On Sunday, Nov. 10, the Oberlin Student Senate held a debate to denounce President Bush’s proposed war on Iraq.
Earlier that evening the senate established and approved a referendum for students to express their views on the possible war.
A group of 15 students from the Oberlin Coalition Against the War, led by senior Marianna Leavy-Sperounis, presented the senate with a petition of over 1,100 student signatures that call for an urgent student referendum on the Iraq war.
“The referendum will give Oberlin College students a chance to make public their opposition to the war and gain the media attention that would come with the passage of the referendum,” said Leavy-Sperounis, trying to counteract the cynicism some senators expressed over the efficiency of an Oberlin referendum on such an international issue. The bylaws of the student senate state that the organization is required to carry out a referendum every two years. The bylaws suggest that a petition of at least 100 students can force a referendum, which was the goal of OCAW in this case.
Hence, the single topic open for debate by the senate was over the logistics of running the referendum on the meager budget allocated to the organization, as well as the likelihood of conducting it in conjunction with senator elections later this fall.
It was finally decided that the senate would appeal bonus funding in its forthcoming budget application to the Student Finance Committee and propose the referendum concur with the elections.
After officially approving the referendum, senator senior Jesse Kanson-Benanav presented a resolution calling for Senate to denounce the war and endorse the referendum.
Kanson-Benanav had earlier been apprehensive about the objectivity that the senate had intended only to submit a resolution endorsing the option of opening up the issue to a student vote.
After hearing of the anti-war proceedings recently taken by peer institutions like Carleton and Macalester, he felt it critical for Oberlin to fully join the new anti-war movement.
“Historically,” said Kanson-Benanav, “Oberlin has been at the forefront of social movements in America, publicly denouncing both South African apartheid and the Vietnam War. As leaders of the Oberlin student body, I felt it was necessary for us to take a strong, clear position on this war, perhaps the most critical issue of our time.”
The other senators’ sentiments were a reflection of Kanson-Benanav’s. The issue was clearly related to the Oberlin tradition, according to senator senior Tom Simchak. “It’s important that we keep progressivism alive and well in Oberlin,” he asserted.
As the debate resumed, it became apparent that the senate unanimously felt it needless to lend their official endorsement to the referendum.
Instead, the vital issue, most of the senators agreed, was a strong denouncement of the war. An amendment submitted by senator first-year Dan Rodriquez and senator senior Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz removed any mention of an endorsement from the resolution.
Kanson-Benanav said he was taken aback with the long, but somewhat unproblematic debate over passing this resolution.
“I came to the meeting expecting to have to compromise, even thinking I might need to change the wording from an outright opposition to war to a more ambiguous statement like ‘a strong concern’ with war,” said Kanson-Benanav. “But I was very pleased that the rest of the senate understood the injustices posed by this war, and the need for us to take a clear and unified position against it.”
Finally, senators and OCAW saw consent of the referendum and passage of the resolution as just one step in the anti-war movement at Oberlin and hope it will lay the foundation for additional commitment to the issue by students and the Administration.
“Ultimately, whether it passes or not, the referendum will generate conversation, debate, and collective education at Oberlin on the issue of war in Iraq and that in itself, will be a powerful organizing tool,” Leavy-Sperounis said.