Some of the most interesting and successful work being done on diversity and multiculturalism at Oberlin College, especially around questioning and challenging privilege, is being done by students. We would like to highlight some of the most notable. If you would like to become involved with any of these opportunities please use the contact information below. If you would like your work to be recognized here please contact the MRC at mrc@oberlin.edu.

Committee on Privilege and Oppression (COPAO)
The Committee on Privilege and Oppression (COPAO) is a coalition of OSCA members united to challenge issues of oppression and privilege within the OSCA community. By facilitating dialogue and encouraging collective self-education we hope to promote a more open, respectful and critically aware community—a community more capable of living out the ideals of the co-operative movement. If you are interested in getting involved please contact Lydia.Pelot-Hobbs@oberlin.edu or Evan.Litwack@oberlin.edu.

Experimental College (ExCO) Course:
Antiracist Organizing and White Privilege
Many of us have seen and been part of predominantly white activist organizations on campus that are struggling to analyze the different ways power functions, figure out what it means to do anti-racist/multi-issue organizing, and/or change our work to reflect anti-racist priorities. This course is intended to fill some of those needs. This course aims to build participants' analysis skills and pass on histories of organizing and coalition-building on campus. We hope participants can support each other in thinking critically about activism, and hold each other accountable to making their work more just and productive. Meetings will be based in readings and discussions. This course is designed for white-privileged folks, but is open to anyone.

This ExCo course was first developed and offered as a private reading in the spring of 2005. Over the past three semesters, more than 40 students have participated. If you are interested in more information or taking this ExCO please contact Daniel.Gillespie@oberlin.edu.

Experimental College (ExCO) Course:
White Straight Male Identity: Analysis, Accountability and Activism
What does it mean to be white, heterosexual, and male? In this course, we will critically examine gender and masculinity on personal and systemic levels-taking into account the ways gender intersects with race and sexuality in white heterosexual male identity. Through group discussion grounded in academic and activist readings, we will move past unproductive guilt to a positive, accountable, and activist redefinition of masculinity.

This ExCo was conceptualized and developed by Matt Hartgering, OC’06 and offered for the first time in the spring of 2006.

Oberlin Coalition for Im/migrant Rights
The Oberlin Coalition for Im/migrant Rights (OCIR) is a newly founded student and community coalition committed to working in solidarity with the millions of protesters across the nation demanding justice for documented and undocumented im/migrants. We oppose racist and xenophobic legislation, such as the recent HR4437, which criminalizes im/migrants and their allies, and denies them of their basic civil, labor, and human rights. We join with activists in this growing national movement in calling on the U.S. Senate to pass just im/migration reform that includes a pathway to legalization, family reunification, and stronger labor protections for all workers regardless of legal status.

In May of 2006, OCIR held a faculty panel (Pam Brooks/African American Studies, Pablo Mitchell/History and Comparative American Studies, and Ari Sammartino/History) on immigration as well as a highly successful student walk out and rally to raise awareness and educate around im/migrant rights.  For information please contact Teresita.Prieto@oberlin.edu or Lorena.Lucero@oberlin.edu.

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