Review misquoted, insulted students

(This letter is in response to Ireta Kraal and her article in last week's Review, "Students Label Elections Unfair.")

In your article you write "Senators running for reelection had an unfair advantage, the letter continued. They referred to posters put up Thursday afternoon by incumbent sophomore Aaron Leavy." You then quoted Aaron's response to our supposed reference to him.

This is not at all who we referred to. You asked us, and we declined to specifically name someone so as not to personalize the issue, which you have taken it upon yourself to do in your article. In case you want to know, we were referring to Micah Thorner, the very person who decided on and proposed this entire process we are upset with, who had signs up in King last Thursday morning. Aaron Leavy has nothing to do with it and we definitely did not refer to him in the letter or in the interview (in fact Benjamin is the only one in the group who had known him). This is not true and we would appreciate it if you could correct it. At the same time though, let me point out, all we know about Aaron Leavy is that he is a current senator. He thus knew about the elections and the process three weeks in advance.

We would also like to point out that you do not directly quote any person of color in your article, even though 3/5 of the people you interviewed were women of color, and the issue itself centers around getting endorsements from people of color and organizations for marginalized communities. Quoting Benjamin as saying he represents or wants to represent or even thinks it's important to have marginalized communities represented is a gross distortion of the story itself and an insult to those communities and to him.

We are upset about the way in which these elections are being run. Most of us were nominated by someone else to run for senate. We were given approximately 24 hours to get organizational endorsements and to launch a campaign before elections began. Then elections were postponed because the ballots had to be reprinted. Despite requests to Senate, we were never told that we could send in organizational endorsements or statements even though the deadlines could have been extended three days along with the ballots. There was overall horrible communication between Senate and the nominated candidates.

You have misquoted us, inadequately represented our position in your article, and insulted us. Please understand that this is exactly why, or one example why, the Review is frequently not welcomed in the program houses and organizations for marginalized communities, and why we often speak with Tarika Powell only.

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K.T. Shorb, Conservatory junior
Marissa Ramirez, College first-year
Kristen Keniray, College sophomore
Benjamin Joffe-Walt, College first-year

Students: help reuse

To the Editors:

It's nearing the time of year when students begin madly cleaning out their room's or apartments, tossing away new and next-to-new housewares, stuffed animals, furniture, and the like. One trip around town toward the end of May, with brief glances into bulging trash bins, will tell the story. There is another option for useable discards: The Fall Rummage Sale of First Baptist Church!

First Baptist is located within easy walking distance of campus. The sale is traditionally held the first or second weekend of September, when Oberlin College students are setting up their rooms and apartments. Last year, large numbers of students walked away from the sale with bookcases, tables, nearly new irons, treasured books, used easy chairs, records and CD's, pots and pans, and all sorts of other treasures.

The church would like to extend an invitation to Oberlin College students to recycle their useable discards through First Baptist Church (No junk accepted! Save it for the dumpster!). We will "store items for the summer, then make them available to you and your friends in the early fall. We do not want additional clothing, as we always have more than enough. The Oberlin Senior Thrift Store downtown is always willing to receive leftover clothing in good condition (as well as other items, I might add!).

Senate to try harder in election process

To the Editors:

We would like to respond to the allegations that the current Student Senate election unfairly favors current Senators. There were extenuating circumstances surrounding this election and we believe that these circumstances contributed to give incumbant Senators an advantage.

Senate in no way has intended for anyone to feel slighted by the process, yet we believe that Student Senate should to be accountable for most of the communication problems that have arisen. There were steps that Senate could have taken to prevent the problems in this election. Though the deadline for acceptance of organizational endorsements for candidates was Thursday night, we would have been able to accept them for three more days due to a delay in printing the ballots, unfortunately we only realized this in retrospect. There was also some confusion as to why we did not delay the elections when the newly nominated candidates asked that they have more time to gather these endorsements. If we were to postpone the elections we would be violating our charter and theoretically could be disbanded as a student organization. With adequate communication, we believe the confusion probably would have been avoided.

Next week we are bringing a proposal to Student Senate to prevent future mistakes like these by better publicizing the elections and informing all candidates of the rules of our constitution. We wish everyone luck in running, and remind y'all to vote this week.

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Katherine Anne Davoli, College first-year
Noah Ian Kirshbaum, College sophomore
Kristen Keniray, College sophomore

Students show ignorance in their interactions with Brother Jed

To the Editors:

Brother Jed comes to campus at least a few times each year, to preach the truth as he sees it, and to do what, in his opinion, is the righteous and honorable thing for him to do. Oberlin college students, for their part, greet Brother Jed each time he comes, but it seems to me that they come to the meeting with far less consciousness about what they are doing, having put far less thought into the outcome of their actions. Jed knows very well his message, and knows what his purpose in preaching it is: he wishes to save us all from the fires of hell. Whether or not one believes or disbelieves what Brother Jed preaches, there can be no doubt as to the conviction which Brother Jed has in his ideas. I feel that the same cannot be said for Oberlin students.

I wish to implore the Oberlin community to greet Brother Jed with the respect that he deserves, with the respect that all human beings deserve. The way in which I have seen Oberlin students treat Brother Jed makes me ashamed to be associated with this campus. No one, regardless of their message, deserves to be showered with hate and mockery. To do this is to sink to the lowest common denominator; it is to lack the courage and discipline required to rise above the hatred of another. Mahatma Gandhi said "they cannot take our self-respect unless we give it to them." Oberlin students throw away their dignity every time they interact with Brother Jed.

It is undeniable that Brother Jed is a bigot, that he is at this time in his life living in fear and in isolation from the wonders of diversity. And yet, this simply means that he needs love, he needs respect, he needs every encounter with another individual to help him grow. Oberlin, as a community, not only fails to perform this function, but actually acts as a mechanism to drive Brother Jed further into his hole of hatred. If he were to come and find smiling faces, respectful gazes, and loving eyes, he might not leave with a changed mind, but he would doubtless leave with a softer heart. Whether or not one is a Christian, one ought to have the self-control necessary to treat Brother Jed the way his savior treated all individuals. Oberlin students are amazingly adept at quoting phrases like "Judge not lest ye be judged" in the same breath with derogatory remarks and mocking laughter.

The people I have seen interacting with Brother Jed are just as lost and ignorant as he, for their actions do nothing to help our world, and do everything to perpetuate the reign of the fears which flow through it. I ask Oberlin students to act on the ideals they preach, to act as leaders. To be a leader is to be willing and able to lead someone out of the dark even as they tell you that you are damned. To be a leader is to be secure enough in your ideals that you need not return hatred with hatred, but rather find joy in showering love upon those who hate you. Where are the leaders here at Oberlin?

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Evan Gentler, College first-year