To the Editors:

The dorm energy competition is starting again! During the time period between April 6 and April 20, Oberlin dorms will compete to lower their energy use.

Most dorms, co-ops, and Union Street houses are currently being monitored for their electricity use and water consumption. This data is posted on the dorm energy web site, www.oberlin.edu/dormenergy, in real-time.

Regardless of whether or not your residence is being monitored, this is a great chance to help reduce Oberlin’s energy use and help us reach our goal of climate neutrality.

At Oberlin, more than 90% of emissions come from building activities. Conserving energy can both reduce the pounds of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere and save the college money. I would encourage everyone to take a look at the web site to find out more information about how Oberlin is powered and track how much energy our residences have been using.

The winner of the dorm energy competition will be announced at Oberlin’s Earth Day celebration held by OPIRG on April 21 and win an ice cream party!

–Elena Rippel
College first-year

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To the Editors:

When I was an Oberlin student (1996-2000), I was often overwhelmed by the scale of the global problems I learned about in class. There was child slavery and monocrop agriculture, poverty and climate change, homophobia and coral die-off. The problems were overwhelming, enormous and complex.

But, what could I do?  I was just some half-educated college student, living out in middle-of-nowhere-Ohio. My protest sign on the corner of Lorain and Main wasn’t exactly going to help change international policy.

After graduation, I was committed to working towards making a positive contribution, to ‘changing the world.’ With this goal in mind, I’ve spent the last four years at a socially responsible investment company. Investors aren’t usually the first people we think about as environmentalists and human rights advocates. While it requires a business suit, working with investments to push for social change is far from ‘selling out.’ Like all investors, social investors want strong financial returns. However, social investors believe that sustainable business practices increase the health of a company, and consequently its share value over the long-term.

Companies around the world have changed the way they do business as a direct result of investor efforts. It is, in my opinion, one of the most effective tools available to encourage corporate social change. My own work has led to companies modifying their employment policies to protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, monitoring their supply chain for human rights abuses, and decreasing their greenhouse gas emissions.

Many people associate social investing solely with screening out ‘sin stocks’ or companies whose behavior one disagrees with. Oberlin has, at times, chosen this route, for example divesting from companies operating in South Africa during apartheid. The school recently announced its divestment from Sudan. There is also currently a student movement encouraging divestment from Israel.

Screening, however, is only one tool available to the concerned investor. Company leaders, who may not be willing to speak with ‘activists,’ are often willing to listen to their shareholders. In addition, as a shareholder in a company, one is able to file a shareholder resolution. Through a proxy ballot, issued annually, shareholders vote in support or against the resolution request. During the resolution process, a company must go on record on the issue of concern, public awareness is raised, and the press often becomes involved. This provides a significant incentive to company leaders to work constructively with their shareholders.

Other schools have taken the principles of social investing and applied them to their endowments, providing their students with the extraordinary opportunity to catalyze real global change from their college campuses. For instance, Swarthmore has a Committee on Socially Responsible Investing that focuses on shareholder advocacy and proxy voting policies. Swarthmore students have filed shareholder resolutions, spoken at annual meetings and caught the ears of company CEOs. Ten other schools, including Barnard, Brown, Vassar and Williams have set up committees to develop policies to vote in favor of the shareholder resolutions they support.

Oberlin currently does none of these things. While this is disappointing, it also presents a phenomenal opportunity. In Oberlin, OH, real opportunities exist to help change the world.

–Meredith Benton, OC ’00

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To the Editors:

HIV and HPV are two sexually transmitted viruses which are significant public health issues on Oberlin’s campus. HPV has received increased awareness as a result of publicity surrounding the Gardasil vaccine, a preventative measure against some of the virus’ dangerous strains available through Student Health.

There remains confusion, however, among students regarding the details of the virus — how it is transmitted, and how it manifests itself in the human body. In contrast, there is less talk on campus about HIV and many students don’t realize that HIV is still a major public health concern even on Oberlin’s campus.

To address these important issues the Center for Leadership in Health Promotion is creating a joint HIV/AIDS and HPV educational campaign, the goal of which is to encourage Oberlin students to take charge and learn more about the viruses and available resources. The student staff of the center are working to create 12 different posters each of which will have a fact about HIV or HPV along with a photograph of a well known Oberlin campus personality or organization and the URL of a companion website featuring informational resources.

We are very excited about this project and are working closely with student photographer Anne Beeke ’07 and campus groups to construct a visually arresting and relevant campaign.

We hope that the Oberlin campus and community will be receptive and pleased with the results. Be on the lookout for posters around campus and direct questions or comments to life.skills@oberlin.edu.

–Morgan Evans
–Katie MacBride
–Liz Supp
–Helen Travis
College seniors
–Lori Morgan Flood
Assistant Dean of Students

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To the Editors:

As most of you know, or should  know by now, we had a fire here in Philips Gym during Thanksgiving weekend. It did quite a lot of damage to our locker rooms. We had to do a lot of moving around to keep things running.

What I’m getting to is that I wanted to thank all of our winter sports teams for holding it together. We continued to have our practices, our games etc. Everyone was a good sport about the whole situation. Once again, thanks. You guys are great.

While this is late, I just wanted you to know that I really appreciated everyone being so understanding.

–Virginia Covalt
Varsity Equipment Manager

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To the Editors:

Next weekend, the campus will be swarming with student art as part of Oberlin’s annual Arts Fest. The mission of Arts Fest is to celebrate all the art that Oberlin students have to offer, facilitate new and collaborative arts projects across disciplines, and to raise awareness of the dire need for more resources for student art at Oberlin. From Thursday afternoon through Sunday evening, art from all disciplines will be showcased all over campus. Some highlights will include the 24 Hour Theater Festival, which begins on Saturday night and shows 24 hours of hard work Sunday night at 8 in Warner Main Space, and student bands and collaborative art projects both at TGIF and in South Bowl on Sunday afternoon. A schedule of events, including improv and experimental theater performances, a cappella, acoustic music, art shows, film screenings and a capoeira roda, will be available shortly both online and on posters and flyers around campus.

In addition to showcasing student work, there will be several workshops throughout the weekend sponsored by students, faculty and alumnae that will be open to any interested students. Some of these workshops include 8 mm and 16 mm film, collage making, bookbinding and educational theater on sexualized violence prevention. Please, please, take some time next weekend to see what Oberlin artists have been producing and to help advocate for continued support for student art on campus. Contact oberlinartsfest@gmail.com for more information and keep your eyes open for posters!

–Sarah Frank
College sophomore
Publicity, Arts Fes