Charfauros
McDaniel a Dedicated Asset to Oberlin
To
the Editors:
I
am a third-year sociology major. My first course in sociology was
Diversity, Justice and the Sociological Imagination
which was taught by Antoinette Chaufauros McDaniel. Her teaching
provided a framework for how I have approached my academic career
here at Oberlin College.
In class, I learned definitions and theories that have allowed me
to begin to analyze my personal cultural socialization process and
to approach my experience within a global context. The reading Professor
Chaurfauros McDaniel assigned on the syllabus was rigorous and valuable.
Along with the reading, she organized her course structure in a
way that allowed me and other students to interpret history and
conditions of injustice in a new and purposeful way. Professor Chaurfauros
McDaniels lectures and outside of class meetings encourage
students to engage and question our assumptions about issues of
race, class and gender. Group discussions, group projects, individual
assignments, papers and exams always accessed the actual learning
of the material rather than a verbal exercise in retaining and reporting
information and ensured that many student voices were heard. From
meeting one-on-one with students, advising, speaking at the Indigenous
Womens Series, organizing the East of California Conference
and constantly speaking up about Asian Pacific Islander history
and experience, Professor Chaurfauros McDaniel has continued to
demonstrate both a personal investment in and social responsibility
to the education of the entire Oberlin College community.
I could go on about the ways in which Professor Chaurfauros McDaniel
has both made herself accessible to the student body and created
a way for students to access knowledge, learn the skills to critically
analyze knowledge but in practicing what she taught, I feel it is
important to look at her recent dismissal from an institutional
level. Oberlin College prides itself on its progressive history
and policies. We proudly sponsor speakers and events to continue
to keep the campus community educated and communicating about social
causes. From the Follow the Morning Star video and convocation
speakers, to organized lecture series on the state of the world
after Sept. 11, Oberlin seems to foster a sense that our administration
actually does care about justice and hearing from the community.
Yet, hidden in this, we must keep asking: Why is it that Oberlin
has such a low retention of people of color faculty? Why is it that
every year since I started at Oberlin we lose at least one female
faculty member of color? What is it about the hiring process, College
policies and the set-up of the administration that has set up a
seemingly discriminatory system? I commend you on your ability to
attempt to listen to student concerns and to recognize that we would
like to participate in deciding how our hefty tuition is used for
our higher education. Please reconsider decisions and policies so
that Oberlin can in some ways live up to its prestige and history.
Please take my praise of Professor Chaurfauros McDaniel sincerely
and know that her potential loss to the Oberlin College community
is something we will all regret. I urge you to talk with the Board
of Trustees, the mediation committee and other people of influence
about
reconsidering the termination of a qualified, dedicated, motivated,
scholarly member of our academy. If you do decide to finalize the
decision, I hope that you will both recognize how this is detracting
from preserving Oberlins reputation and keep all students
interested in Comparative American Studies, sociology and justice
as part of your further decisions. Thanks for your time, energy
and reconsideration.
Rosa
W. Goldberg
College junior
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