Last week’s issue of The Oberlin Review thoroughly misrepresented the IYS Kentucky Fall Break trip and the Immerse Yourself in Service organization as a whole (“IYS KY Trip Challenges, Educates Volunteers,” Nov. 2, 2012). As IYS Kentucky trip leaders and participants, we were shocked and dismayed at the portrayal of this part of the country and the nature of our work there. This article paints a picture of Appalachia as being generally pathetic, lacking agency and desperately in need. While this part of the country is known for its high levels of poverty, we do not wish to further these stereotypes or spread misconceptions that were present in last week’s article. We have spent much time and effort attempting to unteach the idea that impoverished people in these communities need to be “saved.” Unfortunately, the first paragraph of the Review’s article reads as a sort of poverty porn (Matt Collin of Aid Thoughts defines this as media that “exploits the poor’s condition in order to generate necessary sympathy for selling newspapers or increasing charitable donations or support for a given cause”). In IYS, we try to dispel these sentiments; instead, we emphasize the importance of solidarity. The service trips we lead to Kentucky play a small role in helping individual families as much as possible, but it is deeply problematic to think that people in this area need our help as outsiders. We see this trip as a learning experience for Oberlin students; participants have the opportunity to learn more about controversial topics and form connections with people from different backgrounds. However, the positive impact of these connections was almost entirely absent in this article. Merely describing the Baptist church as being “uncomfortable and hurtful” is misleading and would be deeply offensive to the close friends we have in the area. The passages on coal mining were also problematic, most notably in the blatant factual inaccuracies. Mountaintop removal does NOT employ 10 percent of families in Lynch; in fact, it employs essentially no one there. Coal mining in general employs 10 percent of families. These two terms cannot be used interchangeably. There are nuances in these distinctions that were present in the interviews conducted by the Review, yet absent in this article. The article ended on a particularly upsetting note, implying that not all Oberlin students are encouraged to apply for this trip. We recognize that working in this area sometimes requires students to step outside their comfort zones, but this trip is no more exclusive than any others offered through IYS, and we always encourage everyone to apply. We did not suggest otherwise during the interview. All three of the IYS Kentucky trip leaders have close ties to Appalachia and have spent considerable time there, learning more about the complex issues that are often controversial at Oberlin. Everyone interviewed for this article spoke carefully and deliberately about these topics, and we were disturbed and confused when the article was published rife with misquotations and oversimplifications. Every single quote in the article was a misquotation; many words and sentiments were altered. We do not wish for the content of this article to be associated with our organization. We appreciate the swiftness with which The Oberlin Review reached out to us when they became aware that we were uncomfortable with this article. Though the article was a disheartening display of unethical journalism, we believe this is an anomaly for this paper. We hope that both new and experienced journalists across this campus can learn from such an unfortunate situation to prevent future incidents. ­–Rachel Manning, College junior –Max Coleman, College junior –Hilary Neff College senior –Megan O’Brien, College senior, leaders and participants of IYS

Editors’ note: The Review apologizes for the errors and recognizes that the misrepresentations contained in this article constituted an unacceptable violation of journalistic ethics. No editors were aware of the inaccuracy of the quotes at the time of publication; it was not our intention to oversimplify the complex issues surrounding poverty and service. As soon as we heard about the problem, we set up a meeting with the writer and those involved in the article to discuss the issue. We hope this incident can serve as a learning experience and help us avoid such issues in the future.