Deb McNish was the first human being i met at Oberlin

Deb McNish was the first human being I met at Oberlin.

I was dragging this heavy-ass black trunk across North campus the first time we met. Deb didn't know me from jack, but she moseyed herself over to me, smiled a wonderful smile, and asked me, "Where you from? What you want to do when you leave here? How can i help?" When i told her i was interested in writing for the Review, she comically replied, "Good! Now make sure y'all write some nice things about me."

Finding my black ass waddling around in a chasm of cardboard loneliness, Deb helped me feel home, wanted and human again. Her spirit, smile and commitment to folk at this school was made clearer every time we ran into each other from that point on. It seemed more than obvious that Deb loved Oberlin, Oberlin students, our ideas and our whole humanity in that rare unconditional way. I realize that this paragraph is dripping with funky melodrama and sentimentality and i'll be finished in a second, but i really think that Deb McNish, as far as quality student care is concerned, was the best thing happening at this place. But now, she's gone. And in a year or two, she'll be spreading more fleshy warmth to students at another school. It's a shame that loving and doing the way Deb loved and did - with the innocent and tenacious parts of the soul - can get you into so much trouble in the punitive parts of the world.

I can't front like i know specifically why Nancy Dye and Charlene Cole didn't dig Deb McNish. Could be that she didn't kiss enough booty. Could be that she was too concerned with students. Could be that she was insubordinate. Whatever! We'll probably never really know. But we can't be stupid, y'all. Dean Cole fuct up, no doubt ... as do bosses worldwide. But now, we're supposed to demand her resignation. For what? That question must seriously be asked not only of those folk pissed at the firing of Deb McNish, but also all those folk who think Dean Cole threatens their cherished student right. Why do so many students want Dean Cole out? Because she hasn't done something we wanted her to do? Whatever the reason for Deb's firing, its base had to lay in the fact that she didn't do something that Dean Cole and President Dye wanted her to do.

The wonderful things Deb McNish has done to Oberlin don't really matter because, in her, the President and the Dean saw or created something that they didn't like; something that infringed on their distinctive agenda and proceeded to make that something their focus. Americans pissed off with other Americans have long found talking and trying to understand wayyyy too strenuous an exercise and have opted instead to flee, dehumanize or get that person the fuck out of the way. Anyway, who's supposed to fire Charlene? Nancy Dye? I'm dumb, but Charlene, i don't think, could or would make that decision to fire Deb without consulting with Nancy Dye.

So ... again, i wonder who's supposed to fire Charlene? We are so single-minded, so tunnel visioned, we don't even notice that by perpetually giving Charlene all this shit, we've transformed her into the perfect buffer for Nancy Dye. Not to say that Dye should be targeted and torched at the stake, but few of us know or care about what President Dye does or doesn't do, because Dean Cole is supposedly so fuct up.

Think about it. I ain't trying to make this into some kind Ode to Charlene Cole. I understand that she, like the rest of us, has got to get better. And because her decisions potentially affect so many of us, she probably needs to get better quicker. I understand that if there's going to be student involvement in the hiring of professional staff (as there is now to some degree), there needs to be some student involvement in the firing of that staff. And i understand that besides good ol' talking, listening and honest confrontation, there's got to be some due process in the firing of professional staff. See, i understand all that stuff, but immediately, i'm more concerned with how we students react to shit like this.

There's this limp-dick lip-sync activism at Oberlin wrought forth by a real wishy-washy herd mentality. Some of us mouth the words we think student activists are supposed to mouth. But since our words are recycled words, they lack zeal, immediacy and realism. They're hollow. Hence, we become hollow. Hence hence, we make other folk hollow.

So, instead of pushing for and constructing major change within ourselves, our friends, institutions and our suspect principles, we attack administrators or other safe targets. And hey, if there is where our passion lies, that's cool as a fan. Somebody has gotta keep those suited jokers accountable, i guess. And who better to do that than the folks paying all the money to be here? But the herd mentality at Oberlin is so fuct up and so sad. Someone says Charlene's a devil dictator fiending for student rights to snatch up ... and we lip-sync activists leave all our individuality, all our critical abilities at the door. Then our clique chimes in and we lip-sync together ... agreeing ourselves to death. But it works in reverse too. Some person or group at Oberlin lip-syncs such and such about whatever, and we robotically lip sync the other side ... just because.

We gotta look deeper, y'all. I mean, all these folks calling for Charlene's resignation are trippin - straight lip-synching. Maybe you're getting a head start on punitive track by deOberlinizing yourself or something. But first, look at Charlene Cole and yourself wholly. Don't just look at the things she did, or the things you heard she did that you don't like. You can't see any wonder in her, can you? Hell naw, you can't. Why? Because all you see in Charlene are the things you don't like. What's one wonderful thing Charlene Cole has done since you been here? Most of us don't know because we don't wanna know. We wanna know the vile stuff because it's safe that way and the vile stuff is what the herd, and the lip-sync activist in us, tell us to see.

The wonderful things Dean Cole has done to Oberlin don't really matter because, in her, we've seen or created something we don't like; something that infringes on our distinct agenda and we proceeded to make that something our focus. Americans pissed off with other Americans have long found talking and understanding wayyyy to strentuous an exercise and opted instead to flee , dehumanize or get that person the fuck out of the way. As student vacationers on Isle of Oberlin, let's not be punitive and dumb like the administration. On the real, y'all ... we can be better. Let's try to grow out, understand, and lead with our innocence and passion while we still can.

Deb McNish was the first human being i met at Oberlin.

-Kiese Laymon is a commentary editor and a college senior.