off the cuff – The Oberlin Review

Off The Cuff: Jorge Heine, Former Chilean Ambassador

March 15, 2019

Jorge Heine is an experienced politician, educator, and author. He is a former Chilean ambassador to China, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Heine is also a former Chilean Cabinet Minister and is currently a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.. Additionally, Heine has contributed as a consultant to the United Nations, sits on the editorial board of various publications, including Global Governance, World Affairs, and Diploma...

OTC: Zahida Sherman, Multicultural Resource Center Director

February 22, 2019

Zahida Sherman stepped into her new role as director of Oberlin’s Multicultural Resource Center on Monday, Feb. 18. Most recently, Sherman was an assistant director of Black Student Success at the University of the Pacific. She has also worked as an associate development coordinator for Diversity and Inclusion at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Los Angeles, and as an assistant director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Kenyon College. Sherman earned her BA in anthropology fro...

Peter Staley, Activist

November 2, 2018

Peter Staley, OC ’83, is an HIV/AIDS–LGBTQ rights activist who was a prominent member of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and the founder of Treatment Action Group (TAG), which formed and eventually split from the Treatment and Date Committee of ACT UP. Staley is a main figure in the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague, which details the history of ACT UP and the AIDS crisis. Staley returned to Oberlin for his talk, “Radical Homosexuals: How ACT UP Changed the World.�...

Off the Cuff: Clarence “Ryan” Warfield, Oberlin Police Chief

February 16, 2018

Chief Clarence “Ryan” Warfield is the recently appointed city of Oberlin Chief of Police. A native of northeast Ohio, Warfield, a former sergeant from the city of Elyria, brings an impressive skill set to the position including specialties in interrogation, voice analysis, body language study, youth violence training, and death scene investigative skills. He also served as a police academy instructor in the martial art of Krav Maga and worked with the Lorain County Drug Task Force. Although ...

OTC: Rebecca Mosely, Title IX Coordinator

December 8, 2017

Rebecca Mosely serves as the Title IX coordinator and director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Oberlin College. She develops and administers policy on discrimination and harassment and handles issues concerning equity policy and concerns. Before taking on this role a year and a half ago, Mosely served in the Office of Residential Education for 11 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree in French education and a master’s degree in student affairs and higher education from The Ohio State Un...

Gar Alperovitz, Historian and Professor of Political Economy Oberlin

November 17, 2017

Gar Alperovitz came to Oberlin as one of the speakers in The State of American Democracy: A National Conversation, a three-day, non-partisan discussion about the state of democracy in the U.S. The conference examines how the U.S. ended up in its current polarized state, and how we can bolster the resilience, fairness, and stability of our democratic institutions. Alperovitz is a historian, political economist, activist, writer, and former government official. He was the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of...

OTC: Linda Slocum, Vice President Of Oberlin City Council

November 10, 2017

Linda Slocum has lived in Oberlin for 27 years and served one term as vice-president on Oberlin City Council. She graduated with a B.A. from Ursinus College and a M.A. from the University of Massachusetts before working as the Gifts Librarian & Managing Editor of Oberlin College Press for 17 years. She has been a part of the League of Women Voters, Oberlin Community Services, and Family Promise, an Interfaith Hospitality Network. She is married to Dr. Harold E. Slocum, and together they have th...

Vershawn Ashanti Young, Rhetoric Professor

November 3, 2017

Vershawn Ashanti Young is an associate professor in the Department of Drama and Speech Communication at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. Young is a pioneer in the field of sociolinguistic code-meshing and has written books about African-American English, intercultural communication, about performances of masculinity, and representations of race in art, film, and literature. He held a talk at Oberlin called “Making Black Lives Matter in Digital Spaces: Race, Justice, and Literacy In...

Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, Religion Professor

October 6, 2017

Mohammad Jafar Mahallati is the Presidential Scholar in Islamic Studies and Nancy Schrom Dye Chair in Middle East and North African Studies at Oberlin College, where he has been teaching for a decade. Prior to his arrival at Oberlin, he received his Ph.D. from McGill University. He has taught at Columbia, Princeton, Yale, and Georgetown, and has worked with Search for Common Ground, the Middle East Institute, and the Center for Strategic and International Affairs. From 1987–89, he served as Ira...

Jim Barnhart, Executive Chef at The Hotel at Oberlin

September 29, 2017

Jim Barnhart, a native of Grafton, Ohio, took culinary classes at Lorain County Joint Vocational School during his high school career after finding himself disinterested in typical classroom settings. He worked for The Wyndham Cleveland at Playhouse Square and The Ritz Carlton Cleveland before landing a position at The Hotel at Oberlin last year. He currently resides in Elyria with his wife and two daughters. In an attempt to generate revenue, the Hotel has made several renovations in the past few ...

Paul Sidhu, Dave’s Cosmic Subs

September 22, 2017

Paul Sidhu, 29, is the owner of the Oberlin branch of Dave’s Cosmic Subs, a sandwich restaurant franchise founded in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, by Dave Lombardy in 1997. Sidhu, a Cleveland native, launched a “soft opening” of the restaurant last Saturday to a high influx of College and community members. The restaurant, located at 55 E. College Street, has a ’60s rock-n-roll theme, and is known for its sub sandwiches and craft beers. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Can you tell me a li...

Melvin Briggs, León Pescador, New Student Senators

September 15, 2017

León Pescador and Melvin Briggs were recently elected as student senators, winning in a pool of 23 candidates. They are entering Senate as the Board of Trustees is considering incorporating a student trustee, the College faces a financial crisis, and a new president takes over. Briggs is a sophomore from Holly Springs, NC. He will serve as the Treasurer and Chartering Liaison this academic year. He decided to run for Student Senate after recognizing a clear divide between athletes and non-athletes ...