On Wednesday, the floor of Azariah’s Café filled with students protesting the recent College announcement that Azzie’s will hold the Oberlin Campus Store in the fall, arguing that the change was symptomatic of a larger removal of communal spaces on campus without student input.
The Oberlin Bookstore on West College Street, operated by Barnes & Noble, will close in June, and the Campus Store will reopen in fall 2025 in Azzie’s. The space in the back of Azzie’s that currently holds periodicals will now hold College merchandise sold by the bookstore. According to an FAQ page published by the College, the number of seats and tables in the space will not change. Seating will be reconfigured to accommodate the store without reducing the number of seats.
While no seating will be removed, the sit-in’s organizers, student leaders of the Oberlin chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, expressed disappointment at the College’s decision to reconfigure the café, citing concerns about what they perceive as the dwindling number of communal spaces on campus. College first years and event co-leaders Ezra Rudensky and Keni Maberry discussed their grievances with the Review.
“Our main concern is the fact that this is a student space and students were not involved in the conversation of what was going to happen to it,” Maberry said. “This space is not going to be the same space that it used to be, and this is a very important space for students.”
Rudensky and Maberry shared worries that the implementation of the bookstore will not be well-received by students looking for a spot to caffeinate and study, not to purchase spirit wear.
“It’s going to introduce a lot more of the traffic that we don’t really want in the library,” Maberry said.
Rudensky expressed similar disappointment at the decision, offering Azzie’s as an example of the perceived trend of Oberlin communal dining spots like the Rathskeller having their seating removed.
“This is an issue in a really long line of Oberlin taking away communal spaces,” Rudensky said.
Rudensky also mentioned that residential halls used to have more common spaces before some were turned into dorm rooms in 2022.
“A large part of this sit-in is just being like, ‘Our voices are much stronger when we are together,’” Rudensky said. “And our voices are much stronger when we are here as a community. And these are all voices that should be factored into this decision because it’s our communal space.”
Rudensky and Maberry represent one of the missions of the YDSA, which is to campaign for transparency, democracy, and accountability from the College. The leadership sees the sit-in as a step toward greater accountability and student involvement in College decisions that impact all students.
In addition to the sit-in, the organization has been working on a petition to gain more transparency from the Board of Trustees.
“Students can be powerful together,” Maberry said. “You need to remember that our voices do make a difference, if we want to use them, which is another reason why we want to do this.”
