Editorial Considered Biased Against Multiculturalist Views

To the Editors:

I have written to this newspaper before on behalf of two organizations: the Oberlin Stalinist/Maoist Party (OSMP) and the Knights of Illych Lenin's Legacy Who have the Intention of Toppling Eurocentric Youth (KILLWHITEY). These two groups have written a joint statement which they asked me to relay to the rest of the community. In it, they praise the writings and opinions of Mr. Yahya ibn Rabat, specifically his letter of Feb. 18th ("Safe Space Demands Respect"). The joint statement follows:

"We completely agree with the Great Yahya in that we 'don't think white people are ready for "true multiculturalism".' White people, or at least the straight male bourgeois capitalist oppressor swine-pig subset of white people, which is most of them, are all active members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party. Obviously, any member of either of these organizations is not ready for true multiculturalism. White people are genetically programmed, as the Great Yahya infers in his scripture, to hate and oppress anyone whose skin is darker than theirs. Therefore, immediate action must be taken.

"The Great Yahya says that '[c]ollective efforts are needed to overthrow the dominant hegemony.' We plan to provide the Great Yahya with the collective efforts he desires, beginning with an effort to repeal the oppressive, Eurocentric laws of grammar so that redundancy does not occur in the holy writ of Yahya. After that, we will begin a systematic deportation of all white people from this campus, and then we will murder the stragglers in cold blood. True multiculturalism, since white people are not ready for it, can only occur when they are completely removed from the situation. We feel, as we are certain that the Great Yahya feels, that retaliatory genocide is the perfect solution for all of the problems that people of color face.

"We of the OSMP and KILLWHITEY plan to charter a third group: Obey the Great Yahya Now (OB-GYN), for the express purpose of canonizing our new political and spiritual leader. Then, we will carry out those actions which he recommends."

This is strong rhetoric. Its validity is another question, since the author of this statement is an authentic wacko. I might note here that I am no longer a member of either the OSMP or KILLWHITEY, but I continue to correspond with them on occasion. I think, however, that these groups are in touch with Mr. ibn Rabat's true sentiments on the issue, although he is too circumspect to state them. Obviously, he does have some kind of an idea that white people are somehow predestined to oppress people of color, and that they can do nothing about it. How many options does that leave? OSMP and KILLWHITEY see only one, and it is evident that Mr. Ibn Rabat sees it, too.

By the way, Mr. ibn Rabat, since you are worshipped so on this campus, perhaps you are the one deserving the fucking Medal of Honor.

--S. Andrew Smith, Conservatory junior

Better Housing Facilitates Community Environment

To the Editor:

How do we want to live in Oberlin?

Mostly, we students don't ask this question. We have a bunch of options every year, and we simply choose between Barrows or Third World House, Harkness or off-campus. But right now we have the chance to change all of that and to create an exciting alternative to the way in which students live at the college and Conservatory.

Oberlin is trying to expand and improve housing options for students. This means that we have a responsibility and an opportunity to think about how we want to design our new accommodations. Do we want to build another dorm, another brick monolith that will house students in isolated units that don't encourage community among classmates? Do we want more hot, stuffy rooms without much light? Do we want another building that will operate in relative isolation from the rest of the campus?

Or do we want something new, something that will reflect values that members of the Oberlin community hold, will integrate learning and living into one environment, and will be more energy efficient and socially responsible than any other building on campus? We have it within ourselves and our imaginations to create such a living space.

Because we believe that the benefits of this space would be longstanding and substantial, several of us students have begun to take steps toward creatively addressing Oberlin's housing issue. We call ourselves the Residential Design Initiative. We are looking for innovative solutions to Oberlin's living situation. We have a lot of ideas, such as designing more socially and ecologically responsible housing on campus and tying new housing on campus in with new housing in the Oberlin town community. But these are just a few of the options we are considering. We are interested in bridging gaps between communities. We believe that through intelligent design we can create healthy, fun living spaces that actually work for people. In order to carry any of this out, however, we need ideas and involvement from the whole Oberlin community: townsfolk, Conservatory, minority, low-income and high-income students, administrators, staff and others. It's not good enough for just the administration, or just the environmentally focused students, or just a small committee, to approach this issue. Our strength is in our ability to come together and to listen to what each of us envisions or wants to create on this campus.

To meet this end, we are bringing a number of speakers to campus in the coming months to get people thinking about the range of creative possibilities that we have before us. These will occur in conjunction with several brainstorming sessions through which we will draft a design plan for future Oberlin housing.

This project is something that we, as a community, can work together on. This is something that we can do to make Oberlin a more harmonious and better learning environment than it is now. Whatever we choose, whether it is to work together, or to be uninvolved and defer to the administration on this project, we are responsible for what happens on this campus. We can cooperate, get to know each other, and create something that is new and brilliant. Let the new housing be inspired by the students on campus now - and an inspiration to those who live here in the future.

Racism Exists Beyond Europe

To the Editors:

I give up! Every time I think I've seen the ultimate example of how Oberlin's manic quest for racial and ethnic diversity has mutated into racial and ethnic DEVISIVENESS, someone comes along and ups the ante. Last week you printed a letter in which an Oberlin student characterized Europeans as the people who "arguably invented racism".... Now, I don't care if this student is a bigot, or merely abysmally ignorant of history - but either way I'm embarrassed to be sharing my college with someone who could make a statement like that in a public forum. As far as MY knowledge of history goes, "racism" has existed for as long as human beings have had contact with people who DIDN'T look just like them. The first example in RECORDED history is when the ancient Egyptians coined the word "medjay" to describe their Nubian slaves - and then applied it indiscriminately to ALL darker-skinned peoples of the African interior, regardless of slave or free status. This was back in a time when there was no such thing as "Europe" in a social or political sense: my own oh-so-maligned ancestors were still running around through the woods in animal skins, painting their belly buttons blue with woad. They'd never even seen someone of another race TO be racist toward. Historically, outside of the Americas and Australia, Europe is just about the LAST place racism found a home. In so-called "modern" times, Europeans are still only part of a planet-wide disreputable bunch. I've lived in several other countries, and traveled to almost every one of the rest, and I can and will attest to seeing racism every damn place I've been. And it's been that way since time immemorial. Let's ask a Korean about Chinese and Japanese racism. Let's ask Jews about Arab racism. Let's ask Palestinians about Israeli racism. Let's ask Pakistanis about Indian racism - and vice versa. Hell, let's ask the Masai about Kikuyu racism! I know that the European-descended, being in the majority in this particular place, are a convenient focus for personal and group anger, frustration and fear. But isn't taking the actions of a few and ascribing these characteristics to ALL members of that group in a blanket statement the very dictionary definition of "racism"...?

--Mary Margaret Towey, College junior

Senate Membership

To the Editors:

My name is Jennifer Dapper. I am currently enrolled as a member of the Oberlin Class of 2002. I'd like to run for senator at University of Cincinnati. What? What do you mean I can't do that? I think I'd be a great asset to that fine institution. I don't understand. You say it's because I'm not enrolled in that school? So? Chris Anton isn't enrolled at Oberlin, yet he represents me in Senate. I mean, if he can do it, why can't I? I have a house in Cincinnati - and I know lots of people who go there. Oh, it doesn't work that way? I see, so Christ Anton has "special" rules that apply only to him? Oh, yeah. That seems fair. Sure. Makes lots of sense. Well, can I at least be on the Board of Trustees here at Oberlin? No? You mean I have to graduate first? I don't know. Are you sure you can't make some sort of exception? Oh, that's right. My name isn't Christ Anton. I'm not single-handedly saving Oberlin College from a downward spiral into decay. Please forgive me. I guess that as an enrolled student of Oberlin College I really don't know what's going on with my school. Maybe next year we should open up Senate elections to the students of Lorain County Community College. I'm sure there are students enrolled at LCCC who reside in Oberlin. They probably have a lot of great ideas to share!

--Jennifer Dapper, College sophomore

Security Holds Up to Average

To the Editors:

We are writing in response to the article that appeared in the Feb. 11, 2000 issue of The Oberlin Review regarding two women who are suing Oberlin College for alleged negligence in response to two recent violent crimes on campus.

We believe that this is a good time to make students aware of the actual crime statistics at Oberlin and to give you some idea of how Oberlin compares to other schools around the country. We would also like to voice our support for Oberlin College and Oberlin Security. We do not intend to comment on the experiences of these two former students, but we believe that media coverage of this lawsuit may cause current and prospective students and their parents to draw the unfair conclusion that Oberlin students are at excessive risk of becoming victims of violent crimes on the Oberlin campus.

Oberlin is required by Title II of the Campus Security Act (Public Law 101-542) to provide campus crime statistics to students each year. When we were students, these brochures were distributed through campus mail and given to new students in their orientation packets. In case anyone happened to miss them:

Based on data obtained from the Department of Education website (www.ed.gov), in 1994 44 percent of private four-year colleges and universities and 52 percent of colleges and universities where 25 percent or greater of the student population lived on campus reported at least one violent crime on campus (violent crime = murder, forcible sex offense, robbery or aggravated assault). Further, in 1992 the standardized rate of violent crime per 1,000 students per year was 1.3 for colleges and universities where the majority of students live on campus. Between 1992 and 1997 Oberlin averaged 3.4 violent crimes per year. By completing a t-test for statistical significance, we conclude that there is no difference between the average number of violent crimes at Oberlin and the national average for colleges and universities where 25 percent or more of the student population lives on campus.

In the next few years, some of you may choose careers in the health care or public health fields. You will learn that one of the great frustrations of public health is the inability to prove conclusively that a prevention effort has actually prevented an event from occurring. Oberlin Security provides escorts, continuously patrols the campus, maintains emergency phones and is in constant contact with the Oberlin Police Department. Students are required to use ID cards to enter dorms and are requested to keep their doors locked at all times. It is impossible to predict how many violent crimes would occur on campus every year if these measures were not in place.

Ultimately, the only person who can prevent a crime from happening is the perpetrator. The pain and trauma that these women have endured is unfortunate and it would be ideal if Oberlin were a place where nothing like this EVER happened. Oberlin is not that place, but current and prospective students need to view these events as what they actually are: random acts of violence, and not evidence of an inherently unsafe community or systematic negligence on the part of Oberlin College or Oberlin Security.

--Megan O'Brien, OC '97, and Nicole Miller, OC '98

Death Penalty Petition

To the Editors:

On Jan. 30th, Republican Governor George Ryan effectively imposed moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois until an investigation into the state's capital punishment system is conducted. Though Illinois is the first of the 38 states with the death penalty to halt executions, government officials in New Hampshire, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and most recently Philadelphia, PA are expressing their concern about the adequacy of protection against awful miscarriages of justice. Last month The Chicago Tribune published a five-part series about the failure of the death penalty in Illinois and wrote, the death penalty "...is a system so riddled with faulty evidence, unscrupulous trial tactics and legal incompetence that justice has been forsaken..." At a news conference on Feb. 16, President Clinton called Illinois Governor Ryan's moratorium on state executions courageous, and urged governors to "look very closely" at their death penalty systems. Numerous organizations on campus, as a result of the tremendous growth of the national abolition movement, have found it necessary to unite and work together towards a federal moratorium. These organizations include the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Amnesty International, Oberlin Coalition for Mumia Abu-Jamal, International Socialist Organization and Oberlin Action Against Prisons. For the past two weeks we have petitioned in Wilder, in classrooms and in dorms and on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd, the coalition submitted over 1,100 signatures to the President's Office. We are calling on President Nancy Dye to issue statements to Governor Taft and President Clinton for moratoriums on the death penalty in Ohio and at the federal level. If you are interested in getting involved, the Coalition meets on Tuesday nights in Wilder TBA at 9 p.m.

--Elizabeth Jones, College sophomore, Campaign to End the Death Penalty