The Oberlin Review

College, Gibson’s Bakery File Briefs Appealing $25 Million Verdict

June 12, 2020

Last Friday, the College filed to appeal the $25 million verdict that Gibson’s Bakery won in their case against Oberlin College and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo. A jury found the College guilty of libel last June and initially awarded the Gibsons $44 million in damages, later capped at $25 million due to Ohio state laws regarding tort lawsuits. The Gibsons argued that the College supported students in protesting and boycotting the bakery following accusations of racism in ...

College fourth-year and News Editor Katie Lucey.

News: A Year In “Review”

May 25, 2020

Editor’s note: This article appears as part of a series in which the Review’s graduating editors reflect on how their sections have evolved, the biggest stories of the year, and their time at the paper as a whole. The rest of this series can be found here. From the impacts of COVID-19 on both the College and town, to student United Auto Workers activism, to the ongoing Gibson’s Bakery lawsuit, to the congressional race in our district, and more, Oberlin has seen an eventful year with plenty to...

College fourth-years Editor-in-Chief Nathan Carpenter and Managing Editor Ananya Gupta.

OTC: Review Editor-in-Chief Nathan Carpenter and Managing Editor Ananya Gupta

May 25, 2020

College fourth-years Ananya Gupta and Nathan Carpenter have served as the respective managing editor and editor-in-chief of The Oberlin Review for the past two years. As the first members of the Review staff to remain in these senior roles for two consecutive terms, they have taken special initiative in shaping the direction and community of the paper. From instituting a paperless production process and an annual staff retreat, to hosting a journalism symposium and creating a special environmental iss...

Water levels across the Great Lakes System are reaching record highs.

As Great Lakes Water Levels Rise, Connection to Climate Change Unclear

April 22, 2020

Water levels in Lake Erie — and the Great Lake system overall — are higher this year than they’ve been in over a century, and for people who live and work next to the water, the impacts can be significant. This past winter alone, a beachside park in Northeast Ohio lost 45 feet of land in just 10 days due to erosion; homeowners around Lake Erie scrambled to build emergency shore protection to shelter their properties from high tides; and strong winds along the water encased lake-side New York hous...

Oberlin faculty and Staff meet over Zoom to plan the new Uncovering COVID-19 class for accepted students.

College Creates Programs to Supplement Remote Learning

April 7, 2020

Editor’s note: Editor-in-Chief Nathan Carpenter is the course manager of the Uncovering COVID-19 class, and was uninvolved with the reporting and editing of this story. Three weeks after students were sent home and the College transitioned to remote learning, Oberlin administrators continue to respond to the academic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. A variety of new programs and classes have been created to address complications caused by remote learning, including new second-module classes ...

First responders stand outside of Walmart in October following the hospitalization of six people.

Drug Exposure Reactions Raise Questions in Scientific Community

March 13, 2020

Testing done by the Lorain County Crime Lab determined last month that the substance that caused seven people to experience overdose-like symptoms in October was crystal methamphetamine, and not fentanyl, as previously suspected. The ramifications of this result still echo through the community of police officers, emergency medical technicians, and Mercy Allen Hospital nurses who were affected. The original incident — which occured on Oct. 29, 2019 — involved a call about a suspicious indiv...

OTC: Aaron Zitner, OC ’84, News Editor, The Wall Street Journal

February 28, 2020

Aaron Zitner, OC ’84, is a news editor at the Wall Street Journal whose work focuses on using data to tell stories about politics and trends in America. He uses mediums such as video and interactive graphics to translate quantitative data into engaging and accessible stories. While at Oberlin, Zitner was News Editor of the Review and majored in English. Zitner is visiting campus as part of A Disrupted Media Landscape: Skills, Perspectives, Solutions, a journalism and media symposium co-hosted ...

Students gather in Tappan Square in November of 2012, celebrating Barack Obama's re-election with cheers, fireworks, an impromptu jazz concert, and a chaotic performance of the national anthem.

The 2010s: Moments That Defined a Decade

February 7, 2020

Ambar’s Appointment Following an extensive nationwide search, Carmen Twillie Ambar was introduced in May 2017 as the 15th president of Oberlin College and Conservatory. She is the institution’s first Black and second woman leader in its more than 180-year history. Ambar was selected to replace outgoing President Marvin Krislov, now president of Pace University, at a particularly challenging moment in Oberlin’s institutional history. Faced with a growing structural budget deficit as soon a...

Richard Romero, U.S. Census Bureau partnership specialist, discusses the importance of Census participation at the Oberlin Public Library last Monday.

Concerns Over Low Participation in U.S. Census Loom Over Ohio’s Future

February 7, 2020

With the U.S. Census approaching this spring, local activists and government officials are working to ensure that all residents of Lorain County are counted. The census is a once-a-decade process by which the federal government counts the population and gathers demographic data on all residents of the U.S. “We only have a shot every 10 years,” said County Commissioner Sharon Sweda, who is part of the Complete Count Committee for Lorain County, a group of nonprofit organizations, school districts...

OTC: Jad Abumrad, OC ’95, Creator of Radiolab, Dolly Parton’s America

December 13, 2019

Jad Abumrad, OC ’95, is the creator and producer of some of the most popular public radio programs and podcasts, including Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America. Abumrad’s show Radiolab — previously co-hosted by Robert Krulwich, OC ’69 — airs on over 500 stations in the United States and is downloaded over 9 million times a month as a podcast. Radiolab was awarded a Peabody Award in 2011 and 2015, and Abumrad was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2011. While at Oberlin, Abumrad st...

College Strengthens Mental Health Resources

Anisa Curry Vietze and Drew Dansby

November 22, 2019

Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of substance abuse and suicide. Following unusually long wait-times for student appointments this semester, the Counseling Center has hired two part-time interim staff members. During the second week of the fall semester, a Counseling Center employee left and their position remained vacant while the College searched for a qualified candidate. Broader conversations regarding mental health at Oberlin are framed by the College’s first comprehensive mental health survey which was conducted last semester. “We are certainly backed up more than we would like to be at this point,” said John Harshbarger, director of Student Health and Counseling Services. “One way I ...

Title IX Policy Undergoes Significant Revisions

Anisa Curry Vietze and Rachel Fang

November 15, 2019

Editor’s Note: This article contains mention of sexual harassment and assault. After a two year review process by the Title IX Policy Committee, the updated version of Oberlin’s Sexual Misconduct Policy was approved via a vote by the General Faculty Council on Oct. 16. The edits include changes to how the College holds live hearings and additional options for mediation and restorative justice when parties do not want to go through a formal hearing, among other things. The committee also edited the policy to clarify language and remove repetitions — making the 70-page document more readable. The Sexual Misconduct Policy is reviewed every year but not necessarily edited every year. The edits that just went into effect la...