Obies love to be involved in making college policy. Or do we?

It’s hard to say when only 963 votes were cast in last spring’s Student Senate election. Two candidates were even elected with pluralities of less than six percent. In fact, 60 votes were all it took to put some of these representatives in office.

Students just do not seem to take Student Senate elections seriously. That is unfortunate – it’s one of the easiest ways to be involved with College decision-making.

Senate has demonstrated its ability to lobby the administration on important issues. Expansion of all-gender housing, new requirements for LEED environmental certification and an increase of RA compensation never would have occurred without Senators’ diligence. And even though many Senate resolutions are not implemented by the administration, they succeed in bringing new awareness to overlooked issues.

With the resignation of President Nancy Dye and Dean Harry Hirsch, it will be easier than ever to address — or ignore — issues important to students. Now, as replacements begin to be selected and changes are discussed and implemented, senators have the privilege and responsibility to prevent student opinions from being neglected in new college policy.

If you want your voice to be heard, or legitimately criticize college decision-making, do your part to help Senate represent student opinion. Read the candidates’ statements. Vote thoughtfully. After all, it could be a group the size of Tank (or Asia House or Harkness) that decides the vote.

The web-based election, at www.oberlin.edu/stuorg/senate/election, will close today.

Applause for Website Redesign

Many students were outraged by various decisions relating to off-campus housing and the “fearless” campaign when such changes abruptly appeared on campus lacking any significant student input. Earlier this week, a web design firm, Dotmarketing, flew in from Miami to meet with various campus groups ranging from upper level administrators to students, with a new approach.

At the meeting, representatives from Dotmarketing revealed that while the administrations of some of their previous clients have dictated the standards for their website and have used brainstorming sessions with students and professors as a mere appeasement, Oberlin was doing things differently. They stressed that after meeting with Oberlin’s administration, the website design will be significantly affected by campus input.

Discussions included techniques to improve organization and accessibility of the necessary academic tools such as Eres and Blackboard, difficulties with the newly integrated online course catalog, systems for effective notification of campus events and many other topics. This meeting marks the initial stages of the website design, and they seem to be off to an optimistic start.

The website’s ability to simultaneously influence alumni, prospective and current students, faculty and staff highlights its significance. It appears that each group will be given consideration, void of a doctoral demand from above.

The transparency shown in the collaborative effort to redesign the school’s website is a welcomed approach. This will hopefully be the first in line with many more changes to come.