Editorial

And now for the peace

Don’t pack up the protest banners just yet.
The war on the ground in Iraq may be winding down, but the anti-war movement’s job — as a group concerned with social justice — is just getting started.
There will be fewer catchy slogans for the causes that need protesting now. “No war for oil” may give way to “exclude Halliburton from a monopoly,” or, “federalize the Kurdish and Shi’ite territories.”
These issues are more complex, but also incredibly important. Democratization is a drawn out and difficult process which absolutely no one really understands — except to know that it will require American time, energy and resources. The Bush formula of buying all the guns and all the butter is probably more than a stretch.
The American public has, generally speaking, a short attention span for international affairs. And so Iraq just might get the short end of the stick — eventually, over the long run — and empty American promises will turn out to have been just that.
And this is not the way to make friends overseas.
And so there are still causes to support — while the momentum remains.
Oberlin students and the anti-war movement need to look forward and decide the best way to help the U.S. administration remember to follow through on its promises.
Make the government live up to its claims fighting not for oil, but to give Iraqis a better life free from tyranny.
Make America keep its commitment to supporting democracy and the rule of law in Iraq and in the rest of the Middle East.
Demand that the US secure funding — generous funding — for rebuilding a country ravished by three decades of misrule and intermittent war.
Write letters and hold marches in support of supplying clean, affordable drinking water to a nation where bombs, sanctions and misrule have eroded the infrastructure to a bare minimum of functionality.
Remind American legislators that the world is watching, and that their jobs are on the line.
Today, neoconservatives like Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle are patting themselves on the back for winning the war. Remind them the real challenges are only beginning.
While supporting the peace may be more difficult than opposing the war, it should be no less important to those who truly care about America’s place in the world.

Fair pay

It’s disappointing to see administrators nit-picking over numbers in the arena of student pay. Regardless of the exact figures, Oberlin’s minimum wage is $5.85. This is less than our peer schools by nearly a dollar. Simply said, it’s abominably cheap compensation for a college that professes to entertain liberal values.
We contest Evans’ assertion that the real average wage is $7.40. This is likely skewed by the high rate at which Conservatory staff are paid.
Next year, the College minimum wage will rise to $6.05. Folks working at McDonald’s make more than this.
Given Oberlin’s progressive background, we should not settle to pay students such scanty wages.
Many students, who are not so fortunate to be on the Conservatory rolls, receive less than they are due.
Oberlin should lead in the area of wages, not simply “higher than most,” as Evans erroneously charges. The proposed new minimum wage is not a reasonable hourly wage for work study students.
At this rate, it takes weeks to pay for a semester’s books, let alone allow students the freedom of disposable income.
More importantly, students who are working cannot study. If they are being paid a dollar more each hour, they need work fewer hours and thereby have more dedicated study time.
Oberlin’s impecuniousness breeds stressed-out students who work non-stop and study until they fall asleep dead of exhaustion.
We realize it’s unlikely trustees will simply up the minimum wage.
But we urge departments to consider paying their students fairly, even if it means tightening their purse-strings in other ways.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review editorial board—the Editors in Chief, Managing Editor and Commentary Editor—and do not necessarily reflect the view of the staff of the Review.