The Oberlin Review \\ Staff Box

S T A F F B O X E S:

Review will hold debate
Wanted: Art classes for an angry and angst-filled art major

Review will hold debate

Quick, name your Student senators. And Chapin doesn't count. Didn't that girl you met in the smoking lounge talk about running for Senate? Maybe that kid in your politics class who drops names like Nancy and Clayton is one of the select few.

Posters calling for Senate nominations ask "Who is the next Senator?" The question we should be asking is 'Who are our current senators?' What are their accomplishments and failures? For years, Student Senate has struggled to become a legitimate and effective student organization. They've hung their photos in Wilder. And we still don't know them.

So far, this hasn't stopped students from voting. Every semester, students elect a number of Senators based on the little information provided by a three inch bio. Can students formulate a wise decision by only reading a biography of a candidate that one might find in a theater program?

Students need more information about their candidates. Maybe senators wouldn't have such a tough time obtaining enough votes if students were more interested in the electoral process.

Maybe Senate would gain more respect. Maybe not, but students deserve more background on who they're potentially voting for every semester.

The Review will be holding a candidate debate Feb. 24 in Kettering 11. We hope to see you there.

Staff Box is a column for Review staffers.
-Hanna Miller is the Editor-in-chief and a college senior.
Michelle Becker is the Managing Editor and a college junior.

Wanted: Art classes for an angry and angst-filled art major

I'm trying to be an aspiring student, getting the most I can out of this four-year stint. I'm a second-semester junior, I've completed my first major and almost done with the second. And last semester I realized what I wanted to do was art.

Why can't I? I was going to declare my studio art major this semester. I met with my potential advisor, who helped me figure out a plan of action to complete the major. It was completely possible. What I needed was a bunch of studio classes. Didn't think this would be that big a deal.

I chose carefully from the limited classes offered in our course catalog. I talked to professors last semester telling them of my ambitious decision. Asked them if I was crazy; they said no. It was going to work. I was getting reassurance. I was getting really excited. Imagine that. Excited about class.

But now I'm not going to major in art, not by choice but by default. I didn't get into any art classes. None. Even though I told the professors I needed the classes to complete the major, that my course plan was very rigid if I were to do so. There's no way I can major now, and I thought this was what I actually wanted to do with my life. Too bad I came to the decision too late to pursue it.

I'm not kvetching simply because I don't get to take photo this semester. I know as a fact that there were forty people standing in line with me trying to get into the seven spots left in the class. Those at the back of the line stood for over three hours waiting to be interviewed so they could plead their case and state their worthiness.

This is the case with every art class, no exceptions. Interest in the art department has grown about 500% in the last four years, and the staff hasn't grown at all. When professors try to compensate by increasing class size, students get frustrated because they get no individual attention, and the professor is exhausted.

So people get denied left and right. In all my previous schools, kindergarten through high school, we had to take art. Of some sort. So why not now? Is it that the trustees don't deem the art department important enough to fund so professors can meet student/class demand?

I don't like the idea that I have to sell myself to professors to get into classes, or wait in line to be interviewed for every class. I did that while applying here. And it's not directly the art department's fault. I realize this, but it's already affected my future, and it was a decision I had no part in.

I have this ideal. Why shouldn't everyone have to take an art class? I don't think this is any different than quantatative or writing proficiency. Images are everywhere, just as words are, and why shouldn't we be image-literate as well? Is it that an alum that makes more money as a computer whiz will give money to the college as opposed to the struggling artist? Isn't that just a stereotype? I thought so.

It's just a shame that so much creative potential is being suppressed. I don't see waitlists for Bio 118 extending a year in advance though there's that neat environmental building being drawn up by an architect (one that didn't graduate from Oberlin). Art classes are such an experience here as well because you're not in a lecture with 100 other people, you're interacting with fifteen peers and a contemporary artist. Those that get the opportunity, that is.

I can't think yet of what to do, I have no solid proposals. This essay may ensure that I never get into another art class while I'm here. Or grad school. I'm not sure how I'm going to be that photographer I wanted to be if I have no access to a darkroom. Because, while I can work on things by myself, what's important to an art community anywhere is to grow and thrive, and our Oberlin community here is being strangled to silence.

Staff Box is a column for Review staffers.
-Laren Rusin is a photo editor and a college junior.

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