College Discourse Flawed

To the Editors:

“The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor that is planted deep within each of us... for the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
–Audre Lorde

“You can’t post signs on the front glass doors of Mudd library, only security announcements.” That’s what I was told a few years ago by the library’s Assistant
Director when trying to post a sign about sexual assault on campus. It’s not because “we” don’t care, he said. He explained to me the difficulty of maintaining the facility, and how difficult those little sticky pieces of tape are to get off.
Within an hour or two of an attack in New York City hundreds of miles away, quite a few signs from President Dye were on those doors. Much to my dismay, when I checked today looking very closely to see if those signs made any mark, they indeed did leave a bit of residue of that annoying sticky stuff.
I am not writing, though, to critique the rights of sign postage Nancy Dye seems to have, but rather to point out a social discourse at Oberlin and likely on many college campuses in which many of us participate that assumes certain forms of trauma to be more significant and deserving of public concern than others.
By itself, I am thankful for much of the response of the Oberlin College administration and “community” to this week’s attacks in New York. The horrific nature of the trauma that took place is without a doubt deserving of public attention, concern, grieving and support. The apparatus set up by the College for listening and dialogue are critical both on a level of personal support and to give people a helpful, non-violent and anti-racist forum for working through the vulnerability, mourning and rage that many are feeling. At the same time, such “public responses” must also be thought about in the broader context of which forms of trauma and violence have validity in our communities and which do not.
When someone is raped on this campus, there are rarely signs on the doors of Mudd, nor anywhere. When the U.S. chooses to bomb another country killing thousands, it’s also unlikely that the administration of the school or the communities in Oberlin at large will take much note. When a black man is assaulted by police in this country, although there may be a public forum sponsored by the College president if it made TV, there won’t be urgent signs all over the campus, and a myriad of support centers set up all over campus.
This should not be taken as an individual criticism of President Dye, Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith or the College administration alone. President Dye participates in this discourse in her public role just as much as I do in my daily life, and I empathize with how difficult (or impossible) it must feel to be in a position of such power and have to try to mediate a very diverse group of people’s values and politics surrounding issues of violence. That does not, however, mean it should go unchallenged.
In that, why is it that an attack on New York is seen as a “national” disaster of extreme relevance and urgency to Oberlin College, while immediate and local violences that occur within a mile of us go relatively unnoticed? In this instance my guess is that the “Oberlin community,” like much of the rest of the country, is caught within a discourse of nationalism and national pride that attaches an overly sensitized stigma to certain types of violence while individualizing, localizing and silencing others. The messages from the President of Oberlin College refer to this week’s attacks in New York as being of primary importance because it is a “national” disaster. Meanwhile, violence against women, racial violence, homophobic violence, etc. are usually discussed and thought about on a communal public level as “isolated incidents.”
So I ask, can I post informational signs on the glass doors of the library the next time a student is raped? Or is it true that some among us have a really special type of sticky tape?
I hope that we can use such moments as opportunities to reflect on the ways in which we are structurally trying to prevent, respond to, raise awareness and push dialogue about the various forms of trauma and violence that exist within our community, and in those we are connected to around the world.

–Benjamin Joffe-Wolt
College senior