meredith raimondo – Page 2 – The Oberlin Review

Kosher Passover Meals Come to DeCafé

April 5, 2019

With help from both Chabad at Oberlin and Campus Dining Services, DeCafé will now offer kosher food during the week of Passover. Keeping kosher can be more difficult during Passover because the holiday comes with additional dietary restrictions and laws. Additionally, many Jews who do not otherwise keep kosher find it more important to keep kosher during Passover. Every spring since Chabad opened its doors in 2010, the organization has provided food that meets Passover’s kosher guidelines to students d...

New Career Communities Pilot Announced

December 7, 2018

Associate Dean of Students and Interim Director of the Career Development Center Dana Hamdan unveiled the pilot for the Career Communities program in a series of four information sessions earlier this week and last. The program will launch this spring and will allow roughly 120 juniors and seniors to participate in a one-credit, co-curricular course that culminates in a funded summer internship. “The Career Communities initiative makes it possible for us to address Oberlin’s ‘mi...

Students, Testimonial Project Call for CDS Changes

May 11, 2018

Editor’s Note: The petition and the link to the testimonials mentioned in this article can be found in the Opinions section of The Oberlin Review. College students are circulating a petition calling on Oberlin’s administration to sever ties with the current dining management company, Bon Appétit, and switch to a self-managed system. The petition focuses on an array of problems with Bon Appétit, citing the company’s poor management, food waste, and safety issues. The petition, which has ...

College Passes Enrollment Goal for Class of 2022

Devyn Malouf, Production Editor

May 11, 2018

The Oberlin College Offices of Admissions and Financial Aid are cautiously celebrating a successful recruiting season for the class of 2022. Based on early admissions numbers, the office projects that it has surpassed its enrollment goals for the 2018–19 school year. As of May 4, 868 students committed to attend Oberlin College and Conservatory this fall. Admissions administrators set an initial goal to enroll 750 students between the College and the Conservatory for the class of 2022 — 620 for the College and 130 for the Conservatory and double-degree — with an anticipated range of 735–775. At this time last year, 753 students had committed. Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Manuel C...

Edmonia Lewis Center for Women, Transgender People Shuts Down

Hannah Robinson, Layout Editor

May 4, 2018

After several semesters of inactivity, the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People has officially shut down. The building, which is in a state of disrepair, will be decommissioned this summer after the current residents of the house move out. According to the Oberlin website, the ELC is “a collective of students, staff, and administrators who strive to transform existing systems of oppression based on sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, size, religion, nationality, ethnicity, and language.” However, over the past several semesters, the center’s active role on campus has drastically dropped. According to Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo, the student board of the ELC c...

ODR Reform, Obility Strengthens Dis/Ability Justice at Oberlin

Paige Reinstein

April 27, 2018

When talking about dis/ability justice on this campus, it is so easy to focus on everything that is not working. It is so easy to focus on the classmates who will not join us next year due to the institution’s failure to accommodate them. Yet for the first time, I also feel an overwhelming amount of support and optimism for dis/ability justice at Oberlin College. I am thankful for all of the students for organizing. While there is still much more work to do on the administrative end, I am grateful for all of the support that is emerging. Also, I am thankful for the administration, the Office of Disability Resources, and these students for all working toward making Oberlin accessible — or at least closer to it. Everyo...

Safety and Security, Student Health Will Move to Dascomb

April 20, 2018

Students returning to campus this fall should expect to see a new Office of Safety and Security and new Health Services Center housed in Dascomb Hall. With the closing of the dining hall, renovations to the space are expected to begin after commencement. Last year, Safety and Security officers expressed a need for a new space. After considering different spaces to move Safety and Security — including Carnegie Building — the administration chose Dascomb Hall as the final location. “We’re...

Unionized Staff Cuts Follow Dascomb Closure

April 13, 2018

Campus dining staff first learned of Dascomb Dining Hall’s impending closure at President Carmen Ambar’s respective financial presentation. Currently, 19 members of the United Auto Workers — the union that represents Campus Dining Services, custodial, and facilities staff — work in Dascomb, in addition to between 50 and 75 non-union, non-student workers. Although workers had expressed anxiety over what Dascomb’s closure would mean for their job security, it wasn’t until a week ago th...

Law Scholars Program Suspended for 2018–2019

Tess Joosse, Staff Writer

April 13, 2018

The Oberlin Law Scholars Program — a year-long program intended to prepare students interested in law with relevant academic and work experience — will not be offered for the 2018–2019 school year, due to the expenditure of the alumni gift that previously funded it. “The Law Scholars Program was funded by a generous alumni gift, which has now been expended,” Oberlin Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo wrote in an email to the Review. The program was offered to sophomores and juniors and admittance was selective based on an application. At the program’s center was a one-module Legal Advocacy course, which was taught by a magistrate and included a mock trial and training in legal writing....

Oberlin Pays Tribute to Austin Bombing Victim Draylen Mason

April 6, 2018

The murder of 17-year-old Draylen Mason by the Austin, TX, serial mail bomber has received attention from communities nationwide, but particularly at Oberlin College and Conservatory, the latter of which had accepted Mason around the time of his death. The College, now grappling with how to honor Draylen’s memory, has encouraged community members to donate to two funds associated with his family and life. The College released a statement announcing its support for Mason titled “Honoring Drayle...

Dascomb to Close, New CDS Options Introduced

March 30, 2018

Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo announced that Dascomb Dining Hall will close next semester in a March 12 campus-wide email. To offset the meals specific to Dascomb, both DeCafé and Lord-Saunders Dining Hall will offer breakfast, and DeCafé will host fourth meal. The administration is also looking to increase dining accessibility by extending Lord-Saunders hours and adding grab-and-go options, currently available in DeCafé, to Stevenson Dining Hall as well, which will ot...

Senate Survey Reveals Student Dissatisfaction

Roman Broszkowski, News Editor

February 16, 2018

After receiving over 1,100 responses to their fall 2017 survey on student satisfaction at Oberlin, Student Senate has found that students are dissatisfied with current campus resources and services, but are invested in seeking improvements. Senate’s survey covered a range of issues on student life, including retention, the Office of Disability Resources, housing, the quality of Senate’s work, campus climate, and the Student Finance Committee. The survey found that close to 49 percent of students had either previously or recently considered leaving Oberlin. A minority of students also voiced significant support for improvements to the ODR, but were split almost evenly about where the office should be located. 40 perc...