Seven hundred and fifty-one Oberlin students have no confidence in the administration of Nancy Dye according to referendum results released by Student Senate last night. The results were released after a quorum of 1,400 students responded after nearly two weeks of voting.

The confidence vote in Dye was the most controversial of the items on the referendum but several other key votes were included on the form. Oberlin students voted in favor of the College’s boycott on Coca-Cola products and for the political tactic of divestment but against specific divestment against the Israeli military.

“I’m generally happy with the results and how things turned out. I think that it pulled together rather nicely in the end,” said Student Sentate coordinator and junior Marshall Duer-Balkind.

Sophomore Peter Collopy, one of the sponsors of the confidence motion, was also pleased by the result.

“I hope that this referendum further raises faculty, trustee, alumniand administrator awareness of real and widespread student concerns about administrative actions,” he said.

Two hundred and thirty-three students said they had confidence in the administration and 428 abstained.

“This referendum makes [it] clear that very few students still have confidence in this administration, and those who didn’t feel knowledgeable enough on the issues simply abstained, which is good,” said sophomore Cecilia Hayford, another sponsor of the motion.

Vice president of College relations Al Moran said he was surprised by the result.

“It’s just bizarre in a year that you have a record number of applicants to the Con and the College, and fundraising is at a record high to find that students would say that they have no confidence in the administration,” he said. “What the hell would the results have been if we weren’t doing so well? I guess we must just be doing a shit job. Why don’t we just load up the U-hauls and head on out of here?”

Moran felt that the referendum would not significantly change the administration’s policies.

“At any time you can get 25 percent of the students who are dissatisfied,” he said. That’s the way they go. I guess students get emotional sometimes. I don’t know what she could do differently. I believe that Nancy Dye has cared about the students of this institution from day one and she’ll continue to do so.”

Duer-Balkind emphasized that “it is important that the administration of Nancy Dye look at this not as a personal attack, which it is not, but as a statement of change that needs to happen in governance process and vision. Senate can helpwith this and we would like to try to alleviate some student concerns.”

The confidence vote in Senate failed due to lack of interest. The question was a last-minute addition proposed by former senator and senior Curtis Ferguson at a late night session two weeks ago. Four-hundred and eighty-three voted in favor of Senate with 288 voting against and 641 abstaining.

Duer-Balkind attributed the result to lack of clarity in the question’s wording.

“I think people didn’t know quite what they were saying no-confidence to,” he said. “I think very few people would say there shouldn’t be a student senate and if they are unhappy with the current senate, they can vote again in a few months. However, I would hesitate to ever say that student senate has done enough to reach out. There’s a lot that say we need to do more.”

The 860 to 330 vote in favor of the Coca-Cola boycott can be seen as a strong endorsement of a policy which has on previous occasions been criticized for having been implemented by the College’s purchasing committee without soliciting student input.

Oberlin students voted in favor of the overall strategy of divestment as a means of affecting political change but the motion failed due to lack of interest. However, the question, which asked if students would support divestment from the Israeli military, failed by only 45 votes. A question which asked if students supported divesting from a long list of countries including the United States failed by a large margin.

Students also voted in favor of creating a Socially Responsible Investments Committee, following a policy of environmentally sustainable building and building sheltered bike racks and against building outdoor smoking shelters. A majority of students also felt that the College does not place proper value on non-departmental arts.

According to Student Senate Communications Coordinator and sophomore Ezra Temko, a question regarding office hours policy will probably have no effect on Senate policy because there was no abstain option.