The Student Finance Committee (SFC) will continue to function under new leadership this semester. College junior Becca Barnes began her term as treasurer of the committee in the middle of last semester, after sophomore Steve Van, former SFC treasurer, took a sudden leave of absence and resigned from the committee.
Barnes, who previously held the position of interim assistant treasurer, will continue to fufill her now familiar duties.
Personal conflicts contributed to Van's early departure as chair. "He had personal differences with others in the committee," Barnes said. "It wasn't that he was a bad treasurer; it was more like he didn't get along with people." Barnes said that Van personally hadn't felt comfortable with the group as a whole. She said he resigned voluntarily, however, and was not forced to resign by the committee.
Committee co-chair and junior Alex Freuman agreed that Van's main conflict with SFC was his differences in opinion with the rest of the students on the committee. Freuman said, "[The committee members] also had some concerns about his communication with the faculty."
According to Freuman, Van was also having difficulties in his position as a Resident Coordinator.
Barnes hopes to serve a better term than her predecessor. "I think I interact with the committee fairly well," she said.
Freuman said, "Steve is no longer treasurer. That's all students need to know."
After last semester's progress by both the Feminist Majority and the Security Advisory Committee (SAC), the Department of Safety and Security is starting a campus shuttle service next week.
The shuttle service will run between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. every day and will travel a 20 minute route between Wilder Hall, Philips Gym, Keep Co-op, Hall Auditorium, Tank Co-op, Old Barrows, South Hall, Rice/King and back to Wilder Hall. The shuttle will also stop at several off-campus locations.
Director of Safety and Security Keith James said that the route was determined after speaking with officers about common locations for escort requests. He said he also spoke with members of the Feminist Majority and SAC about the route. James emphasized that the route is tentative and flexible for change.
The shuttle will be a blue van that seats seven to eight students. James said student drivers need to be scheduled and reflective side panels still need to be placed on the van.
To restrict the service to College students, an Oberlin ID will be required to ride the shuttle.
The committee created by the Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC) in early December to address the possiblilities for International Studies at Oberlin has formulated a preliminary draft of a report which will be delivered to the EPPC in March.
Suzanne Gay, spokesperson for the International Studies committee, said the report was "very much at the draft stage." The committee plans to solicit commentary from campus organizations before it finalizes the report.
International Studies petitions were distributed to three dining co-ops in early November and were greeted with support from the majority of students. Concern was voiced by members of Third World co-op because several people felt the petitions undermined work already invested in creating Asian-American Studies, Latino Studies and American Cultural Studies.
Gay said that an International Studies concentration would not deplete resources from other programs. Because of student concerns, however, the petition was withdrawn from the co-ops.
Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 13; February 7,1997
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