Students Should Work Together

To the Editors:

By now I’m sure you’ve all seen the petition calling for the removal of Dean Goldsmith. This petition makes me sad. In Dean Goldsmith’s years at Oberlin, I have worked with him closely on a number of projects, and have never found him to be anything but a kind, understanding administrator at this College. Never once did he show any sort of disrespect towards myself or my opinions; in fact, he went to great lengths in all my workings with him to make sure that my (and others’!) opinions were heard and taken into account.

Two years ago I was one of the first people to call for Peter Goldsmith to be thrown out of his position even before he got on campus. I was closely involved with a long e-mail which caused, in the end, for Cox to be taken over by students. In a meeting with the President of the College and other senior administrators, I acted as a representative of the religious community on campus. I experienced first hand a discussion with Nancy Dye about why Peter Goldsmith was hired, and I still was unconvinced. Yet, after all the protests blew over and Peter Goldsmith became Dean Goldsmith the next year, I got to know him. I found him to be an excellent administrator, and all my misgivings about him were swiftly washed away.

I think that everyone needs to step back from this situation and take a deep breath. This is only Dean Goldsmith’s third year at this College, and I think we can all agree that he needs an opportunity to better acclimate himself to the politics of this campus. Student politics at Oberlin are different than politics at other campuses; Oberlin students demand that their voice be heard, as it should be. But the answer to our voice being heard should *not* be calling for the resignation of a perfectly capable administrator. I ask you all to remember that the College is having severe financial difficulties right now, and certain things need to be cut. If your favorite program isn’t cut, someone else’s favorite program will be no matter if Dean Goldsmith is here or not.

I have a solution to this problem (although I doubt anyone will really care, but I thought I’d use this soap box to spell it out). First, students must recognize that as members of the Oberlin College community, we have a responsibility to work with the college administration. The administrators, faculty and staff of Oberlin College are all equal members in this dialogue. Second, the administration needs to recognize that the students are paying over $30,000 each year to come to this school. Along with the endowment, we pay the salaries of everyone who works here, which means that the administration has a responsibility to heed our demands.

Once there is a semblance of mutual respect, I believe that an Ad Hoc Task Force should be charged by the President, made up of students, faculty, and staff chaired by Dean Goldsmith to address the current budget crisis. This Task Force would make recommendations to the President and the Board of Trustees of what programs should be cut, what should be kept, and what should be scaled back. However, this requires that all sides realize that there must be compromise. We, as students, simply can’t get everything we want. Nor can the administration. Part of living in a community such as this one is respecting the many voices and many opinions, and trying to work out a position which is acceptable to everyone.

Students: calling for Dean Goldsmith’s resignation will get you nowhere.
Administrators: cutting programs willy-nilly without student input will cause far more problems than it’s worth.

It’s time for everyone to sit down as equal partners in this community and work out a mutually acceptable agreement so the College can make it through this difficult time.

–Joseph I. Andriano
College senior

May 10
Commencement

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