Dear President Ambar: Matthew Lahey’s Appointment is Shameful
Dear President Ambar,
I am a 1973 Oberlin graduate, and I am now a professor of Computer and Information Science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. I have been on the faculty there since receiving my doctorate from NYU in 1981. My faculty profile reads, in part:
“From his earliest days, science and social justice have been essential concerns of Professor Arnow. As an undergraduate, he went to Oberlin College because of its tradition of social responsibility and first-rate science education.”
The current trend of union-busting and poor treatment of faculty (with inevitable consequences in recruitment), in addition to the hiring of Matthew Lahey, if it continues, will force me to revise my profile. Of course, one professor’s web page is of little consequence, but don’t you realize that the recognition that Oberlin is abandoning its values will eventually become widespread and will have far-reaching, generational consequences?
I urge you to remove this from your legacy and to take to heart the moral imperatives of the early leaders of the Oberlin community — Charles Grandison Finney, Asa Mahan, and others. Rescind the appointment of self-proclaimed union-buster Matthew Lahey and remember that Oberlin’s motto, “Learning and Labor,” demands respect for both.
