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| First GF
Meeting Responds: Terrorist Attacks, Related Worries by Matthew Green In the first faculty meeting of the year, College President Nancy Dye addressed budgetary, curricular and civil libertarian issues that the College may face as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Standing behind the podium of the West Lecture Hall, in the Science Center, she spoke to a nearly filled room of college and conservatory professors and staff. Dye opened the meeting by introducing the new Science Center as an exciting and ambitious complex that would make the sciences more interdisciplinary and accessible to all students. “[The Center] was built to maintain and enhance our leadership in undergraduate science education,” Dye said. She then embarked on the main focus of the meeting. “The opening of this academic year turned out to be unlike the opening of any other College year in history,” Dye said, commending faculty, staff and students for their strength and support. Dye emphasized the need for more expertise and focus placed on Middle Eastern, Islamic and Asian studies at Oberlin by using existing curriculum or developing new courses that would put the events into an historical and multi-cultural context. In noting the many ramifications that the conflict may have, Dye addressed current financial concerns in response to the national economy’s recent instability. “There is not serious uncertainty,” she said. “This is a very strong institution, financially one of the strongest in American higher education.” Nevertheless, she noted that with a reduced endowment for next year and a 2.3 million dollar budgetary deficit in health care costs that need to be addressed, the College will experience various setbacks beginning next year. “We are going to have a more difficult year than we had anticipated,” she said in preparation for a “leaner” academic year. An immediate result will be a hiring freeze, a motion that went into effect on Wednesday. Although all tenure-track searches for next year will continue, current vacancies will not be filled. Dye also addressed possible social ramifications of the attacks, emphasizing Oberlin’s steadfast inclusive values. “[Oberlin] will remain and must remain a safe community for all of its members,” she said, noting that, although not entirely, it has been largely free from ethnic violence and harassment. “This is something we need to continue to work on and to monitor,” she added. The meeting took place the day after Attorney General John Ashcroft’s address to the U.S. Congress in regard to the adoption of heightened security measures. Although, as of yet, no changes have been made in the law that governs information about students, Oberlin is among various academic institutions concerned with potential civil libertarian issues that may arise regarding student privacy rights. “This institution will not cooperate automatically with any law enforcement institution that requires information about our students,” Dye said, adding that the College will refuse any information unless given “compelling reasons” or subpoenaed, which has happened before. Reiterating the College’s resolution to uphold individual freedoms, Dye added that Oberlin is currently working with other higher education institutions in order to have a greater influence in the progression of new security measures. “We will weather this current uncertainty and whatever may come in its wake,” she said. |
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