College Selects a New Dean

Jonah Kaplan-Woolner

Professor of Life Sciences and Chemistry Sean Decatur has been appointed to replace Jeff Witmer as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, beating out candidates Jeremy Teitelbaum, Senior Associate Dean of the College at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and Kimberley Phillips, the Dean of Educational Policy, Arts and Sciences at the College of William and Mary. Witmer had been acting Dean since Harry Hirsch’s abrupt resignation in the fall of 2006.

Decatur will also be leaving his post as Director of the Science Complex at Mount Holyoke College.

“I am truly honored to be at Oberlin,” Decatur said in a press release. “This is an outstanding institution with a rich history and remarkable students and faculty. I will serve with tremendous enthusiasm and dedication to Oberlin’s academic programs.”

The position of Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences is filled by presidential appointment and based on recommendations from a faculty committee, which has been working in concert with an outside consultation firm since soon after Hirsch’s departure.

Former College Relations VP Al Moran Takes New Position in Cleveland

Jonah Kaplan-Woolner

Where are they now? In the case of Al Moran, recently retired from his post as vice president of College Relations, he has taken a job as vice president of marketing and communications at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland. Cuyahoga, or Tri-C, as it is frequently called, will be a considerable step up in terms of size for Moran: 55,000 students pass through its three campuses annually.

Moran could not be reached for comment, but in an earlier interview he told the Review, “I think the reason, really, that I’m leaving is because I don’t think the new administration understands vice presidents that come in in blue jeans and sweatshirts,” he said. “I think that’s the whole thing. Blue jeans and sweatshirts are out.”

Latin Honors: To Laude or Not to Laude?

Hannah Katz

Many students will remember the Senate Referendum question last semester about the introduction of Latin, or general, honors in Oberlin graduation ceremonies. 994 students, about 70 percent of participants, voted against the idea. On Wednesday, the issue was raised once again, this time for a general faculty vote. They, too, voted against the idea.

Last year, Chemistry Professor Robert Thompson informed the Student Senate that the faculty was debating the issue of honors at graduation. There had been no student input on the issue, so Senate decided to hold a forum. Even at this forum, most of the questions put to Thompson were negative, and some were even hostile. Anecdotal evidence from students and individual senators was strongly against the proposal.

The main student concern was that the introduction of Latin honors would change the atmosphere of Oberlin, making students more competitive and encouraging them to take easier classes to “make the grade.” The aforementioned Senate Referendum came after this forum.

After the referendum, Latin honors was no longer at the forefront of students’ minds. However, the debate on the issue continued. On Wednesday, the College faculty voted on a motion to institute general honors at graduation for the top 25 percent of the student body, “so that people with really high GPAs would get honors,” explained College senior and Student Senator Marc Shinn-Krantz. He added that the motion would also change the way departmental honors worked to lift GPA restrictions on those participating in honors projects.

The faculty had tabled this vote in order to give Senate time to put the issue on a referendum. Once the results were in, the main problem in the minds of professors was the negative response of students. On the other hand, explained Shinn-Krantz, “general honors would be an advantage for people who received them,” making these students more competitive in the job market. It would be a reward for some, and not necessarily bad for people who were not awarded honors.

James Monroe Professor of Politics and Law Ron Kahn, however, did not think that general honors would necessarily affect the competitiveness of Oberlin students. He said, “What motivates students? What’s good about Oberlin is that, for the most part, they’re competitive with themselves, not with other students.”

Shinn-Krantz added that another proposal for general honors “probably won’t happen in the near future,” but if it did, “[he] would encourage the changing of departmental honors and not the instituting of general honors, or that [the faculty] work with students on general honors to draft a new proposal.”

Kahn mentioned a proposal he heard at the College Faculty meeting to “take the GPA from the last three years and not the first year. That way if students take a while to get going, they’re not penalized.” He pointed out, “I’m there to help as many students as possible do well in life…. I don’t see a problem with helping students get more on their CVs [with Latin Honors].”

Forty college faculty members participated in the vote; the motion failed to pass with 25 faculty against general honors and 15 for it.

Obama Drama in Ohio

Katie Rowland

The line waiting for Barack Obama stretched around Westerville Central High School in Columbus for a quarter of a mile on Sunday, March 2. With two days left before the Ohio primary election, the crowd was full of Obama-friendly slogans splashed across buttons and shirts:  “My Momma’s for Obama,” “H2O” and “Hot Chicks for Obama.”

Obama’s message was little more than his stump speech, but the crowd loved it. “I think I could repeat every word Obama said,” noted Chloe Hamrick, a graduate of Westerville North High School and current student at Ohio Wesleyan. “Now I understand what people say when they call him an inspirational man!”

Just hours earlier and a few miles away, Hillary Clinton selected Westerville North for her Sunday visit. In the same district as Westerville Central, North is no stranger to campaign visits; George W. Bush spoke there during his 2000 campaign.

Crystal, a resident of Sunbury, Ohio, is a member of a “mixed marriage” — she is pro-Clinton and her husband is pro-Obama. She went to see both Clinton and Obama to confirm her decision. “[Clinton] was much more personable in person than on the screen,” she said. 

Perhaps the rest of Ohio agreed; Clinton cinched victory in Ohio, earning 10 percent more of the vote than Obama. Ohio is often viewed as a battleground state; in the past 116 years, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy are the only Democrats who have won the White House without winning Ohio in the general election.

The Clinton campaign has seized on this theme, touting Clinton’s ability to win Ohio as a sign that she is the candidate that America needs. With attention shifting to the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, it remains to be seen whom Democrats will choose to take the Oval Office.