It has been over a month since a student was assaulted in his own room at Barnard. Other than an all-campus mailing and a letter from President Nancy Dye and Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith in the April 6 Review, there has been no communication from the College administration to the student body. This is unacceptable.
The saying goes that the key to any good relationship is communication and the old adage applies here. This is especially true given that the College has in recent years experienced problems with student relations and transparency of operations. The lack of communication is even more distressing given the severity of the incident and the recent improvement in College-student dialogue. 
This is certainly not to suggest that the College should have been overly quick or reactionary in its disbursement of justice merely due to the heinous nature of the crime. Nor should there be anything but due process for the perpetrators, students or not, by either the College or the courts. However, the conspicuous absence of commentary from the College on this issue raises serious questions. Most notably, the possibility that the College is hoping that the student body will be lulled into forgetfulness by the warm weather and impending exam and Commencement periods and just won’t care what happens. 
This is a particularly unpleasant possibility for two reasons. First, there is the possibility that the College will try to sweep the fallout from such a serious (and, admittedly, embarrassing) incident under the rug. Secondly, there is the very real possibility that students will let the incident blow away on the spring breeze; that the College would count on this is also rather disquieting. 
Making matters worse, there was an alleged sexual assault reported outside of Wilder following Drag Ball. Without even venturing into the questions this raises regarding campus security, there are the also troubling questions it raises about College communication; there has been no mention of the incident, in the form of either an all-campus mailing or a letter to the Review. 
Pure and simple, the College must change the way it is doing business. It is certainly in a tough spot given the severity of recent incidents and is without a doubt aware of the impact that negative or troubling publicity might have –– during All Roads, especially. But if the College is to truly make progress and earn the trust of its students, it must be forthright and honest no matter the potential public relations fallout.

Activism Laudatory

As it turns out, the rumor is true: Oberlin’s much-lauded, traditional spirit of activism and lust for life is not only back from the dead but is alive and well. One need only look at many students’ weekend itineraries for proof. Many are embarking to police-walled Quebec City to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meetings; still others are attending abortion rights rallies and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) national meetings (today is, after all, April 20) in Washington, D.C. And still more are staying in Oberlin to participate in that most Oberlin of rituals, the Bike Derby in Harkness Bowl. This is all in one weekend, to say nothing of the now-annual ritual of School of the Americas (SOA) protests and the fall’s protests of World Bank meetings in Washington, D.C., or the constant stream of OPIRG action notices.
So: good job, and keep it up. Oberlin is indeed spawning the activists, do-gooders and alternative culturalists of this generation as it has for so many previous generations. Many will achieve national prominence; some already have. But if there is one glaring omission in the collective activism and hell-raising resume of Oberlin College students, it is in terms of local involvement. There are exceptions to this; seniors Josh Rosen and Jeff Price’s “i’m on the stereo” radio program on WOBC, which features Oberlin public school students, is much-praised and is receiving national media attention. Several tutoring programs also involve Oberlin College students with the town’s public schoolers. But by and large, Oberlin students focus their energies on national or global problems. This makes sense, to a certain extent; most College students do not call Oberlin or Ohio their homes either before or after graduation. It is only natural that they would think of problems in the context of the places where they were born and raised. 
However –– and this is a big however –– Oberlin College is not a bubble to the whole world. The College is among the biggest employers –– and polluters –– in Lorain County. Many students are probably not aware of these facts, the fact that their existence in Oberlin could possibly affect anyone else. There is no shortage of opportunities to change this situation, and Obies should keep this in mind the next time they’re thinking of whether they would rather start a tree-saving letter-writing campaign or pierce the Oberlin bubble and involve themselves in Oberlin beyond the College. 

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review editorial board –– the Editor in Chief, Managing Editor and Perspectives Editor –– and do not necessarily reflect the view of the staff of the Review.