The Oberlin Review Oct. 7, 2022

The Oberlin Review

ODC to Charter Reproductive Justice Alliance

Emma Benardete Editor-in-Chief

Members of the Oberlin Doula Collective’s Leadership Circle are working to charter a new organization on campus called the Reproductive Justice Alliance. While much of ODC leadership will be involved with RJA, the new group will not replace ODC.

“The Reproductive Justice Alliance is open to all Oberlin students,” reads the RJA charter. “Membership will function as working groups led by each officer. Students are encouraged to join the working groups based on their interests and skill sets to put together events and resources for members of the general Oberlin community to interact with and learn from.”

Faculty, Students Organize Teach-In, Protest Ahead of Board Bylaw Vote

Alexa Stevens Nikki Keating News Editor Isaac Imas Production Editor

Editor’s note: The board voted on the proposed bylaws revision today. The result of the vote was unavailable to the Review before its print deadline, but the decision will be available on the digital version of this article on the Review website.

Students, faculty, alumni, staff, and community members gathered in Wilder Bowl for a teach-in and protest on the Board of Trustees’ proposed changes to the College’s bylaws. Organized by faculty and Student Senate, the protest featured speeches by members of the campus community articulating the potential outcomes of approving the changes.

Under the revised bylaws, faculty would no longer have voting authority over nonacademic matters. Faculty were previously at liberty to introduce, deliberate, and vote on matters relating to the broad internal management of the College — these decisions would thereafter be subject to the guidance and approval of the Board of Trustees.

“The present bylaws state that the [General Faculty] are essentially in charge of the internal management governance of the College,” Assistant Professor and Chair of Art History Christina Neilson said. “And the new bylaws cut out any reference to [General Faculty] and replace it with a reference to the divisional faculty.”

Various sections of the Oberlin community spoke out against the proposed changes to the bylaws. Senate, faculty, and Oberlin College Office and Professional Employees union members all took turns speaking on their own experiences. The protest, while focused on the bylaws, also touched on different issues such as professor salaries, restrictions to reproductive health care, and recent

austerity measures, such as the 2020 dissolution of the United Auto Workers union within the College.

“I feel like people are really angry and they want to see change happening at the school,” College third-year Anokha Venugopal said. “It’s an accumulation of a lot of different issues.”

Professors are concerned that without authority in the general management of the College, students’ overall experiences will suffer.

“It comes back to this idea of, ‘How are you gonna interpret academic matters at the moment,’” Neilson said. “We all know that academic matters could mean something beyond what goes on in the classroom, but what I’m worried about is in the future — could someone say the only thing that faculty should really be involved with is our curriculum and educational matters in a very narrow sense? … And how do you separate student wellness from student learning?”

Students raised the point that faculty consistently interact with students and hear about the issues they face.

“So many people are upset because faculty are the ones who are with us every day,” Student Senate Vice President and College second-year Natalie Dufour said. “They see us, they understand our struggles, and they know what we’re going through. The Board of Trustees [doesn’t] live here.”

Attendees watched as the trustees exited the Mudd Center to observe the protest. After speeches concluded, a student carrying a megaphone led a group of students to Mudd, where the crowd continued to chant as board members entered the Center for Engaged Liberal Arts for a meeting.

“It was just really inspiring to see,” Venugopal said. “When people started gathering around Mudd, that was crazy. It was so insane because I feel like I’ve never seen a protest while I’ve been here at Oberlin. It was just incredible.”

Protesters eventually decided to try to enter

RJA — unlike ODC, which is not a chartered organization — will receive funding from the Student Finance Committee, which draws from the Student Activities Fund and is only available to chartered student organizations.

College fourth-year and member of the ODC Leadership Circle Vanessa Baker said that the decision to introduce a chartered organization was largely driven by a desire to receive financial support from the College.

“Especially after [President Carmen Twillie] Ambar has been saying she’s pro-repro[ductive] justice … we thought that now would be a good time to really … let the College put their money where their mouth is,” Baker said.

Baker also said that reproductive justice spaces have historically been very white, and RJA leadership hopes to encourage more students of color to engage and take up leadership roles within the organization.

Unlike ODC, RJA will focus less on individual support services and more on activism and awareness. Its charter describes the outline for RJA’s work as being “three-pronged,” focusing on education and awareness, fundraising, and political research.

RJA will provide its members with opportunities to host workshops and teach-ins about topics related to reproductive justice they are passionate about. It hopes to expand beyond just abortion access to a variety of reproductive justice topics.

In the vein of fundraising, Baker said that RJA leadership hopes to host an event within the next few months to raise money for either the Abortion Fund of Ohio or the Midwest Abortion Coalition.

In an email to the College community in the wake of the Student Health Center’s shift to Harness Health this summer, President Ambar wrote that the College was planning partnerships with ODC. Given ODC’s now-reduced scale, Baker hopes that the Reproductive Justice Alliance will take on some of those partnerships. She said that RJA’s leadership team hopes to speak with Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Goff in future weeks to solidify the details of collaboration between the organization and the College.

While ODC’s operations will be scaled back, at least in the short term, the organization will remain active. DoulaCo, an ExCo which goes into the spring semester doula trainings, is still being taught this semester, and according to Baker, ODC plans to hold additional doula trainings in the spring.

Oberlin campus and community members gathered outside of Wilder Hall yesterday to hear speeches from faculty, students, and staff.

Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

College-UNITAR Partnership to Kick Off in with Carnegie Hall Performance

Alexa Stevens News Editor

On Sept. 29, the College announced its partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts. These partnerships are currently operating under a memorandum of understanding agreement but will come to represent various initiatives as they develop.

Representatives from the U.N. initially reached out to Dean of the Conservatory and Professor of Musicology William Quillen to explore the possibility of a partnership. According to President Carmen Twillie Ambar, the specifics of the partnership will be worked out by going through each section of the memorandum in phases.

“What we’ve agreed to do is to take each one of the sections of the MOU and start to work on the details,” Ambar said. “I think each one of the MOU sections will be finalized as new initiatives are developed. So I would expect that the more formal arrangement around something like [the] English as a second language [program] will happen pretty quickly. And every time we develop something new, that’s when they’ll have their tightness.”

The English immersion program will welcome international students to Oberlin’s campus during the summer and may start as early as next year according to Chief of Staff David Hertz. Other elements of the partnership may advance even sooner.

This December, Conservatory students will perform at Carnegie Hall in front of the U.N. General Assembly. Sudents will perform “Piano Concerto No. 2,” by Sergei Rachmaninoff “Fanfare on Amazing Grace” by Adolphus Hailstork, and “Symphony No. 9” by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

“We will be working very quickly to get this started because we want to move forward with the partnership as quickly as possible,” Hertz said. “And that’s why, for instance, we’ve already agreed on this concert to take place in New York at Carnegie Hall in December.”

Both the choir and orchestra will perform Beethoven’s ninth symphony. The symphony carries particular significance to the U.N. and Carnegie Hall; according to Quillen, in 1949, Leonard Bernstein led the Boston Symphony’s rendition of Beethoven’s ninth symphony — along with several other pieces — in front of the U.N. in Carnegie Hall, inaugurating a longstanding tradition in which this symphony was often performed before the U.N. when it gathered in New York.

However, according to President Ambar, this tradition was placed on hold and will be reinstated by the upcoming Conservatory performance.

“I don’t know how long they had discontinued the concert, but they hadn’t done it in a while. And so this is a reinstitution of this tradition,” Ambar said. “And the other powerful thing is that previously when they did these concerts in the past, it had always been professional orchestras. And so what is different about this decision is, and this came out of our discussion around this partnership, we thought wouldn’t it be great if the kickoff of this partnership was the Oberlin

The Oberlin r eview

Orchestra and Choir performing at the concert?”

Both Quillen and President Ambar expressed the expansive nature of the possible results from this partnership.

“Really, the goal is a much broader institutional partnership that is not only relegated to specific courses or specific seminars or sorts of things, but really a much, much, much bigger, longer, lasting institutional partnership,” Quillen said. “Literally every time we talk, new horizons open up over the conversation just now… So I think that as we’re thinking about it, it is, yes, very specific discrete courses, potentially, but it’s also much more about this relationship between the two institutions.”

College and Conservatory administrative staff have discussed the potential implementation of study abroad programs, online courses, and programs during the academic year, but many of the specifics will remain unclear until the partnership develops further.

“I think when we’ve explored possibilities, it’s been a range of discussions such as, ‘What if we created programs that were specifically designed for the U.N. that Oberlin students could participate in?’” Ambar said. “And so I would say that initiatives like that are way down the line and further down the line the next year. But when we’ve talked about it, it’s been about making sure that the relationship is one that is really valuable for current Oberlin students as well as future students.”

See “Orchestra, Choir to Perform at Carnegie Hall this December” on page 13 for more information about the upcoming Carnegie Hall concerts.

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President Ambar and Dean Quillen met with Conservatory orchestra and choir members in Finney Chapel during a partial City blackout to inform them that they would be performing before the U.N. in December.

Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

Dean Quillen

Lorain County Public Health Collaborates with College to Provide Booster Clinic

Sofia Tomasic Senior Staff Writer

From 1 to 6 p.m. today, Oberlin College, in collaboration with Lorain County Public Health, hosted a COVID-19 booster vaccine clinic for eligible students, faculty, and staff. The appointment-only clinic was held at Hales Gymnasium and offered bivalent COVID booster vaccinations manufactured by either Pfizer or Moderna — or both, depending on vaccine availability.

Executive Director of Student Safety and Wellbeing Andrew Oni reached out to LCPH to request this clinic to provide students with the latest COVID booster vaccinations on campus and to minimize potential transportation barriers. According to Oni, LCPH and Oberlin have collaborated previously to provide vaccine clinics. LCPH has been administering approximately 50 doses a day since Sept. 6 of this year.

The bivalent booster works by combining a strain of the initial COVID-19 virus with a strain of the Omicron variant. This double protection is what makes the new booster more effective. Prior vaccines were monovalent, meaning that they only protected against the original strain of COVID. Omicron is now one of the most common strains of COVID in the U.S.

According to College third-year Erin Duckett, there hasn’t been much communication from the College to students to make them aware of this opportunity and other matters surrounding COVID. Though Duckett had heard about the clinic, she wasn’t sure what resources would be offered. Though she feels that the College did a good job making COVID resources available to students in past years, she has been a little frustrated this year with the lack of communication.

“I generally think Oberlin’s done a good job, at

least in past years,” Duckett said. “I think this year it kind of fell off because when I thought I was sick and I got tested, it took them a whole week to get me my test results back. By the time I got my test results back saying I was negative, I wasn’t even sick anymore.”

As for students who were unable to receive the booster vaccine at today’s clinic, Kat Solove a program manager at Lorain County Public Health states that LCPH will continue to offer it to eligible individuals.

“We do have other vaccine clinics coming up later in October that would be open to all Lorain County residents,” Solove said.

Although the clinic was only available to those associated with Oberlin College, LCPH offers the bivalent COVID booster vaccines Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 9880 Murray Ridge Rd. in Elyria. Anyone over the age of 12 who received their second dose of the COVID vaccine more than two months ago is eligible to receive the booster.

Security Notebook

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022

Campus Safety officers responded to assist an injured truck driver in front of the west entrance to Wilder Hall.

An officer on routine patrol of King Building located unauthorized posters on the glass doors.

Friday, Sept. 30, 2022

An officer on routine patrol at the Conservatory located a student in the building after hours.

Officers transported a student with an ankle injury to Mercy Health - Allen Hospital.

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022

Officers transported an intoxicated student to Mercy Health - Allen Hospital for treatment.

Officers and Oberlin Fire Department members responded to a fire alarm on the second floor of Stevenson Dining Hall.

Monday, Oct. 3, 2022

Staff in Lord-Saunders Dining Hall reported that there had allegedly been a raccoon in the kitchen area.

Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022

An officer responded to a report of inappropriate drawings on an eraser board in Bibbins Hall.

Officers responded to a report of four individuals entering Carnegie Building after hours.Oberlin hosted a COVID-19 vaccination booster clinic today. Courtesy of Khadijah Halliday

Campus Protests Proposed Bylaw Revisions, Support Faculty

CELA and descended the interior staircase in an attempt to confront the trustees. They were met by Campus Safety officers and Dean of Students Karen Goff.

Goff then agreed to facilitate a meeting between a member of the board and the students in the stairwell. Chief of Staff David Hertz and Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Lillie Edwards, OC ’75, entered the stairwell, where Edwards proceeded to answer students’ questions.

Students discussed a variety of concerns with Edwards, including the College’s investments and professors’ power to provide mental health resources. Edwards answered questions through a megaphone while other board members remained in CELA.

“I’ve had meetings with administrators who have assured me that nothing will change with these bylaws, and that … the bylaws are just naming what’s already going on in the College and just clarifying that for legal purposes,” Dufour said. “And while it makes sense to have more straightforward bylaws, it does not specify the role of the faculty in the new administration, which is why so many people are mad.”

Students held signs, expressing solidarity with faculty. Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Goff, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees Lillie Edwards, and security stood in the entryway to CELA, with a trash can creating a barrier between themselves and student protestors.

Courtesy of Signe Meyer

Students protest outside of Wilder Hall.

Photo by Erin Koo, Photo Editor

Chudi Martin Jr. Talks Student Senate Goals

Why did you choose to run for president in the Student Senate?

I’ll take it back to my first year. In my first semester, one of my friends in Posse and quite a few other people were like, “I think you should run for Senate. I’m gonna nominate you.” I was like, “Okay. If you think I’ll be good at the job or effective at it, then who am I to say no to you?” Having that trust that people have in me inspires me to really put myself out there and be someone that people are comfortable with. To be someone that people trust and believe in to get a job done, and also to represent people who look like me, was really imperative for me. People wanted to see somebody they believed in — especially somebody who looks like them. The whole Blackout Senate campaign, for a majority of two years, to be honest, was a large contribution of being in that office. To have Black senators, to have people, in all positions of Senate — whether it be president, whether it be first-year representative — that was really what I felt to be important.

that we are a group that anybody can come to for reliable information. Senate should be a place where students can feel safe and comfortable to talk about things and to bring issues to us. We’re really the bridge between all the groups around campus, regarding the parents, regarding students, regarding faculty, the adminstration, board, everybody.

balancing things in Student Senate. A lot of the work that Senate does is serious, but also there’s this first-year bonding event that we’re gonna have. There’s this homecoming thing that we’re gonna do. It’s having this balance of time to be serious, but there’s also times where we are doing this one thing for us.

Nikki Keating News Editor

Chudi Martin Jr. is a College third-year and was recently elected Student Senate President. He has been working in this position since the summer and wishes to communicate his and Senate’s goals and values to the Oberlin student body.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What are some of the goals and values you have as president?

I think it is just transparency about what’s happening. I feel like Senate, during my time and before my time, has always been a voice of information and making sure that people are informed about the status of the campus and anything that pertains to student life, faculty life, or admin. It’s making sure

I think especially in recent times, too, it’s important to realize we’re not always gonna agree on things and we’re not always gonna see eye to eye on things between groups. But having that space where we can still work together and still come together through discourse, with different ideas and better plans, that’s when we come together as a community. That’s one of my biggest things — community. I live in A-House. Those principles are just about being able to come together, be together in a group, share love for each other, and have common experiences and bonds with each other. So one of the things I’m thinking about too is having monthly meetings between certain organizations so that they have that connection, that sense of unity.

How do your extracurriculars and daily life affect your principles as president?

Having that balance of professional life, personal life, and knowing what I am doing physically, mentally, and musically creates these different spaces and I think that’s something that kind of shines when

With everything that is happening with the Board of Trustees, how has that affected the way you look at Senate and your own position?

It’s very important to understand who we interact with on a day-to-day basis — who knows what and who has that connection. And that’s no fault of anybody in that sense. But students know students best and faculty know students best. We see each other, we interact with each other. And there are certain things that must have a place in an institution,for people to feel that they are supported on a basis of emotion or a basis of other stuff. There are just times where Senate has to say, “Students are not okay with this.” And just having that overwhelming majority of concern has caused Senate to say, “Okay, this is something we got to say something about.” I talked a lot about information earlier, but students need to be informed about the state of this institution. And it’s our job to make sure that students are informed about issues. And it’s also our job for students to see what the campus is looking like and know how we are trying to address the problem.

Seven Years Later, Students for Energy Justice Continue Protests Against NEXUS Pipeline

Ava Miller Senior Staff Writer

On Oct. 2, Students for Energy Justice, organized a walk against the NEXUS pipeline. The climate justice student group focuses on supporting communities impacted by fossil fuel emissions. A group of approximately 20 SEJ members and students walked to the pipeline, which is located near the Oberlin Recreation Complex 20 minutes south of campus. During the walk, they discussed fracking, eminent domain, and past community activism against the pipeline.

In 2014, Spectra Energy moved forward with its proposal to construct the pipeline and was met with swift condemnation from the Oberlin community, along with claims that the pipeline would violate the 2013 Oberlin Community Bill of Rights. This Bill of Rights was a product of Oberlin’s participation in Ohio’s community rights movement, which sought to create legislation that enables community self-governance. In Oberlin, this meant ensuring the protection of the College and City from the environmental harm of pipelines, fracking, and other hazards to public safety.

In later years, these principles were put to the test by motions passed against the Bill of Rights. Throughout 2015, bills were passed blocking citizen initiatives, including the Community Bill of Rights protecting Oberlin from environmental hazards.

In response to the 2015 motions, SEJ members began protesting by instituting community charters and city

ordinances to prevent the construction of the pipeline. Up until 2018, the group attended City Council hearings about the construction of the NEXUS pipeline. Despite SEJ-led efforts, the project went into operation in September 2018.

The NEXUS pipeline delivers gas supplies starting in southeastern Michigan, through northern Ohio, and up to Ontario, Canada. The pipeline travels directly through Oberlin city limits and is designed to carry up to 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily.

“The full path of NEXUS allows for the delivery of natural gas supplies directly to consumers,” the NEXUS website states. “By expanding access to natural gas in these markets, NEXUS provides consumers across the region with affordable, cleaner-burning and domestically-abundant natural gas to help meet the growing demand for cleaner power generation, industrial and commercial use, and home heating.”

College second-year Sydney Paunan attended the walk and took note of the area surrounding the pipeline.

“It runs by residential areas, soccer fields, the bike path, and a senior care facility,” Paunan said. “Plus, the areas in the blast zone have high concentrations of low-income residents and residents of color. That was not an accident. All of these people and community spaces would be directly impacted were there to be a leak or explosion.”

Paunan feels that the walk was a great reminder of the importance of getting involved in Oberlin and building community resilience.

“Knowing your neighbors and local community has real power,” Paunan said.

Chudi Martin Jr.

Photo courtesy of Chudi Martin Jr.

Students walked to the NEXUS pipeline, to protest the it’s location in Oberlin.

Courtesy of Sydney Paunan

Limited Academic Building Hours Hamper Studies

Elle Giannandrea Opinions Editor

Almost every night of the week for the first three weeks of the semester, sometime around midnight, I have looked at my incomplete homework and asked those around me, “Where do you want to go?” With room mates fast asleep in dark, stuffy dorm rooms, and the temperature low enough to see your breath tumble for ward in the night air, most options are nonstarters. In evitably, someone in the group will go down a list of sug gestions — mostly comprising stained common rooms in dorm buildings where none of us live — and we will trek off in the cold, hoping that “our spot” has not yet been taken.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed in the lead-up to mid terms, Oberlin, despite its academic rigor and demands, puts a cutoff time on its students’ ability to do work without disturbance. There is no guaranteed quiet place to study on campus. From Sunday to Thursday, Mary Church Terrell Main Library closes at midnight, while the Clarence Ward Art Library and the Science Library (neither of which are open on Sunday) close an hour earlier at 11 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, Terrell Main Library is only open until 8 p.m. and 6 p.m., respective ly, while the Art and Science Libraries close at 5:30 p.m. on both days. From Monday through Thursday, King Building and Peters Hall close at 10:30 p.m., and the Sci ence Center closes at 11 p.m.

As far as I know, the only buildings on campus that students have access to 24/7 are the dorm buildings. However, with the current limit on student housing leading to lounges being converted into dorm rooms, the amount of common space available within student housing has been minimized. This is all to say that de spite the impressive size of this campus relative to how

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EdItOr I al BOard

EdItOrS IN-ChIEf Kushagra Kar Emma Benardete

OPINIONS EdItOrS Elle Giannandrea Emily Vaughan

Bylaws Revision Fundamentally Contradicts Oberlin’s Values

A sea of people gathered in Wilder Bowl yesterday evening for a teach-in and protest against the Board of Trustees. Faculty, staff, and students stood together and expressed their lack of confidence in the board. The protest was con ceived to challenge the board’s proposed revisions to the College’s bylaws, but as time passed, each new speaker introduced ever sharper critiques to the board’s conduct over the past few years. This Editorial Board stands in sol idarity with each of the protestors and every single mem ber of Oberlin’s faculty and staff who has suffered at the hands of this misguided board.

Students from around the world come to Oberlin ev ery year to enjoy its classes, facilities, and culture. A great number of us signed on to the idea that Oberlin College was a place where individual voices mattered. It seemed, at first, that we were right; in classrooms, faculty saw us as individuals and catered to our needs, our advisors under stood our ambitions and hopes, and we were surrounded by people with strong values and the willingness to stand by them. As first-years, our guides through this place were our faculty, and it is still our professors who remind us what we’re capable of. We accept their counsel in part be cause they worked hard through years of their own educa tion, but equally so because they were here before us and will be here long after we’re gone.

Faculty are the living memory of any institution, and it should go without saying that they deeply understand the realities and needs of the institution, both from their own experiences and from the experiences of their students. They see things unlike anyone else, which is why faculty governance exists as a separate level of discretion within academic institutions. Oberlin faculty have performed this responsibility with pride and poise, and, year after year, they have introduced, deliberated, and voted on matters concerning the holistic experience of working and study ing at this institution. As the bylaws stand pre-revision, faculty can take actionable steps to lead the College in a direction they see fit — for example, by enacting various environmental and student conduct policies as they have done in the last decade. Their concerns can be voiced within a structure that has some discernible feedback loop — if the conversation matters enough, they can make pro posals and put them to vote.

Faculty can hear, see, and understand Oberlin as it ex ists today, with all its complications and curiosities. They exist on this campus on a daily basis, witnessing the Col lege at its best and its worst. The Board of Trustees, by contrast, has not set foot on campus in the past three years due to the pandemic, and when they do, they visit for two days, four times a year. Everyone understands that the board is the final decision-making authority in Oberlin, but we understand equally well that the board does not hear from students, attend classes, or dine on campus. Its members are entirely unaffected by the consequences of their decisions. Their disconnect may have its advantages, as it allows them to be impartial and see the big picture, but neither of these things matter if they can’t be reason ably contextualized within the day-to-day experiences of those on campus.

This brings us to the big question: who asked for the bylaws to be revised, or, as the board insists, “clarified?” It was certainly not students, faculty, or, by any visible means, people outside Oberlin, save maybe the third-party risk assessors hired by the College.

According to members of the board, these revisions will protect the institution from certain liabilities; Trustee Chuck Birenbaum, OC ’79, told the Review last week that Oberlin apparently has more litigation against it than other comparable institutions of

its size. Based on our understanding, litigation most of ten occurs because of dispute over a decision or outcome thereof, and as long as the decision-maker can reasonably be said to represent the organization, the organization it self is open to litigation. The root problem isn’t who gets to call the shots so much as it is the substance of the deci sions themselves. If we need to reconsider those decisions, then it can only help the situation to have more deliberate levels of accountability in the decision-making process. Decisions made by the General Faculty already go to the board for final approval, and if it comes to it, the board can reject them.

The board has a precedent of bypassing the General Faculty on its decision-making, already having rejected major faculty decisions prior to the bylaws revision. Facul ty pay has been a longstanding issue with numerous public comments on the lack of competitive benefits; faculty have written, spoken up, and taken every step to give feedback and use their voices to be a part of this decision. In De cember of last year, a faculty motion to improve pay passed with 82 percent of voting General Faculty members in fa vor, but the board outright rejected it. If the status quo go ing forward is that faculty can only present their opinions, with no platform to make actionable decisions, then the future of Oberlin College is grim. The board already refus es to listen when people speak up, and the proposed bylaw changes will only enforce this in writing — compromising the organizational structure designed to give faculty voic es some authority.

In the short term, this means the board has no actual counterbalance in large scale decision-making. The line of reasoning with these proposed changes also reflects a definite misalignment of the board’s values with Oberlin as an academic institution. For starters, the revised pro cess for the appointment of deans almost entirely negates faculty involvement. The president will now handpick a portion of members on the selection committee, and even though the panel will consist primarily of faculty mem bers, the president can unilaterally decide on a nomina tion even if it contradicts the committee’s view. Further, with the combining of the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs committees into one broad “Student and Faculty Success Committee,” the board is muddling the specific and entirely separate needs of students and faculty. More than that, by setting competing priorities for this new committee, wherein the same panel will deliberate on a variety of topics such as residential life and counseling, ac ademics will inherently occupy a relatively muted space in the new charge. Academic success is what drives an institution, and for generations, students have taken any shortcomings in residential spaces in stride because we’re in this for an excellent education, not amenities that look good on brochures.

The only conceivable reason for this revision is an ap parent consolidation of authority within the board. The board can encourage people to voice their concerns all they want, but if no one’s opinions or ideas are ever heard in a meaningful way, what’s the point? Faculty governance holds administrators accountable for their actions and, at the very least, can provide a different perspective, if not an altogether unique approach to the situation. Forget a cen turies-long legacy of faculty governance — the past decade alone has validated the importance of authoritative faculty interventions. The board, in essence, is moving to severely limit the only body capable of tempering its decisions. This consolidation of power completely goes against the values we thought Oberlin possessed when we first arrived. The board needs to hear us and reassess their priorities.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and Opinions Editors — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

AAUP Faculty Respond to Bylaws Revision

To the Oberlin Board of Trustees:

The following statement has been ap proved unanimously by the Oberlin Chap ter of the American Association of Univer sity Professors and is sent on behalf of the more than 80 Oberlin faculty who make up that chapter.

The Oberlin Chapter of the American Association of University Professors un equivocally opposes the Board of Trustees’ proposed changes to the bylaws of Oberlin College and Conservatory.

Our objections include (but are not lim ited to) the following:

The re-writing of Article XV, Section 2 severely limits the role of the faculty in initiating, debating, or approving strategic and operational directions of the College. This marks a sharp break from the bylaws as they have stood since significant mod ifications in 1946 and 1949 and explicitly places the responsibility for any non-cur ricular changes in the hands of the presi dent and board. This is nothing less than a denial of the central principle of Oberlin’s system of shared governance: that the fac ulty are regularly and necessarily engaged in changes to the operations and strategic directions of the college.

The re-writing of Article XIII, Section 3 significantly diminishes the role of the fac ulty in appointing a dean. The president is given wide latitude to ignore the recom mendation of the faculty search commit tee — whose members have up until now been elected by the faculty. As the role of the dean is primarily to lead the faculty, we believe that full faculty involvement and buy-in is necessary for a dean to be successful.

The removal of Article XV, Section 3 takes away the faculty’s ability to make or approve legislation regulating student conduct and wellbeing. We are concerned about this change as we believe that stu dent wellbeing cannot be artificially sep arated from student learning. While the proposed changes allow a role for faculty in defining “those aspects of student life that relate to students’ academic experi ence,” we feel that the new bylaws inter

pret “academic experience” so narrowly that it isn’t clear if we would be allowed to weigh in on issues beyond our division al concerns (as Article XV, Section 2 takes away the place for General Faculty to come together and discuss with students and ad ministrators those policies that affect the whole campus beyond our academic and musical divisions).

In brief, if passed, this set of amend ments would revoke Oberlin’s long tradi tion of a strong faculty role in shared gov ernance.

Although the proposed changes to the bylaws use the term “shared governance,” they do not meet the standards of meaning ful faculty participation outside of the cur riculum. They give us no real say over the conditions in which we work and our stu dents learn. It puts the people in charge of managing the College’s finances in charge of holding the institution to its core values and determining, with minimal input from the faculty, its strategic directions. The faculty is not just an employee group in a corporation, but the primary reservoir of teaching skill, research expertise, profes sional integrity, and institutional memory.

We stand with our elected committee members and other employee groups at Oberlin College in unequivocally rejecting these proposed amendments as they cur rently stand and demanding a process of meaningful research, deliberation, and de bate before enacting these sweeping and permanent changes.

Signed, Executive Committee of Oberlin’s AAUP: Kirk Ormand, Nathan A. Greenberg pro fessor of Classics DeSales Harrison, professor of English Stephen Checkoway, associate professor of Computer Science Marta Laskowski, Robert S. Danforth pro fessor of Biology Matthew Senior, Ruberta T. McCandless professor of French Claire Solomon, associate professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Liter ature

Finney Compact Integral to Oberlin’s Future

Dear Chris Canavan and Oberlin’s Board of Trustees:

When — in 1964 — I accepted a position to teach at Oberlin, I was reluctant to do so because I knew that I had been awarded a Ful bright grant to carry out research in Rome. My mentor at Princeton, in hindsight, wisely advised me to accept the job and to try to take an early leave because, he said, there aren’t many positions like the one at Oberlin.

Once on campus and proud to be part of what I regarded to be the top liberal arts college in the coun try, I gradually understood why Oberlin enjoyed its distinguished reputation — not only because of its historically liberal activism, its out standing Conservatory and Allen Memorial Art Museum, and its sol id endowment, but also, above all, its excellent, dedicated faculty and exceptional students. What I might call the ethos in which all of that thrived was the sense that Ober lin — whose very purpose is, after all, education — was to an unusu al degree steered by its educators; that is, by its faculty who obviously know more and care more about the College’s educational success than anyone else. This, I knew, was the result of the Finney Compact.

During my 35 years at Oberlin, I sadly watched from the inside the College’s fall in national standing, first due to the unpreventable loss of its unique position as a top coed liberal arts college and, in con junction with that loss, the impact of its adverse geographical location when compared with many of the other co-ed colleges.

Concurrently, Oberlin’s endow ment suffered greatly due to its poor management at a time when the endowments of many of the col leges that Oberlin liked to compare itself with grew greatly.

What I have outlined is, to be sure, a simplistic explanation of Oberlin’s decline in national stand ing, but it nonetheless points to some fundamental reasons that, from its position in the 1960s as the best liberal arts college in the coun try Oberlin has fallen to, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report’s ranking, an embarrassing 39th place. One might question the basis of such rankings, as I do, yet I do not think we can dismiss the ac curacy of the general trend it tracks regarding Oberlin. This leads me to Oberlin today, which suffers from the Gibson’s affair. Thankfully it is over, although its short or longterm fiscal fallout, the extent of which is yet to be seen, is not, nor is its impact on the College’s relation ship with donors.

Certainly, the last thing the Col lege needs at this critical time is more negative publicity and further acceleration of its decline. That, I fear, is exactly what the board is in viting by proposing bylaw changes that eviscerate the Finney Compact and the General Faculty’s author ity as stated in Article XV, Section 2. The change, to no small degree, will destroy the Oberlin that it has long been.

I will leave it to Oberlin’s active faculty to spell out in detail the con sequences of the board’s rewriting of this section. But speaking from the position of an emeritus profes sor who has loved and supported the College, I am deeply disturbed by the board’s planned action, fear ing the damage to Oberlin that surely will ensue.

Sincerely, Richard Spear

Mildred Jay Professor of Art Histo ry, Emeritus, Oberlin College Affiliate Research Professor, Uni versity of Maryland, College Park

GOP Letter Highlights Failures of College’s Mahallati Investigation

On Sept. 28, Republican Representatives Jim Banks and Virginia Foxx sent a letter to Oberlin College and Presi dent Carmen Twillie Ambar announcing an investigation into Professor of Religion Mohammad Jafar Mahallati for his “well-documented involvement in human rights abus es while part of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and his continued support for Iran’s tyrannical re gime while under [the College’s] employment.”

As skeptical as the Oberlin community might be of this investigation, I caution us not to dismiss it out of hand.

Congress has the ability to uncover evidence that has eluded international bodies, families and activists, and part-time student journalists. For my own part, despite contributing to the Review’s Nov. 5 editorial “Evidence Against Mahallati Irrefutable,” I was unaware of Mahal lati’s involvement with Iran-based journal Sepehr-e-Siasat or his 2018 letter to the Speaker of the Islamic Consulta tive Assembly asking to censor a critic of the regime, both of which are detailed in the Representatives’ letter.

The end of the letter questions the College’s hiring pro cess for faculty. This seems to be a legitimate area of in quiry — after all, faculty who were involved in Mahallati’s hiring process now hold senior administrative positions at the College. A potential conflict of interest casts doubt upon the College’s own investigative processes. After hir ing an anonymous third party to investigate Mahallati, the College never revealed the findings, which emboldened them to declare his innocence. What court of law or in

stitution of common sense would accept such a standard?

This controversy is not only a concern for other coun tries or outside parties. During my time at the Review, I discussed the Mahallati case with four professors, often on more than one occasion. In each instance, my professors were the first to broach the topic, eager to hear a student’s perspective and share their own thoughts. Several of them were concerned about Mahallati’s potential involvement in covering up the 1988 massacres. None of them outright condemned Mahallati or proclaimed his innocence. Com mon among my professors, however, remained hope for a proper investigation and doubt of the College’s ability to conduct one. Faculty is possibly wary of speaking publicly about a colleague and confronting a College already keen on stripping their institutional role to its bare bones. Their silence cannot be taken as proof of apathy.

Some may believe that even if Mahallati did cover up the massacres, it was an error of many decades ago. But this is not history. The government that stole so many Iranians from their families in 1988 is the same oppres sive regime besieged by protest at this very moment. The longevity of despotism relies upon many averted eyes and shut mouths.

It is true that the letter treads well beyond the current allegations against Professor Mahallati, inquiring if Ober lin College has received funding from the Islamic Repub lic of Iran and detailing the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, a recent tragedy that holds no bearing on Mahallati’s culpa

bility for Iran’s cover-up of the 1988 executions. At times the letter is hyperbolic, with obvious political underpin nings. Reading these words, I can only imagine Repre sentatives Banks and Foxx salivating at the opportunity to mire Oberlin — an institution they disdain — in further ignominy.

Yet the investigation led by Representatives Banks and Foxx, however flawed in its intent, may be the best chance for the families of those killed by the Iranian regime, and for the Oberlin community, to learn the truth of Mahalla ti’s involvement in the massacre. For this, I am ashamed. I am ashamed that truth arrives at our doorstep embossed in animosity, rather than hand-delivered by those with love in their hearts, a love for Oberlin as conditional as it is unbounded, as I have.

I remind myself that I must only care about the po litical alignment of Jim Banks and Virginia Foxx insofar that it may impact the veracity of their findings. If we are disappointed in the messengers, we have only ourselves to blame. The Oberlin community has outsourced this controversy, content to stride past protesting families in Tappan Square or argue in Facebook comments sections under attention-grabbing headlines rather than dutifully read the body of news at their fingertips. And so, our truth deferred has become the tool of another’s malice.

Arman Luczkow

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Current Trustees Demonstrate Poor Judgement in Revising Bylaws

Dear Editors,

As an Oberlin alum of the class of 1984 and a former visiting faculty member, I have always been proud of the democratic gov ernance of the College as set forth in the Finney Compact, which places the faculty as the principal governing authority, both in matters relating to academic substance as well as in relation to broader matters affecting the day-to-day operations of the College. I was deeply disturbed to learn that this is about to change, with the Board of Trustees seizing much greater control as part of actions it plans to take on or around Oct. 6.

In my view, there is no less qualified nor capable body than the current Trustees, who have demonstrated poor judgment on a number of key matters relating to their fidu

ciary and moral responsibilities, including, but certainly not limited to, union busting of long-term employees, outsourcing of health services to a religiously-affiliated provider, and the recent litigation with Gibson’s.

Because of this contemplated action, which I presume to be a foregone conclu sion under the current regime, I will no longer feel comfortable recommending that my students consider attending Oberlin, nor will I donate to a college that has so de valued its long tradition of meaningful fac ulty governance. Withdrawing my support for the College makes me deeply sad, but I cannot, in good conscience, do otherwise.

Sincerely, Howard Fredrics, DMA OC ’84

Conservatory Performance at Kendal Was Remarkable

This letter is in response to Nikki Keating’s “Students Self Promote Performances Outside Conservatory,” Sept. 23, 2022

Dear Editor,

As a new resident of Kendal at Oberlin, I was recently privileged to hear a concert by three Oberlin Conservatory students per forming both solos and as a trio in the Heiser Auditorium. This experience offered a venue for students to perform before an attentive and receptive audience. What a wonderful way for students to give back after having studied for so many years. The professional and mature presentation was remarkable.

Their energy and joy in playing their instru ments were very evident, and the quality of music was exceptional. We residents are in deed honored to have this and so many other College performances here on our campus.

It is my hope that other local schools, churches, and other community organiza tions will reach out, offering new opportuni ties for these Conservatory students to play before other audiences. These young musi cians will not disappoint, benefitting both the musicians and those in the public sector.

Sincerely, Sue Harper

College Should Increase Academic Commons Hours

Continued from page 5

many students live here, it’s almost impossible to get a moment alone or a quiet place to study by yourself after hours in Oberlin if you don’t have a single-occupancy room.

To put a relatively small number of students in an even smaller space makes for an interesting mix of all the worst aspects of urban and rural living. The way I see it, the benefit of living in an urban environment is that you have a million neighbors and don’t have to know any of them; the benefit of living in a rural environment is that you don’t have any neighbors in the first place.

At Oberlin, I would say that your average student (with the exception of those living in OSCA housing) does not know much about the person or people living on the other side of their dry wall, save for what information they chose to write down on the little green slip taped to their door. Despite this, it seems as though we are all in a constant battle with each other for menial convenience. There’s a seemingly never-ending search for open desks, sofas, laundry machines, and practice rooms. There’s a constant scramble for the cleanest table in Stevenson Dining Hall, the best-working sink in the bathroom on your floor, the warmest and brightest spot in the li brary.

Of course, the unfortunate truth is that, like most “simple fix” problems in Oberlin, what it comes down to is cost. It costs money to have people working in campus buildings late at night while fewer people sit in them. Institutions like Oberlin don’t want to run the risk of illegal activ ity occurring inside their facilities when they don’t have people there to operate them. Accord ing to ZipRecruiter, a campus security guard makes an average of 14 dollars and 50 cents an hour in the state of Ohio — that’s 116 more dollars a day if the College were to keep a space like Wilder Hall open for 24 hours.

However, while the added cost would undeniably exist, it would not be unprecedented. I know from speaking with students who began their Oberlin careers before the pandemic that Mudd used to be open until 2 a.m. For a space designed to be used as an area to study, I don’t think that bringing back old hours would be unreasonable — nor would the extension of library hours on weekends. I know that I personally use weekends as an opportunity to wake up late (the day I find myself in an upright position at 8 a.m. on a Saturday will be a grim one) and get my work done for the week ahead. I hate to admit it, but I rarely have anywhere to be on a Saturday until about 10 at night, so where should I go when the library closes at 6?

I’m asking for this because I am a person who, for better or for worse, can not think of a time in the past four to five years when I have gone to bed before midnight for more than two nights in a row. I do all my work in the library under the harsh glare of an overhead LED light or the blue glow of a computer screen, and with my luck, I could accumulate over a hundred semesters in residence at this school and never be assigned a single-occupancy room. All I want is a little peace and quiet. Lying to security guards and cleaning staff about not noticing the time does not make me feel good — it’s embarrassing having to skulk out of a building into the cold night like a drunk seeking refuge when the pub finally closes. Not to be dramatic, but I really would just like one last drink.

College Acknowledges Need for Mailroom Renovation

Henry Larson Columnist

Although we are living in an increas ingly digitized world, mail is still a vi tal part of most people’s lives. In fact, while the internet may be propelling physical letters toward extinction with email becoming faster and cheaper, the accessibility and convenience of websites like Amazon has had the op posite effect on package mail. Accord ing to data about the United States Postal Service’s deliveries (which is a fraction of America’s total package volume), the yearly package volume has more than doubled from 3.5 billion parcels in 2012 to 7.6 billion parcels in 2021.

Because of this trend, and because online shopping is especially ingrained in the lives of young Americans, Ober lin’s student mailroom still plays a very important role. It’s therefore extreme ly troubling that the mailroom staff have seemed to be consistently over whelmed since the start of this semes ter. It’s normal for things to be slow and lines to be long at the beginning of the school year when every office on campus is getting back into the swing of things and students are ordering books and supplies en masse. How ever, classes have been in session for over a month and this problem is still ongoing. It’s not uncommon to wait in line for over 15 minutes to pick up a package, and the mailroom is often significantly delayed when it comes to sorting through deliveries. In some of my classes, students are unable to complete the required readings be cause their book has already arrived, but the mailroom hasn’t processed it yet.

From an outside view, the backlog in the mailroom may seem like a mi nor annoyance, but Oberlin students depend on this resource. The town of Oberlin does have quite a few shops that provide supplies students may need, but it’s still very limited. The mailroom becomes pivotal when it comes to getting last-minute winter clothes or buying necessary textbooks when the bookstore’s copies are too overpriced or it doesn’t have the exact book you require. Beyond that, there are many students who need to receive certain packages in a timely manner, such as medication or contact lens es. Without their orders, some peo ple cannot go about their daily lives, which makes the creation of a more efficient mailroom even more critical.

This concern has not gone unno ticed. At the Wilder Hall renovation talks on Oct. 3, the administration provided information about a num ber of planned changes in the student mailroom, slated to begin over the up coming Winter Term. Among these changes is the switch from individual mailboxes to larger lockers where let ters and packages would be delivered. Apparently, these lockers would hold one piece of mail at a time but would be shared, and they would be grouped based on package size. Students re ceiving mail would get a notification with a locker number and combina tion and could pick up their delivery any time Wilder is open, potentially replacing the current OCMR system. It is important to note that these pro posals have not yet been set into mo tion, and that the mailroom itself will

announce anything official.

These modifications have the ca pacity to significantly reduce the strain that has been forced upon the mail room. It would allow students to pick up packages at any time convenient for them, potentially preventing a buildup of packages. Additionally, with deliver ies being sent straight to lockers, long lines would be avoided. The proposed locks would definitely be an improve ment over the old, finicky combination locks currently in use, and it would be helpful to get a notification for letters and packages. However, there’s also a host of new complications created by this plan. The prospective phasing out of OCMR numbers is problematic be cause the number is part of every stu dent’s address and could lead to some confusion regarding where packages, letters, and paychecks are sent. In the Wilder renovation talk, it was men tioned that whether or not OCMR numbers will disappear is up to the mailroom, and it likely won’t lead to rerouting errors. However, the ambi guity is still distressing.

It’s also unclear how packages that are too large to fit in the lockers will be dealt with and it seems that with each new package or letter getting its own locker, the lockers will be con stantly full, which doesn’t solve the mailroom’s mail buildup problem. There was mention of the addition of lockers owned and operated by Am azon outside of the mailroom, but these additions may not be built in a time frame that would mitigate the complete fill-up of the new lockers in the short term. It appears that such upgrades don’t address the root of the problem — the mailroom doesn’t have the resources to sort through packag es quickly. Unfortunately, a shiny new locker system isn’t going to solve that.

All of this is to say that despite any renovations that the College may pro ceed with, the number of people who rely on the mailroom isn’t going to decrease anytime soon. Workers will still have to receive and organize large numbers of packages, and students will still have questions about deliver ies or need to collect certain packages directly from a staff member. With this in mind, while the mailroom is craft ing their agenda moving forward, it should consider hiring more workers. It’s not the fault of those who work in the mailroom that this is happening — the issue at hand is likely an expected one with the massive influx of stu dents this year. They’re overwhelmed, but with more hands on deck, things would likely be able to run more smoothly.

One final thing to bear in mind is that we, the students of Oberlin, have some responsibility in this matter. It’s all too common for students to wait to pick up their deliveries until they have several packages in the mailroom or to go on Amazon shopping sprees — ac tions which contribute to the deluge of packages that has challenged the mailroom this year. In addition to the mailroom changing things up, we need to change things up too, whether that means only purchasing what we feel is absolutely essential or shopping local ly before turning to online resources. It is only through cooperation between the students and the administration that mail will consistently be available on time.

Wilder Renovations

Renovations to Wilder Hall will begin Winter Term 2023, updating spaces and increasing functionality in four phases. The first phase will go through fall 2023, the second phase will take place summer 2024, the third phase will hap pen summer 2025, and fourth phase will take place spring and summer 2026.

The renovations will bring the building up to code and increase functionality without losing the spirit of the building. “I’m really looking forward to what we can bring into Wilder to respect the history while bringing it up to what we really hope for in a student experience,” Associate Dean of Students Thom Julian said.

The rooms housing WOBC and the Gear Co-op will have soundproof walls and floors. WOBC will have a main studio, a workroom with storage for vinyls and CDs, and a tech room, as well as separate a stu dio B space.

The third floor will house a number of student organiza tion hubs. The east side will host Student Leadership and Involvement, Student Senate, the Student Finance Commit tee, and ExCo offices. Rooms 302, 303, 305, and 306 will be reservable for short term use by individuals or clubs.

Third Floor West: Phase 1

Fourth Floor West: Phase 1

Third Floor East: Phase 2

Notable Upgrades:

- Air conditioning will be installed through out the building.

- All restrooms from the first floor and above will be gender neutral.

- Step-ups to stalls will be removed and leveled out.

The fourth floor will house student orga nization offices, including WOBC-FM and the Gear Co-op. This floor will also house storage for organizations that do not need storefront-style offices but need space to store club materials. Tina Zwegat, direc tor of student involvement will work with student organizations to decide how much space they need and facilitate efficient use of space.

Fourth Floor East: Phase 2

The Esports arena in room 302 will be set up with five on five capabilities, space for retro collection, and enhanced wifi.

The Office of Spirituality and Dialogue will have a reservable interfaith prayer room and the International Student Resource Center will feature a green kitch en, in which limited ingredients will be used to fit dietary needs

The Office for Disability and Access will be moving into rooms 111 and 115, ac cessible via lift on the west side. The Office will have a new testing center where students can use private rooms or open tables to take tests with accommo dations.

First Floor West: Phase 1

First Floor East: Phase 3

Second Floor West: Phase 1

Second Floor East: Phase 3

The second floor will continue to have identity-based offices including the Multicultural Resource Common, the Office of Spirituality and Dialogue, and the International Student Resource Center, as well as rooms available for temporary reservations. Zwegat will have conversations with leaders of various identity-based organizations on how to best fit their needs throughout the process.

Basement:

Mailroom: Phase 1

Dining: Phase 4

During Winter Term, the mailroom will be converted into a space where students can pick up packages and letters from size-based lockers. The lockers will not be assigned to individ uals; instead, students will receive a notification with a locker number and code when a package or letter has arrived for them so they can pick it up at any time, even outside mailroom hours.

Outdoor Lift: Phase 4

A single-person operable lift that will provide access to the porch and first floor of Wilder will be installed. The Office for Disabil ity and Access will be directly accessible from the lift.

Cal Ransom

ARTS & CULTURE

Weird, Wacky, Wonderful: Touring Oberlin’s Secondhand Stores

Leela Miller Staff Writer

Regardless of what you’re looking for — be it a win ter coat, a functional end table, a bright purple wig, a Victorian bodice, or a frog-shaped vase — odds are you can find it at one of Oberlin’s independent ly-owned secondhand stores. Even if you don’t have a pre-planned shopping list, you’ll likely find at least one must-buy item while perusing nooks, crannies, and whimsical displays.

However, one fact that is nearly certain is that when you walk in the door of one of these shops, you’ll meet a long-time Oberlin resident behind the checkout counter.

Brent Coward, for instance, owns and curates the Mad Cow Curiosity Shop, which is tucked away behind a blue door and up a flight of stairs on West College Street. Coward grew up in Oberlin — he de scribes himself as a “third-generation Oberlinian” — and has been operating Mad Cow for four and a half years.

“I want Mad Cow to be warm, welcoming, and fun,” Coward said. “I want walking in here to be as comfortable as walking into your living room, you know?”

Coward has definitely cultivated that kind of quirky, homey atmosphere in his store. On the day that I spoke with him, he had Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory playing on the in-store TV and an acid jazz playlist blaring through his sound system.

So, what kinds of things can you buy at Mad Cow? Posters, skateboards, vintage clothing, un usual hats, records, cassette tapes, shoes, and room

decor, for starters. Oh, and handmade mid-century Italian spaghetti hair cat figurines, which is some thing you need to see for yourself — you can find them under the giant wall-mounted fish by the fit ting room.

Coward is old-school; he doesn’t do any adver tising, and he relies on word-of-mouth to bring people into his store. He described getting to know customers as one of the most rewarding parts of his

job.

“I’m very happy to meet people of all walks of life … that’s why I do what I do,” Coward said. “I get to meet awesome people here every day, and I get to know ’em. And that’s what makes this job fun.”

In the future, Coward would like to transform Mad Cow into more than just a secondhand store. He teased that after-hours movie nights and tarot

Oberlin Doggie Doo Festival Returns After Seven Year Hiatus

Eloise Rich

The Oberlin Doggie Doo, an event where people can interact with res cue animals and donate for their care, was held in Tappan Square last Satur day. The event hadn’t occurred since 2015 due to a lack of volunteers, but it had ran for 10 years prior to that.

Over the last 18 months, Margo Fox, organizer of this year’s festival, met with Laurie Wilbur, president of Part ners With Paws, a non-profit animal rescue, to assess everything that was necessary for the festival. They met once a month and focused on spon sorships, volunteers, and obtaining a city permit.

“For me, [it was important] being able to raise the money that we did

for the homeless animals, being able to have that kind of exposure for the rescue groups [and] bringing back something to their community that they missed,” Fox said. “And being a new Oberlin resident … I had to really get out there and put myself out there to get this done, and so that forced me to meet a lot of new people.”

The festival itself began at 10 a.m. with guest speaker and former Chan nel 9 news anchor Denise Zarrella, who presented a poem and talked to the crowd about her rescue dog, Rosie.

At 11 a.m., the Lorain County Sheriff’s Department put on a canine demon stration. Other activities consisted of a pet and human costume contest, an array of animal-themed vendors, and a raffle draw to wrap up the day.

“[The Oberlin community] loved the Doggie Doo in the past,” Fox said. “Everyone loves dogs [and] they love being in Tappan Square — it’s a beau tiful spot for anything, really. When it got canceled, I think a lot of peo ple were bummed, and so when peo ple heard that it was coming back, I didn’t have a single person not be ex cited about it.”

Aside from the community impact, the festival also raised money that will go toward animals in need, with a significant portion of the funds allo cated to Partners With Paws.

“[Wilbur] sees where the need is and then puts her money and her energy [toward] that goal,” Fox said. “It’s a neat program because it’s like, ‘What do we need right now?’ and

[Wilbur] makes it happen. What I plan to do is donate the money from The Doggie Doo to her cause.”

Fox herself has personal experi ence with rescue animals: she has a Great Dane named AJ that she res cued from a puppy mill breeder. She adopted AJ through the Tuscarawas County Humane Society two sum mers ago.

“She’s my pride and joy, and I’m lit erally obsessed with her,” Fox said. “If you have a rescue animal, you know that they just love you so much [and] they somehow know you’ve saved them. She’s so loyal and kind and lov ing, and you would never know that she came from such a traumatic back ground.”

Bryn the pug shows off at the Doggie Doo. Photo courtesy of Kayla Kim

Doggie Doo features newborn puppies. Photo courtesy of Kayla Kim

See

All Things Great sells a wide array of vintage items. Photo by Erin Koo

The Mad Cow Curiosity Shop stocks an eclectic assortment of items, including posters, graphic t-shirts, and incense.

Photo by Erin Koo

Rescue dogs Opal and Winston beg for treats.

Photo courtesy of Kayla Kim

Student Identity Spaces Facilitate Queer Communities

Dlisah Lapidus Staff Writer

Oberlin College has a prominent queer culture and community, thriv ing with sexuality and gender diversi ty. This open-minded spirit has been cultivated since the progressive foun dation of the school as the first U.S. college to accept both women and people of color. Oberlin is a space in which students challenge institution al norms, generating a liberal hotspot in the conservative state of Ohio.

Although some queer Oberlin stu dents were members of their high school Gay-Straight Alliance or simi lar groups, many came to Oberlin and found a place where they no longer needed to seek out or create those spaces.

“In high school, I joined a queer group because everyone was straight, so I wanted to socialize and share ex periences with other queer people,” College first-year Caitlin Kluger said.

“I feel like I do that here at Oberlin without a club. I am also from an envi ronment where there are larger popu lations of queer people, but students coming from other places might not have had that access to the resourc es that I did, so there are definitely many students here who are still fig uring their identities out.”

Because of the undeniable con nection between the Oberlin student body and queerness, it may come as a surprise to hear that there are not

many consistently active or chartered groups on campus that specifically center queerness.

Among these few is the Black Queer Group, founded and co-chaired by Conservatory fourth-year Lance Gulley. Access to resources and ap proaches to queer identity are differ ent for people of color at a predomi nantly white institution like Oberlin. Gulley saw a need for a queer group specific to people of color because their experience on campus was dras tically different than the one expect ed by incoming students.

“Oberlin is advertised as this very open, inclusive, diverse queer space,” Gulley said. “That captivated me and made me imagine this as a place where I could be confident and comfortable in my queerness within a communi ty. Once I got here, I found that there was more of a community for white people in terms of queerness. I started the group because I didn’t want gen erations of students after me to have the same experience of being shocked by the whiteness and the lack of Black queer community and resources.”

College third-year Finn Miller, a member of Hillel, a Jewish organiza tion on campus, said that Hillel and other identity-based organizations provide queer spaces within their groups.

“[Hillel] often [has] community lunches for different identities, so we have one for queer Jews every so of ten,” Miller said. “A lot of the identity

spaces on campus are there to make sure that marginalized groups have somewhere to go to feel safe. With in these communities as well, spe cific queer spaces are there to make sure that people can navigate all of their identities in one space and feel heard.”

Although many students feel they are surrounded by queer people who may have shared experiences, there is much that is lost without an inten tional space for queer dialogues. Mill er spoke about his own experiences as a transgender man with limited queer spaces at Oberlin.

“When students need particular help or resources, they don’t real ly know where to turn,” Miller said. “For example, I am a trans man, and I started my transition in a different country, so I haven’t been able to get the hormones that I need in the U.S. because there is a different health care system, and I have to navigate that pretty much by myself. Because it is so open here, you don’t know where people’s boundaries lie. If there is a clear space where everyone comes to support each other and to give advice, then you might feel more comfortable asking for resources.”

No two queer experiences are the same, and despite the large LGBTQ+ population at Oberlin, many students feel they would still benefit from a safe space to facilitate opening dia logue and offering resources related to queer issues and community.

“There is the Black Queer Group, and Hillel has space for queer Jews, but there is no way for, say, Black queer people to meet Jewish queer people and understand how their queer experiences can be different,” Miller said. “The groups already on campus are helpful if you want to understand how your Blackness in tersects with your queerness or how your Jewishness intersects with your queerness, but if you want to learn about how those work with each oth er in the community or find out how the queer experience ranges between different identities, there is not a larg er space for that conversation here.”

Queer groups are beneficial to individual members and the entire LGBTQ+ community as they provide a platform for celebrating queer pride and joy and countering the societal oppression that many queer people face.

So, is Oberlin in need of more queer spaces? Gulley believes that members of the Black Queer Group would like ly join other queer identity groups.

“Queerness is one of those things that requires community,” Gulley said. “Especially in this country, be cause our society is based on heter onormativity, I think for the minds and the spirits who are trying to get past that and unlock themselves from these systems, it does take language and stories and intentional gestures to help people in their queer jour neys.”

Downtown Stores Boast Vintage Clothing, Jewelry, Accessories

readings might be on the horizon.

Laurel Kirtz, who has owned the consignment store All Things Great on South Main Street for the past five years, is less motivated by getting to know customers than Coward, but she cares deeply about making her store service-oriented. She wants to help people, whether they’re people who want to get rid of unneeded items or people looking to beef up their wardrobe.

“I’m not a moneymaker,” Kirtz said. “My objec tive isn’t to make money. My objective is to serve people.”

Kirtz calls herself a “professional stuff-handler.”

Before owning All Things Great, she worked as a declutterer for twenty years. She enjoys the process of arranging displays and sorting items; she calls it “her obsession” and says it’s one of the most satis fying parts of her job.

All Things Great is mostly stocked with clothes. And — insider scoop — if you’re looking for 40s-style hats, expertly-restored Victorian clothing, or a Xena: Warrior Princess kite, it’s the place to go.

Just slightly off of the main drag of downtown Oberlin is Main Street Antiques, Oberlin’s only an tique store. Main Street Antiques is a treasure trove of furniture, collectibles, home decor, and even farming tools. The surrounding area doesn’t get much foot traffic, but the store attracts Oberlin stu dents and residents nonetheless. On the day I vis ited, I met a group of Oberlin students in search of unique decor. They were excited to show off their purchases, which included but weren’t limited to a jar of buttons, a mirror, a jewelry box, a collection of shot glasses, a butter dish, and doilies.

College second-year Lila Banker found a set of “ceramic chickens with beautiful fabric legs” that she hasn’t committed to yet, but that she’s consid ering saving up for.

“This place has so much good stuff — so many little trinkets,” College second-year Sorah Guthrie said.

Londa Blaine and Deidre Gargasz, both of whom grew up in Oberlin, are two of the 14 vendors that co-own and run Main Street Antiques. They de scribed their friendship as having a “rocky start,” but they said that they’ve grown close after work ing together for nearly 15 years.

“[I work with a group of vendors]. It’s a good group of people,” Gargasz said. “We take care of each other. Everybody helps everybody else. … It’s like a family, and that’s wonderful.”

Both Blaine and Gargasz are self-declared “col lectors” who enjoy searching for unique items. Blaine sells mostly tools and farm equipment, while Gargasz sells small, decorative items and cookies made from her family recipe — which, according to her, have a bit of a cult following in Oberlin. They also both enjoy the experience of getting to know regulars in the shop, as well as introducing tourists to their town. They expressed that they appreciate the store being frequented by Oberlin students

Each of these stores — Mad Cow, All Things Great, and Main Street Antiques — are full of char acter. They offer slightly different experiences, but all three are run by people who care deeply about the work they do and the community that they are a part of. So, before rushing to Goodwill, consider paying them a visit.

A variety of jewelry is on display at All Things Great.

Photo by Erin Koo

A corner of Mad Cow displays handbags and duct-tape wallets.

Photo by Erin Koo

Olive Klug, Singer-Songwriter, TikTok Sensation

Juliana Gaspar Arts and Culture Editor

Olive Klug, a contemporary folk singer-songwrit er, performed at the Cat in the Cream last Sunday. Klug played some new, unreleased songs as well as fan favorites. Klug released singles in the spring and summer of 2021 after their TikTok videos singing the songs gained positive attention. Since then, Klug joined Jukebox the Ghost on tour for two weeks and has performed with other artists such as Semler, Mal Blum, and Henry Jamison. Klug continues to post on TikTok to their over 140,000 followers and has re cently signed with a label. Klug shared with the Re view their thoughts behind their music, journey, and social media.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. How was post-grad life during a pandemic? That must have been a process.

Honestly it was terrible, but in a lot of ways, it was really great for me — I majored in psycholo gy, and I was on the path to grad school, working at a rehab facility, so that was really intense. I was burned out already after only working in the field for three months, and I was like, “I don’t know if I want to do this. This is a lot to commit to for an en tire career.” The pandemic kind of forced me to take a step back and figure out what I really wanted and just gave me a lot of time to think and actually get to know myself outside of the context of school or working. Yes, it sucked and it was really depressing for a lot of it, but I learned a lot about myself.

What’s your favorite song you’ve ever written and why?

I think one of my favorite songs I’ve written is called “Parched,” which I wrote probably a year ago, but it’s not out yet. It’s about a relationship that I was in that I knew was bad for me, but I stayed in it and I knew that I was giving more than the other person was giving back. I wrote a song about it and I really liked the lyrics, but I also added this new lay er of production, and we added piano and this really cool electronic melodica thing. There’s a portion at the end where I am doing really messy harmonies purposely, and adding that layer has been so fun and has brought a new light to the song that I love. I’m really excited to release it.

You said you wrote it a year ago. Is there a par ticular reason that it takes a year to be released, or is it different with every song?

It’s different with every song, for sure. But I re cently signed to a label, which is exciting and means that I have support, but it also means that they are on a very specific schedule with releases. I had to be boarded onto the label, which took a couple of months. That started in June, and then it took about

three months to get everything together. Now, we’re setting release dates and it’s all six weeks apart. So, I’m releasing six singles, six weeks apart, and then the full album. I think there are a few songs I’m releasing that I will have written two years before they get released, which is really funny.

Do you think your opinion of the songs you’ve written change as time goes by?

I think so. I don’t know if you listen to Lucy Da cus, but a line in one of her songs, “In five years I hope the songs feel like covers” — they do end up feeling like covers sometimes, my really old songs. I’m not emotionally attached anymore. It literally feels like somebody else wrote it and is playing it. Then, there are songs that I wrote more recently and I really like and feel are still relevant. But with “Raining in June,” which is one of my more popu lar songs, I’m like, “I didn’t write this, what?” every time I play it, because I wrote it three years ago.

How does music help you process your emotions, if it does at all?

It’s a really good tool to figure out what I’m feel ing. Sometimes I’m feeling obvious turmoil, but I don’t know what it’s about. Then, I start writing a song and I figure out what I’m feeling through that, which is really cool. That’s why it’s been a difficult transition to go from music being this thing that I use to process my emotions to being a job. Be cause sometimes, it’s just not conducive. It’s more like, “I’m having inner turmoil, let me figure it out through writing a song.” But I don’t feel that every day — I can’t force myself to write something good.

I’ve never thought about it like that, the transi tion from music being something you do to mu sic being a job. Do you have anything else to say about that?

It stresses me out. I love the performing aspect of it. Last night I went back to my hotel and thought, “This is so cool that I just get to do this and get paid for it.” But producing content constantly is really stressful for me. Especially because we live in the TikTok world. I thought that was great for me at first, but now that I’m expected to make a TikTok a day, I can’t be original. I can’t keep people inter ested. I wouldn’t wanna watch someone every day. Why would I expect people to watch me every day?

The constant production of new content is a lot.

How has music, both other people’s and your own, helped you in processing your gender iden tity and sexuality?

I remember in high school I listened to Mal Blum, who is now my friend, which is so weird. There were not a lot of queer people making singer-song writer folk music. I think there was King Princess, and that wasn’t even high school, that was when I first got to college. There was also Tegan and Sara

and some pop music that was openly queer, but not a lot of singer-songwriter folk music that was vul nerable. I was playing a show with Kevin Atwater a couple of weeks ago, and his music is so vulnerable and so much about the queer experience. I start ed crying while he was playing because I realized that we are making music that didn’t exist a couple years ago. There was such a lack of that back in 2015 when I was in high school.

This isn’t about music directly, but I have nev er been into fashion. I’ve just always worn whatev er. When I started having to present myself more publicly, I had to ask myself, “How do I want to do this?” I feel so uncomfortable wearing dresses, but I also don’t want to wear super formal menswear. I just had to figure out how I wanted to present my self. That is also how I process my own gender iden tity, which is really cool. I avoided thinking about presenting myself to the world for so long; now I have to think about this.

Olive Klug sings and plays guitar at their Cat in the Cream concert.

Photo by Abe Frato

Olive Klug plays piano at the Cat in the Cream.

Photo by Abe Frato

Olive Klug looks out over their audience.

Photo by Abe Frato

Obies Can’t Flirt, And Honestly Neither Can We

Ada Ates Kushagra Kar Editor-in-Chief

A Turk and an Indian walked into a punchline in a bar on Main Street and asked the barkeep for a pint of Guinness each. Sitting down to nurse their much needed draughts of life-giving barley juice, the two best friends poured out the tragedies of their lives. As the pints drained away, conversation turned to the most pressing problem:

KK: How can I tell if someone is flirting with me?

AA: I don’t know, but if you ever find out, let me know.

So, in a state not nearly inebriated enough to warrant such an idea, this moderately unhinged pair agreed to write an article. They set out to demy stify the cruel and treacherous waters of Oberlin flirtations.

AA: Let’s get real for a hot second. Does anyone really know how to flirt? What even is flirting? My experience so far of flirting with people has been mainly just being weird. If they match your level of weirdness, there you go, you found yourself an Obie. Probably. Maybe. I wouldn’t trust myself; you shouldn’t either.

KK: I should interject to say I don’t trust you, and it sounds very much like you can’t flirt worth a dime. I should also say your conduct is em

barrassing, but I’m constantly going out to dinner either unaware it’s a date, or worse, wrongly assuming it is. Honestly, the genuinely mortifying part of all of this is: we’re not the only ones!

AA: This campus is so bad at flirt ing that there have been several dat ing apps developed by students to compensate for this incompetency. Not only apps, but also Instagram ac counts! Paire, obieconfessions, and even the College felt so bad for us that Mudd Center brought back blind dates! Yo, wanna elaborate on that, editor boy?

KK: Well, if we’re spilling state secrets — yes, I went on a blind date once. It was on Zoom. The Grape both orchestrated and published an article about it. My parents and brother read that article and laughed at my immac ulate “moves.” Tragically, I wore my date-night sweater with a shawl col lar and elbow patches, and I like to think I looked spiffy … my words, on the other hand, were a travesty.

AA: You know what else is causing these flirting failures? Intimidation. It is hard to just walk up to someone and make it clear that you like them.

Playing with hair, caressing their arm, laughing at even the dumbest of jokes, giggling, complimenting them, put ting your hand on their back, making them feel like they are the center of

the room, and in general making your self vulnerable and leaving yourself at their mercy all sounds very romantic and flirty until the other person goes, “Not interested, bud.” Boom! That didn’t actually happen, but the fear and the possibility are real.

Is flirting dead? Are we only left with “wyd”s? But who am I to judge — I’m the most oblivious person ever and have attachment issues enough for the entire campus!

KK: The romantic disasters that Obies are, even when we do hit it off with someone during a night on the town, we can’t seem to help but stum ble carelessly into the friendzone. Ev ery time a couple walks through the Arb I can just imagine a shadowy out line on the horizon claiming two new souls for the FZ. Inevitably though, Oberlin is so small that you will ei ther fall for a friend or just flounder through a tinder date with someone who will eventually become your lab partner.

AA: A friend of mine once went on a Tinder date to Kim’s. They came back all confused and said, “I don’t think this was a date, I think it was one of those friend things. Although his friends did act weird when they saw us together, they made innuen dos, I think. My date got flustered and shooed them away.” All at once, the rest of us screeched, “And you don’t

think that was a date?” The friend continued, “I mean, I don’t think he was flirting with me. Personally, I didn’t know how. I just made eye-con tact — unlike daily life.” Oh, honey, he was flirting with you, which is prob ably why he got flustered. But to be fair, I’ve been there.

KK: Unfortunately, it’s also possi ble to swing too far in the other direc tion, and assume too much.

AA: A different friend of mine said to me, “Well … we were supposed to watch this animated series that he likes very much, so I went to his place. Everything was ready, the lap top and the popcorn were on his bed. I was putting my backpack down and taking off my coat when I realized he went silent. I turned back to see what was up with him, until I realized nothing was. He was naked. No sight of either the laptop nor the popcorn. And I thought, ‘Welp, I guess we are not watching the show.”

With the Guinness knocked back, and the bar on Main Street shuttering its doors, these world-wisened writ ers wondered why their flirting was altogether so appalling. Why did it seem like everyone around them was so equally hopeless? Casting these thoughts aside, the two knew what to do next: leave the bar and head home.

AA: By the way Kar, wyd tonight ;)

Celebrities Build “Wife Guys” Brand; Betray Wives, Fanbase

Emily Vaughan Opinions Editor

Last Tuesday, it was revealed that Ned Fulmer, formerly one-quarter of YouTube’s now-trio The Try Guys, had cheated on his wife, with whom he shares two children. This came as a shock to many, given Fulmer’s long-standing reputation as the Try Guy who was constantly talking about his wife. But for others, this was not a shock for the exact same reason.

This isn’t the first time that a man who public ly shares (almost to the point of excess) how much he loves his partner has been discovered to have been cheating on them. In late 2021, actor Antho ny Ramos, who constantly spoke about his fiancée and behaved in an unrelentingly loving manner, was discovered to be cheating on her. These “wife guys,” as they have been dubbed by the internet, have made a brand out of their commitment to their partners, never missing an opportunity to mention how much they love them. A significant part of Fulmer’s online personality was being a man who loved his wife. Much of the content that he shared and created online centered around his personal life and family.

Any and all cheating in a romantic relationship is disgraceful and inexcusable. In Fulmer’s case, though, the cheating was made even worse by the fact that the person he had an affair with was a younger employee of his company. Despite Fulmer’s claims that he engaged in a “consensual workplace relationship,” Kelsey Darragh, a former friend and coworker of Fulmer’s, stated in an Instagram sto ry that, in her opinion, “there’s no such thing as a consensual workplace environment when there is a dynamic of power involved.”

This was partly confirmed in a video released by The Try Guys’ official YouTube channel titled “what happened,” in which the remaining mem bers of the group, Eugene Lee Yang, Keith Habers berger, and Zach Kornfeld, confirmed that Fulmer had been released from the company following an internal investigation. In the video, Yang said, “We were acutely aware of just how contrary this was to the values of the company we’ve built and those of everyone who works here.”

It is very concerning that a man who made lov ing and respecting his wife so much of his online persona is the same man who cheated on her with someone over whom he held significant power in the workplace. This affair goes against what Fulmer stood for publicly. It creates reason to question Ful mer’s morals, values, and public statements about respect and relationships. Fulmer often spoke in interviews and videos about his relationship and gave relationship advice. In one such interview, he told the interviewer that “mutual admiration and respect, as well as communication” is the secret to a great relationship. Cheating on his wife shows a clear lack of respect and communication, as does engaging in a secret workplace relationship with an employee.

Additionally, the majority of the Try Guys’ audi ence is made up of young women. He was respect ed and admired by many viewers for his unrelent ing love for and commitment to his wife and how public he was about his marriage. Though he did admit that some aspects of this were played up a bit for show, he maintained that his attitude and behavior were genuine. Fulmer had a longstanding reputation outside of his primary audience as “the Try Guy who loves his wife and kids.” When I told

one of my friends that he had cheated on his wife with an employee of his, their response was along the lines of, “Ned? The one who’s obsessed with his wife?”

While it might not make a lot of sense to place a large amount of faith and trust into a man on the in ternet, the news of Fulmer cheating was deeply dis appointing to many fans. Fulmer has had an online presence since 2014, and many people have grown up watching him wax poetic about his relationship and his wife. He set an example of what a healthy marriage looked like and profited off of that im age. He and his wife even had a podcast together in which they talked about relationships and par enting. Now his commitment has been called into question as his actions behind closed doors have come to light.

We have yet to see what will happen with Ful mer’s marriage following his egregious behavior. What is certain is that he threw away a career and a trusting audience for an inappropriate relation ship. Dating one’s employee is never acceptable, regardless of the relationship status of the parties involved. This also serves as a warning to the gen eral public: don’t trust a “wife guy.” It might just be a front.

Ned Fulmer has been removed from the Try Guys after engaging in an extramarital relationship with an employee.

Photo Courtesy of OtakuKart

Orchestra, Choir to Perform at Carnegie Hall this December

Rhiannon Giddens Concert Review

Walter Thomas-Patterson Conservatory Editor

Italian Opera met American Jazz this past Tuesday with the return of Rhiannon Giddens, OC ’00, as part of Oberlin Conservatory’s Artist Recital Series. Giddens played alongside multi-instrumentalist Francesco Tur risi and bass player Jason Sypher. The trio performed pieces from their Grammy-award winning album, They’re Calling me Home. The concert cannot be easily categorized, for it contained genres including classical arias, folk songs, Black spirituals, and jazz, all of which were layered together in Giddens’ voice.

I was a bit startled by Giddens’ presentation at first. She was barefoot on a rug, which is something I had not seen in a musical performance before. She maintained a physical embodiment of and involvement in the music throughout the performance.

Despite the grand setting of Finney Chapel, the at mosphere of the concert was not so much formal as it was whimsical. There was no program, and although it had been announced that Giddens would perform pieces from her album, she moved far beyond that. She reached parts of my musical consciousness that were previously unknown to me — amytaste shaped so rig idly by the strict Classicism of Beethoven and baroque fugues of Bach that Giddens’ performance was al most destabilizing. While I was genuinely surprised by how many peopIe came out to see a matinee perfor mance on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, I could not help but notice just how unaffected Giddens seemed by all of it.

Walter Thomas-Patterson Conservatory Editor

The Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra, along with a number of Oberlin choirs, will be heading to New York City’s Carnegie Hall twice in the upcoming months. On Dec. 2, they will perform three selections — Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony,” Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2,” and Adolphus Hailstork’s “Fanfare on Amazing Grace” — for a closed audience of U.N. General Assembly members.

On Jan. 20, during Winter Term, Oberlin’s choirs and orchestra will play a concert for a general audi ence at Carnegie Hall. This program will feature Rob ert Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio “The Ordering of Mo ses,” Iván Enrique Rodríguez’s Metaphor for Power,” and Brahms’ “Tragic Overture.” Students from the Oberlin Gospel Choir, Oberlin College Choir, Oberlin Musical Union, and Conservatory voice students will be performing.

Dett’s 1932 oratorio “The Ordering of Moses” tells the biblical story of Moses being called by God to liberate his people, the Israelites, from slavery in Egypt as a metaphor for the plight of Black Ameri cans. Composed for his senior thesis at the Eastman School of Music in 1932, Dett’s work combines the classical elements of composers like Beethoven and Handel with the work of Black musicians, including his grandmother, who inspired his incorporation of Black spirituals in the composition.

The Conservatory’s U.N. performance is an exten sion of a joint collaboration between Oberlin College and Conservatory, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts. The collaboration will use the theme of joy as a unifying message for the U.N. performance.

Brass students auditioned for the second Carnegie Hall tour during the spring semester. For string play ers, to determine placement were conducted Sept. 10.

The Conservatory originally planned to inform students of their inclusion in the Carnegie Hall tour Sept. 19, but ultimately delayed the announcement until Sept. 29. In addition to the confusion about the dates, students are also unsure as to why there are discrepancies between the rosters for the U.N. and the rosters for the general audience.

Evan Beechy, a second-year Conservatory trom bonist, was concerned that the process would give

the wrong impression for students who were not se lected.

“It’s really good for me because I have very little experience playing in really big halls and doing really cool things with an orchestra, but it’s kind of bitter sweet because a lot of the other people didn’t get to go,” Beechy said. “We’re all good at what we do, but it’s almost alienating those who didn’t get to go. The entire chorus gets to go twice, but other sections re ally only get to go once. I’m glad I’m going, but it’s really a weird situation.”

However, Beechey’s thoughts were not univer sally shared among is Conservatory peers. For sec ond-year Conservatory cellist Michael Bridges, the chance to perform at Carnegie Hall is really exciting.

“I’ve heard from my friends that the music is quite hard, but I’m still so excited to just have the opportu nity to go to New York City and play in that beautiful hall,” Bridges said.

President Carmen Twillie Ambar addressed the orchestra and choir during the campus-wide power outage on Monday evening and she implored them to remember the unique position they are in. Previ ously, the U.N. has mostly only hired professional or chestras, so the inclusion of Oberlin in the U.N. pro gram represents a departure from precedent.

Planning both of these trips has not been with out challenges. Because the first trip will take place during the semester, the Oberlin Conservatory ad ministration has had to carefully plan how exactly they will carry out this mission.

“It happens, of course, during the regular semes ter, which creates a lot of logistical issues because … classes are going on,” Conservatory Orchestral Con ductor Raphael Jimenez said. “We need to make this happen around everything going on — classes and lessons.”

Yet the importance of the performances has not been lost on Jímenez.

“What I am the most excited about is that both programs give us the opportunity to address some of the most wonderful desires and rights for people — the right to freedom and the right to be happy,” Jimenez said.

Students hoping to hear pieces from the Winter Term performance can tune in Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. for a concert in Finney Chapel, which will also be live streamed through Oberlin Conservatory Produc tions.

The musical chemistry between Giddens and Turrisi was palpable throughout the performance. Turrisi, at times gently strumming his banjo or improvising jazz tunes on the piano, always maintained a deep connec tion with Giddens, as she sang. Soft-spoken and gen tle, Turrisi was educated at the Hague Conservatory in the Netherlands in American jazz piano with a mi nor in early music but explored blues and other genres post-graduation. You could sense that they could feel each other’s musical souls at an intrinsic level.

As much as she was a performer, Giddens was also a musicologist, sojourning through swaths of musical history buried and forgotten by mainstream audiences in each piece she performed. Giddens sought to shed light on pieces that had been lost in the riddle of histo ry. Particularly, she was aware of the way jazz and blues songs written by Black artists in the early 20th century had been co-opted by white musicians to be used for racist minstrel shows.

What struck me most about Giddens’ work was how she related musical and historical performance. Em bedded in each of her performances was a recognition that performing music must involve a deep under standing of the period it emerges from.

Rhiannon Giddens performs.

President Ambar and Dean Quillen speak in Finney Chapel.

Photo By Abe Frato

Michael Takahashi, Chess National Master

How did your chess journey begin?

I started playing chess in January 2010, when I was seven. My parents always tried to give me opportuni ties to do different things, so I was in the exploration phase of my life. I came to chess and it really just stuck with me. I remember being very excited when my dad announced to me that he was getting me a United States Chess Federation membership, and that’s really where it all began. Eight-year-old Michael said that was the best day of his life.

How did those in your inner circle contribute to your success?

I’ve had two incredible parents who are the reason I am here. My mom worked long hours at the VA, 8–12 hour shifts, and would come home and work with me on a chess book. She would take her own vacation days to take me to national events. My mom is an incredible mother, and it almost gives me chills thinking about the sacrifices she made for me to help me achieve my dream. My mentors have been the two best teachers because they’ve helped me not only with chess but also with finding my identity in life. Now, being a teacher myself, I’m asking, “Can I give back those same oppor tunities I received as a kid and help somebody else achieve their dream?” For me, that’s the most fulfilling thing.

What does it feel like to be the fourth Iowan under 21 and only the second Oberlin student to become a National Master?

Do you have any future goals for yourself in com petitive chess?

National Master has always been a goal for me. Aside from the name recognition, it’s a big deal because when you become much better at chess, you can lose per spective on just how much you have grown. I look back now and think, “Wow, this was actually a tough ride.” The fact that less than 1 percent of U.S. players earn this title means a lot to me because it shows the sacrifices myself and others have made for me to have pursued and earned this title.

In terms of goals, my current goal is to keep improv ing. Of course I’m trying to do the best I can and become Grand Master, but instead of any particular title, the goal for me is to be the best player I can be. Something I always like to say is, “Focus on your improvement, and the rating will follow.” If I can do the right things in my training and continue what got me to National Master, I can keep improving and win more titles. Aside from any title, my goal in chess is to have people remem ber me not as a National Master but as someone who worked hard, played the game the right way, gave back to his community, served the people, and helped others achieve their dreams. What speaks to me more than titles is what I’ve contributed and what I’ve done.

How have your autism and ADHD impacted your chess journey?

This August, Conservatory third-year Michael Takahashi became the fourth Iowan and second Oberlin student to pass the 2200 rating threshold and become a Chess National Master after his second-round win at the 2022 Minnesota International Chess Festival. This is a title that less than 1 percent of all competitive chess players achieve in their career. Hailing from Iowa City, Iowa, he is currently studying Percussion Performance.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sports Editors

Discuss Homecoming

the entirety of the match to hype up the crowd with fan favorites like Noon, Pau, and Yeo Baby! Denison won’t know what’s coming. BEAT BIG RED!

VERDICT: Oberlin.

If you were coaching a game, would you wear a suit, polo, or athletic gear?

Suit: Suits are pretty hot, both attrac tion-wise and heat-wise.

Polo: In elementary school, there was a boy who wore a black-and-white striped polo shirt to school almost every day and refereed soccer and lacrosse games during recess. I think he’s doing okay now, so I guess it works? — Kayla Athletic gear: It’s the most comfortable out of the three. Who wouldn’t want to be in sweats coaching a game?

VERDICT: Athletic.

Will the alumni out-perform the cur rent players in the alumni games this weekend?

It’s so obvious — the alumni have more years under their belt. They will always be more experienced, whether they just grad uated or are retired from their corporate professions.

VERDICT: The answer is always yes.

What really stood out to me in being the second Oberlin student and fourth Iowan is that I had a very different path than other people. Walker Griggs, OC ’17, came into Oberlin already a National Master, and a lot of my friends clinched National Master when they were 14–18, whereas I clinched it when I was 20. For me, it goes full circle because I’ve had to endure a lot of adver sity with my ADHD, which made it challenging for me to focus. The first thing I thought of was what made my journey unique. I didn’t clinch National Master when I was 12, and maybe that was the right path for me. I just feel blessed and grateful.

I have trouble focusing for longer periods of time, which hurts me in the sense that I can lose the thread really easily when I’m doing tactics or calculations. Executive functioning and staying focused are a little more challenging for me. I think it does contribute to my success because I have to come up with other solu tions to problems I face with my autism and ADHD. I feel it’s made me more creative, resourceful, and resilient. I’ve had to deal with a lot, but when I have a tough tournament, I remind myself that I’ve gone through many tough things, and I can get through this too. I always try to make my ADHD and autism my superpower as much as I can, but I also use them as inspiration.

Tennis Doubles Pairs Dominate Ashland University Doubles Invitational

Kayla Kim Contributing Sports Editor

Last weekend, both tennis teams played their final matches of the fall season at the Ashland University Doubles Invitational. While the men’s team struggled, the women’s team, which won third place in the 2021–22 North Coast Atlantic Conference tournament, continued to excel, setting a high bar for the spring season.

Doubles partners first-year Lydia Zafeiri and fourth-year captain Dina Nouaime won four out of their five matches, their only loss a tantalizing ly close match against Saginaw State Valley University, which ended 9–8 (7–5). One of their wins was against fellow NCAC school The College of Wooster. Their performances were a vast improvement from their winless finishes at the Kenyon Invitational a couple weeks prior.

Despite the long periods of play and inclement weather, Zafeiri focused on supporting her teammates and being in the moment.

“In every match, I was going in focused … and forgetting about the pre vious match, trying to play my best tennis, and cheering for my teammates,” Zafeiri said. “As an athlete, I was always focused on playing point by point, so then I’m not influenced about some thing that didn’t go well because then you continue to [make] mistakes. I just isolate myself and just focus on what I have to do.”

Oberlin’s second doubles pair, sec ond-years Anna Pastore and Marta Laska, came off of a successful first season in which they earned All-NCAC honors. In addition, Laska won against last year’s NCAC player of the year and Pastore won the team’s Most Valuable Player award.

During the match, Pastore and Laska were able to finish 4–2, and just like Nouaime and Zafeiri, they also snagged a victory against Wooster, beating Charitha Patlolla and Kim Nguyen 8–2. For Laska, this is an accomplishment she is especially proud of since a match against the Wooster pair last year went into a tiebreak. Despite the lack of doubles experience before coming to Oberlin, Laska credits the duo’s con trasting playing styles and personalities,

and sees it as an important asset for their future matches.

“Anna is more emotional and energet ic, whereas I always try to stay calm on court,” Laska wrote in an email to the Review. “We’re also different players, [while] I like to be safe (I can play a few minute points with a lot of lobbying and slicing), Anna is more aggressive and is brave enough to take risks. This year we had a chance to play better teams, and we now can learn how to lose and how to fight even when your opponents are better than you. So, this weekend helped me to understand that there’s a lot of room for further improvement.”

While there are only four active mem bers on women’s tennis right now, the full team will reconvene for the spring season.

James Foster

Marta Laska and Anna Pastore compete together.

Michael Takahashi holds a plaque from a chess tournament.

Courtesy of Oberlin Athletics

Courtesy of Michael Takahashi

Oberlin Football Players Comment on Progam Flaws

It’s been 48 years since Oberlin’s football team had a winning season. In 1974 the team went 5–4 and hasn’t seen much success since. Now coined “America’s sport,” football is one of the most popular sports in the country, but for some reason the football team at Oberlin has not seen much support from other athletes or students on campus.

Fourth-year linebacker Hulan Edward attributes some of the team’s losses to its culture. He believes that the team has made strides toward changing this, but it’s something that still needs work.

“I think there are a variety of reasons that it’s been so long since we’ve had a winning season,” he said. “Really though, I think it comes down to establishing a strong culture within the program, something we’ve made progress on the last few years I’ve been here and continue to push to build.”

Since Edward joined Oberlin in 2019, the team has only won two games.

“My first year we beat [Hiram College], and in my third year — after the COVID year — we beat Hiram again,” he stated. “In both those games, the energy was high and there was a sense of playing together with a chip on our shoulder. We had something to prove, and we played like it in those games.”

Fourth-year starting quarterback Chris Allen Jr. was also on the team when it won both of those games. The win in his first year of college was one that he will remember and cherish for the rest of his life.

“The first win against Hiram was the first win of my collegiate career,” he said. “We won 7–0. It was a sloppy game, but I also threw my first college touch down pass in that game. The second win we’ve had since my time here happened last year on the road, which we won 31–28. The game was back and forth, it came down to our last drive where [fifth-year] Brian

Colarusso caught the game winning [touchdown] with just seconds on the clock. It was a special moment for that team and our program.”

Unlike Edward and Allen Jr., third-year wide receiv er Jack Diskin has only been on the team for one win, but he remembers it fondly.

“I remember the celebration on the field with the team afterwards was great,” he said. “Never seen [the coaches] so happy before. It was a great feeling; it finally felt like all the work we put in came to fruition.”

Allen Jr. thinks one of the main contributing factors to the team’s losing record is the lack of player reten tion.

“I came in as a [first-year] with I think 15 or 16 guys,” he said. “As a [fourth-year], there’s only two of us now. This is in part because of concussions and injuries for some guys, which is understandable, but on the other hand we lose players because people couldn’t handle it.”

Allen Jr. believes that the players recruited to the program may not have had what it takes to be a part of a Division III football team.

“You have to want to play football,” he said. “Nothing is really guaranteed for you, only the love of the game and the fact that you’re doing something that you’ve been doing since you were a little kid.”

Additionally, Allen Jr. says that many of the players they lost from his original class were standout athletes, starters for the team, and leaders within the program.

“Everyone now is always talking about the numbers and how we don’t always have enough people to match up with other teams right now,” he said. “Sure, maybe that has some impact, but I think it’s less about that and more about if guys stayed through four years on the team, things would look a lot different.”

For better player retention, Edward thinks that the program needs to focus on bringing people into the team who will embrace what Oberlin has to offer as a whole.

“We need to focus on bringing in people from all areas that are going to lean into everything that makes Oberlin unique,” he said. “I hate to say it, but clearly we aren’t where we need to be yet, on and off the field. We want to be the best, but clearly our record doesn’t reflect that. Bringing in people at all levels with those values will help further the culture and identity of the team and lead to successes.”

To many of the players, ideally success means a winning season. But realistically, Diskin believes that success is a program with a strong foundation and a standard that the team is built on and upheld with everything they do.

“The most successful programs are the ones that are the most disciplined and play with great fundamen tals,” he said. “That all comes back to what your team stands for and building on that every day. Too many guys do their own thing or don’t stay fundamentally sound, and it comes back to trusting what we’ve been taught up to this point.”

Allen Jr. agrees with Diskin’s sentiments — in order to be more successful and become the program that they want to be, the team’s members have to work as more of a unit.

“As a unit we all have to be in it and understand this,” he said. “Some people understand it, and some people believe it, but very few people have both.”

In the end, Allen Jr. believes the student population’s faith in the program and perseverance is what is most important.

“People just need to trust and understand that if you stick with it and if you grind and persevere, things could be really amazing,” he said. “It’s not always going to be easy, but if it was easy everybody would be doing it.”

Undoubtedly, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done so that Oberlin football can see a winning record again. Edward, Diskin, and Allen Jr. all know that one day, the players will get there.

Homecoming 2022 Schedule of Events

Friday, Oct. 7

Homecoming TGIF and Alumni Welcome, 4:30–6 p.m. in Wilder Bowl

Todd & Thomasina Houston Philips Renovation Project Dedication, 5–6 p.m. at Philips gym second floor lounge area (outside second level pool entrance) Registration required

Heisman Club Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, 6–8 p.m. at Knowlton Athletics Complex Inductees: Thomas Tong, OC ’61 Soccer; Quammie Semper, OC ’04 Football; Joanna (Johnson) Line, OC ’11 Cross Country and Track and Field; Ariel (Lewis) Mandel, OC ’12 Tennis Registration required

Saturday, Oct. 8

Men’s Lacrosse Alumni Game, 9 a.m. on Bailey Field RSVP to Coach Ryan Polak at ryan.polak@oberlin.edu

Men’s Basketball Alumni Game, 9 a.m. in Philips gym Registration on goyeo.com

Track Dedication, 10–11 a.m. at Heisman Club Field House, President’s Walkway Registration required

Heisman Club Tailgate, 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m. at Knowlton Athletics Complex (grass area in between Knowlton and Williams Field House)

Registration required

Football vs. Kenyon College, 1 p.m. on Bailey Field

Heisman Club Title IX 50th Celebration, 4 p.m. at Knowlton Athletics Complex Registration required

Homecoming Holdover, 5–7 p.m. at Philips gym Sponsored by Student Senate and SAAC

Women’s Soccer vs. Denison University, 7 p.m. on Fred Shults Field

Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Yard Sale, 7 p.m. next to Shults Field

Fireworks Showcase, 9 p.m. on Shults Field Sponsored by the Program Board and the Office of Student Involvement

Sunday, Oct. 9

Field Hockey vs. Ohio Wesleyan University, 3 p.m. on Bailey Field

The Oberlin football team and staff pose on Fred Shults Field. Courtesy of Amanda Phillips Zoe Kuzbari Contributing Sports Editor

SPORTS

Learning from Tua Tagovailoa: Oberlin Football Players Reflect on Pressure to Perform

Sports Editors Decide Everything: Fall Sports

Andrea Nguyen Sports Editor Kayla Kim Zoe Kuzbari

Contributing Sports Editors

After a brief hiatus, the Sports Editors are here once again to settle any and all of your squabbles, tiffs, debates, and quarrels. If you’re somehow confused about who to root for during the homecoming games (GoYeo obviously), don’t worry! We’ll give you the answers, plus our very important commentary.

The Yeomen vs. Yeobie vs. Ye-O-men?

Yeomen: Learning and labor, Oberlin’s favorite words. We are farmers, bum-ba-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum.

Chris Stoneman Senior Staff Writer

Contact sports are dangerous games that afford their own risks to those who decide to play. As the intensity of play increases, so does the poten tial for violence, collisions, and severe injury. Tacked onto inherent risk for bodily harm is the pressure for these athletes to perform; the higher the level, the more strain on athletes and their bodies. Therefore it’s commonplace for elite ath letes to play through bodily damage and ignore their pain.

This attitude of “toughing it out” has severe downsides, especially when dealing with seri ous injuries. Nowhere was this more evident than during last week’s Thursday Night Football matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins.

In the second quarter of the game, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa dropped back in the pocket where he was instantly leveled by Bengals defensive lineman Josh Tupuo. During the hit, Tagovailoa’s upper back and head slammed into the turf, undoubtedly giving him a concussion. In the minutes following, Tagovailoa remained motionless on the ground with his fingers curled tightly. Neurologists and concussion experts later confirmed that this position was a case of a fenc ing reaction, an asymmetric tonic neck reflex in reaction to serious head trauma. The quarterback was immediately carted off the field and taken to a local hospital. While he was released later that night and allowed to return to his home in Miami, it is unsure what the lasting effects of his injury will be, as he could very likely have permanent brain damage.

Had Tagovailoa been in full health in the Cincinnati game, the hit probably would have only amounted to a concussion. However, this was not the case. The week prior, the quarterback had received another walloping hit in a game against the Baltimore Ravens. In the aftermath of the Baltimore collision, the Dolphins athletic training staff diagnosed Tagovailoa with a minor lower back injury. The quarterback was cleared to play but did not enter into concussion protocol. This diagnosis received some criticism from avid fans on Twitter and medical specialists, but little further action was taken.

Tagovailoa’s condition following the second collision is a testament to the dangers of play ing injured. Many factors could be blamed for Tagovailoa’s condition, but clearly the incom petency of the Dolphins medical staff played a large role. The doctor who cleared Tagovailoa to play against the Bengals has since been removed

from the organization. However the pressure Tagovailoa faced from the coaching staff is a larger issue that still exists. The Dolphins clearly needed him to keep their winning streak alive — his backup, Teddy Bridgewater, is far less skilled by comparison. It’s highly likely that the condition of the depth chart and the pressure from the organization is what ultimately forced Tagovailoa into strapping up last Thursday night. At higher levels, these sports no longer exist as games but as businesses. Jobs and money are on the line — teams bank on their best athletes to perform, even when it isn’t in the best interest of the player.

The pressure to play injured is not unique to the NFL or professional sports. Many athletes across varying levels of competition feel the obli gation to play regardless of physical condition, whether it be from coaches, other players, or even themselves.

“You wanna be there for your teammates and continue to contribute, but you can’t if you’re injured,” second-year and former football defen sive tackle Cristian Jimenez said. “There is a small amount of pressure from our coaching staff [with respect to minor injuries], but it’s very understandable since their jobs rely on having the best, able-bodied athletes on the field.”

Fourth-year linebacker Hulan Edward talked about his own personal desire to return to the field after consecutive, ultimately career-ending knee injuries.

“I think it’s been so ingrained into so many athletes from a young age that we need to push through everything and keep playing, and that pull [to keep playing] is still there,” Edward wrote in an email to the Review. “Where Oberlin stands out is the work the training staff does to combat that and help athletes physically and mentally as they deal with injuries.”

Second-year defensive tackle Ethan Price added to Edward’s comments on playing through injury because of an obligation to the team.

“When you first begin playing a sport, you do it for the love and passion of the game,” Price said. “As time goes on, you build relationships with your teammates and coaches and want to play for them. If you aren’t back ‘fast enough’, there is always a desire to be there for your brothers, even if that means sacrificing your own health and well-being.”

Understanding where different elements of pressure arise is key to injury prevention. The more we comprehend why athletes put them selves into harm’s way and continue playing while injured, the more we can do to prevent it.

Yeobie: Who runs the world? Squirrels. However, we’re not the only campus with albino squirrels — colleges such as the Universi ty of Texas at Austin and The Ohio State University have them too — and their mascots are so much cooler than ours. UT Austin has a 1,700-pound longhorn run onto the field before football games and Ohio State has Brutus Buckeye, a buckeye nut who does push ups af ter every touchdown! Although albino squirrels are quite rare, those campuses have so many more squirrel friends than the one (1) squir rel we have now, since the OG Yeobie got run over by a bike (RIP, did they ever get a yeobituary?). Still, Yeobie is marginally better than having a yeomen mascot. A 7’10 squirrel with beady red eyes and Birkenstocks isn’t an ideal look, but imagine having a farmer walking around trying to hype you up. What would that even look like?

Ye-O-men: Ye-O-men, t’was the original mascot. Yet, no one knows about them. What is a Ye-O-man though? Now that should be the real question.

VERDICT: Reluctantly, Yeobie.

Favorite team to watch in the fall?

Volleyball is kinda killing it right now. Zoe and Andrea have con flicts of interest here, so we can only hypothetically say men’s soccer.

VERDICT: Volleyball.

Oberlin vs. Kenyon College in Football?

Editor’s Note: This does not reflect the views of our wonderful senior staff writer and football defensive lineman, Chris Stoneman. For more serious coverage on Oberlin football, read Zoe Kuzbari’s piece “Oberlin Football Players Comment on Program Flaws” on page 15.

Oberlin: Football hasn’t had a winning season in 48 years. Enough said. John Heisman literally rolls in his grave whenever the Yeomen step onto the field. Every year, football players love to post their me dia day photos (in black and white for dramatic effect) with an over dramatic caption like, “It’s finally our season! *insert smirking devil and fire emojis*” indicating that they’re more than ready to achieve that goal. Well, how much longer do we have to wait, because anoth er half a century really isn’t ideal!

Kenyon: As Oberlin students, we are legally required to hate Ken yon. It’s part of the acceptance letter and everything. Let’s start by talking about Kenyon’s new mascot, since they recently changed from the Lords and Ladies to the Owls. Although it’s a great step for gender inclusivity, Ohio isn’t exactly well known for its owl popu lation, so it doesn’t really make sense. They don’t have a costumed owl walking around games yet, but it’s going to inevitably look like a knockoff purple version of the Hooters mascot or Duolingo 2.0. To give credit where credit is due however, Kenyon has been doing much better than Oberlin so far (1–3 compared to 0–4), and they ac tually had a winning season somewhat recently (2012).

VERDICT: Inconclusive.

Oberlin vs. Ohio Wesleyan University in Field Hockey?

This is a tough one and will definitely be an interesting game. De spite being ranked in the top 25 at the beginning of the season, OWU is only one rank above Oberlin right now with conference stand ings, and both teams are on a losing streak — Ohio Wesleyan with a one-game streak, and Oberlin with two. Hopefully, Oberlin can pull through, because the third time’s a charm. Plus, Oberlin did have its last two losses away in Pennsylvania, so maybe playing in Ohio again will clear their heads.

VERDICT: Oberlin by a very slim margin.

Oberlin vs. Denison in Women’s Soccer?

Oberlin women’s soccer has been bringing the heat this season since they just won a game against Adrian College on Thursday. Also totally not biased or anything, but OC Taiko is going to be playing for

Tua Tagovailoa plays for the Miami Dolphins. Courtesy of Patrick Smith