Student Senate
June 22, 2020
The individual members of Student Senate who drafted and approved this document are solely responsible for its content and the views expressed herein. Student government is not authorized to speak on behalf of Oberlin College and Conservatory.
Dear Oberlin College and Conservatory Community,
We write to you today to stand in solidarity with the nationwide protests and uprisings of the past three weeks, calling attention to and condemning white supremacy and anti-Black racism in the United States. The issues that stem from the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, David McAtee, and more — such as structural racism and the controversial history of policing — impact us all, both ...
Henry Hicks and Austin Ward
March 6, 2020
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. This statement was originally released in an email to the entirety of the student body in Student Senate’s weekly newsletter.
Due to Oberlin College’s financial deficit, President Carmen Twillie Ambar and administrative staff have decided to formally consider contracting with outside vendors instead of continuing their contract with the United Automobile Workers union. This could lead to a total of 108 full-time workers losing their UAW jobs: 52 full-time dining employees and 56 full-time cus...
Patrick Powers, Contributing Writer
November 22, 2019
As part of Student Senate’s mission to inform the Oberlin student body about the work going on throughout Oberlin’s various administrative governance structures, we’d like to offer a snapshot of the work going on in some of the committees in which senators serve. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all the work Senate is doing at the moment. Still, we hope it will provide some valuable insight into the conversations going on amongst faculty and administrators that will affect Oberlin’s students in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Arts and Sciences Academic Restructuring Committee update: Cait Kelley
ASARC is one of several committees created this year to formulate specific recommendations...
Joshua Rhodes, Contributing Writer
November 1, 2019
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.
It has been 45 days since we received the “Congratulations new senators!” email. Since then, my life has gotten busier than I could have ever imagined. As a senator without an internal position, I will be required to be a part of a committee, attend the general faculty members, hold office hours, be a part of a working group, attend Senate’s weekly Plenary Meeting every Sunday night from 7-9:30 p.m., and attend most Senate-sponsored events. When I was elected as Communications Director, that mean...
Joshua Rhodes, Contributing Writer
October 4, 2019
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.
In an effort to raise awareness for what Student Senate is, each senator has written a statement explaining who we are as students on campus, what our goals are on Senate, and what you can find us doing beyond being student senators. This is the final installation of a two-part series profiling student senators.
Emma Edney: My name is Emma Edney. I use she/her pronouns and am a third-year Politics and History major. When not on campus I love to visit friends at other schools and work at my old summer...
September 27, 2019
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.
It has been two weeks since Student Senate had our first weekly plenary meeting. During our first two meetings, we elected internal positions, voted on working group proposals, and discussed personal views and goals for the semester. One topic that we continue to focus on is ...
Serena Zets, Contributing Writer
May 10, 2019
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.
This year has brought unprecedented changes, triumphs, and challenges that impact all of the Oberlin College community, including Student Senate. It has certainly been an interesting time to be a first-year student and Senator who’s been thrust into an era of both uncertainty and hope. In this column, I asked members of Student Senate to reflect upon the events of the past year and plan for the year ahead.
What Senate-related work from this year are you most proud of? Why?
Brian James, Col...
Zoe Luh and EmmaLia Mariner
May 3, 2019
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 publishing her article “Inadequate Facilities Unsafe, Inaccessible for Disabled Students,” (The Oberlin Review, April 19, 2019) first-year Zoe Luh has been pursuing safe housing for next year. In her search to get necessary accommodations, she has spent the majority of her energy and time on research and meetings regarding housing. Luh’s search to get safe housing has taken a significant toll on her classwork as well as mental, physical, and social health.
The Oberlin administration needs ...
Patrick Powers, Contributing Writer
April 19, 2019
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.
The ongoing Academic and Administrative Review process asks a great deal of Oberlin’s students. For a student body famous for its skepticism toward authority, President Carmen Twillie Ambar’s call to think institutionally is understandably difficult. We have to strike a balance between our sometimes-idealistic values and the always-brutal financial realities in which we find ourselves. As we search for this balance, anxiety abounds.
The student body has a wealth of opportunities to co...
Johan Cavert and Brian James
April 5, 2019
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.
During the week preceding spring break, the Academic and Administrative Program Review released findings from its yearlong effort to document and propose solutions to Oberlin’s current financial predicament. Integral to that assessment was evaluating the College’s institutional sustainability and recognizing that Oberlin must improve both environmentally and financially in order to make its continued success possible. In their report from March 29, AAPR members wrote that their goal “is to help...
Serena Zets, Contributing Writer
March 1, 2019
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.
In February, outgoing student senator and College senior Cecilia Wallace wrote an article in the Review to urge students to vote for Senate, and they did (“Students Must Vote in Upcoming Senate Elections”, Feb. 2, 2019). This semester, Oberlin Student Senate welcomes seven new senators, as well as two re-elected senators. The incoming senators are College first-years Serena Zets, Raavi Asdar, and Renzo Mayhall; College sophomores Bridget Smith and Emma Edney; and College juniors Charlie Rinehart-Jone...
Cecilia Wallace, Contributing Writer
February 8, 2019
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.
Today’s seniors have lived through wild times at Oberlin College. There were high-profile protests and thinkpieces, President Carmen Twillie Ambar was inaugurated, and the College began teaching spin classes. The College will continue to make serious changes as it grapples with the evolving landscape of higher education through the Academic and Administrative Program Review process.
In that time, Student Senate has transformed itself as well. Over the past couple of years, student governmen...
