Catching raze in North Quad

As important as a new science center may be for improving the sciences at Oberlin, it is a crying shame North Quad has taken on the appearance of an industrial wasteland. Granted, Kettering is a bit of an eyesore, but that 10-foot high chain-link fence encircling a 12-foot mound of dirt is enough to make all but the most staunch supporters of the Science Center cringe with horror. Progress is important, and it is crucial that we have a keynote project to push the Capital Campaign, because the administration has decided that increasing financial aid ain't gonna bring in the bucks the way a shiny new building will. Unfortunately, those living in Barnard or Barrows must feel like they are in a maximum-security prison for the benefit of improved facilities. But hey - why fight city hall when there are important rankings to be recovered in U.S. News & World Reports?

Actually, Oberlin administrators owe city hall an apology, for it turns out that some of the trees removed for the sake of the new science mecca were actually on City property. So aside from creating an aesthetic abomination,the Oberlin slash-and-burn development juggernaut has stepped on the City's toes to do so. Now, this is not of the utmost importance. Rest assured that the College will go out and plant new trees and town-gown relations will reach its usual state of equilibrium.

However, there is a lesson to be learned in all this. While it may be a simple mistake that the College does not know where its property ends and the City's begins, it would seem to be a simple thing to check on before uprooting seven trees. It would have been just as simple to avoid cutting the ethernet lines underneath the Barrows parking lot at the end of the summer. In its haste to raze half the campus the College has charged full-steam into such hastily executed gaffes. Not to mention the timing of the fence erection/tree removal. While it makes sense logistically to do such work when there are fewer students on campus, hence less students in the way, the College could have advertised the fact that when students returned from break, half of North Quad would be enclosed by a large industrial fence. None of these instances are that important nor that alarming in themselves. However, in conjunction they raise serious issues about the process and decision-making behind the construction of the new Science Center.

Money Talks

Here's some lighter reading for you this week in Commentary - a parable of sorts, about three Americans. One is always complaining he is broke, living paycheck to paycheck, just scraping by on his rent. Yet his dog is well-fed, he always has a cigarette to spare, and his fingernails are clean. The second is the wife of a prominent lawyer, who claims she keeps a strict budget of her finances but says she owes herself a weekly pedicure and highlighting. Finally, the third is a student at a $30,000-year college institution whose laid-back clothing style reveals little about his origins. The question we'd like to ask is, who is spending their money in the wisest fashion?

Who can say? How people spend their money is fascinating to observe - hearing their justifications for splurging, sensing their reluctance to reveal their annual income, seeing their eagerness to prove through objects their equality with their peers. If you follow today's trends of consumerism and "conspicuous consumption" you might come to the same conclusion Utne Reader did in its November-December issue: That our generation is one of the most conformist and materialistic ever, surpassing even that of the 1950s. At the same time, others say the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, though the standard for living has continued to raise for everyone. We are a nation of sell-outs, who have turned away from our idealistic hopes for alleviating that gap, and turned toward the pursuits of wealth, security and position.

Along the road to prosperity, we turned into highly suspicious and pernicious critics of other people's money. Delicacy about financial affairs is maintained when speaking about ourselves, but it is very fashionable to talk about others based on what we see them spending. Yet, what does the above American Number Two know of Number One's demands? What does Oberlin College Student Number One know about the intricate life of Student Two? Only assumptions based on appearance. Image is NOT everything.

Despite these saddening facts about our society, it must be acknowledged that many have turned their minds against not only constant consumption, but obsession with money in general. You can't tell that about a person by first glance - it is only their actions that reveal their values. Choosing to judge people according to how much money they have somewhere says we don't want to rise about conformity and that we value ill-informed assumptions over conscious actions.