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News Briefs

Fire cause discovered

A child playing with a cigarette lighter sparked the deadly fire that consumed an Oberlin residence and killed two young children on Oct. 9, according to Oberlin Fire Chief Dennis Kirin.

The fire destroyed the house at 106 S. Park St. The children, D’Angelo and Deziree MaCarthy died in Cleveland hospitals as a result of severe burns and suffocation. Their father, Dirrick Macarthy, rescued his other two children Deziree and D’Angelo before the fire blocked his entrance to the house.

Police Chief Michael Moorman said that there is an ongoing investigation. The situation has been further complicated by unrelated drug and domestic violence charges that have been brought against Dirrick Macarthy, the children’s father.

- Josh Keating

Senate organizes Committee Fair

Adopting strong measures to attract students to serve on special seats on faculty committees, the Student Senate organized the first Committee Fair in Wilder basement on Wednesday, November 5th. The event proved to be quite successful, as an hour into the fair there were already three sheets of paper completely filled with names of students who wanted to be on one or more than one committees.

There are thirteen general faculty committees, one College faculty committee and five others. In total, there are 34 to 40 seats available to students on committees. Each committee has one to eight student seats, depending on the size and role of the committee and the frequency of the meetings.

The most important committees – comprised of faculty and student members, including the Library, Student Life, and Religious Life committees – meet regularly once a month. Some, like the Standing Committee on Pluralism and Equality (SCOPE), has meetings scheduled twice monthly. There are also committees that meet only around certain times of the year, like the Winter Term or Jaszi Lectureship committees.

The Senate is planning to organize interview sessions this weekend have as many student committee spots filled by Sunday night.

The issues raised were intended to gather information on the opinions and needs of College students.

The presence of student seats on committees has long been overlooked as a means for students to have a direct influence in the operation and planning of the College.

- Milena Evtimova

Senate referendum released

Student Senate released the final results of an OCMR referendum taken last year during April and May, which polled 2,848 students, both on campus and abroad.

The 52.6 percent student participation was above the 50 percent needed to make the findings valid, though some ballots had been misplaced until recently.

The six questions covered topics from ResLife issues to recycling.

The referendum reports that almost 84 percent of students would like to have the option of co-ed rooms and more than 80 percent were against limited dorm access.

The majority of students agreed to have small amount added to their term bill to favor using recycled paper. However, the College recycling policy changed since the referendum, so there will be another question on this issue in the next referendum.

Senate explained that the referendum gives students an opportunity to voice their opinions in a way that allows senators to present concrete findings to the administration.

- Milena Evtimova