Mailroom postings allowed

Removal of signs on mailboxes a confusion

Oberlin students no longer need to fear missing their favorite guest speaker, the next Tank party, or being left out of OPIRG's latest campaign. Once again, students and faculty wishing to use the walls of the mailroom as a source of advertisement and communication can now do so without fear of their material being torn down.

The mail room had been a main source of campus information until the beginning of this semester when notices and mailings posted on the exterior of the mailboxs began to mysteriously disappear. However, no one was sure who was ordering such action, and no one was claiming responsibility.

"Students need to communicate someplace. I graduated from Oberlin in 1981, and the mailroom was always a good place to go for information" said Cheryl Wolfe, Director of Environmental Health and Safety.

Tina Zwegat, Assistant Director of Wilder Student Union said "I don't have a problem with someone enforcing a policy, but not when the students are not made aware of its enforcement."

Mailroom staff claimed no responsibility for the removal of materials from the outside of student mailboxes. Mail room director, Gloria Velasco, was aware of the problem, but did not know who was authorizing this.

"The fire chief came through after someone had posted an all campus mailing, and I suppose he didn't like what he saw," Velasco said.

Cheryl Wolfe is a member of the committee which conducts fire inspections on the Oberlin campus. She too had been informed that these materials were being removed from the mailroom, but denied that her office had any involvement. She acknowledged that the student body needed some area in which they could post advertisements to keep fellow students informed.

"I do not really consider it to be a fire hazard," she said. "My main concern is from a paper usage point of view. As a community we need to find a central place to post these things so we do not waste so much paper."

Wolfe stated that her department was not responsible for the mailroom, which she said was under the jurisdiction of the Wilder hall staff. And so the search continued.

Zwegat, could not explain this mystery of the disappearing notices.

"The Wilder Student Union staff has not been removing notices from the mailboxes," Zwegat said. "Not only are we not enforcing this policy, but we too have been using it as an advertising means like everyone else."

Zwegat said that this issue had been brought up in the latest Wilder staff meeting, and would be addressed by Associate Dean of Student Life and Services Bill Stackman.

Stackman said that this problem was brought to his attention a few weeks ago when a student entered his office complaining that the mailings, on which she had spent considerable time and money creating, were torn down before they reached the appropriate students.

Stackman had contacted the head of maintenance for Wilder Hall, Tony Jordan. According to Stackman, it was Jordan's understanding that his staff does not touch the mailboxes.

Immediately following their meeting, Stackman and Jordan traveled to the mailroom to question the janitorial staff. The man on duty admitted that he takes these notices down every morning as part of his routine cleaning of the mailroom.

According to Stackman the unidentified gentleman told Stackman and Jordan that he was ordered to do so a few weeks ago by a fire marshal who came through the building.

"As director of the building I instantly ordered the custodians to leave [the postings] up," Stackman said.

It had been noted by many people that the rules and regulations state that people who post such notices in the mailroom are violating a fire hazard.

Oberlin Fire Chief, Dennis Kirin denies ever ordering these notices to be removed, and said he has not been through the mail room in the past few weeks.

"There is a safety committee from the College who work with me to conduct fire inspections in the buildings," Kirin said.

The last inspection conducted by Kirin and the college committee was on Oct. 9, 1996. During this inspection the only concerns were ensuring that there were an appropriate number of fire extinguishers, replacing a bulb in an exit sign and enforcing the current no smoking policy.

"At no time did we consider [the amount of paper in the mailroom] to be hazardous." Kirin said.

"I expect that the student population needs an area to post signs for events, and a mailroom would be an appropriate place to do that," Kirin said.

Kirin explained he looks at the whole environment when evaluating a building.

In this particular case, "I rely on the higher intelligence of the people using the mailroom," Kirin said.

"If the fire marshall says so, there is no reason why we should be taking these things down, and no reason why that policy should be in the