Editorial

What Makes Oberlin Oberlin

N This is the sort of thing graduating seniors do, but it’s become a tradition for the Editorial Board, in the midst of demoralizing campus crises, to write the kind of touchy-feely “can’t we all just get along” type of editorial that makes students stop and hug each other in the street and alumni get teary-eyed and, more importantly, want to give us money.
Things have been rocky around here of late, what with the war/anti-war movements, the sexual assault fiascos and the refusal of Student Senate to grant the Origami Club a charter. Yet there are a number of things for which we as Obies can and should be thankful.
Take, for example, Drag Ball. Many other colleges and universities hold drunken orgies, but theirs usually involve the Greek system, destroying property and drinking cheap beer. We, through the transformative power of the Oberlin ethos, can drink cheap beer and question gender norms at the same time. What a priceless opportunity. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
What about co-ops? We can cook our own food and clean our own rooms and avoid whatever animal products we want to, all at low cost in an environment that simulates the commune without forcing us to actually be self-sufficient. Most of the joys of Oberlin involve semi-autonomy. There’s student theater, in which students plan, direct, tech and act in plays of their choosing. And we have student government, in which the judicial system and honor board, as well as financing and legislation, are coordinated by students. Unlike at most colleges, the administration keeps a loose reign on both chartered organizations and student publications. At Oberlin, we’re considered responsible for making our own decisions.
While not trying to sound like an admissions pamphlet, what really makes OC special are the people. From hippies to weekend varsity warriors, the ultimate team to the art students league (and at Oberlin, they include some of the same people), there are nothing but downright impressive intellects and hearts surrounding us. In the DeCafe, at Fourth Meal and on A-Level, every conversation is worth listening to, or even joining, even the ones about whether moles can bore through concrete. So enjoy your fellow Obies’ company while you can. It’ll be over all too soon.

Waiting For CAS

Two years ago a proposal for Comparative American Studies began to be drawn up. Last year there was a petition circulated which gathered several hundred signatures and a rally for Comparative American Studies on the steps of Wilder. At that point, the administration had already claimed to be hiring a Latino/a studies professor and a queer studies professor for the new department. With the combination of widespread student support and faculty searches, it seemed that CAS was just around the corner. Then the student body began to understand how they could have been stalled out of Asian American studies for over 30 years. With a method and thoroughness Samuel Beckett would envy, the College has deferred hopes yet again.
What, Oberlin, is the holdup? There is a massive amount of demand for these classes. Imagine the popularity of a combined history, sociology, race and gender studies class and it’s easy to see how CAS would fill up with with no problems. It would be nice to think that a school with a half-billion dollar endowment could afford just a few new tenured positions without sacrificing other departments, but according to the General Faculty, the school is too small for CAS and Oberlin should leave multicultural studies to the Ivies.
The gauntlet has been thrown. It’s time to look long and hard at certain departments and programs and ask whether the College really needs them. We don’t have a business department or a communications department anymore, and they don’t really serve Oberlin’s educational mission. If Oberlin is to live up to its reputation as a forerunner in pedagogy and progessive curricula, sacrifices in other areas must be made. It is up to the General Faculty and the student body to decide on those. Comparative American Studies is the future of academia, and it is Oberlin’s responsibility to keep up.