College President Nancy Dye will be off to Cleveland on Thursday to speak at the city's first millenium conference. Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the conference's keynote speaker.
Dye was invited to speak, according to assistant to the president Mike Blackman, after conference organizers looked statewide at college presidents. The decision may also have been influenced by Tutu's history with Oberlin College. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate spoke at the 1988 commencement.
The conference, entitled "Building a More Unified Cleveland," will focus on improving human and race relations in the greater Cleveland area. "[Dye will be answering the question of] how can higher education, especially Oberlin College, foster a more peaceful and congenial community?" said Blackman.
The conference, the first of the Ameritech Power of Ideas 2000 Millenium Conference Series, will be held in the Music Hall of the Cleveland Convention center at 1 p.m. Thursday, September 23.
Those passing Wilder Student Union would have seen a 25-foot fiberglass coho salmon, otherwise known as "Fin," last Monday, had it not been for a small accident. The flatbed trailer carrying "Fin" was dislodged from the truck causing light damages to the fish and canceling last Monday's event. According to Ohio PIRG activist Margaux Shields, "Fin" will probably be displayed sometime next week, when it returns westward after a stint on the East Coast.
"Fin" is making a 12-city national tour. According to a press release from Ohio PIRG, the tour is organized by the Columbia and Snake Rivers Campaign. The campaign is made up of a number of environmental groups. Its goal is to restore coho salmon, Snake Basin salmon and Steelhead by partially removing four federal dams in the Lower Snake River in Washington State. Coho salmon are an endangered species and are "down to one percent of their [former] population," says Ohio PIRG activist Winston Vaughan.
Salmon normally swim upstream to lay their eggs. However, dams prevent them from swimming up stream and as a result prevent reproduction. Secondly, when water is released downstream, it is taken from the bottom of the lake formed upstream. Since water at the bottom of the lake is naturally cold, it lowers the temperature downstream. Fish not used to this drop in temperature are unable to survive.
The display of "Fin" is meant to educate the public on endangered species. "The earth is experiencing its biggest bio-diversity loss since the dinosaurs. We lose approximately 50,000 species a year. People don't know we're losing these many species. If people see this, most people will be outraged," said Vaughan. In coordination with the event, assuming the display is rescheduled, Ohio PIRG will commence their endangered species campaign, part of a larger campaign, Earth Day 2000.
Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 128, Number 3, September 17, 1999
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