The Oberlin Review

OTC: Sydney Allen, Review Editor-in-Chief

May 10, 2019

College senior and Review Editor-in-Chief Sydney Allen is a classic Obie with a wide range of interests. Throughout her tenure as a writer and editor, Allen has covered a broad range of campus and community news, including the launch of the Academic and Administrative Program Review, controversy about Gibson’s, and much more. When she’s not editing articles in the Burton Hall basement, Allen can be found on the field as a member of the varsity women’s lacrosse team, working with students a...

In The Locker Room with Katie Ryan-O’Flaherty, Senior Field Hockey Player and Religion Major

May 3, 2019

College senior, field hockey player, and Religion major Katie Ryan-O’Flaherty was recently named Oberlin’s first recipient of the $25,000 Jacob’s Prize for the Study of Religion. Her submitted essay describes her experiences growing up as a church-goer with two gay parents and explore the ways in which both secular and religious cultures can be analyzed through a similar lense. She is also currently wrapping up her senior capstone, titled “Saints of the Amazigh: The Historical and Cult...

Off The Cuff: Manu Karuka, OC ’00

May 3, 2019

Manu Karuka is an assistant professor of American Studies at Barnard College and author of the book Empire’s Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad, which was released in March of this year. Karuka was a double-degree Oberlin student who graduated in 2000 with majors in Composition in the Conservatory and South Asian Studies in the College. After Oberlin, Karuka earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University. Karuka delivered a talk at Oberlin about...

The lawsuit filed by Gibson’s Bakery against the College and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo in 2017 will go to trial May 1.

Gibson’s Lawsuit Will Go To Trial

April 26, 2019

After 18 months of negotiation and discovery research, the lawsuit that Gibson’s Bakery and Food Mart brought against Oberlin College and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo could go to trial early next month, unless a settlement is reached in the next week. Gibson’s filed the suit in November 2017, accusing the College and Raimondo of libel, slander, interference with business relationships, intentional interference with contracts, deceptive trade practices, intentional infliction of...

Nurses at Mercy Allen Hospital, located on West Lorain Street, have raised allegations of unfair working conditions and
could go on strike in the coming weeks.

Ohio Nurses Association Enters Contract Negotiations With Mercy

April 26, 2019

The Ohio Nurses Association is entering negotiations today with Mercy Allen Hospital Administrators on behalf of nurses at Mercy Allen Hospital which could result in a hospital-wide nurses strike if the group’s requests are not met. The ONA is accusing Mercy Allen Hospital of underpaying its nursing staff and failing to consistently and adequately staff the hospital with nurses, resulting in inadequate patient care. “The nurses at Mercy Allen Medical Center work around the clock caring for pat...

Major Joe Womack (left) and Anderson Flen (right).

OTC: Anderson Flen and Major Joe Womack, Africatown, Alabama

April 19, 2019

Anderson Flen and retired Marine Major Joe Womack are both natives of Africatown, Alabama — a community with a rich and unique history dating back to the 1860 landing of the Clotilda, the last ship to illegally bring enslaved African people to the United States. Since then, many historians, anthropologists, and journalists have chronicled Africatown’s story, including Zora Neale Hurston in the recently released Barracoon. Earlier this week, Flen and Womack visited Oberlin to present alongside a...

College plumber and United Auto Workers member Tom Wright works in Facilities Operations on campus

AAPR Prompts Concern Among Union Supporters

April 12, 2019

Oberlin is considering eliminating over 50 staff lines — a decision which could impact up to 40 current employees — as part of the Academic and Administrative Program Review. This is part of just one of the AAPR steering committee’s areas of recommendation meant to address Oberlin’s structural budget deficit. The steering committee referenced Oberlin’s exorbitant employee costs as a reason for the area of recommendation, claiming that 63 percent of Oberlin’s operating budget goes toward em...

OTC: Susan Orlean, Author, Journalist

April 12, 2019

Susan Orlean is an award-winning, bestselling author and journalist. Orlean has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992 and has contributed to publications including The Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. In October 2018, she published The Library Book, which tells the story of the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library Fire that destroyed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. She interweaves this story with the history of the American public library system, as we...

Students, faculty, and staff members gather in Dye Lecture Hall for the AAPR steering committee’s presentation on the proposed areas of recommendation for the College and Conservatory’s financial sustainability.

AAPR Announces Areas of Recommendation to Oberlin Community

March 15, 2019

After months of research, data collection, and deliberation, members of the Academic and Administrative Program Review steering committee presented their proposed areas of recommendation to the Oberlin community in a series of three presentations for faculty, staff, and students this week. The presentations capped a year-long exploratory process during which a 31-person steering committee — composed of faculty, staff, students, trustees, and alumni — analyzed nearly every aspect of Oberlin�...

Ed Helms, OC ’96, Comedian, Actor, Trustee

March 15, 2019

Ed Helms, OC ’96, is a renowned comedian and actor, and is a member of Oberlin’s Board of Trustees. He is best known for his work on the American hit TV show The Office, his recurring roles on The Daily Show, his role in The Hangover trilogy, and his voiceover work in films like The Lorax and Captain Underpants. Helms visited Oberlin last weekend for the board’s quarterly meeting and took some time out of his schedule to speak with students in the Arts and Creative Professions Career Commu...

Students use desktop computers in the Mary Church Terrell Main Library shortly after Admissions suffered a cyber attack.

Cyber Attackers Breach Admissions Database

March 8, 2019

A database controlled by the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid was the victim of a targeted cyber attack carried out by unknown persons Tuesday morning. The attackers were able to collect information about prospective, current, and former students who enrolled during or after fall 2014. The individuals responsible specifically attempted to gain access to the Admissions database five times Tuesday morning by attempting to log into various accounts. They finally breached the security system at...

Admissions, Communications Present on Applicant Data

Sydney Allen, Editor-in-Chief

March 8, 2019

Vice President of Communications Ben Jones, OC ’96, and Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Manuel Carballo held a talk for College and Conservatory faculty and select administrative and professional staff Wednesday called “Understanding Oberlin’s Applicants (and Their Understanding of Oberlin).” The talk provided information about the demographic breakdown of Oberlin’s prospective and matriculated students and their reasons for attending or not attending Oberlin. The discussion was intended to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Administrative and Academic Program Review recommendations, which will be released next week, in hopes that constituencies might better understand the 31-person...