Lack of Weekend Activities Burdens First-Year Students

Pianos in Conservatory Contribute to Hearing Loss

Walter Thomas-Patterson Senior Staff Writer

Walking into the Conservatory’s Robertson Hall, I pause for a moment in the breezeway to enjoy the chorus of instrumental chatter filtering through the space. As a pianist, I appreciate the fragments of piano pieces that I hear, and I am struck by how vividly I can recognize a piece from an individual practice room, whether it be the feverishly fast right hand runs from Chopin’s Winter Wind étude or the thundering left-hand arpeggios of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

The clarity with which I hear music emanating from rooms in such a large building raises a question: just how loud are the pianos in Robertson, and do they endanger the hearing of pianists and those playing with pianists in Robertson practice rooms?

To answer this question, I first drew on my past experiences as a musician. Having been a pianist and orchestral oboist in high school before focusing solely on piano at Oberlin, I encountered firsthand the dangers of loud music. As an oboist, I would sit directly in front of the brass section, putting me in especially close proximity to high-decibel sounds. In the hours after a concert or rehearsal, I remember the disconcerting realization that my ears were ringing, and there was little I could do but wait for the sound to dissipate.

I decided to meet with an audiologist, who conducted a series of hearing tests. The test results were a serious wake-up call. At age 16, I had mild hearing loss in my left ear — not enough to impact my life noticeably but enough to cause concern that I might incur more noticeable hearing loss in the future if I continued with my same habits.

My experiences as an oboist motivated me to become a dutiful user of earplugs while I played in ensembles, but I never seriously considered that my solo piano practice could be a threat to my hearing until I paused in the breezeway of Robertson and wondered, “Could my hours of piano practice every day also be damaging to my hearing?”

Curious, I tested the loudness of pianos in Robertson with a commercially available decibel reader on my phone. In a sample of 10 pianos, I received readings in the range of 80–100 decibels when playing on what I considered a mid-level dynamic. The American Academy of Audiology recommends the use of hearing protection for any sounds over 85 decibels, and the Occupational Health and Safety Association says that sounds over 90 decibels can lead to permanent hearing loss without proper ear protection. The pianos in Robertson often exceed this level. I wondered how they could have gotten this loud.

The reason has nothing to do with their quality but, instead, has everything to do with the frequency with which they are played. From the early morning into the late night, the dozens of pianos in Robertson are played nonstop, which impacts the mechanics of the pianos’ hammers over time. These felt-coated hammers, which hit the string to create a tone, gradually become more and more compacted with every strike. The harder the hammer, the brighter the tone will be, and thus the louder the sound the piano will produce.

The most direct solution to this problem is a thorough revoicing — the process of softening the felt of the hammers so that when they hit the strings, the sound produced is more muted. Considering that there are over 100 pianos in Robertson and a limited number of technicians, such an undertaking would be a considerable logistical challenge.

More importantly, I hope the Conservatory seriously considers addressing the problem not only through technical means, but also by going a step further and raising awareness about the problem of hearing loss for musicians as a whole. In my experience, the exposure to potentially damaging sound can seem like an unavoidable part of the relentless grind of practice, rehearsals, and lessons. It is a price to pay for dedication to the instrument.

The problem with this mindset is that it completely ignores the way music is profoundly connected to our health. Music is nourishing to our emotional and intellectual well-being, but at the same time, the choices that we make as musical artists linger in parts of our lives far from the practice room. Choosing to ignore one’s aural health in the practice room can lead to enormous consequences in the future.

In light of this, I hope the Conservatory seriously considers addressing the problem not only through technical means but also by going a step further and raising awareness about the problem of hearing loss for musicians in general.

LETTER TO THE EDITORS We Demand Transparent Investigation of Mohammad Mahallati

On Oct. 8, 2020, we sent a letter to Oberlin College President Carmen Twillie Ambar signed by hundreds of victims, survivors, and human rights experts at leading organizations. The letter alleged that, in his role as U.N. Ambassador for Iran, Mr. Mohammad Jafar Mahallati helped cover up mass killings that occurred in Iran during the summer of 1988. We asked for a fair investigation into the matter, but our letter remains unacknowledged by the College.

So, we were shocked to learn through an article in The Oberlin Review that the College claims to have conducted an internal investigation that exonerated Mr. Mahallati.

The result of the investigation is surprising for several reasons, the first being that Oberlin has refused to engage with us since we brought attention to Mr. Mahallati’s past. As an analogy, imagine a sexual assault investigation in which Oberlin refused to speak with the victim, refused to disclose its investigative process, and simply announced that the accused was not guilty. Would you consider such an investigation credible?

We should note that not only has Oberlin refused to meet with the victims to discuss the case, but lawyers, former hostages, victims’ families, and journalists say that they have been blocked on social media by President Ambar for raising the issue, no matter how respectfully. To continue the earlier analogy, would President Ambar have reacted similarly to hundreds of victims raising allegations of sexual assault? If not, why would she allegedly block people who have raised concerns about the role of an Oberlin professor implicated in the cover-up of a mass killing that Amnesty International and Canada’s Parliament have both determined to constitute a crime against humanity? Does President Ambar not believe that our lives matter?

Oberlin’s administrators further claim that “the College could find no evidence to corroborate the allegations against Professor Mahallati, including that he had specific knowledge of the murders taking place in Iran.”

This claim is shocking to us because the evidence is, in fact, overwhelming. Oberlin’s investigators must have exerted great effort not to find it.

The case against Mr. Mahallati is rather simple, and Oberlin does not have to take our word for it. It merely needs to consult readily available U.N. documents and Amnesty International reports. Those very documents are currently being used by Swedish prosecutors as the basis for a high-profile trial of a man implicated in the 1988 massacre.

The facts are as follows:

Over the span of five months in 1988, Iran’s regime subjected thousands of political prisoners across the country to minutes-long “re-trials” — that failed to meet any international standards of due process — and were presided over by what prisoners came to call “Death Commissions.” Based on no more than a few questions about their political or religious beliefs, about 5,000 prisoners were killed that summer.

During the summer in which these killings took place, Mr. Mahallati was Iran’s U.N. ambassador.

In a detailed report from Amnesty International, the organization notes that it had issued at least 16 urgent action notices in 1988, starting on Aug. 16, alerting the international community that mass killings were occurring in Iran’s prisons.

On Oct. 13, 1988, the U.N. itself reported that on July 28, 1988, “200 persons described as political prisoners … had been massacred in the central hall of Evin prison,” and that from Aug. 14–16, “860 bodies of executed political prisoners had been transferred” to a mass grave.

According to U.N. reports, in November 1988 — three months after Amnesty International publicized the mass murder campaign — Mr. Mahallati “denied the mass executions in a meeting with the U.N. Special Representative on the situation of human rights in Iran.”

Also in November 1988, The New York Times reported that Mr. Mahallati fought hard against a U.N. resolution that condemned Iran’s human rights record, including “a renewed wave of executions in the period July–September 1988 whereby a large number of persons died because of their political convictions.” According to the news report, Mr. Mahallati said that a report condemning Iran’s mass human rights violations constituted a “confrontation” with that country.

In an oral statement issued at the U.N. in December 1988 — again, four months after Amnesty International’s urgent alerts, months after the U.N. took note of the killings, and several months after thousands of families had spoken out about the execution of their loved ones — Mr. Mahallati made baseless allegations that reports of the killings were “misinformation” and an effort to “to make a propagandistic campaign in favor of a handful of foreign elements in Iran.”

In February 1989, in another oral statement to the U.N. intended to counter an Amnesty International briefing that laid out all the facts about the killings, Mr. Mahallati said that the Iranian regime had only executed “spies and terrorists.” He continued to deny these killings, calling them “political propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

As the timeline outlined above makes clear, many of the institutions focused on human rights in Iran were aware of the mass killings taking place in Iran’s prisons. Yet Oberlin’s investigators expect us to believe that Iran’s highest-ranking diplomat had no “specific knowledge” of the killings and made no inquiries before denying this mass crime. Can Oberlin’s risible finding be called anything but a whitewash?

We therefore refuse to accept Oberlin’s internal finding and will continue our campaign by all available legal means. Our demands are simple and logical:

The College must publish who conducted its investigation and what evidence they considered.

Since the Collegehas shown itself unwilling to conduct a fair and transparent investigation into Mr. Mahallati’s past, we demand a neutral third-party investigator be appointed and that the investigator engage with the complainants.

The people of Iran have fought for over three decades to bring the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre to justice. They expect no justice from Iran’s regime. It is thus disappointing to find a liberal school that boasts of its commitment to justice behaving like that regime.

Thousands of victims of the single largest mass killing in Iranian history and their families need Oberlin to live up to its own ideals.

LETTER TO THE EDITORS I Endorse Jo-Anne Steggall for Oberlin City Schools Board of Education

Having attended and participated in the Oberlin Community Candidates Night on Zoom, I strongly support the candidacy of Jo-Anne Steggall for one of three contested seats on the Oberlin City Schools Board of Education. I do not personally know, nor have I met, Jo-Anne Steggall. However, her thoughtful reflections, inquisitive investigation, and open, respectful demeanor during the Candidates Night speak volumes of her abilities both to work well with others — which is critical — and to move education in Oberlin City Schools forward in a positive, progressive, and inclusive manner.

Ms. Steggall is both informed and genuine in her candidacy, and I encourage you to vote for her for the Oberlin City Schools Board of Education on Nov. 2.

David Laczko, Oberlin Resident

Lack of Activities Frustrates First-Year Students

Emma Benardete Contributing Opinions Editor

As a first-year who has been at Oberlin for all of four weeks, I find it difficult to engage with my peers in an unstructured way. I’m never sure whom to text on a Saturday night or what I should suggest we do. Bowling? Backgammon? I would love, instead, to attend an activity that has been planned either by the Program Board or a student organization, with the assurance that other students will be there. After all, I’ve been told that one of the best ways to meet people in college is to attend on-campus events.

Unfortunately, despite the 175 student organizations that the College boasts on its website, it feels impossible to find events on weekends. Even though the College has an official channel through which to post events, many are not posted there. It seems as though only official departments, either academic or administrative, are permitted to utilize that space.

Thus, event postings tend to be spread out between various Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts and the occasional set of posters on bulletin boards in various academic buildings, easily overlooked in the rush to get from class to class or overshadowed by the numerous other posters about on-campus employment or career workshops for fourth-years. In order to find an event, you either have to go to the social media pages of the individual sponsoring organization or hear about it by word of mouth. The few postings that do exist are sometimes incomplete. This past weekend, I saw a posting about a trivia night that listed the time but not the venue.

When I’ve voiced my concerns, older students have told me that, at some point, I’ll get into the groove. It will become easier as time goes on, and I’ll learn the intricacies of Oberlin’s messy and over-complicated event-broadcasting system. While I’m sure they mean well, what I hear is that the way I’m feeling right now doesn’t matter. I’m hearing that my status as a first-year means I don’t deserve the security of knowing that I won’t spend every Saturday night alone.

I shouldn’t have to wait until something magically clicks and I figure it out. The time at the beginning of my college journey, when I don’t yet have strong relationships with my classmates, is the time when it is most important for me to be able to find events and meet people.

Twine, an app designed by Oberlin students a few years ago, was supposed to be a solution to this problem. The purpose of the app is to be a forum for organizations to post events, so everything can be consolidated and easily accessible. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Just over 50 of the student groups are actually on Twine, and many of their pages don’t actually list events. Rather, they list only bygone social media accounts that haven’t been active in months or have since changed their handles, making them more difficult to find.

Other student organizations don’t use Twine at all. It takes combing through the individual list of organizations — which doesn’t appear to be updated on the College website’s clubs and organizations page — to find events, and even then it is sometimes exceedingly difficult.

The other problem with Twine is that many students, especially first-years, do not use it or even know that it exists. For something so crucial to the student experience, there needs to be better communication about its existence than a few posters on bulletin boards around campus.

It is also possible that this is not merely an issue of failure to communicate events to students. Rather, it could be that there is a lack of events themselves. Many clubs choose to meet during the week, when students are swamped with homework or just exhausted from long days of classes. There seems to be a large number of weekend concerts, at least one or two each week, but standing and watching someone perform is not an effective way to get to know people.

If, in fact, Oberlin is lacking weekend events and they are not merely communicated poorly, that is something that must be addressed. Program Board, venues, and student-led organizations must make an effort to sponsor engaging events or meetings on the weekends. This doesn’t have to cost money. An open mic night or a scavenger hunt in town would be invaluable in alleviating first-year blues. If you can, move your club’s weekly meeting from Tuesday evening to Saturday. Host a Jeopardy! night about topics relevant to your club.

As the year progresses, it will be less important to have structured events on weekends, but one month into the school year, when new students are just getting to know each other, we desperately need things to do on weekends so we can connect with one another and enjoy our first weekends on campus. Find times over the weekend, plan some fun activities, and most importantly, please advertise them on Twine.

Troubling Posts Prevalent on Oberlin Yik Yak

Continued from page 5

to combat the issue; all first-years are required to take a training about consent, and there are resources on campus for survivors, such as the College’s Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct program and student-led SOSHA.

Despite the frequency of these incidents, I hesitated to write this article for a number of reasons. First, it’s hard to find the culprits because all Yik Yak posts are anonymous. There is a very real possibility that someone who doesn’t attend the College but lives around the area is launching racist attacks to get a reaction out of people. Additionally, I highly doubt that this one article will stop the barrage of anti-Black racism at Oberlin.

Regardless, this is an issue affecting our community as a whole, and if we want to create a safe environment for marginalized students, we can’t just downvote these posts, comment a snarky comeback, and call it a day.

Hart and I talked about further action steps, specifically about conversations regarding sexual harassment. For the men’s athletics teams, a group specifically mentioned on Yik Yak, she stated that they need to “accept responsibility … and apologize [to survivors] rather than to immediately center their image.” Screenshot courtesy of Kayla Kim, Columnist

SOSHA is also using the momentum from Yik Yak allegations to work on bringing awareness to sexual harassment on campus. They hosted an open forum on Oct. 28, and they are planning to bring an action list to the Oberlin administration. At the beginning of the school year, SOSHA also wrote a letter in the Student Labor Action Coalition’s Disorientation zine discussing sexual harassment on Oberlin’s campus.

While the anti-Blackness on Yik Yak and the posts of sexual assault allegations are not comparable situations, they speak to a concerning pattern of social media usage at Oberlin, as well as an overall troubling culture. There is still a lot of work to be done as Oberlin continues to grapple with these posts, but I hope that this article and SOSHA’s advocacy will increase awareness of these issues in the Oberlin community.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of resources available for students on campus.

SOSHA is an advocacy organization that provides support for survivors of sexual assault. If you need to talk or if you wish to join their contact list, email contact.sosha@gmail.com. They regularly post updates on Instagram @oberlin_sosha.

PRSM is an organization under the Title IX office dedicated to responding to sexual assault and educating the Oberlin community about topics regarding sexual assault prevention. Email them at prsm@ oberlin.edu

The Multicultural Resource Center provides support for students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and first-generation students. Email them at mrc@oberlin.edu. They are on Instagram as @obiemrc.

Your Best Friend Transfers to Vassar.

You see someone barefoot at Stevie. And at Mudd. And King. You go to Long Island Night only to find hundreds of underclassmen waiting in line.

OBERLIN HALL OF HORRORS

As the weather gets colder, Obies cozy up with their friends over cups of Azariah’s chai latte. After the sun sets and darkness falls, an eerie mist falls across campus. Pots and pans start inexplicably rattling in Hark ness House kitchen, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria start festering in the Arboretum, and the ghosts of athletes past glide through the empty halls of Hales Gymnasium. To uncover the spooky goings-on from across campus, we’ve compiled some brief but haunting Oberlin horror stories for you. Read on… if you dare.

Text by Anisa Curry Vietze

Illustration by Anisa Curry Vietze Layout by Kushagra Kar