Editor’s note: This article contains mention of gun violence and anti-Semitism. It’s Hanukkah time (not to be equated to “Jewish Christmas,” by the way). For many Jews, this is a time full of celebration, sufganiyot, latkes, gifts, gelt, and joy. When I was growing up, Hanukkah was always about family, remembrance, and perseverance. All Jewish people may have different memories about how they celebrated Hanukkah. But, for many, this Hanukkah is different. On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman entered the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh on Shabbat and shot and killed 11 Jews during their time of worship. When I woke up that morning and saw the news, I began to cry. I cried for my ancestors who survived persecut...

Over the course of this semester, SFC has been reviewing its policies to identify inefficiencies and improve the efficacy of its allocations. The following piece lays out the structure for a new council system that SFC is adopting. The original policy’s language has been edited by the Review for length and clarity. The Student Finance Committee is undergoing a policy review to restructure funding channels for the services and activities sponsored by the Student Activity Fund. In coordination with Student Senate and the Office of the Student Treasurer, SFC must evaluate the efficacy of core allocation processes. While this is an ongoing evaluation subject to feedback, the committee has identified major inefficienc...

This semester has seen a whirlwind of dining changes at Oberlin, including the reopening of Sky Bar’s lunch (and now pilot breakfast) service, the expansion of hours at Stevenson Dining Hall, and the reorganizing and downsizing of Fourth Meal into its original Rathskeller location, to name a few. These changes are a lot for dining administrators to understand, much less Oberlin students already tackling a full workload and rich extracurriculars. To combat the confusion, two new systems of student-administration communication have been developed for the community to learn about dining changes, while also reporting back what isn’t working in practice. The first way is though the Dining Ambassador program, a group...

This article is part of the Review’s Student Senate column. In an effort to increase communication and transparency, student senators will provide personal perspectives on recent events on campus and in the community. Since completing its election process in September, Student Senate has begun working on a slew of tasks: continuing previous semesters’ work with career-related advising for international students, taking steps to improve transparency with the student body, and advocating for students in response to many of the new dining changes on campus this semester. Senators have divided themselves into five different working groups as a way of divvying up tasks and tackling broader topics, including Health a...