Rehire Charfauros McDaniel

To the Editors:

I was extremely upset and disappointed to discover that Oberlin College had decided to terminate Antoinette Charfauros McDaniels’ contract. I chose Oberlin over other colleges because I was enticed by its image as a progressive and truly intellectual school. Here, I thought, was a place with integrity, one where real talent and ability were what mattered, not “prestige” or titles. Apparently I was mistaken. For a school which purports to provide an education based on intellectual excellence, cultural diversity and service — the very qualities Charfauros exemplifies in her teaching and advising — this is an incredibly hypocritical decision.
There are a few professors on Oberlin’s campus who are widely known as those teachers one simply has to take a class with before one graduates; Charfauros is rapidly becoming one of them. Since she has been here not a semester has gone by that I have not heard multiple rave reviews of both her teaching and mentoring skills. In all she does she is an invaluable resource for the entire campus community, and especially for the APA community on campus. Such gifted and remarkable individuals are rare, and Oberlin College should be doing everything within its power to seek them out and reward them, instead of alienating and firing them.

–Katharine Eubank
College junior