Sydney Rosensaft, Columnist

June 18, 2021

The Allen Memorial Art Museum is home to a large collection of artwork by pre-modern and contemporary artists and serves as a prominent landmark on Oberlin’s campus. Yet Oberlin students are often too busy to interact with the AMAM in a meaningful fashion. Students flit from classes to club meetings, from social events to on-campus jobs. Rising College second-year Shira Presberg expressed this struggle, noting that, “There’s barely enough time for sleep in my schedule, how would I have time to visit the museum?” Students have a bit of exposure to the AMAM’s...

Reginald Goudeau, Columnist

June 11, 2021

My column has admittedly not painted Oberlin College in the most favorable light. Whether writing about mental health, my former work on Student Senate, or my general experience here, I have rarely pulled my punches. Today, I’m going to give this school a fair amount of credit. Oberlin College has not always been the most receptive to my suggestions and criticisms, but at the very least, they have always allowed me to use my voice freely. Even though being on Student Senate is far from the ideal way to make lasting change at Oberlin — if such a way truly exists...

Sydney Rosensaft, Columnist

June 11, 2021

After a year of living in a dorm room, you start to consider it a home. Moving off-campus for a summer — or a semester, depending on which class you are in — feels like leaving that home for good. As college students, we are not meant to find one home on campus; we are constantly moving from building to building. This truly struck me as I packed up my first-year room, very aware of the fact that I could not leave anything — or I would be charged $50.  Although campus becomes our home, we do not have a definite home base. Each summer, many of us return to...

Desmond Hearne Morrey, Columnist

June 11, 2021

It’s no secret that campus dining at Oberlin College has changed a lot over the past few years. It’s easy to get frustrated with the downsizing of the Oberlin co-ops, the often inconsistent quality of food available through AVI Foodsystems, and the constant additions of Flex upcharges at dining venues across campus. I often hear fellow students complaining about the cost and quality of the food at Oberlin. So I ask — why is the meal plan so expensive? Are there good reasons for students to be required to purchase a meal plan? What should change about Oberlin’s...

Desmond Hearne Morrey, Columnist

June 4, 2021

Something that my aunt told me on the journey to Oberlin for the summer semester is that there is a difference between simply being okay and working hard to be okay. I’m a second-year here at Oberlin, so I was on campus during the fall semester, and I was lucky to be okay. Many of my peers during the fall and spring semester struggled immensely. But like almost everyone on campus at that time, I had to work for it. For me, the pandemic was characterized by this dynamic. I was lucky and didn’t contract COVID-19. At the same time, life became a constant effort to...

Reginald Goudeau, Columnist

May 28, 2021

It’s no secret that I’ve been very critical of Oberlin throughout my time writing for the Review. From the College’s failure to prioritize student mental health to its half-hearted apologies for repeated mistakes, I’ve been pretty diligent in pointing out the injustice I see here. Despite this, I’ve been relatively quiet about the ObieSafe guidelines created to manage COVID-19 on campus. They’ve been far from perfect in the past — the school failing to provide Resident Assistants with adequate personal protective equipment for one — but overall they’ve...

Kirk Ormand, Nathan A Greenberg Professor of Classics

April 30, 2021

In last week’s edition of the Review, Chair of the Board of Trustees T. Chris Canavan, OC ’84, is quoted as saying, “The board — and I know that [President Carmen Twillie Ambar] shares this view — believes that the most important reason that students come to Oberlin is because of the faculty. That’s why you go to college; to interact with this amazing group of scholars and teachers and thinkers and doers who deliver the core of the Oberlin educational experience.” In light of the board’s ongoing and deliberate disregard for faculty compensation at Oberlin,...

Meredith Gadsby, Associate Professor, Department of Africana Studies and Comparative American Studies

April 28, 2021

This has been one of the most difficult years that many of us have ever experienced, for many reasons: pandemic mitigation measures, illness and death due to COVID-19, ongoing violence against and murder of people of color, forced separations from family, and more.  It is in the spirit of empathy that I share these thoughts.  Last Friday, two Girl Scout troops collaborated on a kindness project that involved painting a rock in Tappan Square. After looking at the messages painted around Tappan, troop leaders located a rock next to the Tappan Square Memorial...

Zeb Page, Associate Professor of Geology and Chair of Geology

April 28, 2021

A young life lost is a tragedy for all, keenly felt by friends who have to keep moving through a world in which their classmate is strangely, shockingly missing. The need to memorialize those we have lost is strong, and painting the rocks in Tappan Square is a good start. But who knows how many layers of paint are on those glacial boulders? How many memorials are sandwiched in between messages of love, congratulations, and just plain silliness? One thing every memorial message on a Tappan Square rock shares is that it will inevitably be painted over. The rocks belong...

The 1833 Just Transition Fund Board

April 2, 2021

The administration and trustees claim that Oberlin College's endowment increased by approximately $63 million between June and November 2020, topping $1 billion for the first time in Oberlin’s history. During the same period, the administration outsourced or eliminated the jobs of more than 100 food service and custodial workers, claiming the college’s “structural deficit” either required vast concessions from these workers, or that new subcontractors be hired for a cheaper price.  In response to the announced changes, more than 2,400 alumni, students,...

Peter Saudek

March 12, 2021

Fellow white alumni, when do we turn our outrage into action when our alma mater so blatantly exposes its white underpinnings and lack of diversity? As we reacted across thousands of our personal platforms last week to an egregious offense by Oberlin Conservatory, we wasted time in our surprise, which could have been spent moving resources to support people of color on campus and in our alumni network.  After the Conservatory posted a flyer promoting its final program celebrating Black History Month, showcasing exclusively white musicians performing works by Black...

Chris Jenkins, Associate Dean for Academic Support

March 3, 2021

Editor's note: This letter addresses a controversial flier for the final recital in the Conservatory’s Black History Month series “Celebrating Black Artistry.” I’d like to make three points about the Conservatory's Black History Month programming in 2021 for those who might be interested in hearing my perspective.  First of all, it’s important for readers to know that this February, the Conservatory’s programming included six events, with performances and presentations by Black faculty, staff, and invited guests. The concert of works by Black composers...