Winter Market Closes Due to

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In an Oct. 25 Campus Digest email, Campus Dining Services and AVI thanked the students who attended the Oct. 21 Dining Committee meeting. In response to these concerns, CDS plans to release daily updates that will follow its ongoing improvement process.

In an Oct. 28 Campus Digest, AVI called for students to apply for the paid position of Dining Ambassador, which would entail attending subsequent Dining Committee meetings and facilitating student involvement through social media. An Instagram post on the same day revealed AVI’s ongoing process in improving food accessibility and availability, citing its changes to the Xchange program, increases in vending, and new hires, as well as their existent sustainability commitment and hiring practices.

“I think they have a really good plan,” said Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Goff. “The good part about it is that they immediately, after their conversations with students, began to implement things. ... This gives us a real opportunity to look at our practices, to look at dining. AVI is still fairly new to Oberlin and they transitioned during the pandemic and really are working out some of the wrinkles.”

Yet, many students are still concerned with the viability of AVI as the College’s dining partner. In voicing her wariness, Yin Fahrer referred to the Oberlin unionbusting of United Auto Workers during the tenure of the College’s previous dining partner, Bon Appétit Management.

“Our hiring of AVI started with union-busting and is now leading to not feeding people,” Yin Fahrer said. “Food is not a luxury; food is a necessity and a lot of people are not getting it. I would make a plea to Oberlin and AVI just to care about their students. I think this is the most hypocritical way that Oberlin could do anything in terms of marketing themselves as a community-oriented college that cares about not only their students, but the entire world. And we can’t even fix food scarcity on our own campus. It’s horrifying.”

In its Oct. 28 post, AVI stated that they have hired 13 full-time UAW members and 12 part-time UAW members. Students who want to express concerns about AVI or other issues can fill out the Student Senate Constituentsw Survey or they can express their concerns directly to AVI at avifresh@oberlin.edu or through its text-a-manager number, 440-577-5304.

Winter Market Closes Due to Lack of Vendor Interest

The Oberlin Farmers Market will not take place this winter due to a lack of vendor interest. Illustration by Holly Yelton, Staff Cartoonist

Ella Moxley News Editor

The Oberlin Winter Market will not open this year after the Market was unable to recruit enough vendors to pay rent on a host facility. The Winter Market, an indoor farmers market that sells produce, meat, and other goods, normally runs from mid-October to midMay but last December, it was shut down due to COVID-19. However, organizers are hopeful that the Winter Market will be running again next year.

Since 2018, the Winter Market has taken place in the Oberlin Early Childhood Center. In 2020, the Market was held downtown in an empty storefront. Normally, the Market pays OECC $80 per week in rent and $38 a month for operating insurance.

In order to meet these costs, the Winter Market needs to have six to seven vendors because most do not sell at the Market every single week. Unfortunately, the Market lost two important vendors this year. According to Laura Reed, who serves as the Market manager, the person who normally sells produce at the Market is sick and could not participate this year. An additional struggle is that the farm that offers meat had customers who were concerned about shopping inside due to COVID-19, so the farm declined to participate.

“When it came down to figuring out covering the cost, … it just was not going to work because we don’t have a whole lot of extra money in the bank as far as the Market goes,” Reed said. “We’ve always sort of operated on a very tight budget so that we could keep the cost for our vendors to participate low.”

Not having the Market operate this year has left vendors searching for alternatives to sell their products. Peter Morris, farm manager of City Fresh, has pivoted to collaborations with Oberlin Food Hub and other outlets.

“It’s just a bummer,” Morris said. “We had grown stuff in anticipation for the sale of it this winter. So now to not have that guaranteed Saturday lined up, it makes it a little difficult, but I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault.”

For Reed, the closing of the Market is a financial and emotional blow. Reed sells soaps, sugar scrubs, lotions, and candles, and her family counts on the income she makes at the Market.

“I’m very disappointed for the other vendors who don’t have this opportunity to sell their things because there are several of them that depend on this income,” Reed said. “It is very disappointing. I felt like crap having to tell everybody, ‘We can’t do the Market this year cause they don’t have the people interested.’ It was a lot of work to put forth to try to pull the Market together and just a huge amount of disappointment when it kind of became a reality that we can’t do it this year.”

Community members also rely on the Market for accessible, local, and fresh foods. Chair and Professor of Rhetoric and Composition Laurie McMillin is a frequent patron of both the summer Farmers Market and the Winter Market. McMillin expressed her sadness to see the Market closed this year.

“I rely on these wonderful farmers for their eggs and meat,” McMillan said. “Their animals are pasture raised without added hormones and all that other stuff. I also love to be able to buy my produce locally. It’s been a luxury to be able to go a few blocks in summer or winter to get local greens — or at least to buy them from people in my community. So yes, I will miss the Market, and, sadly, I will end up driving some distance to pick up food that has traveled even farther!”

Despite the disappointment, Reed thinks that because the Winter Market is such an important part of the Oberlin community, it will not be gone forever. She is determined to reopen it in 2022 and has been looking into negotiating with the City for the use of the former Prospect Elementary School building for the Market. She is also looking for grants to help offset some of the management costs of the Market.

“As far as I know, there is no winter farmers-type market where you can access things that are produced in the community,” Reed said. “I think the community is gonna be sorely disappointed and sorely lacking this year because of [the closure]. And that is one of the reasons why I’m really intent on working to make sure that next winter or next fall when the outdoor Market closes, we do go into having our Winter Market.”

Morris argues that the success of next year’s Market partially hinges on greater interest from community members who can contribute to the Market. He hopes to see more people in Oberlin rally around participating in the local economy.

“It came down to not having enough vendors … so in general, I think that there’s this need for other members in our community to start doing crafty things or to start growing themselves to be a part of the Market if we wanna keep this going as a community,” Morris said.

The Oberlin review

PublicaTiOn Of recOrd fOr Oberlin cOllege

Oct. 29, 2021 Volume 151, Number 4 (ISSN 297–256)

Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch. Second-class postage paid at Oberlin, Ohio. Entered as second-class matter at the Oberlin, Ohio post office April 2, 1911. POSTMASTER SEND CHANGES TO: Wilder Box 90, Oberlin, Ohio 440741081. Office of Publication: Burton Basement, Oberlin, Ohio 44074. Phone: (440) 775-8123

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Anisa Curry Vietze Kushagra Kar Gigi Ewing Ella Moxley Kush Bulmer Arman Luczkow Emma Benardete Maeve Woltring Lilyanna D’Amato Zoe Kuzbari John Elrod Zoë Martin del Campo Mads Olsen Khadijah Halliday Eric Schank Walter Thomas-Patterson Sydney Rosensaft River Schiff Ada Ates Yuyang Fu

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Claire Brinley Eric Schank Sumner Wallace Yuhki Ueda Isaac Kucher Kathleen Kelleher Liz Kannon Lia Fawley Layout Editors Grace Gao Elizabeth Aduwo Genevieve Kirk Adrienne Hoover Illustrators Clair Wang Danny Valero Holly Yelton Distributors Olivia Lee Thomas Xu

Photo by Loh, member of Clevelanders for Public Transit

Students, Activists Rally for Transit Funding

Shannon Schulz

Students from Oberlin’s Sunrise hub joined 14 other Greater Cleveland organizations last Sunday to demand increased federal funding for public transportation, which is part of the Build Back Better Act.

The Build Back Better Act will direct $3.5 trillion toward housing, education, climate, and other social programs. Demonstrators protested last week as part of one final push before negotiation on the bill ends this Sunday. To Sunrise’s Ohio chapters, the most important player is Senator Sherrod Brown.

Starting around 1 p.m., the group walked from the Cleveland Public Square to Brown’s office and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority headquarters. Their march marked the end of a sixmonth-long organizational effort to support the final legislation on a bill that will include public transit in infrastructure funding.

“We’re making sure Senator Brown, our senator in Ohio who has a big role in the Senate, is urging other people and is making his voice heard [about] how important it is to pass [the bill],” said Courtney Horner, College second-year and Sunrise Oberlin event organizer.

The bill involves $10 billion of public transit funding for the country over the next ten years and is projected to create 10 million clean energy jobs. Horner is hopeful that the legislation will be a stepping stone to greater progress.

“We are fighting for electric buses,” Horner said. “The big thing is shifting jobs away from fossil fuel industries and into these other industries. If we have new transportation jobs, a lot of people who have currently worked in coal mines … can now be trained in these jobs pretty easily. That would also factor into mitigating climate change.”

This sentiment rang clear throughout the protest’s crowd of roughly 60 people. The group retained its energy as the temperature dropped and rain trickled down. Demonstrators continued to sing, chant, and march. Despite the cold, College first-year Natalie Dufour had warm feelings about the rally.

“I think there were 10 or so different organizations there,” Dufour said. “We were all there for a common cause. And even when it started raining, … and it was not a very fun [physical] atmosphere, … the feeling was [still] incredible. No one left when it started raining; no one was like, ‘Oh, we don’t want to be here anymore,’ because everyone was there, united in this common cause to demand equitable public transportation. So it was really, really exciting to be there and to be a part of that.”

Voters to Decide Education Questions Next Week

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an Oberlin Community Candidates Night on Sept. 29, hosted by Dr. Alison Ricker, head of the Science Library and member of the League of Women Voters, candidates for School Board unanimously spoke out against legislation proposed by the Ohio State House to prohibit the teaching of “divisive concepts.”

“It makes absolutely no sense for our curriculum to be determined by legislators in the State House who are not familiar with the unique diversity of our community,” said Emeka. “It’s important for us to … see where we’ve made mistakes in our past when you refer to critical race theory, and learn from them so that we don’t repeat them.”

Steggall stated that uncomfortable questions have the power to broaden students’ horizons.

“I think divisive concepts are how we learn … and learning about each other is how education makes us all better people,” Stegall said. “I think it’s definitely important to teach true history. I would point to Mr. [Kurt] Russell, our State of Ohio Teacher of the Year. His Race, Gender, and Oppression class is one of the classes that the kids at the [Oberlin] high school really love.”

The broader Oberlin community hasn’t necessarily reached a consensus on how to grapple with sensitive issues like mask mandates and critical race theory. However, Oberlin City Schools Superintendent David Hall described the undercurrent of civility that ran through a meeting between public health experts and community members held on Oct. 19.

“I think three of our committee members stood up and said, ‘This has been a very, very healthy conversation,’” said Hall. “Whether they agree, whether we disagree — at the end of the day, we all walked out together.”

Former President of Oberlin City Council Bryan Burgess urged College students to research the candidates and issues at stake in order to serve the interests of the Oberlin College community.

“The state of Ohio says college students can vote for local elections,” said Burgess. “Even if you aren’t here for the next election cycle — you’ve graduated, you’ve moved on — if you’re not here, someone just like you will be here. And so you are voting to represent not only your interests, but the interests of college students in general.”

Voters can view their registration status, precinct and polling location, and sample ballot at lookup.boe.ohio. gov/vtrapp/lorain/vtrlookup.aspx. Those who are interested can sign up to be a poll worker at OhioSOS.gov.

Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021

1:11 a.m. A Campus Safety officer on patrol around Warner Center observed two students walking through Wilder Bowl calling out the name of another student. Officers were informed that they were looking for a highly intoxicated student. The Oberlin Police Department assisted in locating the student. The student was located and transported to Mercy Allen Hospital. 12:57 p.m. Facilities staff reported a camera on the west entrance to Price House was covered with tape. Officers responded, photographed the camera, and removed the tape. 1:10 p.m. Officers were requested to assist an ill student who needed a transport from the Student Health Center to Mercy Allen Hospital’s emergency room. Transport was completed.

Friday, Oct. 22, 2021

11:47 p.m. The Oberlin Police Department received a report about an intoxicated student on the fire escape at Wilder Hall. Officers responded and located the student. The student was assisted from the fire escape and transported to Mercy Allen Hospital’s emergency room.

Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021

2:13 a.m. Officers and Oberlin Fire Department members responded to a fire alarm on the first floor of Price House. The cause of the alarm was smoke from burnt popcorn. The area was cleared and the alarm was reset. 11:24 p.m. A resident of Price House reported an unknown person sleeping in their room on the first floor. Officers responded and woke the person, who apologized for mistakenly entering the wrong room. The student was identified and then left to return to their own room.

Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021

12:48 a.m. Officers assisting a student with a lockout in Firelands Apartments observed in plain view a bagged smoke detector. The bag was removed and it was explained to the student that covered detectors are a fire safety hazard. 12:57 a.m. Officers were requested to assist a student, ill from alcohol consumption, on the third floor of Burton Hall. An ambulance was requested and the student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital’s emergency room. 6:30 p.m. Officers, Oberlin Fire Department members, and a maintenance technician responded to students stuck in the elevator at Langston Hall. OFD members were able to assist the students from the elevator. The elevator was turned off and outof-order signs have been posted until repairs are made. 11:27 p.m. Officers and Oberlin Fire Department members responded to a fire alarm at a Goldsmith Village Housing Unit. The unit was checked and cleared. The alarm was reset with no further problems.

Monday, Oct. 25, 2021

8:40 p.m. Staff from Azariah’s Café reported the theft of a mug from a shelving unit in the café. Officers responded and spoke with the manager, who stated that the mug was returned. The manager requested no further action.