Protest debate evolving

The dust has settled after last week's student occupation of Cox, and the voices that remain are speaking a little softer and a little more clearly.

After the 29-hour occupation, administrators returned to their offices Friday to get on with business and deal with the aftermath of the first building shut-out in Oberlin history. Students involved with the sit-in viewed their protest as a success while some administrators were annoyed and others smiled under their reprimands.

Over 100 students were granted amnesty for participation in the take-over, and their demand that hourly wage workers in Cox be paid was granted. Secretarial staff spent Thursday afternoon perusing artwork at Allen Memorial Art Museum, but administrators were more concerned about getting back into the building.

Koppes, who was acting as president since College President Nancy Dye was in Hong Kong. Confronting the protesters repeatedly during the day, he and Interim Dean of Students Deb McNish met with students at 9 p.m. Thursday evening, telling them they faced charges if they kept Cox closed for another day.

By 11 p.m. that night, the General Faculty Council had passed a resolution that Koppes later presented to the protesters stating that they would not face disciplinary action if they allowed people to enter by 7 a.m. Friday.

Protesters then allowed administrators and workers to enter Cox at 7 a.m. Friday, but remained present until noon.

Two camps have emerged over the issue, with the administration and student protesters still pitted against each other.

Administrative response

The Cox take-over effectively took over the lives of administrators last Thursday, and ironically may have diverted their attention from the actual claims of the protesters.

With important Science Center and budget business slated for the day, the lock-out was a clear impediment to the business of the College and many administrators were not happy.

But aside from the calculated annoyance the protesters provided, the administration was faced with a new situation.

"You can imagine what you would do in a situation like that, but actually being in the situation is very different. It is certainly different than reading about it in a history book," Koppes said.

"I think students wanted us to say that we're not perfect, and we're not," McNish said.

Dye, who was away during the protest, dismissed the specific concerns raised by the protesters, standing by the search process.

"[The confession request] struck me as a bit inappropriate, frankly, particularly since the 'facts' weren't factual at all," Dye said. "I feel no need to make a confession."

Koppes agreed. "There is nothing to confess. This was a good search process. It was about as open as a search process can be, consistent with the candidates' needs for confidentiality," he said.

McNish felt that whether the claims were substantial or not, protesters certainly made their voices heard.

"I appreciated the fact that they were totally committed to what they were doing," McNish said. "These students were very serious."

The administrative focused on the specifics of the seed of the protest. Student organizers, though, have made it clear that their vision is much broader than just a dean search process.

Protesters: forward march

A week after the protest, the activists' focus has been rearticulated, emphasizing ideas of student power and voice. Protest organizers were very optimistic about the protest, and felt that meaningful cooperation between students is proof that the sit-in worked. Students have continued to make their presence known by announcing to prospective student tour groups that they feel the College is becoming increasingly conservative and that they should question faculty, students and administrators about this trend.

Senior Dan Spalding is one of the protesters involved in talking to prospective students at the Admissions office. He tells them that he is part of a student coalition that is concerned about what they see as Oberlin changing.

In addition to trying to inform prospective students of their agenda, a group of protesters also published a newsletter entitled "The Real Story," that they felt was necessary to get their concerns about the deans search published.

Students have also planned a showing of a Cox sit-in video next week on Mudd wall.

Aside from planning events, a coalition of students involved with the protest, or sympathetic to its cause, are meeting to formulate goals for the future.

"We are trying to make this coalition sustainable by recruiting underclassmen," Spalding said. He also articulated protesters feelings in the aftermath of the sit-in.

"I feel it was a success. We convinced the administration that we were serious," he said.

Senior Felicia Mello agreed. "I felt that it was a successful protest, but it was a shame the administration didn't make an attempt to compromise on our first demand: the letter. I felt they did not negotiate in good-faith in that regard," she said.

The coalition is using what they see as this flawed dean search as a launching point for further action. "We are going to broaden our objectives to include the concerns of as many people as possible while still focusing on concerns of threatened communities on campus," Spalding said.

Their first criticism seems to be a general dissatisfaction with how committees work and are formed.

"One of our concerns is the lack of student involvement in committees," Spalding said. He wants to see more students on search committees and said he believes the faculty and staff members of committees should be elected democratically.

"We found out through the Cox protest that almost everybody is concerned about democratic control on campus," Spalding said.

Professor of Politics Chris Howell also felt the protest was about power.

"Whether that was an appropriate action, and whether the specific details of their claims were correct isn't the issue. The big issue is about power at Oberlin College and the way decisions are made," Howell said.

Spalding said, "There's a trend with this administration [of] focusing power under itself."

Spalding said that even though many faculty members may have found the protest irritating they have the same concerns about an erosion of faculty governance.

Howell said that faculty governance has been debated for several years now and that there should be a similar debate about student governance.

"Students who don't think the dean search is a 'real issue' should ask themselves what they think a real issue is, and whether they will be ready to respond to it when the time comes," Mello said.

"Oberlin's future as a progressive college is at stake, and if Oberlin students don't take action, many of the things which make Oberlin unique, which drew us to come to Oberlin in the first place, will begin to disappear," she said.