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...
Ella Moxley, Senior Staff Writer
April 26, 2019
Oberlin administrators have been working to create a more structured, equitable Winter Term model in response to the preliminary AAPR recommendations first detailed in March. Future changes include increasing the number of students and professors on campus and increasing the breadth and variety of courses offered.
AAPR steering committee members hope that as many as one-third of the student body may remain on campus during future Winter Terms.
“[An increased number of students on campus is] a way to maximize use of the institution’s resources and to build a stronger sense of community through shared experiences and organized social events,” according to the AAPR’s Summary of Work to Date document, made public to ...
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 15, 2019
Disclaimer: In this opinion piece, though I am speaking about my experiences as a student senator, I am discussing these occurrences as a student — not as a senator.
The actions of last week deeply frustrated, appalled, and saddened me. I acknowledge that Student Senate’s March 11 statement has played a part in derailing campus political dialogue. However, I wish to move forward and discuss a different outcome of Senate’s statement, one that has been intensely personal and upsetting. I have accepted a significant amount of the fallout over Senate’s statement, but I am unsure why it has been a burden that I individually have had to bear. While it was my job to deliver the message to the student body, I was ...
Ruby Anderson, Contributing Writer
March 15, 2019
On Friday, March 8, a group of around 40 students gathered in Tappan Square. Our plan was to disrupt a trustee luncheon and read a statement expressing our concerns about the Academic and Administrative Program Review, the current budget crisis, and a general lack of transparency and meaningful incorporation of student voices in decision making processes at Oberlin.
When we arrived at The Hotel at Oberlin, we were immediately surrounded by Campus Safety officers and administrators, who blocked access to the stairs leading up to the luncheon, causing the “accessibility” concerns raised in Student Senate’s March 11 email. I was able to gain access to the luncheon and read our statement in full to the attendees,...
Abby Kopp, Contributing Writer
March 8, 2019
Coming back from studying abroad last semester, I felt invigorated — I was ready to help improve campus and the Oberlin student experience. This feeling has been heightened by the recent election of new student senators, who seem similarly energized. All the new senators bring unique perspectives and valuable skills to Student Senate. That being said, there’s some work that I’m particularly excited about.
Firstly, I’m very excited about the overarching goal adopted by these new senators: transparency. Transparency is absolutely necessary to gain a better understanding of the work the senators do and the ways in which they can support students. I’ve attended several listening sessions run by senators in the...
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...
Anisa Curry Vietze, News Editor
February 22, 2019
As Democrats across the country continued gearing up their 2020 presidential campaigns this past week, the ballots were just coming in for Oberlin’s own Student Senate.
Student Senate elections happen every semester, but the way candidates choose to campaign can vary each time. This semester, 16 students competed for nine spots, using a variety of methods to communicate their platforms to fellow students. Many used Facebook events and other social media platforms to communicate to voters, while others spoke at co-ops or relied on word-of-mouth.
Some incoming senators ran their campaigns on very specific issues, while others took a broader approach. Newly-elected senator and College sophomore Bridget Smith tied...
December 7, 2018
Student Senate and the Student Finance Committee collaborated with other student government organizations to arrange this year’s Constituents’ Week from Dec. 3 to Dec. 7. The week-long event was created to build community and to help students better communicate with their student representatives.
“We tried to mix [Constituents’ Week] with both community-based events and information-based ones,” said College second-year and Student Senator Caleb Knapp.
Events included campus-wide pajama...
Henry Hicks, Contributing Writer
November 9, 2018
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 completing its election process in September, Student Senate has begun working on a slew of tasks: continuing previous semesters’ work with career-related advising for international students, taking steps to improve transparency with the student body, and advocating for students in response to many of the new dining changes on campus this semester. Senators have divided themselves into five different working groups as a way of divvying up tasks and tackling broader topics, including Health a...
Kameron Dunbar, Contributing Writer
September 7, 2018
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.
At this point, it should be no surprise that things are changing at Oberlin. Faculty and staff have taken benefit cuts, several staffers have been eliminated, and students are seeing all sorts of differences in dining and living spaces. Hell, even the albino squirrels have returned to reclaim their piece of the Oberlin pie.
Students shouldn’t be alarmed at these changes. President Ambar started her tenure last year laying bare the financial landscape of the College, implying that our current fiscal...
