The following is an letter to Nancy Dye, members of the advisory committee, and members of the Oberlin College Community:
To the editor:
I remember receiving many notes in my mailbox advertising and encouraging student involvement in the long range planning process. And, like many others, I declined to participate, thinking to myself that there are enough involved people on this campus to incorporate my individual concerns.
But upon reading the 44-page report which claims to be "the culmination of the first phase of ongoing planning for Oberlin," I became more and more concerned and upset that I hadn't taken the initiative to be involved. Although clearly stating that this document was in no way a final plan for the college, it will be used "by the President and the advisory committee as the basis for identifying the broad areas needing more in-depth discussion."
Something is lacking. Actually, I'm sure that many things are lacking. However, the thing that stood out the most to me from my limited perspective was that the word "OSCA" and "co-op" appears a grand total of four times in the entirety of the 44-page document.
This is extremely troubling to me, considering that OSCA is one of my primary reasons for choosing Oberlin College, and that even if I had chosen Oberlin for other reasons, there's absolutely no way I would have stayed here four years if it weren't for OSCA. OSCA is one of the most important parts of what "Oberlin" means to me.
OSCA is, among other things, a non-for-profit business, with 630 student members constituting 25% of the student body, who own and direct the spending of a $1.75 million dollar annual operating budget, own and manage 2 off campus properties and lease and manage 8 on campus housing and dining facilities. OSCA is the largest student-run cooperative in North America, formed on the Oberlin Campus nearly 50 years ago. OSCA is prospering in a time when the college is experiencing financial difficulties, with a growth rate of 114% over the past nine years ($818,000 in '87-'88).
OSCA offers much to the Oberlin community. Through OSCA, students "learn by doing" through the opportunity for intensive involvement in the workings of a business; in this way, OSCA is an immersal-business class at a college with no business department. OSCA empowers its members by giving them control over how they want their housing and dining community to be. OSCA helps to make Oberlin more accessible to low-income students. Ironically, the same document which is non-inclusive of OSCA says (on page 16): "Clearly, one of the most important components of Oberlin's educational experience comes from the college's commitment to social justice and service programs. Social action is an important and integral part of a student's life at Oberlin." OSCA has been committed to social justice, not as a vague ideological statement, but through concrete doings such as:
-investing our budget in socially conscious ways through such groups as
Working Assets and Calvert.
-being ecologically conscious by composting and buying organic (as opposed to, say, considering selling a large plot of wetland to a farmer who planned to drain it, something which Oberlin College considered, and something which would have been ecologically devastating).
-buying from local farmers and vendors to support the local economy.
-a continuing relationship with a group of Nicaraguan women in the Nicaraguan sister co-op. We help to empower them economically in a country which is very oppressive towards women. As usual, a group of six OSCA members are going to Nicaragua for winter term in order to solidify and strengthen this relationship.
I believe that OSCA is, in some ways at least, one of the largest "service programs" available on campus. I think it is unique in that, in addition to the above global actions, OSCA empowers its members. "Think one person can change the world? So does OSCA." In short, I believe OSCA is a very valuable asset to Oberlin College, one which should be celebrated and recognized.
I want to recognize that I am in no way stating that OSCA is perfect. Far from it. I could write an equally intense letter about the many problems which we are currently grappling with in OSCA, such as our primarily white membership, widely prevalent member-apathy, and so on. Some of the concerns of this letter have been addressed. There is a sub-group being formed which deals specifically with "empowering student organizations." But I am writing this letter not so much in support of OSCA, but out of fear that if I am just one student who was uninvolved in the planning process, what other concerns would other students have if they had read this document? I believe that you, oh reader, would find that if you read the long-range planning document, you would be able to find something equally upsetting to your values and equally non-inclusive of your Oberlin experience.
Please, read it. Please, be involved. There are now 13 small groups which are splitting off to form the second phase of this planning process. College is about students. Students must be involved, or we will find an Oberlin in ten years which is the vision, not of the students, but of administrators and faculty coming from a different generation, and a different perspective.
We are youth-in-transition. We have a unique perspective. Use your voice. Empower yourself.
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 125, Number 12; December 13, 1996
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