Special Reunion Programs for June 2022
Mozart's Requiem Performance during Milestone Reunion Weekend
View the recording of the performance here.
Members of each reunion class will together perform Mozart’s Requiem in D minor in honor of the 1970 Washington National Cathedral performance led by Oberlin Conservatory Dean and Choral Director Robert Fountain following the tragedy at Kent State University. It will be a moving and memorable way to end reunion weekend. This event was held at First Church in Oberlin on Sunday, June 5.
To learn more, visit the Mozart Requiem Sing website.
Join the virtual Road to Reunion!
Join classmates from the 25th and 50th milestone reunion classes for engaging and thought-provoking virtual Zoom programs featuring fellow Obies.
The Road to Social Justice Activism: Oberlin and Beyond
Nan Aron ’70 and Martha Bergmark ’70 describe their experience as Social Justice Activists, what they found worked, what didn’t, and their accomplishments.
bell hooks: unlikely lotus blossom
A conversation moderated by Carolyn Cosby Edwards, Ph.D., '70, with Diane Harriford '68, Herman Beavers '81, & Anuradha (Anu) Needham, who personally knew bell hooks and discuss her contributions to literature, politics, and feminism and particularly how knowing her affected them.
Mental Health in the Time of Covid
A conversation with Barbara George Bazron, PhD, '70, Director of the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health and Farah Emeka, '97, who serves on the Oberlin City School Board, with a particular focus on schools and school administrators.
The State of Democracy in US Politics
Speakers John Lawrence ’70, and David Pepper discuss the State of Democracy in US Politics.
John Lawrence ’70, was chief of staff for US Congressman George Miller for 30 years. From 2005 to 2013 he was chief of staff for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Since then, he has been teaching a research seminar on Congress and contemporary US politics at the University of California's Washington Center in DC.
David Pepper is a former Cincinnati City Council member, Hamilton County's Board of Commissioner, Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, and he has taught voting rights at the University of Cincinnati School of Law.
What to do about Climate Change!?
Speakers John Powers ’71, Drew Foley '72, and David Orr discuss what we can do about climate change!
John Powers ’71 is currently focused on staving off violence against democracy to support broad governmental action to mitigate climate change. He is the Founder of the Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado (2004-Present).
Drew Foley ’72 has been a volunteer leader with multiple environmental organizations in Louisville since 2008. Drew is now volunteer chair of Sierra Club’s Kentucky Chapter.
David Orr is the Oberlin Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics Emeritus. He headed the design and building of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center on the Oberlin Campus. His current work at Arizona State University is on the repair and strengthening of American democracy.
Doug Anderson '72, John Burgess '72, Michael Dirda '70, Ed Duncan '70, Linda Gregerson '71, Janet Ruth Heller '71, Delia C. Pitts '72, SJ Rozan '72, and Susan Bechtel Shelton '70 discuss their writing careers.
The Underground Railroad: New Orleans to Oberlin
Oberlin was an active stop on the Underground Railroad for enslaved Blacks seeking freedom in the North. In 1980 a group of Black Oberlin students including Herman Beavers and David Hoard (both Class of 1981), walked the last 420 miles of that route—in January!—in period dress as their Winter Term Project. Today, in homage to Oberlin’s role, Dave and Kathy (TeKolste) Tempest '72 are in the midst of bicycling from New Orleans to Oberlin on their own “road to reunion”.
Come listen as David, Herman, Dave and Kathy talk and answer questions about their experiences and contrast those to what the original freedom seekers must have faced and why Oberlin was a destination for many.