Near Eastern is not Middle Eastern

To the Editor:

This letter is in regard to the Review's coverage of the EPPC's changes to the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies department. Your editorial writer states flippantly: "Although it is perhaps an admirable goal, joining Jews and Arabs is something even Jimmy Carter can't do." The ambiguously labeled area of the world known to the U.S. as the "near east" or the "middle east" includes Turkey, Iran, and other nations not solely populated by Arabian peoples. Perhaps it is the prevailing ignorance about this part of the world which leaves your writer misinformed and "few students to protest the exclusion of Near Eastern Studies."

The Judaic and Near Eastern Studies department has been functioning under a misnomer. It deserves to be labeled Jewish Studies and to concentrate on that specific curriculum. This is a positive and progressive step. But another issue raised by the EPPC's restructuring of the department and the Review's commentary is the narrow range of courses offered in Near- and Middle Eastern topics. I am disappointed that the Oberlin community did not use its opportunity to also recognize the college's lack of curricla about this area of the world.

-fereshteh hamidi-toosi

Unified student body best strategy

To the Editor:

On Thursday 10/16 I learned what it means to be biracial on this campus. Walking past Mudd I faced a gathering of black students and listened to their grievances concerning our school (among which were demand for ethnic studies, an unsupportive administration, representative faculty, "no justice no peace" etc.). I responded to these students with my support and empathy, and wanted to know how I could help... with which coalitions were we working to address these problems? I was met with talk of "allies" and "we're people of color just mad today, deciding to protest" and the like, and immediately I suspected I was being talked to as a white woman, someone who is not allowed to join ranks, but is given permission to watch P.O.C. communities fight "their" battles.

I walked away from the demonstration confounded and ill at ease. In mistaking me for a white woman, these students had alienated one of their own. My suspicion (that I had been purposefully not informed) was later confirmed when I then learned of several organizational meetings that night while eating dinner in my "safe space" of Third World Co-op.

This experience raises several questions I would like to address to the students on Mudd ramp that day, and for that matter the campus community: What is the point of a public demonstration when concrete public support (i.e. action) is not enlisted/wanted? Are white people really that much of a threat? (I realize that this is reminiscient of historical patterns of separatist organizing.) With whom does the most get accomplished: a unified student body or some underground, unadvertised faction scheming against the administration? How will we logically get them to listen? And finally, must biracial students continue to be caught between competing and estranged factions on this campus?

People of color issues apply to everyone at Oberlin, and are to everyone's benefit to support in thought and in action. It should not matter what color(s) I am when I say that these grievances are my grievances, and I want to help. The white woman AND the Latina.

-Adriana Lopez-Young, Double-degree junior

Big grins cannot take the place of substance

To the Editor:

Thank you for making the Review available on-line. The report of Dean Charlene Cole-Newkirk's resignation suggests that Oberlin College has some important public relations work to do with Black alumni. Please be sure that the administration knows we are watching this situation carefully. Difficulties among mature administrators can be resolved during a reasonable schedule. Sudden resignations, especially one timed to occur during midsemester examinations, need to be condemned. President Dye, if you were the last person to speak with Dean "Charlie" (as her peers call her), I hold you accountable for a resignation that followed the conversation. If I were President, I would not want a resignation in mid-October. Trouble does not occur suddenly in October. Solutions can be found...unless extreme pressure is applied.

I am watching, President Dye, and my check book remains closed to Oberlin until I hear intelligent, detailed, and satisfactory explanations. How can you sit at Charlie's table during the Black Alumni banquet in April of 1997 and accept her immediate resignation in mid-afternoon in October of the same year? Big displays and grinning faces fail to impress me. I await an answer containing substance and sense.

-Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, Ph.D. OC'75

If change is really the essence of Oberlin College's tradition...

To the Editor:

The following letter was sent to President Nancy Dye.

We know that you have left town so we are asking that this letter be forwarded to you by your office.

First, we would like to thank you for participating in the ad hoc forum that took place at Afrikan Heritage House on Tuesday, Oct.14, 1997. We feel, though, that most of our questions were left unanswered. So we are bringing our concerns to you again, this time in writing.

According to the 1997/1998 Oberlin College Directory, which contains the Oberlin College Organization Chart, the only person above you in rank is the chair of the Board of Trustees, William R. Perlik. Thus, ultimately all those employed by the college report to you. And since you are president of the college we are directing our questions and concerns to you. If you are not the one who can answer our questions, or you are not equipped to do so, then please copy this letter and forward it to the people who are able to answer our questions.

We would like you to know that this letter is just the beginning. The concerns we are addressing here are part of a long list, but we feel these concerns are the most pressing at this time. Also, not who is sending you this letter. It is not just members from one community, or organization, on campus. Instead, we are students who represent many parts of the student body. We will not be silenced. We will be heard and our issues will be addressed.

We are giving you approximately two weeks with which to reply to our letter. By Nov. 3, 1997, we expect to receive from you, in writing, succinct and definitive answers to our questions and concerns. Upon receipt of your response we will schedule a follow-up meeting with you.

Change is the essence of Oberlin College's tradition. We cannot walk away from the events that have occurred in the past four months, let alone four years. And we will not allow you to walk away from them either.

The following is the list of questions, concerns and demands we would like you to address in writing by Nov. 3, 1997:

(1) Retention of administrators of color and LGBT administrators: Ruth Spencer said on Tuesday, Oct.. 14, 1997 that a retention study has been conducted on the retention of administrators of color, but she said it will take a year before the results are compiled. A year is a quarter of the time the average students spends at Oberlin. We cannot afford to wait that long for these results. We demand that preliminary results be made available to us by the end of the Fall 1997 semester, latest. And we demand that the final results be made public before the end of the Spring 1998 semester. The compilation of these results must be made a priority.

(2) The Board of Trustees: Events that the Board of Trustees host, which students are welcome to, must be publicized in order to improve both our communication with the Board of Trustees and our relationship with them. Tell us how you plan on improving the publicity of, and how you plan on better notifying the student body of, such events.

(3) Open Forums: You have stated several times that you feel open forums are not productive ways of 'getting at the truth.' What alternatives do you have in mind? How and when can we go about implementing those alternatives?

(4) Search Committees: We demand that you support (both verbally and in writing) student involvement in all aspects of the search process for all open faculty and staff positions. Tell us explicitly how you plan on involving students in the process.

(5) The Conservatory: a) We demand serious action be taken to hire more Black and Latino faculty in the Conservatory.

b) We demand more structured support for Conservatory students of color.

c) We demand increased recruitment of minority Classical musicians.

d) We demand that you put in motion plans to improve the location of the Jazz Studies Department. The fact that it is housed in Hales Gymnasium is completely unacceptable and deplorable.

(6) Administrative Support: We demand that you both give your support to, and encourage the administration to support, the implementation of Ethnic, Latino and Asian-American Studies Departments. Make it a priority. Work with students to bring these departments to Oberlin.

(7) Oberlin Recruiting: a) Oberlin College's promotional materials need to be changed. Overrepresenting students of color in order to sell the school must stop. And the masking of queer students in those same promotional materials must also stop.

b) We also demand that a more serious effort be made to recruit students in both Africa and Latin America.

(8) Diversity: What do you think diversity is? Why do you feel it is important at Oberlin College? And how do you propose to diversify Oberlin?

(9) Support: Is there any institutional support for minority faculty and staff? Give us specifics for all communities: Asian, Black, Jewish, Latino, LGBT and Native American.

(10) Accessibility of campus: What moves are being made to make this campus more accessible to its disabled members?

Once again we would like you to be aware of the fact that this letter is from students who represent more than just one community. We have all come together to work on a common goal: affecting change at Oberlin College. Please be specific in your response to all of our questions and demands. We expect to hear from you soon. Thank you for your time.

Oberlin students have a huge stake in this town and state

To the Editor:

Voting time is coming this Tuesday, Nov. 4. While there is less hype surrounding this year's election than last, there are many important issues on the ballot, in addition to the local city council elections.

Especially significant are two referendums for the state of Ohio on the ballot:

Issue One is a constitutional amendment that would allow denial of bail to people committing non-capital offenses "where the proof is great that the person committed the offense and the court also determines that the person poses a substantial risk of serious physical danger to others." The Amendment would also require the General Assembly to pass laws to establish standards that would determine a person's reasonable guilt and "danger to others." This seems to leave a lot up to our legislators and undermines the principle of innocence until proven guilty. In the Assembly prepared position against Issue 1, they state that the amendment will worsen overcrowding in jails, as well as potentially jail innocent citizens for long periods of time. It will also greatly increase tax payer burden in building more jails and dealing with bureaucracy. The passage of Issue 1 may also increase racism and classism in the judicial process when deciding who receives bail.

You may have already heard about Issue 2. This is a referendum on changes to Ohio's Workers Compensation Laws which could reduce benefits paid to workers injured on the job, as well as drastically changing many other parts of the Laws. Passage of the referendum constitutes a $200,000,000-a-year giveaway to corporate interest.

In addition, we urge students to inform themselves of the Oberlin city council elections. (A survey of these candidates is in this week's printed edition of the Review.) One of our classmates, senior Sarah Kotok, is one of the candidates.

These elections will affect us as students, as well as the town of Oberlin as a whole, especially pertaining to issues of sustainable and controlled development, recreation, policing and crime, and other issues. I encourage everyone who is registered, to go vote. Although we are students, we still have a stake in this town and state.

-Margaux Shields and Toby Reiter, College sophomores, Ohio PIRG