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OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE
SPRING 2023
Oberlin creatives have the talent to make it in Hollywood. Now they have the network too. PAGE 16
IN PR AISE OF LIB E R AL ARTS
Dear Friends, I would like to share these
thoughts that I wrote to my dad in 1966, when I was studying at Oberlin, in response to his letter asking me why I wasn’t yet pursuing a vocation, instead of engaging in liberal arts. I believe my response to him is as relevant today as it was then. “Though you, Dad, will defend the idea of a liberal education to the death—intellectually—it’s still something that doesn’t have a great deal of meaning to you emotionally. I think the reason is that one doesn’t really get this orientation in high school, and you only got a taste of it in engineering. Please, don’t get me wrong—I completely respect engineering, and science in general. It’s a vital need and one that takes an alert mind to keep up with and master. But this specialized, exacting kind of skill is just not the orientation here, nor is the one I’m seeking, or else I never would have come here. “I can take this further, and say that my major concern here is not acquiring the skills or the training that will put a vocation in my lap. Yes, having a vocation is my ultimate goal. But first, there are so many things that I have to learn about what really goes on in this world, among people who have looked at, analyzed, written poetry about it, rejected, accepted, and loved it, worshiped the meaning of it—and so much more! The world is so much wider for me than [it was] when I was in high school, not narrower. It’s not the black and white photograph it was for me then, but it’s slowly becoming a motion picture with color and sound! “How can I communicate this to you, Mom and Dad? This is the time for me of searching, of wondering, of questioning—something I’m sure you went through at 19, whether or not in college. It’s just that college gives me a chance to find out how other people have met OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2023 FALL
these same questions, so I don’t have to do it alone, in a vacuum. There’s no exhausting the questions, and there’s no arriving at any final answers. But there is a continuous joy and excitement in the pursuit. We are continually thankful that God has given man the capability of getting down to the basic questions, even those of his own existence.” Needless to say, Dad kept paying the bills and I graduated in 1968, going on to earn a master’s degree in speech and language pathology from the University of Minnesota, and a fulfilling career in the field spanning over 50 years. Thanks for this opportunity to show my appreciation for the Oberlin experience. tawn reynolds feeney ’68 Conesus, N.Y. ICE E S CAPA DE S
Winters could be brutal in NE Ohio. But my
fondest tradition took place on cold, snowy nights after midnight. My roommate and I would grab our ice skates and as the campus slept, we would head over to the ice skating rink, climb over the chain-link fence, and skate to the dim (ineffective) security lights as snow gently fell. Silence, but the steady swoosh of our skates pushing off against the ice. Magic. We would skate each night for as long as we could, until the cold brutal winter weather sent us back to our warm dorm room. david lewis ’78 Bainbridge Island, Wash. T E A M WO R K WO R K S
One of my most joyous memories of
Oberlin was playing volleyball behind Keep Co-op in fall and spring. It was not only great exercise and fun, it was where I and others practiced Oberlin values. We never kept score and, as a result, everyone felt encouraged to take chances. When anyone on either team executed a skillful move, everyone cheered. I made friends playing volleyball; I fell in love; I grew. When the space for the volleyball court was paved over for an expanded parking lot, I grieved. I still do. If Oberlin is looking for simple ways to encourage student interaction and joy, they’ll make space for that volleyball area again. rich orloff ’73 New York, N.Y.
CO RRE CT I O NS: Due to an editing error,
a class note for Mary Ellen Spencer Goree ’82 (Spring 2023 OAM) omitted her maiden name and referred to her as Mary rather than Mary Ellen. We apologize for the errors. Additionally, we were mistaken when we stated the following on page 38 of the Winter 2023 issue of OAM: “Women’s varsity teams competed for the first time in 1977.” Our subsequent correction in the Spring 2023 OAM was also incorrect: “The first official women’s varsity games at Oberlin were contested in the 1977-78 academic year, although various unsanctioned intercollegiate competitions also took place in years prior.” We regret and apologize for the errors. Further discussion and research conducted in conjunction with various college departments, alums, and newspaper archives led to the discovery of records showing sanctioned intercollegiate games in the early 1970s involving women’s basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, track and field, swimming and diving, and field hockey teams. Furthermore, the 1973-74 Oberlin College academic catalog lists the following as women’s varsity sports: basketball, fencing, swimming, field hockey, and cross country. In other words, shortly after the passage of Title IX—a 1972 federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex that led to the rise in women’s college athletic programs—Oberlin offered female student-athletes varsity opportunities. Still, the women who competed in sports at Oberlin both before and after the passage of Title IX navigated numerous challenges, including egregious budget inequities, and blatant sexism and disrespect. Despite these obstacles, these athletes persevered and paved the way for subsequent generations of Oberlin students, and we acknowledge and appreciate the abundance of athletic opportunities that now exist thanks to them.
Send letters to Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 247 W. Lorain St., Suite C, Oberlin, OH 44074; or send emails to alum.mag@oberlin.edu. The magazine reserves the right to determine the suitability of letters for publication and to edit them for accuracy and length.
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