Tribe 8 sparks debate

The performance of Tribe 8, a "dyke punk" band who played the 'Sco in October, led to a campus-wide controversy about free speech and community values.

The debate led to several student meetings, a slew of letters to the Review, a large student protest outside a November General Faculty (GF) meeting and a question and answer session between students and President Nancy Dye. The controversy also led to an apology by President Nancy Dye about her original statement that the concert should have been shut down.

Tribe 8 played an hour-long set of punk music at the concert, with decidedly political lyrics about machismo, male dominance and rape. During the show lead singer Lynn Breedlove sang topless for much of the set, and challenged the audience with comments like: "If you think we're unladylike, then you can suck my dick." During the show a roadie also simulated oral sex on a dildo Breedlove was wearing.

What raised eyebrows was not necessarily the political content of the show itself, but a picture and review of the show in the Nov. 1 issue of the Review. The picture showed a topless Breedlove singing into a microphone and holding a bowie knife at her stomach, right above a dildo she wore hanging out of her pants. (see photo page 29)

The week following the review of the show President Nancy Dye said she had heard concerns from students, faculty and administrators about the show. None of those who voiced concern were present at the show.

After the concert Dye said it was "absolutely contradictory to the values of this community." She said the concert was "way over the line, wherever you want to put it." She called the concert disrespectful, exploitative, degrading to both men and women and encouraging of sexual violence.

She, as well as other community members, thought the picture of Breedlove suggested that she had dismembered the dildo, which she did not.

Assistant Director of the Student Union Chris Baymiller who helped organize the show, said that although he was aware of the typical content of Tribe 8's shows, the show "threw us a little." He had booked the concert after two years of student requests for the band.

After the concert Dye said she felt the show should have been stopped once the offensive acts began. However Baymiller said, "One o'clock in the morning is not the appropriate time to discuss what is and is not an art form."

After hearing of the show, and discussing proposed guidelines for performers with other Student Life staff, Associate Dean of Student Life Joe DiChristina said, "I don't feel it is art censorship to give guidelines to a performer. When performers are on stage, there are lines they shouldn't cross."

Students and some faculty were vocally and publicly outraged by the reaction to the show; many expressed concert that the College was trying to limit free speech, define community values and limit sexual expression. The most visible aspect of these concerns came with a student protest of nearly 120 students outside the Nov. 20 GF meeting.

Professor of Theater Roger Copeland, a former member of the National Endowment for the Arts, was an important organizer in the outcry in support of Tribe 8. He helped to led a discussion which drew over 50 students to discuss the controversy and organize a protest against the statements made by Dye and DiChristina. At the meeting students organized a letter-writing committee and planned for protest at the upcoming GF meeting.

The protest at the GF meeting drew 120 students, who wore blindfolds and gangs while holding signs with the names of artists that have been censored.

During the meeting Dye apologized for her earlier statement that the concert should have been stopped. "The behavior was wrong, but it was stupidity on my part to say it should have stopped," she said. She emphasized that she does not believe in decency codes or censorship and that she would never impose her values on the Oberlin community. However, she maintained her personal objection to the content of the performance.

During the faculty's debate, Copeland said that the content of the Tribe 8 performance was similar to that content he includes in his courses, and warned that regulation of this content threatened the academic freedom of professors.

He also said that Dye's opinion, even if it held no direct power in terms of band-booking policy, would effect the tone of the College. "When the president of a college makes a threat, it carries weight whether it should or not," Copeland said.

Copeland also attacked Dye's naming of the performance as sexual harassment. "How can a performance constitute sexual harassment?" he asked. Copeland called on Dye to reaffirm Oberlin's support of free speech as well as freedom in performance-speech.

At this point President Nancy Dye relinquished the chair in order to respond to the statement. She opened her comments by saying she endorsed the student motion, and then read several paragraphs from the Review's Nov. 8 review of the Tribe 8 show.

She read: "Violence was a key theme, as well; throughout several numbers, Breedlove threatened her arm with a jagged bowie knife, without failing to preach her lyrics on key, all at the same time ... Breedlove challenged the audience numerous times with statements such as: 'If you can think we're unladylike, then you can such my dick.'"

Dye continued to read the description of the simulated fellatio.

"I said it was exploitative and sexual objectification," Dye said about the concert. She also said that she had said the performance encouraged sexual violence.

Dye said that some of her initial comments stemmed from the fact that she had originally been under the impression that singer Breedlove had dismembered the dildo with a knife. She stood by her comments that the show was sexually exploitative and violent.

Dye did not however, stand by her statement that the show should have been stopped. She went on to say that nothing had been stopped, and her statement would have no effect on bands or performances in the future.

After Dye spoke, the faculty continued to discuss the issue, dealing with the right Dye has to share her personal opinion, the existence of community values or guidelines, the appropriateness of students' reaction and the proposed motion.

The faculty agreed practically unanimously that Dye has the right to speak and share her personal opinion about community values. "Does she have the right to state her opinion? I say hell yes," Ray English, director of libraries, said.

Most faculty also agreed that students seem to have misinterpreted the power of the president's statements. English said that he wished the students outside the room protesting could hear the discussion inside.

"Students, while taking the correct position, did misinterpret things," Bob Piron, professor of Economics, said.

Dye reiterated her statements and explained herself further during a Student Senate-organized meeting the next week. About 40 students attended the forum which lasted about an hour and a half. The debate centered on the definition of art, the relevance of a performance's context, academic freedom and Dye's power.

The meeting was attended mainly by students who had been at earlier meetings throughout the debate and student mobilization. Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole-Newkirk and Associate Dean Joe DiChristina were present, as were Associate Professor of African American Studies Booker Peek and Professor of Theater Roger Copeland.

During the debate Dye explained why she felt a discussion of community values is valid. "There is a certain liberal conceit in the concept of free speech," Dye said. She said that one aspect of postmodern thought that she does subscribe to is the idea that discourse in society will be dominated in some ways by the norms of society. "I think Oberlin's discourse is dominated," she said. "Our norms and discourse are not as free as they should be."

Politics and sexuality were also discussed by Dye and students. Some students said that Dye was ignoring the political power of the performance, and that by ignoring that issue Dye was looking at the performance from a closed heterosexual viewpoint.

Senior David Berman said, "The politics of a lesbian with a strap-on dildo singing those lyrics are powerful. To equate it to sexual violence isn't fair to it."

Dye responded, "Violence cannot be justified by the argument you just gave me."

Later in the discussion, Dye said, "I'm not sure what makes it OK because its a lesbian statement." She said that she saw the action as objectifying sexual identity.

Another issue that was debated was the scope and validity of academic freedom. Some students saw the idea of academic freedom as elitist. "It sounds like freedom of expression for people with Ph.D.'s," Benninghoff said.

The final issue that occupied the debate was Dye's power as president. One student accused Dye: "Clearly you have the ability to censor any art."

Dye responded, "No, you are wildly exaggerating." She then asked Copeland if she could censor any art. He said, "You certainly have the ability to chill people."

Dye said that she does not have the power to impose regulations, nor does she believe in such an action. "Anyone who knows about Oberlin College government knows the President does not impose regulations," she said.

Protest: Students outside a November General Faculty meeting watch faculty as they enter. (photo by John Matney)