College President Nancy Dye cast the tie-breaking vote on a policy change at Tuesday’s General Faculty meeting, defeating a motion that would have allowed the College to search student rooms without giving advance notice or telling the student the nature of the search.
The motion, which failed by a vote of 23-24, came from the Student Life Committee. It sought to replace the current policy, which requires that a student be given 24 hours notice in advance of a room search or be served notice by hand from a designate of the Dean of Students.
“The motion fails,” Dye said. After a quick conference with the College Secretary Bob Haslun, she announced she was voting against the measure.
Dye broke ranks with the rest of her administration, the four full deans, and her assistants. The tie was a result of widespread faculty and student senator opposition to the measure.
“Particularly in light of a lot of worry that was expressed in the discussion and in the vote, I don’t think it’s a good idea to force legislation,” Dye later said.
“We are recommending that we don’t give advance notice,” Associate Dean and Judicial Coordinator Bill Stackman, one of the principal architects of the proposal, said. “[The proposal would allow that a search could be made] if Safety and Security believe that there is a criminal activity or life-safety risk.” he said. Stackman presides over Judicial Board.
“I would not want to be in a situation where we cannot get to a room and we have an emergency situation,” he said later in the meeting. “I think that could be dangerous.”
Stackman said the current system enabled a student to dispose of items or substances in violation of College policy. “Basically we’re giving the student the opportunity to get rid of the item,” he said.
Students and faculty members took umbrage with the policy change, citing the ambiguity of the language, which would give the College wide latitude in deciding to conduct searches.
“It’s always worrisome when these sorts of things are happening,” said Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and Sociology Frances Hasso. “There are a whole range of things that are illegal and not necessarily dangerous.”
Several professors suggested that while they trusted the current administration to make sound judgments on the grounds for a search, they could foresee another administration taking advantage of what they saw to be ambiguous language.
“I think there may be someone along the line that thinks marijuana may be fair [game],” Professor of Geology Dennis Hubbard said.
Stackman suggested that even if the policy was changed, he did not see searches resulting from suspicion of marijuana possession. He added that there had been no room searches under the current policy during his tenure at Oberlin.
Questions were raised about what might warrant a room search and Dye interjected with a humorous remark. “If I may give an example: dead monkeys,” she said. “I don’t know how many of you remember the matter of the dead monkeys.” In a situation where monkeys were reported to have been smuggled into the United States illegally, the College might search a student room, she said, while adding that the situation did not actually result in a room search.
Senior senator Vivek Bharathan asked whether the College could conceivably bring the student to Judicial Board if they found something in violation of College policy in the room while searching for something else.
“Yes,” replied Stackman.
But Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith remarked that if something was not in plain view and was found during a search, judicial action might not be warranted under the policy.
“The ambiguity of what can be found and used remains the troubling thing,” Professor of History Steven Volk said.
“We can go into the student’s room immediately without telling them what we’re looking for, and I find that disturbing,” added another professor.
Dye asked whether the Student Life Committee had discussed possible scenarios, but no definitive answer was given. The discussion ended when Dye noted that a “State of the Senate” address was also on the agenda.
The vocal vote, as provisioned under GF rules, sounded the muffled ayes of a conflicted faculty. The original hand vote, called for by a student senator, yielded a tie of 23-23.
In recent years, the College Code of Rules and Regulations has undergone various revisions. A committte of students, faculty and administrators reviews the policy annually.