Raavi Asdar, Contributing Writer
December 13, 2019
I recently realized that all four of my professors this semester will not be on campus next year, and two of them are leaving the institution permanently after this semester. My situation is not unique; many students from various departments have echoed concerns of losing an advisor or faculty mentor.
There is a real and present fear among students that many of the faculty members who are leaving will not be replaced, leaving gaps in our curriculum and threatening certain students’ continuation in their courses of study. And though the One Oberlin plan makes the choice not to cut any departments outright, smaller departments losing faculty due to “attrition” is increasingly resembling an existential threa...
Taylor Andrews, Contributing Writer
December 13, 2019
This weekend, I was extremely disappointed that I was not allowed to provide condoms at Solarity. As a Sexual Information Center student staffer, I aim to increase access to safer sex supplies for Oberlin’s campus. I have personally done so by filling the condom bins in both Mary Church Terrell Main Library and the Science Center. Additionally, in my role as a Residential Assistant, I make condoms freely available for my residents at my door.
Solarity is one space where the need for safer sex supplies has been overlooked. In general, music events tend to involve riskier behavior with drug usage and sexual practices. Solarity is no exception. If you decide to hook up with the person(s) you are with after a n...
December 13, 2019
In the May 10, 2019 issue of The Oberlin Review, one might have noticed an unusual entry in the Security Notebook: “The south double doors to the vacant Crane pool area were ajar, and the master lock was pulled from the door. There was an odor consistent with burnt marijuana, and alcohol bottles were found throughout the area.” Similar break-ins also were reported in 2017 and 2018. However, most Oberlin students are likely unaware of the building referred to in the security report: the now-abandon...
Alice Koeninger, Contributing Writer
December 13, 2019
Editor’s note: This article contains mention of rape and sexual assault.
The Ohio State Senate began hearings on Senate Bill 162, which would eliminate the statute of limitations on rape, attempted rape, and conspiracy to commit rape, on Nov. 13 of this year. Co-sponsored by Senators Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) and Sean O’Brien (D-Bazetta), the bill would also close a legal loophole that allows rape within marriage to go unpunished.
This bill is important for a variety of reasons, many of them self-evident. Murder and aggravated murder are currently the only crimes without a statute of limitations in Ohio. Rape is a horrible, violent crime that turns the survivor’s body itself into the crime scene. A...
Leo Lasdun, Contributing Writer
December 6, 2019
Last week, in a woefully underreported turn of events, a grassroots voter organization in Michigan earned a critical district court victory in the fight for fair redistricting laws. The organization, Voters Not Politicians, has been working since 2017 to unravel the mess of gerrymandering, a practice stubbornly entrenched in Michigan’s political landscape. Its efforts have mostly focused on creating an independent, non-partisan commission to draw congressional boundaries, which would take the reins from the biased Republican State Legislature.
Their reform measure, which proposed an amendment to the Michigan State Constitution, passed decisively in 2018 with a 61 percent majority. Unsurprisingly, Republicans res...
Klara Jacobs, Contributing Writer
December 6, 2019
The debate over Ohio House Bill 6 — which outlines a seven-year program that will subsidize Ohio’s two major nuclear power plants — has implications far beyond what one may presume. Effective as of October, HB 6 suggests that this subsidy will produce a large-scale increase in environmental and economic payoff from the plants.
The two plants, Perry and Davis-Besse, are run by FirstEnergy Solutions, a bankrupt subsidiary of Ohio’s major energy production company. FirstEnergy threatened to shut down the plants in 2020 unless subsidies were provided for their continuation. Ohio lawmakers approved HB 6 in July, meaning that fees, capped at 85 cents per month, will be added to taxpayers’ electricity bills. ...
Christo Hays, Production Editor
November 22, 2019
Policy and tactical differences matter in the health care debate.
Despite spending over $10,000 per capita on health care — more than any other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nation, and more than double most of them — the U.S. is only the 35th healthiest country in the world. The health care industry fleeces millions of Americans every year while making life-saving drugs, treatments, and care regimens effectively unattainable, and these same Americans are fed up.
This year, only improving the economy outranked improving health care on Americans’ list of priorities — and then only by one percentage point. Next year, health care should top the list if trends prevail. With the ...
Kushagra Kar, Production Editor
November 15, 2019
I am both a first-year and an international student, which means that I am constantly wondering about the value of my Oberlin education. The value to my personal development, academic goals, co-curricular interests, and — most importantly — to my parents’ wallets. Course selection is, therefore, of the utmost importance, because the first metric in my understanding of the benefit I gain from attending Oberlin is my satisfaction with the classes I attend.
Last week, Student Senator and College second-year David Mathisson wrote about his “multifaceted policy package to fix course selection,” in an article titled “Course Registration Issues Remain Unaddressed” (The Oberlin Review, Nov. 8, 2019) and I co...
Leo Hochberg, Contributing Writer
November 8, 2019
In mid-October, President Trump announced that he would withdraw all remaining U.S. troops from Syria, citing his desire to remove the U.S. from “endless wars” in the Middle East. The announcement was met with blistering protests from both sides of the congressional aisle. The decision’s impact has been immediate and catastrophic: Turkey has taken Trump’s announcement as an invitation to invade Northern Syria; Kurdish forces — once allied with the U.S. — now face a Turkish ethnic cleansing campaign in Syria; and Russian and Syrian government forces have rushed in to fill the void. With hundreds of civilians already dead amidst the violence and a new wave of internally displaced people now racing away from the ...
Leo Lasdun, Contributing Writer
November 1, 2019
Near the end of his rally with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Queens, NY on Saturday, Nov. 19, presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders asked the crowd to look at the people standing near them and to consider how far they’d go to help a stranger: “Are you willing to fight for that person who you don’t even know as much as you’re willing to fight for yourself?” Bernie wondered if his supporters were ready to make sacrifices for their fellow Democrats and Americans. The sentiment was couched in a sort of polished, Twitter-ready catchphrase, but beyond that, I think Bernie was getting at something pretty basic that often gets overlooked in many liberal conversations: In order to ac...
Kushagra Kar, Production Editor
November 1, 2019
History testifies that the single most influential construct in the postmodern world is imperialism. The remnants of colonial structures still loom over integral aspects of society in what we know today as ‘the third world’. India, for example, is still reeling from the consequences of the blind partition of the country that birthed modern-day Pakistan. Caught in the crosshairs of the newly-formed nations was the Kingdom of Kashmir. After a brief and bloody guerilla struggle between India and Pakistan, India absorbed the Kingdom on the condition that it be granted regional autonomy, provisional under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
The partition began a 72-year-long tussle between India and Pakistan that — even after ...
Kushagra Kar, Production Editor
October 4, 2019
Religion is the oldest form of control. From the implicit consequences of pre-colonial missionary efforts to the tangible control over rhetoric shaped by King James’ Bible, the pervasiveness of religious institutions throughout history cannot be ignored. By placing themselves in positions of religious authority, individuals enable themselves to construct generalized structures of life that actively define community. Even today at Oberlin, we find organized religion influencing the periphery of our lives, both personally and over intangible distances.
Faith is meant to be positive, both within individualistic moral contexts and in broader social implications. Corruption and informed cruelty manifest when bigoted...
