The Oberlin Review \\ Perspectives

Oberlin...united?

As a result of the demonstration before Fall Break, students have been meeting on a weekly basis, organizing efforts to improve minority retention of faculty, administrators and students at Oberlin.

We asked students if they think a group or coalition can be formed that could be representative of the entire student body...

Jose Ballon is a College junior.

I think that a coalition involving all students is possible, but not likely at Oberlin. Why? Because people here don't realize the commonalities of their particular issues with the issues of those surrounding them. No one's struggle here is unique or isolated, but what prevents us from forming a campus-wide coalition is no one wants their issues compromised for the sake of anyone else's. Also, a lot of people are on different sides of issues (and/or oppression). Sometimes we think all Obies are of one mind, but with the "diverse" population we have, experiences and ideas are going to differ. Plain and simple. Is it needed? Hell, yeah. If we could realize how much power 2800 students (who PAY to go here) could have as a singular unit, all of our issues could and would be heard. But I suppose there'll always be division among students....

Dan Persky is a College senior.

I think that it would take a lot of effort to be truly representative. There are many more groups than people generally think that would have to be consulted. But it is a strong possibility, and some of the coalitions that are already building are actually coming close to being representative of the entire student body. This is definitely not something that we have seen much of in the past, but it looks as though it is happening.

Ryan Canty is a College senior. How can you have a coalition on a campus in which people aren't willing nor able to deal with their issues with other communities? For me, I see a coalition as individuals working together to rectify what is wrong in their "space"-yet, they have done this AFTER coming to the table to deal with problems they have with themselves or with others. Like the shit that is going on right now, this ain't no coalition. It's forced-the second meeting we had, yeah there were many people there. But it wasn't real because people didn't come together for a common goal/purpose. Why? Mainly because there wasn't any kind of focus at the meeting (and there still isn't in my eyes). People can not talk about fighting the administration, Nancy Dye and the trustees without having their shit together. I don't see that happening. I see a lot of fools who are only getting aspects of the bigger picture in this shit. It's not about Charlene Cole, Deb, or Nancy. It's about students not feeling the support they deserve. It's about helping those students who have been fighting for Asian-American studies and the like-giving them advice on how to do it (using African-American Studies as an example). It's about figuring out ways of hiring and retaining professors of color here at Oberlin so many of us won't feel so uncomfortable at this place. It's also about giving LGBT students here support on their shit. It's all about a bigger picture, and people just don't get it.

Vayram Nyadroh is a College senior.

I think a coalition involving all students is possible but only if people can let go of pettiness. Too often people refuse to work with a group simply because they do not like one person out of the group or they heard rumors about one particular person or they make judgements about one particular person without really getting to know them. And based on those beliefs they write off the entire group. What we forget sometimes is that we need to leave all of those personal issues at the door when we decide to come together to fight for common goals. I think coalition is needed but in terms of whether or not it should involve all students I am not so sure about. I feel that if there is a group of people who feel strongly about a common issue or goal or injustice or (you fill in the blank) then they should come together and fight for or against it. There is no need to have people who do not care about it get involved because they will just end up hurting the coalition and the movement.

Rhoda Ullmann is a College sophomore.

Can a student coalition succeed on this campus? Yes, I'd like to think so. But more important than the question "will it or won't it?" is asking: "Are we going to work towards building a coalition?" Success ought not to be measured in terms of a list of achievements, but rather gradual, incremental change. This certainly is challenging since change can be nearly imperceptible at times and therefore requires more patience on all our parts. Right now, the catch phrase on everyone's tongue is "dialogue." Not surprisingly, people are interested in increasing dialogue both among students and between the students and the administration. To the extent that we are working toward listening, and perhaps even understanding each other, we are already part of that process called success.

Matt Green is a College senior.

I desperately hope that such a thing can be formed. There is a great and fundamental need for Oberlin College to have people meaningfully come together and talk about the issues and problems which we all face. The really sticky part is to be able to move that discussion into a positive and proactive direction. Frequently people become bogged down in interpersonal intergroup politics which I think are inevitable and necessary, but that prevents us from coming together to address truly larger issues. If people feel like what they are doing does not really have any importance or it is not going to go anywhere, it is easy in those situations to have the passion and the fire go away. I'm concerned for the future of these meetings whether or not we can really come together to accomplish something.

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