Off the Cuff: Nancy Dye

This is the first of a regular feature profiling notable members of the College and greater Oberlin community.

Nancy Dye, formally trained as a modern women’s and labor historian, sits back in one of the comfortable armchairs in her upstairs office in Cox. The office itself is cozy, well upholstered — it feels almost more like a living room. A nine-level, 6 row bookshelf covers the entire east wall, filled with diverse titles and subjects from women’s history to gender politics to globalization. She has kindly taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule to answer the Review’s random questions.

What brought you to Oberlin?

Well, when I learned I was nominated for the president of Oberlin College, I thought, that’s a College I would like to be president of. The second reason is, happily, I was offered the job.

How is Oberlin different from your undergraduate experience?

Well, for starters, I went to college at a different time, from 1965-1969. I went to a women’s college (Vassar). The decision to become coed came in ’68 when I was a junior. My senior year there was a pilot program — guys from Dartmouth, Trinity, Colgate — a small number, maybe 50 came to Vassar. It was big news at the time.

What’s the best part about being president?

The best part about being president is that you get to interact with an incredibly large and varied number of people and you get to know those people well. You get to know students, faculty and staff through the college; you get to know people in the town, alumni. It’s a very rich and varied group of people — interesting people.
I get to work on a very wide range of issues. In high school I took the Cooter interest test, which measures whether you’re mainly a social person, mechanical person, analytical thing, et cetera. I was very strong in the social part, but my college counselor told me: “the test doesn’t predict any good career path for you. It’s too all over the map.”
This is a very good job for people whose interests are all over the map. You get to think through all manner of complicated issues.

Has Oberlin changed your outlook on life?

Oh yeah. A lot. It has really brought home to me how people — I mean, for an individual person it can be hard to realize — just really how very differently people perceive the world, one from another. How important people’s different experiences mold that person’s world. This may sound kind of trite to say, but the reality isn’t trite at all.

Do you think one person can change the world?

No, I’ve never thought one person can change the world. First of all, I don’t think it’s really what Oberlin is all about. Almost anything worth doing, or anything that needs to be changed, is best dealt with through collective action. I wouldn’t mind changing the whole slogan. It’s about 15 years old.
The idea is that individuals have agency, which, of course, they do. But I think, still, it’s in some ways an unfortunate slogan.

For coffee — Java Zone or Black River?

I don’t drink coffee anymore.

I’m envious.

Yes, I started to drink coffee when I was a senior in college. I very quickly became a serious coffee freak, and remained that way until a year and a half ago. Now I drink tea.

Is Oberlin your favorite place on Earth?

[Laughs.] It’s one of my favorite places on Earth. Paris, New Mexico, Hong Kong, New York, Toronto. Hong Kong is beautiful.

Should the U.S. invade Iraq?

My own thinking is that it would be a terrible mistake. I’ve not been convinced by the evidence that’s been presented by the newspapers that there’s a compelling reason to invade Iraq and overthrow the government. It seems like a dangerous course of action that could destabilize the whole region. The U.S. seems quite quick to say that the solution to international problems is military, and to say “we’ll do it ourselves, rather than be more connected to the rest of the world.”

I can’t help but notice a copy of Firsthand, Documented Accounts of UFO Abductions on your bookshelf. Care to comment?

That’s written by a friend of ours who’s a UFO specialist, David Jacobs. He’s written a lot of books on UFO’s, and when he writes them we get them. I’ve enjoyed reading them, although I myself don’t have much faith in UFO’s….

What’s Nancy Dye reading these days? Here’s what’s on the nightstand (figuratively, of course): My Michael by Amos Oz; Holy War by Karen Armstrong; The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason; Globalization and it’s Discontents, by Joseph Stiglitz.

Interview conducted by News Editors John Byrne and Greg Walters.

Who’d you like us to interview?
Email news@oberlinreview.org.