Drugs Pervasive

Oberlin College has a drug problem, a big one. From marijuana to alcohol to cigarettes to cocaine to Adderall to, apparently, steroids. Oberlin students from many walks of life use many different substances to get through stresses — real, imagined and exaggerated — that they face in their lives.
Is it “better” for a student studying for a chemistry exam to take diet pills or for someone writing an anthropology paper to snort Ritalin than it is for a football player to use anabolic steroids while training or a lacrosse player to snort cocaine before a game? Clearly there is no good or easy answer to this question. Drug abuse in the name of achievement, academic or athletic, is not consistent with the philosophy of Oberlin College nor is it a moral or honest approach to life.
What makes these latest revelations of steroid abuse particularly troubling is their potentially destructive effect on campus life. There is a difference between Dianabol and Adderall in that — for better or worse — abuse of prescription attention-deficit medicines is acknowledged as a personal decision and not a pervasive cultural problem. Steroids, beyond the detrimental physical effects that have been linked to such problems as cardiovascular disease and reproductive dysfunction, can also contribute to physiological defects — effects that are not only destructive in athletes’ academic and personal lives, but also present potential threats to their communities.
Revelations of steroid use on the football team will only serve to further alientate the student body from many student-athletes at Oberlin, and may lead to the kind of destructive campus “dialogue” seen with last spring’s sportsphobia and safe spaces debacles.
But ultimately, what this all comes down to is a matter of individual responsibility. The football team is no more responsible for this steroid use than the English department is responsible for Ritalin abuse — group cultures and pressures do exist, but it’s not as if Oberlin students aren’t under tremendous stresses for academic achievement.
For all classes at Oberlin, students are expected to follow a code of academic behavior — the Honor Code — which prohibits their gaining unfair assistance or advantage over or from their fellow students. If students would follow a similar code in their personal behavior and stay sober in pursuits, athletic and academic alike, Oberlin would be the better for it.

Goldsmith, Repent

As of 11:30 this morning, a petition calling for Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith’s resignation had earned 474 student signatures, out of a stated goal of 1,500. Of course, the petition — no matter how many signatures it garners — is in absolutely no way binding. It is merely an expression of opinion, albeit from a large number of people. The campaign for this petition seems to have been lacking in organization. Nearly all of the signatures have been acquired via an e-mail campaign, which initially did not identify specific grievances. Many students do not seem to be aware of the petition’s existence.
The timing of the petition is also questionable, with little lead-time between the campaign’s inception and the stated deadline for the ambitious goal of 1,500 — more than half of the student body. This lack of lead-time affects possibilities for publicity — this is the last issue of the Review — and for the mass mobilization of students and campus groups that would be necessary to meet the stated goals.
The Review neither endorses nor opposes the petition outright. To be sure, this newspaper has in the past come to loggerheads with Goldsmith’s actions on more than one occasion. And there are many elements of the petitioners’ arguments that are compelling and accurate.
Chief among the complaints which the Review registers as fair is that Goldsmith does far too little in the way of direct communication with the student body. He has yet to go on the record in any meaningful way about any of the personnel controversies of the last few weeks, a responsibility that — whether or not it is part of his official job description — is part of what students expect of him as the Dean of Students. He has been derelict in his duties in this regard, and this is a consquence of that irresponsibility.
So what will happen next? Many of the students and most of the energy behind this particular drive will leave with Commencement and the summer break, but Goldsmith should not view this as a chance to get off the hook. Much of the blame for this movement rests on Goldsmith himself, and while the particular venom of this effort will likely subside, Goldsmith should view it as a wake-up call. Next September begins another year, and another chance for Goldsmith to finally foster open, honest and respectful relations with the student body — here’s hoping he takes the opportunity.



 

May 10
Commencement

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