The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News May 13, 2005

In Solidarity chartered as student organization

While it has been a presence on Oberlin’s campus since last year, In Solidarity, Oberlin’s “People of Color” newspaper, recently took a major step when it was chartered as an official student organization.

In Solidarity is a bi-monthly newspaper that was created in the fall of 2003 “so people of color at Oberlin could speak for themselves, share the concerns of these communities within the POC community as well as to share strategies and mobilize themselves,” said College senior and publishing editor Melissa Francisco.

The larger purpose of the newspaper, according to College junior and managing editor Veronica Elie, is to “print information about the Oberlin POC community and cover issues on POCs throughout the U.S. and the world.”

Besides allowing POCs to have a forum to represent themselves, junior editor-in-chief Satoko Kanahara, also believes that In Solidarity is important so that POCs are not misrepresented.

“The Review does often misrepresent people of color,” she said. “When the Review was the only venue, it tended to create a POC-versus-white people dichotomy and I felt like it didn’t allow a space for contradictions and differences in opinions within the POC community.”

The diverse staff of In Solidarity consists of students who hold major positions in organizations such as Students of Caribbean Ancestry, the Asian American Alliance and the Brotherhood.

“Some of us are looking for a community to be a part of. Some of us want to be journalists and hope to build our journalistic skills and experience on the In Solidarity staff,” Elie said.

The charter passage is significant for the In Solidarity staff because now members “can work more conveniently and have the option of getting paid” for their work.

However, the passage of the charter, for some, is much more important than simply getting paid.

Kanahara and Elie feel that the lack of chartering has made publishing publicatons tenuous for Oberlin’s people of color in the past. 1492, Nommo, As I Am, and Zami are all unchartered POC publications.

In Solidarity is not breaking new ground; it is part of a larger movement at Oberlin, and part of an evolution of strategies of students of color demanding to be heard on their terms,” Elie said.

Getting chartered provides In Solidarity with the resources to function on the Oberlin campus. In the past, one of the major difficulties of producing each issue was that In Solidarity had little to no access to publishing technology.

“[We had] no space and no computer — we only purchased a computer this month — and practically no layout programs,” said Elie.

“During our first year, we used Biggs computer lab,” she continued. “When Biggs closed down we used Severance or a personal computer. We also struggled with limited funds [and] limited training.”

With the passage of the charter, In Solidarity now has the opportunity to use an office space and the right to submit a budget to request funds.

“We have a computer that needs security and our layout editors need a space, preferably with 24-hour access, to work. An office space allows access to storage of files and other equipment that we may accumulate,” said Elie.

The staff, specifically Kanahara, also provided training sessions to help members gain experience in journalistic writing.

“I [had] organized a writing workshop with Professor Jan Cooper earlier this semester,” Kanahara said. “However, we didn't have a good turnout. I think it would be good to make that a requirement, and have it every year. I've been strongly encouraging people to take RHET 106, which is a module class on basic journalism.”

Yet Kanahara admits that most important “is the content and your voice. So we’re not too crazy about sticking to strict word limits and styles. I think it should be a place where people can talk freely about what they feel without worrying about too much grammar. It is in a way, a political act that we allow prose to be there.”

Although the staff comes from a multitude of organizations on campus, they are all united under one common goal.

“I can say that all of us firmly believe that this newspaper needs to exist and the news we provide is nothing but beneficial to everyone,” said Elie.

With many of the executive staff members upperclassmen the questions arises, how will In Solidarity remain once they graduate?

Elie and Kanahara believe that the Oberlin College community “will never have an abundance of information on students of color and people of color throughout the U.S. and the world.”

With their absences in the immediate future both staff members hope that their leadership “was good enough to ensure In Solidarity’s continuity.”

In the future, Kanahara feels that members should feel free “to make In Solidarity whatever they feel is important to them. I think it should be flexible, so people don't have to feel like they are tied down by the history of the paper.

“On the other hand, though, I personally would want it to be a progressive space, where people who are conscious about social justice can come together and learn from each other. I don’t think the paper should be limited for people with certain ideologies, but I want those who want to talk about issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, physical abilities, to be able to use this space to communicate with each other.”

The most important thing the In Solidarity staff wants the Oberlin community to know is “that we are a newspaper with real news and educational columns that everyone can learn from.”
 
 

   


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