Trustee
Forum Draws Dozens of Students
By
Greg Walters
Around three dozen students met with six trustees
at Thursday’s Student Trustee meeting for over two and a half
hours to discuss issues ranging from student housing to environmental
concerns. Though at times discussion was heated, both students and
trustees took pains to emphasize they were on the same side and
were simply trying to work through the issues students care about
most.
Of all the issues, the budget was the most regularly recurring theme.
Representatives from Students for a Free Palestine raised the issue
early on of opening the college’s books and instituting “ethical
investing” to ensure the College isn’t giving money
to companies that sell weapons to Israel.
“It’s much more complicated than that,” trustee
Judith Plows said, explaining that when Oberlin buys one company’s
stocks, the College is not actually giving that company money. Rather,
the College is buying stocks from another investor.
“The issue of opening the books is not so hard,” Plows
said. “The problem is, I think, that if you open the books,
you will not find what you expect to find there.” The reason,
Plows explained, is that much of the endowment funds are given to
independent handlers, who protect their own investments as business
secrets.
Other students raised the issue of Dye’s deferred compensation,
and their concern for the workers who have been laid off.
The trustees, however, were firm in their praise for Nancy Dye’s
leadership, and also in their conviction that Dye’s deferred
compensation package is a savvy investment.
“We’re looking at Nancy’s situation in terms of
how we see her leadership,” Plows said. “It’s
extremely important to have that kind of leadership. It includes
increasing the admissions, also the relative openness to students
of the open door policy and not having to push the College to be
more financially disciplined.”
Other trustees chimed in that in their decades of experience with
Oberlin, Dye is a prime contender for the best President Oberlin
has ever seen.
"I’m not sure we’re paying her enough for what
she’s doing for this institution," trustee Harry Stang
OC ‘59 said, adding that Dye seldom receives praise from the
student body itself.
"What we also see every day is she’s getting pounded
every day over and over and over again, and frequently on the basis
of misinformation,"he said.
The issue of Oberlin’s role in climate change produced a degree
of discord within the trustees but also a note of promise for future
action.
Trustee Peter Kirsch, however, reacted more positively.
“You don’t have to convince me,” he said. “I
think Oberlin should take a lead in this.”
He added that students need to keep the college’s budget problems
in mind, to make climate proposals that are "expenditure neutral
or expenditure negative." Such proposals, he said, would be
well received by the board of trustees. "I think there’s
an awful lot we can do within the existing current expenditures
category that will make us an industry leader – the industry
being academia.
"I would encourage you to think about this no just in a political
and moral way… but also in terms of self interest." On
Friday, Dec. 6, the trustees have scheduled a meeting on Oberlin’s
role in climate change.
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