<< Front page News February 20, 2004

Meet the candidates: Prospective senators share their campaign views for the upcoming elections

The following are statements from Oberlin students running for the open seats in the Student Senate. Ballots will be available in student mailboxes and the voting will run for one week or until 20 percent of the student body votes.

Ronnie Goines:

My name is Ronnie Goines. I’m a Politics and African American Studies major and Economics Minor from Houston, Texas! I have played Varsity Basketball here at Oberlin while maintaining key leadership roles in many organizations on campus like being Treasurer of ABUSUA (Oberlin Black Student Union) and SFC Student Auditor.

Due to the sheer versatility of my nature and my wide array of affiliations, I am well aware of student needs and concerns all over campus. My race, sexual orientation and socio-economic status has enabled me to understand all too well how not having your voice and view represented can stifle your productivity in a space that is supposed to serve and protect your needs and be your home. As a Student Senator I will do everything within my power to push for excellence by administration for student needs and will work to the best of my ability to serve, YOU! THE STUDENT! VOTE RONNIE GOINES!

Rebecca (Reba) Jones:
As a student senator one of the things I’d like to focus on is increasing communication between students and the administration, urging the administration to be more responsive to student needs. For example, I’m concerned with the college’s financial situation and some of the administration’s practices, and I’d support the campaign already begun to make the college’s financial actions open to student review. I’m also concerned about certain ResLife decisions (for example, keeping more juniors on campus) that have not seemed to take into account student need.
In various positions that I’ve held in my four years at Oberlin, including peer writing tutor, resident advisor and president of the rugby club, I’ve worked well with other students and communicated effectively with different departments of the administration. I would use these skills to hopefully bridge the gap between students and the administration, listening to students’ desires and advocating for them to the administration.

Matt Kaplan:
Matthew A. Kaplan Number 2.
Attentive
Together we will achieve results
Team (Students, Administration, World, Academics, Environment and Everything in Between)
Hardworking
Energetic
Willing to listen

All in this together

Kaplan Cares
Always committed
People Person
Listener
Analytical
Nothing is stronger than gentleness

Alia Kate:

Do you have issues with new administrative policies? Want to know more about the new six semester requirements to live on dorms? About Oberlin’s policy to keep you on board ALL four years? Johnson Street and Union Street dorm rooms? Vote for me and I’ll keep you informed, up to date, and in a position to change the things you don’t like.

Imran Lalani:

Hello there, I’m Imran, and I really appreciate your taking the time to read this random assortment of hackneyed clichÄs I’ve come up with. It goes to show that you really do care what direction we’re headed and realize the importance of this election; this is about all of us getting a fair deal, about presenting our views on life at Oberlin College in as clear and cogent a manner as possible in the hope of improving life at Oberlin for everyone. I eat at a Co-Op, and in my humble opinion, we’re getting a raw deal; CDS meals don’t carry over from one week to the next. If you miss your weekly meal, you’ve wasted money; you can’t eat two meals the next week, and you certainly can’t substitute meals for flex at the Decafe. I’d like to propose that co-opers receive either a fixed number of meals a semester, or have the option of at least some flex instead of just standard CDS fare.

If elected, I intend to table in Wilder at least once a week; if anyone has any concerns or suggestions about senate policy or the like, I’d be happy to help.

In any case, if you’re wondering what good voting will do you; vote a Lalani into student senate and find out. Take care and thanks again for reading.

Jack Larkin:

I am very concerned about Oberlin’s place in the national academic community. This year Oberlin’s national ranking fell a point dropping us into the 24th seat from last year’s 23rd. Over the years we have been edged out of first the top ten, and then the top twenty colleges; if this trend continues for much longer we will have lost our position in the top 25 as well. What makes this so galling is that we are still the excellent college we were when we were a top ten school, but we have lost our place to institutions who were better able to play the US News ranking game!

This phenomenon goes well beyond the boundaries of SAT scores and high school seniors: it has to do with how Oberlin and Oberlin students are perceived in the national academic, political and economic spheres. As students in 2004 we have a responsibility to future Oberlin students to do what we can to maintain and improve upon our college’s reputation. And we also have a responsibility to ourselves and whatever are our goals: students leaving Oberlin even this year will have an easier time finding resources for social, financial, or artistic projects if they can bank on an improving instead of falling college reputation.

Among other changes, I would like to enable student committees to start acting in concert with the college administration to increase alumnae giving (which is 5% of a college’s US News rank) through a penny giving campaign the five percent is summed without respect to the size of alumnae donations. I would like to see Oberlin actively working to involve peer schools in the Oberlin community, because their reviews of Oberlin’s “intangible” qualities as a college are 25% of our ranking. And I would also like to see Oberlin reaching out to a larger community of perspective students, since that is 7.5% of our ranking.

It will take resolve and a lot of time to put Oberlin back in the top ten schools in the nation much longer than one or two years. But I think that it is a worthwhile effort: we are already a top ten school, but we as students are being cheated out of the recognition and resources that we have earned and deserve.

Michael Lemon:

I am for off-campus student housing and using student funds to get the best musical acts possible to campus. Also, I would like to see the CDS policy changed, whereby meals you don’t use are transfered into flex dollars.

Yael Levin:

My name is Yael Levin. I’m a third year History and Jewish Studies major. I like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain and hanging out on the second floor of Wilder. My favorite ice cream is mint-chocolate chip. Cast your vote this week for me and I’ll buy you a pet rock. Remember, a vote for Yael equals a free pet rock.

Oona O’Leary:

If Oona O’Leary’s 2002 season was a disappointment, it’s only because her super 20-3 record the season before might have made it seem like she hadn’t lost a thing. She wasn’t able to keep up the pace in 2002, but her season actually was quite good for someone who turned 40 in August. It would have been even better if a strained groin hadn’t sapped her of effectiveness and cost her a few starts in midsummer.

Oona has yielded remarkably little to age. She still brings mid-90s heat with regularity, and has the same impeccable command of it she’s always had. She can throw her four-seamer past hitters or get them to chase her hard splitter down and out of the zone. Her other weapons include a two-seamer, a slider and a changeup. Lefthanded hitters actually find her tougher because she relies more heavily on her two best pitches against them. Baserunners can drive her to distraction at times.

Since Oona isn’t quick to the plate and throws splitters in the dirt in predictable counts, basestealers regularly take liberties. She throws over time and again, and even picks off a runners now and then, but she still hardly slows them down. Her age shows most in the field, where she’s always been somewhat heavy-legged, although she did enjoy her first errorless season in 13 years last year.

Benjamin Pred
:

I appreciate your nomination for Student Senate, and now ask that you place your trust in me with your vote. Those of you who read my column freshman year know that I will have no fear speaking up to the Powers that Be as your senator, nor will I allow the willful discouragement of the voice of students. As the senate is “the principle advocate for the interests of the student body as a whole to the oberlin administration and faculty.” that seems to be the most important qualification. If elected, I will elicit your opinions, work together with my fellow senators and faculty members to achieve effective ccompromises on difficult issues. and to make Oberlin a better place.

Arthur Richards:

In a time when we are asked to chose between the lesser of two evils, to sell ourselves out to systems of power that homogenize our voices, to follow mainstream political trends instead of our hearts, I’d like to offer myself as a revolutionary choice.
Together, we can use our voices and ideals to navigate ourselves and our school into an era of unprecedented social change and responsibility. We can forge close knit relations between ourselves and the community around us strengthen our ties with and support our local labor unions; create financial transparency and accountability in the budget and administration and ensure that we adhere to the utmost standards of accountability and social responsibility.

With an unwavering voice, global consciousness and the empowerment of our collective wills and desires, we can make our ideals a reality.

Keerat Singh:

My name is Keerat Singh, a first year neuroscience major from Northern California. You have probably seen me around and will be able to recognize me, for I am the young man with the turban. Those yeomenthat know me, realize that I champion fierce discipline, a back-breaking work ethic and a concrete desire to succeed. Most of us do not know whatthe senate does, how it does what it does and what role an Oberlinstudent plays in the process. Mygoal for running isso that I canshed some light onto the process and broaden the spectrum of the senate so that you as well as I along with all Oberlin students can truly participate in this system please vote for me.

Carmen Welton:

My name is Carmen Welton, and I am a second-year student with an Hispanic Studies Major, and a concentration in International Relations. I am interested in learning more about the administrative processes of the college and hope to be able to explore this area through my potential work on Senate. For the most part, as far as I can tell, the student body here knows very little about how the college functions and I would appreciate the opportunity to become a resource on campus for students to approach.

Other candidates:

Lina Elbadawi

Thomas Fazzini

Kevin Jackson

Vorris Mayes

Piyush Rampuria

Meghan Schott

Morgan Shelton

Joshua Treuhaft


 
 
   

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