Is Oberlin Going Corporate?

With the recent disclosure that über-corporate booksellers Barnes & Noble are slated to open Oberlin College's new bookstore in less than a month, several questions are bound to arise in the minds of students and locals alike. Though it supports the Marriott corporation - this in itself causing recent backlash from opposing groups - the College has otherwise remained true to its liberal reputation for backing a wide array of independent academic and political organizations. But Barnes & Noble?

Little Oberlin, devoid of any major corporations save for McDonald's and Pizza Hut, unwittingly could be taking a turn for the worst. While the multi-million dollar bookstore will ensure new jobs for say, 10 local residents, and reassure students that their English 101 texts will always be in stock (and probably over-priced), there are few pros to welcoming the bookstore into the community. Oberlin's charm lies in its small-town appeal. Prospective students visit the town and take it at face value: the College surrounds three quarters of Tappan Square with academic barriers, but to the south lies the real community on which Oberlin thrives - a mom-and-pop grocery store, a real five-and-dime and a local bar where everybody knows your name. It just so happens that Oberlin is currently lacking a good bookstore. Granted, Barnes & Noble is one of the best in its field. But is Oberlin ready for this kind of change?

Considering the new bookstore directly faces Tappan Square - itself an icon of Oberlin's town-College unity - the entire face of Oberlin will undergo a metamorphosis; it will no longer have the sense of uniqueness that sets small towns apart. Even the Co-Op, financially unstable as it was, provided a pleasant, personal atmosphere. Students were able to purchase books and supplies free of any twinge of guilt associated with supporting some evil monopolistic force. Especially given the number of independent, purist consumers on the Oberlin campus, Barnes & Noble could very well be a victim of boycott, pushing oberlinbooks.com further into success. Nevertheless, Barnes & Noble will move in on its prey within a matter of weeks. So what's next? Starbucks? Count out the Feve and the Java Zone; Starbucks makes a mean Chai Tea Latte. The debate here is whether or not Oberlin is a Chai Tea Latte kind of town. The Review hopes not.

Students Picking Their Own Pockets

Now that DeCafé has become a staple of the Oberlin lifestyle, a nasty habit has developed among the student body that appears both unnecessary and destructive: shoplifting. Everyone knows a friend who pinches a pack of gum on a daily basis, or maybe you are that friend. Either way, it's become commonplace for students to shoplift from DeCafé - a practice that somehow escapes the ethical scrutiny of the Oberlin population. The everyday perpetrators usually offer an insufficient rationale for their practices. Many see their action as a minor retaliatory gesture on their part for the theft the College commits when their term bill arrives with a few more digits than last year. Others eat up their flex dollars and find themselves with a grumbling belly after regular meal times. One person even pocketed a pack of Certs because the checkout line was too long. Most individuals who help themselves to DeCafé merchandise probably don't do the same at Gibson's or Ben Franklin. But somehow students feel justified in regularly stealing from the College, as if they are simply procuring what's owed to them. These thefts are reminiscent of the more rampant shoplifting that occurred at the Co-Op Bookstore, where students offered most of the same reasons for their looting. Unfortunately there is little to discourage students from stealing. The candy displays provide generous protection from any DeCafé employee's vision. If someone actually gets caught, the College would never report the crime to the police, preferring to keep these kinds of matters "in house." Worst case scenario: J-board nails you to the wall and you have to do community service or whatever nonsense they dish out.

But whose pocket is that overpriced candy bar actually coming out of? Do you think you are robbing 60 cents from Nancy Dye's pocket? Not quite; you're robbing yourself. There is no big, bad institution pocketing the profits from DeCafé. Marriott gets its money regardless, and the College is a non-profit organization that exists for your benefit. Considering the recent stir surrounding Marriott's ties to unsettling entities, maybe the student body should think a little more about its own questionable and no doubt unethical behavior.