Students Learn Through Action and Organization
Students Organize Successful Teach-in but Coalition Falters

by Tobias Smith

In step with a national campaign protesting U.S. governmental responses to the Sept.11 attacks, hundreds of students walked out of class this Thursday to attend a student– organized teach-in.
Events, including student discussions, faculty lectures, the film 9/11 and a letter writing campaign, began at 9 a.m. and continued until 4:30 p.m., ending after more than 300 students signed in as a testament to their participation in the national protest.
Organizers had notified faculty of the coming walk-out Wednesday evening and on Thursday many faculty members encouraged students to attend. “On Sept. 11 we were in that class when we found out about [the attack], so [our professor] said it was an important part of the class, of the process to be here,” Maitreya Levanchild, a first year whose entire class voted to attend the teach-in, said.
While some professors showed support for the student action through positive attitudes, others participated in a more visible way. “I spoke at the teach-in about the history of the Middle East. I had no classes to teach so I did not have to face that problem but when I had my talk at 1:45 there was a large and eager audience. The students were serious, thoughtful and organized. I like that. That’s why its great to be a professor at Oberlin, ” Professor of Politics Ben Schiff said.
Others questioned the purpose of leaving class. “I felt that the teach-in was a lot more productive than the walk-out,” senior Manfred Elstrom said. Planning for the teach-in had been done with a coalition of over 150 schools nationwide. “At a larger campus, if a third of the people don’t go to class, it’s a big deal,” first-year Travis Heaney said.
While the teach-in’s message was clearly anti-war, organizers worked to stress the need for dialogue. Panels such as “War: For or Against” were aimed at facilitating discussion.
Most student s agreed that more education is necessary. “Being at college is not just about the material that you learn from the books and the lectures...it’s about being in the real world,” first year Naomi Altman said.
The Walk-Out / Teach-In was not the first action of this movement. Less than a month ago more than 500 students and community members gathered in Tappan Square to protest racism and war in the wake of the events of Sept. 11. A week later, over 200 students organized to travel to Washington, D.C. for the first rally of this movement. In the weeks following the rally, student turnout has dwindled to a handful of students.
The Coalition against Racism and War organized the gathering in Tappan Square and the trek to D.C. As a broad based coalition, CARAW boasted the membership of students from many different campus organizations. With no formal elections or leadership positions, the group has been run by consensus, though various individuals have asserted a variety of moderation roles.

Initially, the group formed at a Socialist Alternative gathering. “It was a public meeting that was attended by all sorts of people, and that turned into a coalition,” senior and SA member Ted Virdone said. Planning for the Tappan Square rally involved volunteer committees, cooperation coming from many organizations.

Following the Tappan Square rally, attendance at coalition meetings grew, culminating in a pre-D.C. gathering that drew over 150 students and filled Wilder Main. Groups such as the Oberlin Peace Activists League (OPAL) donated generously to the movement. However, internal friction had, at this point, arisen and as leadership changed, many students began to feel disenfranchised.
“It’s not just the students of color. It’s not just people with differing political ideology. People were feeling like they weren’t being respected and they weren’t being listened to,” senior Christine Harley said.
“The issue of identifying with leaders and who speaks on your behalf and all that is an issue that’s also based very much along gender lines, sexual orientation and political agendas. They’re all very intricately connected and they all intersect in complex ways,” senior Nicolas Stahelin said.

With no elected representatives, it was unclear who had the right to speak for the group. “That was the difficulty. No groups would necessarily commit, it was just individuals that were representing them” junior and SA member Erika Blechinger said. Members looked to the Multicultural Resource Center to help facilitate dialogue, but to date that has not occurred.

The fate of CARAW is still in question. Many students have begun to seek out other forums for these issues. “There’s a lot of other places on this campus where there’s discussions being held...It’s much easier to go into other smaller spaces where you know that your voice is going to be heard and respected,” Harley said.

“I think that there is a way that CARAW can still participate...[but] obvious internal dynamics are taking place within CARAW that are weakening it and ultimately if they don’t get corrected will destroy the organization,” sophomore Shahana Siddiqui said.

 

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