Stevenson Dining Hall was vacated tonight after four-year old Melvin Medina pulled a fire alarm.
Medina, son of area coordinator Jill Medina, triggered the alarm at around 6 p.m.
"People sat for about two minutes," said first-year Alex Cook, who was easting dinner when the alarm sounded. "Then people jumped up and they were all excited because they got to use the emergency door."
The alarms prompted students to flood the decks of Stevenson which are normally off-limits due to insurance regulations.
Other students chose a different escape route, walking downstairs and out onto N. Professor Street. Some, like first-year Joseph Stevens, carried their trays with them.
Students were allowed to re-enter the building at 6:30 p.m.
Renegotiations of the rent contract between Oberlin Student Co-operative Association (OSCA) and Oberlin College began on Monday. The negotiations take place every three years, and are focused on clearing up ambiguities in the current contract.
The purpose of the contract is to define the responsibilities of both OSCA and the College, in terms of residential and dining facilities and maintenance. On Monday, the two groups scheduled later meetings.
"The college maintains the buildings and facilities, OSCA regulates cleanliness of the kitchens and facilities," said OSCA President senior Jenn Carter on the duties of the two parties.
More specifically, the College maintains the buildings and kitchens at a level comparable with other facilities on campus, along with taking care of insurances, utilities, parking and lawn and garden care.
OSCA members in return are required to lawfully inspect and regulate cleanliness and dining services, report inspections and necessary repairs. On top of this, OSCA must also pay the college a lease for using the buildings, which they hope to address in the coming negotiations.
"The big thing right now is that OSCA pays the College about $1 million a year," Carter said.
Although the current contract does allow for immediate amendment at any time if both parties agree to the changes in writing, major renovations are necessary from time to time as the contract becomes more outdated.
"It's a really vague contract. We've had a lot of trouble with the College trying to interpret things," said Carter.
"Provisions need to be clarified," said Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole-Newkirk.
A new committee is being formed to re-evaluate Oberlin's student union. The new "Student Union Board" hopes to be "a body to go to all the time" on issues involving the student union, according to Associate Dean of Student Life and Services Bill Stackman.
"We're trying to be responsive to the needs of students, so I talked to the student staff of Wilder as well as other students I came into contact with," Stackman said.
Now Stackman and his team are working on developing a Student Union Board, which Stackman sees as "predominantly students making recommendations on policy."
Preliminary issues for the board include turning room 212 into a lounge for the much-needed "hang-out space." In addition, Stackman and a team of students recently purchased "newer, more comfortable furniture for the porch, because the Bowl is such a big hang-out space for students."
Although Dascomb may eventually house fast food joints that will serve up meals right away, the first orders won't cross the counter for at least a year. Despite rumors to the contrary, Dascomb will not close next semester.
"Dascomb is not going to be closed next semester. It will not change at all this academic year," Cole-Newkirk said.
Marriot Corporation, which holds campus dining's contract has been working with Residential life to develop a new dining system that would better serve students.
"There's been a proposal from Marriott that we renovate Dascomb and put in a food court," Cole-Newkirk said.
The proposals will be presented to the entire community and will be reviewed by the Housing and Dining committee.
The proposal to renovate Dascomb includes plans to alter how the Wilder snack-bar operates. Cole-Newkirk said the snack bar would still serve food, but it would probably lose its grill. She said a convenience store could go in, with hopes to serve off-campus students better.
The plans to renovate Dascomb are just one item in the proposed dining hall revamp.
"There are many facets to the proposal and Dascomb is just one piece of it," Cole-Newkirk said.
The Oberlin Police Department held their Community/Police meeting on Sept. 16th at the First Church for the Northwest Quadrant of Oberlin. The meeting served as an open invitation for anyone residing in the Northwest Quadrant, including College students, to address their concerns directly to the Oberlin Police Department.
Issues addressed included the parking problem on Prospect Street, the need for heightened awareness of students when crossing streets and the zero tolerance policy the Oberlin Police have towards those in violation of open container laws
The next Community/Police meeting is tentatively scheduled for sometime in December. Further details will be announced at a later date.
The College will be undertaking about 12 tenure-track searches this year according to Dean of the College Clayton Koppes. The figure comes after last year's 11 tenure-track searches.
Koppes said that in the 1980s and early 90s there were on average about five to six tenure-track searches per year. However, there is an increasing number of retirements this year and a couple of resignations. Koppes said he expected this pattern to continue for the next several years.
The General Faculty Council has yet to give final approval for positions and tenure track searches, and Koppes said they plan to seek the advice of the Educational Plans and Policies Committee on which searches to approve.
Koppes said one reason for the increase in the number of retirments is that the faculty size was expanded in the 1960s and that those professors are now reaching retirement age.
He also said the turnover could allow the College to diversify its faculty, given the relatively recent attempts to do so.
There will be a meeting Tuesday with department heads to summarize and prioritize the searches.
Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 3, September 19, 1997
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