Drugs
Pervasive
Oberlin
College has a drug problem, a big one. From marijuana to alcohol
to cigarettes to cocaine to Adderall to, apparently, steroids. Oberlin
students from many walks of life use many different substances to
get through stresses real, imagined and exaggerated
that they face in their lives.
Is it better for a student studying for a chemistry
exam to take diet pills or for someone writing an anthropology paper
to snort Ritalin than it is for a football player to use anabolic
steroids while training or a lacrosse player to snort cocaine before
a game? Clearly there is no good or easy answer to this question.
Drug abuse in the name of achievement, academic or athletic, is
not consistent with the philosophy of Oberlin College nor is it
a moral or honest approach to life.
What makes these latest revelations of steroid abuse particularly
troubling is their potentially destructive effect on campus life.
There is a difference between Dianabol and Adderall in that
for better or worse abuse of prescription attention-deficit
medicines is acknowledged as a personal decision and not a pervasive
cultural problem. Steroids, beyond the detrimental physical effects
that have been linked to such problems as cardiovascular disease
and reproductive dysfunction, can also contribute to physiological
defects effects that are not only destructive in athletes
academic and personal lives, but also present potential threats
to their communities.
Revelations of steroid use on the football team will only serve
to further alientate the student body from many student-athletes
at Oberlin, and may lead to the kind of destructive campus dialogue
seen with last springs sportsphobia and safe spaces debacles.
But ultimately, what this all comes down to is a matter of individual
responsibility. The football team is no more responsible for this
steroid use than the English department is responsible for Ritalin
abuse group cultures and pressures do exist, but its
not as if Oberlin students arent under tremendous stresses
for academic achievement.
For all classes at Oberlin, students are expected to follow a code
of academic behavior the Honor Code which prohibits
their gaining unfair assistance or advantage over or from their
fellow students. If students would follow a similar code in their
personal behavior and stay sober in pursuits, athletic and academic
alike, Oberlin would be the better for it.
Goldsmith,
Repent
As of 11:30 this morning, a petition calling for Dean
of Students Peter Goldsmiths resignation had earned 474 student
signatures, out of a stated goal of 1,500. Of course, the petition
no matter how many signatures it garners is in absolutely
no way binding. It is merely an expression of opinion, albeit from
a large number of people. The campaign for this petition seems to
have been lacking in organization. Nearly all of the signatures have
been acquired via an e-mail campaign, which initially did not identify
specific grievances. Many students do not seem to be aware of the
petitions existence.
The timing of the petition is also questionable, with little lead-time
between the campaigns inception and the stated deadline for
the ambitious goal of 1,500 more than half of the student body.
This lack of lead-time affects possibilities for publicity
this is the last issue of the Review and for the mass mobilization
of students and campus groups that would be necessary to meet the
stated goals.
The Review neither endorses nor opposes the petition outright. To
be sure, this newspaper has in the past come to loggerheads with Goldsmiths
actions on more than one occasion. And there are many elements of
the petitioners arguments that are compelling and accurate.
Chief among the complaints which the Review registers as fair is that
Goldsmith does far too little in the way of direct communication with
the student body. He has yet to go on the record in any meaningful
way about any of the personnel controversies of the last few weeks,
a responsibility that whether or not it is part of his official
job description is part of what students expect of him as the
Dean of Students. He has been derelict in his duties in this regard,
and this is a consquence of that irresponsibility.
So what will happen next? Many of the students and most of the energy
behind this particular drive will leave with Commencement and the
summer break, but Goldsmith should not view this as a chance to get
off the hook. Much of the blame for this movement rests on Goldsmith
himself, and while the particular venom of this effort will likely
subside, Goldsmith should view it as a wake-up call. Next September
begins another year, and another chance for Goldsmith to finally foster
open, honest and respectful relations with the student body
heres hoping he takes the opportunity.
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