“I could probably count them on my hands,’ an Oberlin student said in reference to the number of minorities living in her co-op last year.” This quote is from 2001, and I could say the same thing about the students in my co-op today in 2023. 

I grew up in a small town of about 6,000 people where 91 percent were white. I’m used to being the only non-white person in a room or hearing weird comments. You’d expect the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association, an organization founded on the principle of social justice, solidarity, and cooperation, to have more diversity, especially within a College with a history of protest and activism. Yet, to my surprise, when I joined OSCA, I found myself in a very similar space to my hometown. Not including Third World Co-op, OSCA is around 95 percent white. Including TWC, it is 88 percent white. It’s important to note that these numbers are also disproportionate from the rest of the College’s demographics: white students constitute about 61 percent of the student body. All of this does not include the lack of economic diversity, which has been previously reported on by the Review.

Personally, I haven’t experienced any significant instances of racism within OSCA, and the people I’ve met have been kind and understanding when I’ve expressed my concerns. However, I have noticed a general sense of apathy and ignorance when it comes to respecting TWC and actively confronting the racism and microaggressions that do happen within OSCA. 

There are specific examples of this behavior that have been documented by the Review. In 1998, a student who went by J bemoaned that “race ‘issues’ at Oberlin are created by the people of color as an excuse for something to do.” According to a Review article in 2000, a co-oper said, “We don’t eat dog” during the discussion to change what was formerly known as Asia House Co-op to Pyle Inn. More recently, a Review article from 2017 written by Carson Li, OC ’20, noted the exclusivity in co-ops. 

“When those white people chat and laugh in the lounge, my friends of color sit alone at the other side of the room,” Li writes. “Of course, we have POC in our co-op — but they are rendered invisible to the point where we must question if we really have them.”

I believe that there are many more instances that haven’t been brought to light. To OSCA’s credit, they have attempted to solve these problems. In 2013, they made Privilege and Oppression workshops a requirement for all members. This started off with the intention to make people feel more safe and comfortable after an incident earlier that year in which racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, and homophobic flyers were put up around campus. But I think that P&Os have since evolved from a place of mutual understanding and education to instead burdening POC within OSCA to educate others. They’re a chance for OSCAns to talk twice a year about a pressing issue, pat themselves on the back for being socially conscious, and then get on with their lives. 

Additionally, the other POC and I who express discomfort within OSCA are often met with the reply, “You should consider TWC.” It’s a statement that often comes from good intent, but when you read through the lines it almost sounds like, “We want you to be segregated from the rest of OSCA so that you can’t be a problem anymore.” I want to make it clear that TWC — an intentional safe space for people of all racial and socioeconomic identities to have productive discussion — is important and necessary in OSCA and at Oberlin. But that shouldn’t be the ONLY space available. This space needs to exist in Pyle, Keep, Harkness, and Tank as well. TWC was founded as an alternative, not a solution, to the lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity within OSCA, and simply redirecting people there does not combat the larger issue at hand.

I’m frustrated that racism and the lack of diversity is simply an acknowledged fact, and that after all this time little progress has been made. I understand that OSCA has experienced a lot of financial difficulties since COVID-19. But I also believe that by not taking action, fewer people will be interested in an organization that doesn’t put its money where its mouth is, especially when it comes to prospective students. As a whole, OSCA, in good faith, can’t call itself an organization that has “engaged in social justice issues” if they continue to ignore this. 

Racism and exclusion is a deeply systemic problem that has been with OSCA since its conception. Obviously, this isn’t the fault of anyone on All-OSCA right now, and there was already a report by the now-defunct Student Organization Against Racism at the end of the 1980s that first documented this lack of racial diversity. But there needs to be an investigation from an outside and independent source on why racial and socioeconomic exclusion is still being perpetuated. The time for discussion alone is over. People affected by this exclusion need an opportunity to speak out about their experiences and be heard. I am proud to be a member of OSCA, a unique cooperative organization that plays an important role in preserving Oberlin’s culture. However, this is a simple request for everyone to have their voice heard at the table.