Created in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, the Student Senate was the product of one of many student demands for increased decision-making power within the College. To say that Oberlin’s Student Senate was active in this period would be an understatement; it was a participatory democracy where different student groups organized and presented their own demands working to change the school from within. In 1967, they drafted a letter to President Lyndon Johnson opposing the escalation of bombing in Vietnam. In 1972, a school-wide referendum was held with 1,046 students, or 55 percent of the student body, voting in favor of a two-day moratorium on classes, and using that time to facilitate community action against the Vietnam War. In all, they demanded that the College allow students to determine social rules rather than faculty or administration members, and refused to entertain the meager compromises offered by the College. 

One of the more political actions that the Senate has historically taken is speaking on behalf of the student body’s demands for endowment divestment to the administration. In the midst of the South African Apartheid protests, Student Senate, alongside Oberlin Coalition for the Liberation of Southern Africa, sent a letter to the College Board of Trustees urging for divestment from businesses supporting Apartheid in 1978. In more recent years, the Senate continued to follow these footsteps — they aided in submitting a proposal in 2013 with Students for a Free Palestine to the Board of Trustees to divest from companies supporting the Israeli apartheid occupation of Palestine. Two years later, the Senate helped in writing another proposal with Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment group to the Trustees to divest from the top greenhouse gas emitters. Though both of these divestment proposals were rejected in October 2015, the Senate was still willing to speak up on these demands. And in 2022, the board resolved to divest from fossil fuels. 

Unfortunately, the Student Senate that we have today is nothing like it was in previous years. Student Senate is a group of 16 students whose inherent duty is to support students and bring about change. But it is also a senate whose leaders walked directly through a vigil for Gaza to attend a dinner for wealthy parent donors. 

In February Students for a Free Palestine and Jews for a Free Palestine proposed a referendum to the Student Senate for distribution among students. The referendum included a yes or no poll — “Do you agree to Oberlin College’s divestment from Israel?” — as well as three demands. The demands call for the College’s immediate divestment from companies complicit in the current genocide against Palestinians. Ultimately, the referendum was distributed independently from the Student Senate by Students for a Free Palestine and Jews for a Free Palestine. The Student Senate then voted against distributing the referendum as written from their organization. 

We, as the general student body, cannot know the reasons behind the Student Senate’s decision to not distribute the referendum, and to speculate would be a waste of time that could be spent advocating for the lives of Palestinians. Regardless, what we can speak to is the silence on the conflict in its entirety. Numerous newsletters and emails have been sent to the student body from the Senate, none of which acknowledge Israel’s war in Gaza. The Student Senate did not even acknowledge Oct. 7. This isn’t to say that the Student Senate hasn’t been political, as they did send out a petition to bring back Afrikan Heritage House lunch just weeks after Oct. 7. But while bringing A-House lunch back is important to our student body, and is a movement that should be fully supported, one has to ask about the priorities of the Student Senate and what issues they are willing to speak on. Silence is not neutrality. It inherently supports the status quo and is an acquiescence to our institution and society that promotes and supports the colonial project of Israel. Acknowledgment of the conflict would be the first step in showing that the Student Senate is listening to their student body and, regardless of opinion, is taking into account the months of dialogues, panels, protests, and vigils that have been occurring on their campus. 

If we can’t bring our personal opinions into what we fight for, a fight that the majority of the students share, then the Student Senate is no longer an organization for students’ voices but an organization that follows the administration’s agenda. The Student Senate started so that different groups of students coming from different causes of activism could converse and bring their opinions to the table. It should not stray from that origin. The Student Senate board is full of activists, A-House and ABUSUA board members, Survivors of Sexual Harm and Allies members, International Students Organization members, and more. These are all organizations who have seen firsthand what happens when those in positions of power do not speak up about injustices for the sake of “neutrality.” There is no excuse for not speaking up then, and there is no excuse for not speaking up now. And silence, again, is not a solution to the problem for anyone but the ones who perpetuate it. 

Ultimately, the Senate must be more transparent with its student body. The plenary notes, which should detail the minutes and attendance of Student Senate meetings as well as the results of votes and agreements, have not been posted to their respective Google Drive folders for months. Meetings notes that we did receive appeared to have multiple edits and revisions and were often vague, giving not much to go on about the actual proceedings of the Senate. The point is, again, not to speculate the reasoning behind this but to argue that there should never even be speculation about the intention of a Student Senate that was created for us. Students should be informed about their proceedings and votings that occur behind closed doors. Students are the ones to elect senators, yet they don’t know what their senators are voting on. No one, other than friends of senators, was informed about the referendum vote. The Student Senate must tell us what decisions they are struggling with, as they are representatives of the people on this campus.

It is also not to say that individuals of the Student Senate aren’t pro-Palestine. Members have shown solidarity of Palestine outside of their meetings, and some are actively involved in these protests. We do also know that the plenary notes shared with The Oberlin Review feature meetings with “General Council” and “Executive Leadership Team” as well as board members Chris Canavan and Sean Gavin. The details of these meetings are unclear, but we should not be living in a world where administration is having conversations with the Student Senate without full transparency of the meetings occurring to the student body. We’ve heard that the administration may tell senators to set aside personal politics at the door, but these matters cannot be settled without considering the politics of students before the politics of the administration. We are aware that the effects of the Senate’s response to the Gibson’s Bakery lawsuit has changed the way the world and the administration views Student Senate speech. But the fact that the Senate has so little transparency with the students it represents is unjustifiable. Thus, the Senate must figure out a new system to represent the student body without it being a legal liability for the College going forward. Student Senate is an organization that tows the line between administration and students, and, currently, the Senate is siding too much with the administration. 

Regardless of their positions on campus, the Student Senate members are our peers, friends, colleagues, and classmates. If leadership was easy and not complicated, everyone would do it. But that does not mean that they shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions and leadership decisions these past two semesters. Conversations and dialogue need to be had about further protocols that can be implemented to ensure more transparency and accountability. This will only help prevent misunderstandings, speculation, and reduce unethical behavior in the Student Senate, making our community stronger as a whole.