’re already at. We are more of a metaphorical center for the arts, where we can connect arts organizations and nonarts organizations out in the community and advance the causes that they are working on or that are near and dear to the leaders that we are working with.

Do you have typical day-today responsibilities, or does it depend on the day?

Somewhat typical. There are the typical business maintenance things, but I like to

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think of my day divided up between bigger overarching vision and strategy work, which could include the ways we’re thinking about ourselves, talking about ourselves, developing programming. The center part of the day somewhat being very logistical, more rote things, managing more of the day-to-day operational things — that could be accounting to communications. The third part of the day revolves around trying to be creative and trying to be more analytical around whether we’re fulfilling our obligations. Are we thinking about these situations correctly? Are we mindfully approaching challenges that we might be facing? Are we doing everything we need to be doing to be successful?

How does your location affect the mission of your organization? Can you speak a little bit about the New Union Center for the Arts?

It’s a double-edged sword.

So this is a great zip code for being recognized — it’s a creative zip code. It’s unusual and unique, and in certain areas you really come upon distinct places around the county, and Oberlin is one of those. Oberlin has a unique brand and cachet when you talk about arts and culture. So we have a job of helping leverage that brand and building upon a really great history of arts and culture and the traditions that have been proper to Oberlin, Ohio. Also, we’re thinking about how that spreads outward and how we can connect those resources to the community.

Does OCA have a specific arts focus? Like visual arts, theater, etc., or do you encompass many different disciplines?

[We’re] non-disciplinary.

It’s important to us to give equal weight to all disciplines and make sure we are thinking about those disciplines equally.

There is naturally, when you look at any arts-based setting or at arts education, a heavier weight to music and visual art. We know there’s equal ef-

fect and importance to performance-based art, whether that’s theater, dance, as well as other art forms like literary arts and visual mediums, film, and storytelling. We really want to help dispel the high art low art divide, and we also want to equally disperse the way the arts are rendered in the community.

What does engagement with the arts look like to you?

How do you ensure that this engagement is meaningful?

That’s hard. I think about how relevant art forms are and how relevant art instruction is to people of all ages. So meaningful engagement obviously means meeting somebody where they’re at. Oftentimes, take for example older members of a community, they’re limited to programming that has somebody coming in and singing karaoke and playing some “Golden Oldies” hits or having a craft class. And I think about how much a senior citizen has to offer and how meaningful it can be to ask them about their stories, to have them catalogue those stories, to have them work through an art form to convey their story. If you think of just one subset of people in this community and how important it is to engage them through the arts. The arts are a vehicle — they’re not an end in their own right. I think it’s easy for us to get lost in continuing to do the same things as expected over and over because they’ve been very meaningful to many communities. I think it’s just being fully aware of the needs of the people you’re working with and conscious of those you want to bring in. It’s important to bring voice to those people who don’t typically have access to those opportunities.

Some have said that there has been a cultural shift in the way that we value arts education. This is perhaps evident in the shrinking funding available to arts organizations. How do you view the current status of the arts, and how can arts advocacy be leveraged to foster more support of the arts?

Thankfully, despite a lot of political pressures, the arts have done well and [are] making it despite cuts in federal budgets. I think that as you step down locally, Ohio has a

fairly strong base of support for the arts. Then you get down to local school districts, and when you start to envision the impact of arts education, you put yourself up against challenges of how many schools want to provide direct career connections. Arts and culture institutions don’t often think about those things. They want to think about the really solid work they do on a regular basis, but they might not think about how we’re thinking, how we’re engaging younger learners, and how we’re providing them career opportunities.

And not only arts and culture opportunities, but in nonprofit organizational work. As we do so, I think we need to have that mindset that we are equally important, if not more important, to inspire creative learning for not just young students but older students as they are making career decisions. How they can be told that they can have a career in the arts, and it doesn’t have to be onstage or presenting work in a gallery. It can be in a creative setting and taking a creative mindset for any work they will be doing in the future.

It’s safe to say a lot of Oberlin students see themselves working in the nonprofit sector. What is your biggest piece of advice to these students?

Oberlin Center for the Arts is a good platform to provide access opportunities to all the arts and cultural organizations, and frankly, even more so to the causes that are most meaningful to this region. So you can come here, get plopped into this small town in Ohio for four or five years, [and] I’d like to think that we’re this conduit that can help provide access to many organizations in the community and also to causes that are relevant. So that’s probably our best role, as liaison: helping students identify what causes are most near and dear to them, and finding those needs out in the community.

What are your long-term goals for the Oberlin Center for the Arts?

It’s funny. As an individual, you do this work for a very personal reason. It’s hard not to have that personal reason affect what I want to come of all of this. I think of being a kid and being inspired and having

my life changed and how I view the world altered by someone recognizing that I had creative energy. I found the visual arts and music my way of expressing that. I want every kid in this county to be touched by the arts — as someone who is passionate about social justice and community causes, I really think that if we re-envision the way we think of the arts, you know, it will forever go on in concert halls and galleries. I think that’s wonderful — that’s the way that many people interact with it. But you think of all the ways we can meet people and we can find arts intersecting in their lives — I think that’s exciting and meaningful change to people who either may not be able to afford or have access to opportunities to engage with the arts. It’s a vehicle; it’s a tool — I call it the “spoonful of sugar.” You can elevate almost any cause through the arts. At the end of the day, by increasing exposure and access to the arts, it has the power to ultimately create better people and increase things like empathy and compassion and citizenry — all the good things in the world. It has a sort of power. The end goal is that you’re actually changing communities.

Does OCA have anything exciting planned for the next few months?

We’re detailing.

We’re building off of a very strong year of new programs and successfully accomplishing all the things we’d set out to do. Now we’re thinking about what the next year or two years look like.

Essentially, [we’re] selecting at our board level what those priority areas are relevant to issues faced by communities and thinking about how the arts can advance [those causes]. It’s a really exciting space to be in.

At the beginning of October, we’re releasing our website, which will be a platform for people to find ways how to patronize the arts. For example, we’re creating a community calendar of all of the activities around the whole county. On the other side, we’re identifying educational opportunities of students of all ages. It will also be a platform for arts organizations around the community — they’ll have a landing page and a place to access information.

“Expanded Cinema” Film Screening Challenges Students to Think Beyond Two — Or Perhaps Three — Dimensions Josh Spielman The 3D movie fad has declined in the past few years, but it wasn’t long ago that Hollywood studios were aggressively marketing their summer blockbusters in three dimensions. Multiplexes gleefully cashed in on audiences willing to fork over nearly $20 for the sensory spectacles.

The cynical commercialism of, say, a Transformers film has since blemished 3D film technology. Now, if I’m putting on a pair of novelty glasses in a darkened theater, at best, I’ve wasted money on an overblown, in-your-face version of a decent movie. Right?

Wrong. Take two films shown Monday night in the Clarence Ward Art Building, in the second installment of the Cinema Artists’ Cinema 16mm film series. This week’s event, “Expanded Cinema,” hosted by Visiting Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History James Hansen, featured four short experimental films.

Three of these required two simultaneous projectors for their 3D effects.

Jodie Mack’s 2013 work Let Your Light

Shine kicked the evening off, for which Dr. Hansen handed out pairs of “prismatic glasses” to audience members. They produced a similarly immersive, disorienting, and psychedelic effect to 3D glasses . “[It was] like going to a movie with two kaleidoscopes in your eyes,” said College sophomore Nathan Taubkin.

In an email to the Review, Dr. Hansen wrote, “the way [Mack] uses 3D both ‘expands’ our understanding of vision and makes it extraordinarily physical and tactile.”

Mack uses refraction to explode twodimensional black-and-white images into shimmering rainbow-striped halos at a midpoint between the screen and the viewer’s eyes. The film is a three-minute, rapid-fire, white-on-black collage of dancing dots, lines, polygons, and familiar decorative patterns paired with a synchronized soundtrack of squeaks and blips. With the glasses on, those white-on-black dancing abstractions become rave-like iridescent dancing abstractions. Like Mack’s other work, Let Your Light Shine is playful and aggressively overstimulating. As the event

opener, it achieved Dr. Hansen’s desired effect: to “kind of blow everyone’s eyes out of whack.”

The program’s closing film, Paul Sharits’ Shutter Interface, predates Mack’s film by 38 years, yet it engages similarly with 3D to create an abstract, quasi-hallucinatory experience. This 25-minute film required two projectors to run separate reels of flashing and shuttering color sequences, composed mainly of red, cyan, and magenta, all creating a strobe-like effect.

The two projections overlapped in the middle to produce three distinct fields of color side-by-side. In contrast to Let Your Light Shine — which cycles rapidly through an arsenal of visuals — precious few changes occur throughout Shutter Interface, allowing the viewer to enter something like a trance.

“The strobing was so intense, you just kind of melted into it … it was very immersive,” College first-year Leah George said. In this state, it doesn’t take long to begin seeing the three-color fields as two perspectives converging on one, creating a spontaneous, ephemeral popping effect.

Although Dr. Hansen mainly situated Shutter Interface in the context of “color field” painters like Ellsworth Kelly and Barnett Newman — slightly older contemporaries of Sharits’ — the film was also in conversation with anaglyph 3D, the “oldfashioned” mode of 3D that uses two colortinted projections and lenses with corresponding colors. Anaglyph technology has existed in some form since as early as the 1850s, and Hollywood began producing dozens of 3D movies each year in the 1950s using this tech.

What made Let Your Light Shine and Shutter Interface exemplary was the way they don’t use 3D, distinguishing themselves from movies like Transformers. Both Mack and Sharits create 3D-like experiences, although a better word might be “hypervisual.” Neither film focuses on the pop-up book effect we jaded moviegoers know well by now. Instead, they construct unique, ingenious, and thrilling experiences which transcend their 2D format and enter into other dimensions — perfect for a series based around the intricacies of cinema as an art form.

CROSSWORD

Music to My Ears Charlotte Taylor

Oberlin Professor Directs Cleveland Show Continued from page 10 of the Black Liberation movement and the impact that Kenyatta’s activism had on his personal life.

“I want to allow people to confront the emotional toll of the Black Liberation movement,” Emeka said in an email to the Review. “We often romanticize the heroism of liberation figures like Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Angela Davis, and Assata Shakur — and other revolutionary leaders, many of whom were imprisoned at one point because of their involvement with the movement. We don’t think about the toll their commitment takes on their family — their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. Though they become heroes to a nation, their absence at home can do irreparable harm to the legacy of their family.”

Playwright Dominique Morriseau wrote the songs of Nina Simone into the script, adding a musical and historical element to the show. Emeka expanded upon The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

her idea with video projections that played during the scene transitions. The words and images of Tupac Shakur and other influential figures grounded the drama of the play in the real world and highlighted the story’s thematic relevance.

“One of the big choices I made was to incorporate multimedia projections and video clips as a way to show the convergence of past movements with the present,” Emeka said. “In addition to hearing Nina Simone’s music, I wanted to hear her voice in interviews as well. Ms. Morisseau dedicates the play in part to Tupac — his story really informs Nina’s backstory, so I really wanted to hear his voice by showing interviews with him. So often we glamorize Tupac as a pop icon, yet little of us know that his mother was a Black Panther. He was really a child of the liberation movement.”

“For me, the most striking part of the play is how the struggles of the past still continue to persist today,” he said.

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Sp ort s

In the Locker Room with Emily Kelly and John Olsen, Engaging, and Engaged, Track Captains College seniors John Olsen and Emily Kelly have been dating for nearly six years. Olsen, an Economics major and History minor, and Kelly, an East Asian Studies and Politics double major with a concentration in Chinese studies, have won a number of accolades leading up to their final season on the track. The Lake Oswego, OR, natives got engaged this summer and are now sprint captains for the men’s and women’s track and field teams, respectively.

Interview by Ify Ezimora, Sports Editor How long have you both been competing as track athletes?

Emily Kelly: I have been competing since the third grade, so this is my 14th year.

Got in the blocks when I was in fifth grade.

John Olsen: I started in eighth grade, and I did track and lacrosse at the same time, both spring sports, because I couldn’t choose one. And then in high school, I was like f**k lacrosse, I’m just going to do track.

EK: The culture’s different than lacrosse.

JO: Very different. I started lacrosse in third grade and played for five years. I actually started doing track in eighth grade because I had a crush on one of the girls on the team — that’s the only reason I did it. She was my ex and I was still head-over-heels.

EK: She was actually a very good friend of mine. That’s how I met him, through her.

So how did you two meet?

JO: It’s a whole soap opera.

EK: The short version is that I was forced to hang out with him and his friends because one of my best friends had a really big crush on him for like two years, and she was like, ‘please be my wingman and let me hang out with him.’ I was interested in other people at the time, so I was like, ‘eh.’

But then we became really good friends and bonded, and then I dated his best friend — his best man in our wedding — and also dated his other friend, who’s also a groomsman in our wedding, and we’re all really good friends now.

JO: It was like a freshman year, twomonth relationship.

EK: Yeah, it wasn’t a big deal. [John] ended up not dating [my best friend] at all, he only dated [her] twin sister — who is my other best friend. We actually dated literally at the same time.

JO: Remember when you said ‘short version’? This is literally every detail.

EK: No, there’s way more detail. So basically, I broke up with my boyfriend, [John’s girlfriend] and John broke up, and then John and I started becoming closer. Then, at the winter formal dance on my birthday — my 16th birthday — he asked me [to be his girlfriend].

JO: Basically the short version too, is that we kind of casually dated a lot of people in the same circle, and then when we started dating, we both had the expectation this was going to be another casual what-

John Olsen and Emily Kelly

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ever-thing. Neither of us [were] thinking we were going to be together for the rest of our lives.

EK: And nobody was happy about us dating.

JO: Yeah, there was drama around it, because it’s stupid and it’s high school.

EK: Yeah, it was really weird, everyone was like, ‘you’re definitely going to break up.’ Every time I came home for the first four months in my relationship with John, my dad was like, ‘did you guys break up yet?’ Not kidding. At least like every couple of weeks, he [asked].

Was coming to Oberlin a joint decision?

EK: I applied Early Decision. I knew that I wanted to go to Oberlin no matter what, whether or not [John] went to Oberlin. And we actually found this letter that I wrote to him from our senior year of high school, and I was talking about, like, ‘hey, I’m ready to do distance if you want to do distance and it’ll be fine, I love you.’ Which is pretty funny to read because we read it right after our engagement.

JO: My getting into Oberlin was very convoluted. We knew about Oberlin because her older brother played for the football team, so we were both recruited kind of through that. My junior year was when I started seriously looking at it. It was on my radar before because of her brother, [Adrian Kelly, OC ’17], but we both started seriously considering it junior year. The thing was, my parents both really wanted me to stay local, and I’m the first person in my entire extended family to go private.

The expectation was public school in Oregon — cheap, close to home. And then I really wanted to leave. So basically my college applications were eight schools on the West Coast and then Oberlin. [Emily] got in Early Decision, and then I was sweatin’.

EK: It was a sad day when I got my letter.

JO: Because I didn’t think that financially I’d be able to go to Oberlin. Coach [John] Hepp every week was calling me, and I was like, ‘yeah, as much as I want to go, the bottom line is, if I can’t pay, I can’t go.’ And that’s what I thought was going to happen up until I literally got an extension from Oberlin and from two other schools that I was still negotiating with [for] financial aid.

So [Emily] got in as early as you can, and I got in literally after the deadline. It was six

Photo courtesy of John Olsen

months of just stress, because it was like, ‘oh my god, are we going to be doing long distance, are you going to be out in Ohio and I’ll be in, like, California?’ But in the end it worked out with financial aid and with my parents. We were able to figure out a way for me to get out here.

EK: It was dramatic.

How does being engaged affect how you lead as captains?

EK: It’s hard because you don’t want it to seep into your romantic life, and so the first week or two was hard because we didn’t really know how to communicate and how to balance each other out. And we don’t really know how to be captains; we’ve never been captains before.

JO: That’s not true — high school.

EK: OK, in high school we were team captains, but high school it’s like — JO: It’s a different beast than college. In high school it was like, ‘alright, captains, just be the example for warm-up, and then coaches take it away,’ whereas here, captains practice — we are running everything.

We’re coordinating the practices [and] the lifts, we are reading the workouts days in advance and memorizing them, and teaching them back. There was some friction early on, trying to balance it out so that neither of us felt that we were overshadowing the other during practice, which is something we’ve talked to James [Tanford, OC ’18] and Lilah [Drafts-Johnson, OC ’18] [about]. What made it unique, is that for James and Lilah if there was stepping on toes, they just go home and talk about it later — we go home together. So we have to be careful that if there’s any friction during practice, that that didn’t bleed into our personal lives.

EK: In some ways it’s good because we’re forced to talk about it immediately.

When are you getting married?

EK: July 6, 2019. It’s going to be a very small wedding. We can’t afford a banger.

What are you most looking forward to this season?

EK: To [getting] on the track and getting healthy and actually running. I’ve been battling health issues since I graduated from high school, and I’m finally on asthma medication that I’m hoping is actually going to work. I’ve just been going through doctors and medication for my entire career here, and I’m hoping this will be the year that I’m actually able to get on the track and run. I’m very excited to have a close relationship with all [of ] my [firstyears]. It’s been really cool, I’ve been getting to know them; we have girls’ nights on Friday nights where we can just talk and hang out.

JO: Having a new coach is both stressful and exciting at the same time. So far I’ve really loved the way that [Coach Ben Wach has] been doing stuff. This year he really wants to focus on speed, so I’m going to be doing more 200s and even maybe some 60-meters indoors to focus on building up speed, because the way he put it, [I’ve] been doing endurance running for [the past] three years, [so] now we’re going to focus on the first 50 meters [of the 400] being as fast as they can. I’m excited to start doing some more shorter distance because

John Olsen and Emily Kelly Photo courtesy of Emily Kelly

that’s something I don’t usually get to do, but I enjoy.

What are your plans for after college?

EK: I’m trying to go to law school. That is definitely the main game plan right now.

And we’re hoping that I’ll figure out my law school stuff pretty early so that John will have time to look for jobs around where I’m looking for law schools, and we’ll try to figure it out based on where he can find jobs and where I’m trying to go to law school.

JO: The ideal timetable now is that we’ll know where she’ll be around December, and that should give me enough time hopefully to find something in the area. Really we’re trying to stay in the West, so maybe we’ll go back to Oregon, or go to California.

We’re also looking at Colorado [because] I have family [there] and we have history [there]. I’m not going to do grad school, so I’ll be looking for work wherever [Emily] ends up.

Do you know what kind of work?

JO: In a perfect world, I would love to be doing advertising, but it’s kind of a hard field to break into straight-away, so I’ve also been looking at market-analysis [and] data analysis with economics, or econometrics.

What legacy are you trying to leave on the track team — individually and together?

EK: My main goal as a captain this year is to foster a community of inclusion, and I’m trying to do that not just with the [first-years], but also people coming back to the team as well. It’s a large team and it’s easy for us to be scattered, especially between the cross country team and the track team, and everyone has their own group messages and their own individual cliques, but my focus this year has been trying to bridge those gaps and make us all a very close team.

JO: Along similar lines, Emily, [College senior] Jahkeem [Wheatley, jumps captain], and I have been doing a lot of work trying to bring everyone together — on the track and off the track, as well. We’re really trying this year to make it feel like a collective team, and I think so far we’ve done a good job of that. I really hope that when we leave, that culture stays — because that means we did our job.

If we leave [and for] the class[es] beneath us, it’s felt like, ‘oh everyone is a team, the jumpers and sprinters are warming up together’ — and we’ve been doing that now, warming up and working out with the jumpers which never used to happen — if that’s the culture we can build, and mak[e] the norm, that’s going to make a more cohesive and successful team for years to come for Oberlin. I’m really hoping we can leave that precedent.

Remembering Love is The Way In Julie Schreiber Senior Staff Writer

The first time Blake New walked into the men’s soccer locker room in the fall of 1999, it was the start of his first season as the team’s head coach.

There, he found a stolen helmet from Heidelberg University and a photo of a player who had already graduated.

New, who was attempting to get a feel for the group of young men he was going to coach, knew right away that he wanted his team to represent

When Men’s Soccer Head Coach Blake New joined the program in 1999, he introduced a number of traditions that have shaped the culture and identity of the program over the past two decades.

Photo courtesy of Maria Turner

something more than random, trivial bits and pieces from seasons past.

“I took a look around and thought to myself, ‘this can’t be what we’re about,’” said New, who is now celebrating his 20th year as the head men’s soccer coach. “As a team, we needed a new culture and a stronger identity.”

For two decades, Coach New has spearheaded efforts to revitalize the team. His goals are to build a cohesive team culture and a winning record.

“Even from the beginning, the culture of the team was very important to me,” said New, who officially took over the men’s program after three years of coaching the women’s soccer team, and a brief stint as a golf instructor for the Oberlin Golf Club. “As a team, you have to build these values — like respect, discipline, and determination — in order to persist through the challenges that inevitably lie ahead.”

Not long after his first trip into the locker room, New found his strategy for shaping his team: building traditions that would persist for decades.

New’s new era of soccer traditions began by making the effort to sustain the only existing one — the “Hustle Suit.” The suit, a red track uniform with a broken zipper, is awarded at the end of the game to a player who made a significant impact, and that player is required to proudly sport the suit either that night or the following day.

“It’s hardly ever washed, and usually stays stuffed in a bag when it’s not being worn,” College junior and forward Jack McMillin said.

The player who wins gets to choose the next winner and deliver a speech, often accompanied by smooth jazz music, according to McMillin.

Another tradition brought in by New is the practice of “touching the rock,” inspired by the famous “touching of the sign” by members of the Notre Dame football team on their way out of the locker room. New gave the practice an Oberlin twist by bringing in a chunk of the iconic Tappan Square stone.

“One day, the assistant coach and I just walked over to the rocks in Tappan Square, chipped off a piece, and decided to make it our unifying stone,” New said.

Faith Guides Football’s Taylor Continued from page 16.

Taylor said. “It’s true that it’s not widely accepted here, but that’s totally OK. People are free to believe what they want. It has become important for me, though, to have a community for people who share my beliefs so that [we] have a safe place to connect and express their worries and anxieties. Nobody should ever feel like they have to keep something inside.”

However, Taylor wants to make sure that student-athletes know that Athlete Bible Study is a place for everybody, not just Christians. While part of the meeting does involve reading the Bible, a large portion of the meeting is dedicated to expressing feelings and discussing things that are happening at Oberlin and around the world. In fact, Taylor said he believes that Athlete Bible Study has made him a better person in all aspects of his life.

Part of Taylor’s success in the classroom and on the football field comes from his ability to prioritize. While many student-athletes go out on Saturday nights, Taylor chooses not to. He said he enjoys hanging around his teammates but equally enjoys relaxing in his room by himself and watching Netflix. “[My faith] helps me to remember my role as a person,” Taylor said. “I know that I’m here at Oberlin so that I can make a better future for myself and my family, and there’s a lot riding on me succeeding here so that when I finish The Oberlin Review | September 28, 2018

here I have the means to support a lot of people.”

Over the summer, Taylor participated in a six-week internship at the Summer Biomedical Sciences Institute at Duke University, where he took classes to prepare for the MCAT and medical school. He also shadowed at the Duke University Hospital. With aspirations to become an orthopedic surgeon, it’s no wonder that Taylor takes advantage of any free time he has to relax.

Outside of being a three-year starter and two-time captain for the Yeomen and leading Athlete Bible Study, Taylor volunteers frequently with Buddy Up Tennis and is the co-chair of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

On the field, Taylor is on track to becoming the best quarterback to ever play for the Yeomen. As a sophomore, Taylor set the single-season school record for total offense in just nine games with an accumulation of 2,525 yards. In the last game of the season, against the Allegheny College Gators, Taylor threw a North Coast Athletic Conference single-game record 550 total yards to secure a 63-37 win.

“My faith is at the root of everything I do — it is my identity,” Taylor said.

“When I wake up and remember that God loves me and is proud of me no matter what, it makes things a lot easier to handle. In terms of making me a better athlete, it just gives me a great outlook on what I can do.”

The players ceremonially touch the stone before exiting the locker room every game, home or away.

Other team traditions that have emerged throughout the past 20 years include fitness competitions during preseason and cheering for the bus driver at the end of a long ride — which incidentally did not occur last week for the first time in New’s recent memory, as the driver accidentally took the team 45 minutes out of the way.

The team also contributes regularly to a “fine system” for violations ranging anywhere from leaving gear on the field and inconveniencing the equipment staff to general misbehavior. “[College junior] Wyeth Carpenter is our fine leader this year,” said New, “but [College sophomore] Michael Candelori can also be pretty forgetful.”

Over the years these traditions have unified and strengthened the team, according to New. He said he believes the team’s positive reputation not only keeps everybody close, but also helps his athletes become active members of the College community.

“Our players are focused and committed, and that comes from the culture we’ve created,” New said.

New credits the team’s high retention rate to the family atmosphere that these traditions foster.

“Everyone does a ton of stuff in addition to soccer, and it provides them a with great balance of school and sports,” New said. “But the strong culture makes these guys feel compelled to come back year after year.”

When the team practices on weekday afternoons on the grassy Fred Shults Field, the players can be seen running under a five-foot red and yellow gate which reads “love is the way in.”

The Yeomen currently stand 0-9 in the season.

Although they’re off to a tough start, the team still touches the rock before games, cheers for their bus driver, and runs through the gate before practice.

This team is committed to their culture as much as their sport. Their dedication shows during their practices, games, winning seasons, and losing seasons, and displays how their traditions have stood the test of time.

Sports Journalism Provides Insight Continued from page 16. ing power of sports.

It was for this reason that my heart sank when the New York Daily News announced at the end of July that half of its newsroom was being laid off. A sports section that once carried 35 staffers now has 9.

Unlike many other occupations, sports journalists don’t write for money or status. They work long, stressful hours for little pay.

They write because the stadium is their second home. It’s the crack of a bat and the light thud of a baseball hitting the inside of a mitt that reminds them of what a joy it is to be a sports fan. They witness athletic greatness on a nightly basis and have access to all of our favorite players, bridging the gap between us and them.

Can you imagine how dull sports would be if we knew nothing about the teams we cheer so loudly for?

Because of the work that sports journalists do, the best moments in sports history are never lost, and the legends are never forgotten. There is more to a coach than wins and losses, and

there is more to a student-athlete than their performance on any given day.

This year, the Review is setting up more interviews and probing farther into the lives of those involved in Oberlin athletics so we can give you information that you can’t find anywhere else.

So far this semester, College sophomore and football player Khalid McCalla wrote a courageous column pushing football players to acknowledge the importance of mental health; College first-year Luke Sprecher gave an inside look into how first-year Ian Ashby balances being a Conservatory student and member of the varsity baseball team; and College senior and Sports Editor Ify Ezimora argued why it’s important to recognize student-athletes’ accomplishments outside of athletics.

To enjoy the athletics section of the Review or any newspaper, you don’t have to like sports. You just have to like people. Every athlete has a story worth reading about.

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SPORTS September 28, 2018

established 1874

Volume 147, Number 4

Journalists Give Depth, Nuance to Sports Stories Alexis Dill Sports Editor

Zach Taylor, one of the best quarterbacks in program history, credits his success on and off the football field to his faith. He leads Athlete Bible Study, which meets Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. in the Zechiel House lounge.

Photo Courtesy of Erik Andrews

Christianity Guides Taylor to Success On and Off Field Alexis Dill Sports Editor Every Saturday before the football team takes the field for warm-ups, College junior and football quarterback Zach Taylor writes a new Bible verse on the towel he keeps in his back pocket throughout the game.

According to Taylor, Christianity has been his driving force since arriving at Oberlin two years ago. It’s what gets him through the bad times and keeps him humble during the good times.

“I grew up in a Christian household, but I think I really found my faith once I got here at Oberlin,” Taylor said. “It was my first time being away from my family, so it was nice having Jesus as my rock.

The Bible was something I wanted to get to know more.”

In the spring of Taylor’s freshman year, Rachael Andrews, OC ’18, introduced him to Oberlin’s Athlete Bible Study. Athlete Bible Study, which meets Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in the Zechiel House lounge, allows Christian student-athletes and non-Christians to come together and read the Bible, ask questions about it, and discuss how its principles can relate to life in Oberlin.

According to Taylor, around seven or eight student-athletes attend Athlete Bible Study on average, but there have been times when up to 18 people have shown up. Over the past three years, members of football, men’s basketball, men’s lacrosse, baseball, swimming and diving, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, and women’s lacrosse have made appearances.

College junior and women’s basketball player Mackenzie Michaels said the Athlete Bible Study is a much-needed breath of fresh air for her.

“It allows me to step back from my busy schedule and take an hour to refocus on what is important,” Michaels said. “It fosters a community that goes across teams and denominations. We

16

pray together, reflect together, and are there for each other.”

Despite participation from many teams, Athlete Bible Study tends to be spearheaded by the football team.

Junior defensive lineman and football team captain Justin Godfrey said Athlete Bible Study is a refreshing way to connect with others.

“It’s just a really great place to relax and be around people who are likeminded,” Godfrey said. “It’s a place where we can bounce ideas and beliefs and stories off one another.”

Senior wide receiver and football team captain Ryan Gleeson said Athlete Bible Study quickly became an important part of his college experience sophomore year when he started attending.

“Not only do I go to grow stronger in my faith, but it is also a great opportunity to open up and have an honest conversation about how you’re feeling and what you’re going through that week with people who truly care,” he said. “It really helped me find a great community of friends.”

Select members of the team pray before each game, and, like Taylor, they write Bible verses on their cleats and taped wrists. “[Christianity] plays a big role on the team because it’s very unifying,” Taylor said. “We all come from different backgrounds and places, but we’re united under that same belief that Jesus Christ died for our sins. It brings you closer, having that emotional connection to each other. You have these tough football players who are willing to express their emotions. It makes us better teammates and friends.”

While the players on the football team who identify as Christian are proud of their faith, Taylor said he understands that many students at Oberlin are not religious, and he is OK with that.

“I’m very aware of the rap that [Christianity] sometimes gets on this campus,” See Faith, page 15.

When Sports Illustrated published senior writer Chris Ballard’s remarkable feature on former New Orleans Pelicans Head Coach Monty Williams a year and a half ago, I was a first-year sitting in the very back of my Intro to Psychology class.

The article was titled “‘You Can’t Give In’: Monty Williams On Life After Tragedy.” I read it from beginning to end without lifting my eyes from my laptop screen a single time. I couldn’t.

Then I read it again. I’ve never really been one to pay attention during lectures.

While other students charted the differences between classical and operant conditioning in their notebooks, I sank down in my chair, awestruck.

Susannah Donaldson was under the influence of meth when she accelerated to more than twice the speed limit of 40 miles-per-hour and struck the car that carried Williams’ wife Ingrid, and three of their five children head-on. Ingrid and Donaldson were both killed in the accident. Only one year had passed since Williams lost his partner of 26 years when Ballard began writing his piece.

The article stuck with me for a long time. How did Williams put on a brave face after saying goodbye to the woman who helped him through the darkest times of his life, when he contemplated suicide after being diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy? Why did he ask for prayers for Donaldson’s family when no one would have blamed him for acting rancorously instead?

How did Ballard turn an unimaginable tragedy into a beautiful story about faith, forgiveness, and persistence?

Every now and then, a sports journalist produces a masterpiece that reminds us why we fell in love with sports in the first place — for me, this was one of those.

If I want to know how my favorite team did in last night’s game, I can pull up ESPN and get a recap in seconds. But as a diehard fan, I want more. I want to know what goes on in the Cleveland baseball clubhouse before the team takes the field. How did José Ramirez’s childhood in the Dominican Republic shape him into the player he is today?

When Francisco Lindor points at the sky after reaching base safely, who is he saluting?

I invest in certain teams be-

cause I am captivated by their history and the players’ personalities. If I hadn’t read LeBron James’ first-person essay, “I’m Coming Home” — as told to Lee Jenkins, former lead NBA writer for Sports Illustrated — his return to the Cavaliers in 2014 wouldn’t have meant much to me but more wins.

After his letter was published, James’ second stint in Cleveland became personal — for James, for fans, and for me. In a little over 1,000 words, James made it clear that his motivations for winning a third championship title in Cleveland were far more heartfelt than for the two he won with the Miami Heat.

James was “a kid from Northeast Ohio” again, ready to deliver on his promise to bring a championship home and give back to the city that raised him through the LeBron James Family Foundation.

Sports journalism allows people like James and Williams to transcend their public image as just athletes or coaches. It exposes who athletes truly are, on and off the court, field, or pitch.

I had already known that Williams was a standout talent at the University of Notre Dame and a first-round draft pick by the New York Knicks, but it was Ballard who taught me that Williams couldn’t have succeeded without Ingrid’s patience and support.

Ballard takes us back to Notre Dame in 1989 when Williams was too cool to make a move on Ingrid, yet too enthralled by the “girl drinking water instead of beer” to stay away.

Through Ballard we sit at Ingrid’s memorial among 1,000 family members, friends, players, and coaches. We watch Williams look up from the lectern and into the crowd. All he can see is his five children staring back at him.

“You just can’t quit,” Williams tells them. “You can’t give in.”

Sports aren’t pure entertainment; they’re inspirational, and they mean something. I’m inspired when my softball teammate cuts two minutes off of her mile time just two weeks after deeming it impossible. It means something when I see a father — still in his dress pants and dress shirt from work — playing catch with his young son in the driveway. When I see fans from rival franchises choosing to bond over their shared love of the game, rather than brawl over their differences, I remember the unifySee Sports, page 15.