Unlike the walkout two weeks ago, which circled the perimeter of Tappan Square, this walkout led directly to the Cox Administration Building. There, SFP leaders announced that they would be performing a die-in, a type of protest in which a group of people lie down in a public place as if they are dead. Leaders also passed around a leaflet explaining the plan for the rest of the afternoon, which included the demand for Oberlin to formally condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to divest from corporations that support the Israel Defense Forces — referred to as the Israel Occupation Forces in the leaflet — including aerospace and defense company Elbit Systems; and information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

At 2:10 p.m., students trickled into the Cox Administration Building and gathered throughout the second floor, the stairs, and the first floor. For about two hours, approximately 80–100 students led chants, sang songs, and laid down to symbolize deceased, injured, and grieving Palestinians. SFP airdropped a document to students in attendance with an email template for students to reach out to Oberlin administrators, faculty, and other campus organizations demanding that Oberlin “acknowledge and condemn Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestine.” At around 4 p.m., Campus Safety officers refused to let in more people, although some students were allowed to leave. Administrators left the building at 4:30 p.m., leading to a brief confrontation between officers and students. 

Shortly before 5:30 p.m, students left Cox and went to President Carmen Twillie Ambar’s house, where an event for prospective students was being hosted. Around 30–40 students chanted outside of the house. At approximately 5:35 p.m, Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Goff exited and started a discussion. Students speaking on behalf of SFP asked Goff to clarify the College’s stance on the conflict in the Middle East, in light of the absence of the words “Palestine” or “genocide” in statements released by the Office of the President. Student leaders and Goff also discussed the context of the Oct. 11 SFP-led vigil to commemorate lost Palestinian lives, where candles and slogans left by students were interfered with in the aftermath of the gathering. After 40 minutes of dialogue, SFP leaders agreed to a later meeting with Goff and President Ambar. 

Production Manager Isaac Imas contributed reporting to this story.

Organized by the Center for Student Success, F1rst Generation Week brought together offices across Oberlin’s campus to host a variety of resource-sharing and community-building events. The office of Career Exploration and Development offered a professional clothing closet, the Allen Memorial Art Museum hosted a first-generation scavenger hunt with prizes, the Multicultural Resource Center hosted a letter-writing event, and the CSS offered a discussion on mental health needs of first-generation students and a community dinner, among other activities.

Oberlin offers a variety of support systems for first-generation students. The Peer Mentor program pairs returning first-generation students with a group of first-generation or Pell Grant-eligible first-year students to help ease their transition into college and connect them with resources they may not know are available. 

Natalia Alvarado, a third-year peer mentor, reported feeling supported by the different Oberlin offices during F1st Generation Week.”

“I’m really excited seeing a lot of offices come together to support first-gen [students] because I feel like a lot of times, it’s kind of hard to navigate the mumbo-jumbo of these offices, and them showing their support this week is really important,” Alvarado said.  “But it’s also important to emphasize that it’s more than just a week. This is my life every day.” 

Colllege third-year Daniel Cruz, who is a peer mentor, talked about how as a first-year, the Peer Mentor program and first-generation community allowed him to feel more at home in Oberlin.  

“Coming here, being a first-generation student, I didn’t know anything about what college life would be like,” Cruz said. “It was easy to feel a sense of isolation from everybody else, so I think being able to connect and interact with other students … really helped me get rid of that feeling of isolation.” 

Cruz said that his Peer Mentors inspired him to become a peer mentor himself. 

Alvarado also talked about feeling supported by the peer mentor program.

“The entire aim for the Center for Student Success is to help first-generation, low-income students,” Alvarado said. “Peer mentors who were mentors at the time played a big role in my success here at Oberlin. I didn’t think I was going to major in Comparative American Studies until I met one of the peer mentors as a first-year, and I’ve been on that path ever since.” 

First-generation students also emphasized the importance of F1rst Generation Week as a way to gather and celebrate the first-generation community at Oberlin. 

“It’s hard to find community on campus, especially in the first-gen, low-income community,” third-year Peer Mentor Melissa Nova said. “I’m just excited to see what community we can foster this year.” 

Cruz mentioned a similar feeling. In particular, Cruz was excited about the community dinner, which brought together first-generation students, faculty, and staff to socialize and applaud each other’s successes. 

“I think that’s a really good place for the community to gather and just celebrate F1rst Generation week,” Cruz said. “I want to meet other first-generation students and other students in general.” 

Director of Student Success Operations Amanda Shelnutt worked closely with the Center for Student Success’ peer mentors to plan the event. She said that in addition to resource-sharing, one of the primary goals of F1rst Generation Week was “really celebrating the community on campus that’s here, whether you’re faculty, staff, or student, and helping that community build relationships with each other.” 

Many resources available to first-generation students center the goal of community-building and resource-sharing. Shelnutt discussed how she views the importance of these communities and support systems. 

“Because first-gen students don’t typically have someone at home who understands the collegiate life, it’s really important to have people here that understand you and can help support you in that way,” she said. “Having people that understand where you’re coming from in one aspect of your life and helping encourage you and push you forward and build you up and celebrate your successes is incredibly important.” 

Another thing that many first-gen students mentioned was the desire to bring what they learned and discovered at Oberlin back to their communities at home. 

“I came here not only for myself, but to better my situation as well as spread knowledge back to my family and peers,” Nova said. “Being first-gen means being able to bring back the knowledge I learned to my community and share it in that way, so I have a lot of pride in being the first [and] also just being able to share my knowledge.” 

Alvarado mentioned a similar feeling. 

“There just came a point where my parents couldn’t help me academically anymore,” Alvarado said. “So I applied to colleges all by myself, I did all of the financial aid documents by myself, I did everything by myself. I can bring back something really special to my community in Chicago, coming from a low-income household and a single-parent household.” 

Both Alvarado and Nova also mentioned that considering themselves first-generation wasn’t something that they ever thought about until arriving in Oberlin. 

“I didn’t really feel any different until I got here, and I realized that I was in a different situation than everyone else,” Nova said. “Other people may have known how to … navigate around campus while I didn’t, just because I didn’t have that exposure.” 

Alvarado added that having other people perceive her as a first-generation student was a new experience. 

“I didn’t really know what it meant to be first-gen until late in my life,” Alvarado said. “I think it’s interesting that a lot of other people perceived me as first-gen before I even knew what it meant to be first-gen. … I didn’t really feel that pride until well into my time at Oberlin.” 

Shelnutt emphasized the importance of recognizing and appreciating first-generation students, both through F1rst Generation Week and also more broadly in the Oberlin community. 

“It takes a lot of grit and strength and perseverance and big dreams to be a first-generation student,” Shelnutt said. “This is really geared toward spreading awareness on campus of first-gen needs and also having them tell their stories, because until you hear someone’s story from a variety of viewpoints, you don’t really understand what you need to do to change to serve that population.” 

Nova, Cruz, and Alvarado all agree that celebrating first-generation students is needed and important for the community. 

“I think the first-generation community is a large part of what makes Oberlin a safe space for students to come in,” Cruz said. “I think that community here is one of the reasons that I like Oberlin. It’s all of the people here.”

The courses were created to provide students with pre-professional programming and prepare them for their careers, according to Anthony Pernell-McGee, executive director of Career Exploration and Development and pre-law advisor.

“We have a 97 percent acceptance rate for law school,” Pernell-McGee said. “So I know, as a former lawyer, that students want to go to law school. And I think that it is our responsibility to help them prepare for the LSAT so that they [can] get into the school of their choice. And we have a lot of Obies who do have an interest in law, so it just makes common sense to do it.”

The LSAT Program is an on-campus project and is being held in collaboration with the Princeton Review. Princeton Review will provide live remote instruction to participating students. 

All students will receive 30 hours of instruction, the LSAT Pathways course books, 365 days of online Princeton Review student portal access, and 16 full-length practice tests, including all available practice questions. Over the course of the Winter Term, students will sit for the LSAT practice exam four times.

According to Pernell-McGee, the impetus for the creation of the course was that students were requesting funding for LSAT Winter Term programs, which led the CED to begin preparing an on-campus program to provide an alternative to individual projects.

The program’s enrollement fee is $700, which Pernell-McGee said was a good deal, as the course would normally cost students thousands of dollars. 

While the program is open to all students, preference will be given to graduating fourth- and fifth-years. The deadline to commit has been extended by the CED to Nov. 17, 2023.

College second-year Eli Ramer, who is considering law school but is not registered for the LSAT Winter Term, said that he would consider doing the project later on in his Oberlin career. 

“I’d like to do some Winter Terms that put me in the field more and give me some more hands-on experience rather than studying for an exam,” Ramer said. “But perhaps once I’ve completed my Winter Term requirements, or if I omit one of the years before the Winter Term during our [fourth] year, I would think about it then.”

The Princeton Review has also been contracted by the College to teach the MCAT Program. Participating students will receive 66 hours of instruction, and have access to MCAT Pathways course books, 365 days of online Princeton Review student portal access, and 16 full-length practice tests, including all available Association of American Medical Colleges practice materials. Similar to the LSAT program, students will sit for four practice tests. 

The MCAT Program will also give preference to graduating fourth and fifth-years and cost $1100. Both programs are capped at 15 students. 

The EMT program is similarly designed to aid students who are planning careers in medicine. Assistant Director for Career Readiness Samantha Rohner, who also sevres as the medical, global health, and stem career community advisor, spoke to the Review about the program. 

“Oberlin has many pre-med, pre-health students who actually already have EMT certification that they got either before college or during college,” Rohner said. “We want to offer this course as an option for them to complete that during Winter Term. There are actually colleges in the country who do offer EMT courses currently during winter or January terms. So that’s something that we felt was attainable for Oberlin.”

The EMT Program will consist of 10 full-day training sessions, small-group and independent study, and test prep. At the end of the program, students can take the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians exam, which is required in Ohio and some other states to practice as an EMT. 

According to Rohner, students who complete the EMT certifications will be qualified to work as EMTs during the summer, and the CED plans to reach out to local organizations to see if the newly certified students would be able to work with them in the community.

College second-years Susanna Weiss and Izzie Braun said that they were concerned about the MCAT and EMT Winter Terms, citing the sheer amount of material that the courses would cover in a single month.

“[F]or both programs, it’s like, how the hell are you going to function next semester if you’re trying to cram that much information into your skull during that one month?” Braun said.

Weiss also added that the one-year availability of materials is also a concern, explaining that most people would probably take gap years before heading to medical school. 

“I don’t like the one-year deadline,” Weiss said. “[I]f you were to take the one year off to make money, then you would hypothetically start studying the year later… It would not make sense for people to take that course if they weren’t immediately going to do med school right after.”

All of the courses will also include off-campus social activities, with a chance to engage with career communities and meet students enrolled in the other programs. 

One of the main advantages of having these on-campus projects, according to Rohner, is the opportunity that students have to work together.

“Many students do study for [the] MCAT on their own, but doing this course over Winter Term will provide participating students with an opportunity to study in a group, which can be a benefit because it promotes a more collaborative and supportive environment,” Rohner said. 

The panel consisted of 10 of the 11 candidates currently running for City Council. The incumbents are Bryan Burgess; Ray English; Eboni A. Johnson, OC ’97; Michael J. McFarlin; and Elizabeth J. Meadows. The non-incumbent candidates are Frieda Fuchs; Libni López; Jessa New, OC ’01; Joseph L. Peek; and Joe Waltzer, OC ’98. Incumbent Kristen L. Peterson, OC ’72, was unable to attend.

The candidates answered questions regarding Oberlin’s current climate action plan and the candidates’ plans to create a sustainable infrastructure. 

The forum was held at the First Church in Oberlin and opened at 7 p.m. with brief statements from each candidate where they were able to introduce themselves and their hopes for the future of Oberlin. The forum was open to all members of the Oberlin community and featured a fair split of both community members and students. Sunrise’s Hub Coordinator, College second-year Lilly Dodson, expressed the organization’s goal of opening communication between students and the town. 

“The last kind of forum that they did was with the candidates and it was run by the League of Women Voters,” Dodson said. “I think it was mostly with the community and I wasn’t even aware the event was happening until after it happened. … We just thought it would be good to hold something else before the election happened just to bring students out to connect with the Council election.”

The Sunrise Movement is a 501(c)(4) environmental advocacy group. Sunrise’s four main principles are ending the climate crisis, creating union jobs, investing in racial and economic justice, and investment in the public sector. The Oberlin Student Hub advocates for climate justice at local and national levels. As of right now, the Hub’s registration under the national movement has expired. The group currently has plans to renew it. 

“We’re an environmental focused, climate justice focused organization,” College first-year and Oberlin Sunrise Movement Communications Leader Rhys Hals said. “I think covering more environmental focuses for the candidates and getting to know their platforms is definitely something that everyone is facing and thinking a lot about nowadays.”

Like many student-led organizations on campus, Sunrise lost momentum during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dodson shared her process for reviving the movement on campus this year. 

“When it stopped meeting, and the hub went away, I wanted to bring it back,” she said. “I held some general interest meetings to try to find people who would put together a leadership team. People came and were really interested in getting involved and helping out.” 

College fourth-year Ben Reider moderated the event and opened the conversation with the panel by asking what they think sustainability looks like in Oberlin. The panel discussed a range of topics including several long-standing issues and developments pertaining to housing and energy consumption. 

“I feel like we partially accomplished our goals,” Reider wrote to the Review. “We got to hear from the candidates and let them speak at length. …  However, on a policy basis, not much separates each candidate.” 

One of the main solutions candidates referred back to was Oberlin’s five-year Climate Action Plan. Released in 2019, the City of Oberlin plans to be completely carbon-neutral by 2030 and carbon-positive by 2050. The plan outlines solutions regarding composting, community workshops, and preserving undeveloped space.

Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology John Petersen, OC ’88, commented on the event. 

“I think we have a City Council in Oberlin that’s already demonstrated substantial commitment to environmental sustainability and to addressing climate change in particular,” Petersen said. “I think if you look around Ohio, you will not find a community that has made more commitments or been earlier in making those commitments. I think the returning Councilmembers have all demonstrated that dedication. I think that most of the candidates who are running have also demonstrated that commitment.”

The City Council election will be held on Tuesday. Seven Councilmembers will be chosen out of the 11 candidates.

Yoshiko Tsompanos, panel organizer and assistant director for the Business, Consulting, and Finance career community spoke to the Review about the event. 

“How do we acclimate to those circumstances?” Tsompanos said. “How do we make the best of the situation and how do we support each other? How do we utilize our network? I know that a lot of students, they’re very eager to get out into their profession, and sometimes it isn’t always what they think, and that’s alright — sometimes a lot of really exciting new situations come about because of that.”

The virtual event was open to all students and satisfied one of the career panel participation requirements of the Internship+ program, which provides funding for those who pursue an internship the summer before their senior year.

The panel hosted Sarah Klauer, OC ’07, strategy director with Sterling Brands; Maria Piper, OC ’07, program management; and George Saines, OC ’08, senior product manager with Google, who all spoke about their experiences joining the labor force after graduating during the 2008 financial crisis. 

“It’s really important to be flexible and to set your expectations broadly versus specifically,” Piper said. “The world won’t be what you expect when you graduate, and it’s still not what I expect. … Those are the kinds of things that I’m hoping people get out of [the panel]: be flexible and have your own code core of where you’re willing to go and what your own boundaries are.”

Following a brief introduction, the moderator moved through questions, which led to a discussion about the impact of the 2007–2008 recession on their professional careers. The third question was: “Many students at Oberlin College are marked by good fortune to have a network that provides useful internships, consequently, often opening doors to employment opportunities. How do you manage to make that transition if you have limited resources?” 

Referring to the relationship between them and the friendships that they found at Oberlin, panelists emphasized the benefits of a close-knit network of Obies before opening the floor to questions from students.

Dae Williams, Social Media Engagement Coordinator at Oberlin College, OC ’20, graduated during the COVID-19 recession. When interviewed for the Review, they expressed how much they would have appreciated a formal panel discussion on the impact of economic circumstances on their career opportunities. 

“I received no training at all when it came to a recession,” Williams said. “I don’t know necessarily of any conversation that happened along a recession line … in the career development space.” 

After graduating with degrees in Anthropology and Musical Studies, they spoke to their own struggles when navigating the job market after graduating.

“I couldn’t find a job for a year and a half, and so I was mostly doing freelance projects here and there,” Williams said. “I’m still lost in terms of how things really work and what you need to land a job.”

Tsompanos emphasized the importance of a network upon graduation, and illustrated how Klauer, Piper, and Saines remained in touch and were a support system during this period. 

“I want students to understand … how [the panelists] supported each other through that process, and also what happens when you don’t have a network at hand,” Tsompanos said. “What are your resources then?”

At 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, Oberlin students left classes, rehearsals, and their studies to gather at the Memorial Arch in Tappan Square. This walkout, organized by Oberlin’s chapter of Students for a Free Palestine, was part of a larger, national walkout to show solidarity with Palestine. Carrying a Palestinian flag, College second-year Juwayria Zahurullah and other SFP members led the students in recitations of pro-Palestinian chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” as they marched around the perimeter of Tappan. 

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israeli cities near the Gaza Strip, and Israel’s formal declaration of war against Hamas the following day, events have been held on campus by an array of organizations to mourn and engage in open dialogue. 

On Wednesday, Oct. 11, SFP hosted a vigil for Palestinian lives lost. In the days before and after the vigil, President Carmen Twillie Ambar issued statements to the Oberlin community, emphasizing the necessity of finding “strength and hope in our shared humanity.” Additionally, Multifaith Chaplain David Dorsey and Assistant Dean and Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life Samia Mansour held space for students affected by the events. Director of Chabad at Oberlin Rabbi Shlomo Elkan also offered the opportunity to speak with the co-directors of Chabad at Oberlin, himself and Devorah Elkan, to anyone in need of support.

Zahurullah, SFP’s social media manager and secretary grew up attending vigils for Palestinian victims of Israeli occupation, some of whom were members of her own community. During fall break, she attended a protest in Chicago, where thousands marched in support of Palestine.

For Zahurullah, one of the most important things to emphasize about this current conflict, where even the rhetoric used to describe it is contentious, is that it did not begin two and a half weeks ago.

“This has been going on for years and years and decades, since the 1940s,” Zahurullah said. “I think that’s a major piece of context that a lot of people are missing when they talk about this event and, a lot of times, contributes to the ‘both-sides’ narrative that goes around a lot.”

In the week before fall break, and in the week following, students like Zahurullah have reported a lack of adequate communication from institutions on campus regarding Palestine and Palestinian people.

“We held our vigil the week before break, and I think part of the reason was because there were a lot of spaces advertised by the College that were specifically for Jewish students mourning death, and specifically related to events in Israel,” Zahurullah said. “We just wanted to create a space to remind people of [Palestinian] humanity and to mourn them as well. … What I’m noticing in the last two weeks is the general attitude towards the issue has been dismissive towards the side of Palestinians, and part of that is namely that it refuses to name Palestine — in all the correspondence it just says Gaza, and that still refers to it as the Israeli-occupied land.”

Not long after the vigil dispersed, the candles were extinguished, and the chalk was washed away. When SFP brought concerns about this interference to administration, they were told that chalk couldn’t be written on vertical surfaces such as the columns of the Memorial Arch.

“We [also] had a banner outside of Wilder [Hall] that was taken down sometime overnight, and we asked them, ‘Are you going to look into it?’” Zahurullah said. “They claimed they did, but I find it hard to believe that there’s no camera footage that could show someone taking a banner from the side of Wilder, especially because there was one instance where two students were sitting on the Wilder porch playing music and waving an Israeli flag. They were in complete view of Campus Security, and not even 30 minutes later we tried to hang up our banner, and within 10 minutes a Campus Safety officer came over and started untying it. I don’t understand how those two students were standing in view of Campus Safety for like an hour waving a flag that they didn’t have a permit to do, but ours was taken down.”

In the last few weeks, College fourth-year Allison Lupatkin has similarly observed what she feels is a lack of sufficient response to the current conflict. Lupatkin was involved in Oberlin’s chapter of J Street U when it was active on campus. J Street U operates as a primarily pro-Israel organization aiming to educate students on Israel-Palestine and advocate for a two-state solution.

“I thought there would be more activity on campus, honestly,” Lupatkin said. “I feel like I’ve been surprised by that [because in] a lot of the Jewish spaces I grew up in, I was taught that saying ‘Free Palestine’ is antisemitic. I don’t personally agree with that, but for instance, when I committed to Oberlin, my grandmother was worried about it because she was worried that liberal arts college meant antisemitic. I definitely came into Oberlin with a lot of apprehension on what the organizing and political scene would look like and how I would fit in. Honestly, the response on campus has sort of matched what my impressions have been, which has been a little frustrating. … Oberlin Jewish life doesn’t talk about politics, which is pretty unique for a campus with Hillel and Chabad to not talk about Israel.”

The general consensus among students is that Oberlin’s response has been incomplete. To Conservatory third-year Kayla Shomar-Corbett, whose family is located in Gaza and whose father immigrated from the Gaza Strip, grieving “lives lost in the Middle East,” as written in the Campus Digest to promote a vigil led by President Ambar, is an example of “both-sides” rhetoric.

“Is it perfectly fine to grieve? Yes,” Shomar-Corbett said. “I encourage people to grieve loss and mourn because that humanizes these tragedies, but I also think that I see a lot of people putting what I know to be genocide as ‘this war.’ … When people call this a war, when people call Hamas a terrorist organization and say, ‘We should condemn Hamas,’ I think, ‘Well, who’s condemning the IDF?’ It’s a really frustrating double standard. Whenever there is a global issue, [Middle Eastern and North African] Americans and MENA people in general are always required to condemn things that I thought we already knew were bad, like murder. ‘Both sides’ rhetoric always gets me into that headspace of, ‘You guys really don’t see this the way that I do.’”

College third-year Zane Badawi, who is half-Palestinian, wrote a piece in the Review (“Palestine Needs Oberlin’s Jewish Voices,” The Oberlin Review, Sept. 29, 2023) explaining his perspective on Palestine and calling on his Jewish peers to use their voices to talk about Israel and Palestine’s relationship — something he hopes to see more of moving forward.

“I’d like for people to reach across boundaries because, as strongly opinionated about this as I am, I think at this point and especially in this space, it’s important to talk to people they disagree with and voice their opinions in a respectful way, and make sure a sort of cross-communal interaction is happening,” Badawi said. “From a Western perspective, a lot of what you’re getting is, ‘Palestinians are terrorists,’ and, ‘The Hamas attack was a part of a larger pattern,’ and, ‘This war waged by Israel is retaliatory.’”

Over the past few weeks, many have sought out context for the ongoing crisis, such as information about the history of Israel and Palestine, through social media. Shomar-Corbett, Zahurullah, and many other Oberlin students perceive social media activism — whether it’s the distribution of infographics on Instagram or videos and photos from protests  — as a complex issue.

“Speaking on behalf of SFP, we’ve been very careful in choosing our words and choosing what we spread and post [on Instagram] to not push a divisive narrative,” Zahurullah said. “I think in a lot of the combative responses we get, that is what instills divisiveness. … SFP has gotten negative comments on our posts reinforcing the stereotypes that Palestinians are barbaric animals and that we’re supporting terrorism. … We did delete them, [but] we’re not going to do that anymore.”

With social media comes accessibility and circulation of information that brings tragedy out of the abstract, which many students emphasize as a benefit of online platforms. In these last few weeks, Zahurullah has noticed Palestinians in Gaza recording videos in English to broadcast their stories and presumably to make them accessible to Western audiences. Still, social media can exacerbate division and misunderstanding.

“Something that has really frustrated me a lot has been social media discourse, and how everything is so far to one extreme or the other,” Lupatkin said. “A lot of my peers from high school are posting very strong ‘stand with Israel’ sentiments and if you tried to mention the bombings on Gaza, you’re shut down. Whereas on the other end of the spectrum, I have friends where everything they’re posting is about the attacks on Gaza. But, if I tried to mention, ‘Hey, I’m scared for my friends I have who live in Israel,’ then you get shut down as well. I wish [there was] more acknowledgement that there are Israelis and Palestinians on the ground who are being affected, who are suffering, and this is not a conflict you can make such broad generalizations about.” 

Like Lupatkin, College fourth-year Zach Gershon previously led Oberlin’s chapter of J Street U. Gershon grew up attending Jewish summer camps and has visited Israel, both on a youth group trip and with family. He has also been privy to pro-Israel sentiments on social media.

“What I’ve seen on social media has been a bunch of polemics from both sides,” Gershon said. “A lot of my Jewish friends, some of my friends from summer camp, [and] some of my coworkers who are in Israel who I’m concerned about, have been posting a lot of extremely pro-Israel stuff and some of it I agree with but some of it I don’t. Over here at Oberlin, I tend to agree with some of the pro-Palestinian stuff, but not all of it. I would consider myself pro-two-state solution or pro-bi-national state — I do think while Israel has a right to exist and a right to self-determination, Palestinians are also deserving of that same right.”

Gershon, Lupatkin, and Shomar-Corbett all referenced friends and family in the region who have died, been kidnapped, or been hospitalized as a result of the conflict. 

“I’ve struggled a lot,” Shomar-Corbett said. “My cousins were in the hospital because of bomb debris. All I want is for people to treat that struggle like it’s something important and that it’s something worth talking about. … After the [SFP] vigil was defaced and so much of the chalk was erased time and time again, I felt like people were uncomfortable with seeing Palestinian trauma and acknowledging that. It just felt like a punch in the face, like you guys really don’t care about us … which is the ‘otherism’ and isolation I felt. There was a time on campus during the week before break where I felt like I couldn’t even leave my house, because if I left my house I was opening myself up to this world of possibilities of getting hurt again, getting my trauma, my peers’ trauma, and my family’s trauma invalidated.”

Some Jewish students experience similar anxieties as concerns about an increase in antisemitic hate speech and violence across campuses rise.

“Obviously, I’m sure that a lot of people agree what happened Oct. 7 was terrible, because let’s face it, it was,” Gershon said. “The thing is, it’s not about Israel vs. Palestine, it’s about civilians being used as pawns in what is essentially a war of attrition that is turning into a genocide. When I think about it, I’ve got a few family friends in the army in Israel and they’re basically being used by the government to fight in a war they didn’t choose to fight in.”

Students’ calls to the Oberlin community highlight education, conversation, and the humanization of a deeply contentious crisis. The College will be hosting a candlelight vigil Wednesday, Nov. 1 to mourn Middle Eastern lives lost. SFP will be holding an information session tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 28, featuring native Palestinian speakers.

The idea of the event was to highlight relationships that are essential to the work of the Bonner Center, including faculty and students who work on community-based learning courses and in the Bonner Scholars Program. 

“This was an opportunity to celebrate all of our partners and to start some conversations about how we can move that work forward in the months and years to come,” Interim Director of the Bonner Center Thom Dawkins said. 

The Bonner Center also brought in guests from outside Oberlin to speak. Two of these speakers were Marina Barnett, interim assistant provost for civic engagement at Widener University, and David Scobey, director of the educational organization Bringing Theory to Practice. 

“You heard throughout the day stories of trial and error and … how it just takes persistence to be able to achieve these goals, that things may not happen immediately,” Barnett said. “Our goal is for you to be changemakers, ultimately, to be good stewards of this world that we’ve been given.”

After a brief introduction in which Scobey and Barnett addressed the attendees, participants split into breakout rooms to have discussions on specific topics: Connecting the Classroom to the Community, The IMPACT of the Arts, The Oberlin “One Square Mile Project,” and The IMPACT of AI on Writing and Community. 

The Connecting the Classroom to the Community breakout session was facilitated by Barnett and afforded students the opportunity to meet with leaders in the community, including Ray English, City Councilmember; Margie L. Flood, executive director of Oberlin Community Services; and Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield.

“One of the things Thom and I talked about in our breakout session was [how] we wanted students to come out of that session with a sense of agency,” Barnett said. “It’s not just ‘What are the problems?’ it’s ‘How are you going to fix them?’ … We started off by talking about things very generally. But by the time we finished, it was ‘Let’s talk about what you can do.’”

The IMPACT of the Arts breakout room discussion was centered on using deep listening as a mode of inquiry for community-building and creative practice. The room was hosted by Nina Fisher, OC ’08, program director of MAD* Factory Theater Co.; Hannah Wirta Kinney, curator of academic programs for the Allen Memorial Art Museum; Michael Boyd Roman, assistant professor of design and Black visual culture in the Studio Art and Africana Studies departments; and Louise Zeitlin, associate professor of Community Engagement in the Conservatory and director of the Community Music School. 

The third breakout room on the “One Square Mile” project focused on connecting attendees with Bonner community partners at the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society and Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project. 

Carol Lasser, emerita professor of History and executive director of Evans HHS, and Eric Steggal, managing director of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Theater Project, hosted the discussion.  The  “One Square Mile” project takes a place-based approach to community revitalization by focusing on one designated square mile of the community.

The last breakout room covered the impact of artificial intelligence on writing and community and was hosted by Ryo Adachi, OC ’22, coordinator of academic initiatives in the liberal arts, and Josh Kesterton, program coordinator and lecturer. They encouraged participants to think about the pros and cons of the use of AI in community building. 

“For the folks who attended, I hope that the impact was that they realized there are interesting things … in and around Oberlin that happen not during class hours as well,” Bonner Scholars Program Director Gabriella Valentine said. “We saw, at least from a few of our survey results, that people enjoyed being in a room where those conversations were happening intentionally.” 

Dawkins also noticed positive responses to the Summit.

“There was great energy there,” he said. “Folks walked away with projects that they want to work on, with [lots of] folks connecting and exchanging information, wanting to work together … across these typical divides of students, community partners, faculty, and staff.” 

Barnett shared in their excitement.

“I think one of the best things that I saw that came out of the conference was that students got a chance to speak to each other, they got a chance to interact with community partners, they got a chance to interact with faculty and administrators in ways that they may not normally have an opportunity to do,” she said. “That’s always what we want, … more opportunities for communication.”

Aside from organizers, students also gained valuable insight from the IMPACT Summit.

“I think it was really helpful to see the ways that the College and the community can intersect and connect and work together,” College second-year Katia Chapin said. “And I grew up around a college that really was very separated from my community in a way that I didn’t love. It was refreshing to see how both people from [the] College and [outside sources] are working to make the College’s presence here beneficial to everyone else and not just … where we’re benefiting from them exclusively. It made me feel more connected to the community and find ways that I could be more involved.”

Pathfinder is the successor to LaunchU, a Winter Term program last held in 2020 that allowed students to pitch ideas for startup funding and compete to earn money for their venture. In comparison, Pathfinder will be a year-long program. Pathfinder is also different from the microgrant competition, which is less competitive and a lower-stakes option for students interested in starting a small business or earning experience. However, microgrants can still be used for business ideas. 

The program was spearheaded by Associate Professor of Business Eric Lin, who first came to the College in January 2023. He wanted a more upfront way for students to develop a business pitch. As part of the program, Lin created a number of instructional videos about the Business Pitch Assessment, as well as other things essential for a pitch document such as feasibility, financial visibility, and customer desirability.

Lin explained more about what the program would look like regarding pitching. He highlights the accessibility of the program. For instance, the Google form offers a wide range of interest statements for students to use, varying from those who already have a venture or business idea to students who are interested in pursuing an MBA or want to have an entrepreneurial mindset as an artist or a musician. He also acknowledged that, while not all pitches would become a long-term business idea, the feedback would help students at their individual level for their pitch. 

“Students are going to come forward with their ideas, irrespective of where they are in the process,” Lin said. “They submit an idea through a video, and they get some feedback, and we do some rounds. Some people might learn, ‘This is not something I’m that interested in looking forward,’ which is fine, it’s a great thing to realize, or ‘Here’s some ways I can adjust it,’ but at some point, the people who stick around and keep iterating, they graduate to now starting to [have] a mature business idea.”

Entrepreneurship Program Manager Debra Herzog emphasized the importance of Pathfinder at Oberlin, especially in relation to the Business Integrative Concentration.  

“We know of several Obies who have gone on to have success in business, entrepreneurship, social-entrepreneurship and/or solo-entrepreneurship, and interest is growing with the implementation of the Business Integrative Concentration,” Herzog wrote in an email to the Review. “It is an important piece of the offerings, and it makes sense for students to have access and the ability to experience this in a co-curricular, experiential, risk-free, and systematic way.”

Director of Entrepreneurship Instructor in Business Ted Evans provided a vision for what the completed version of Pathfinder would look like in a couple years. The team hopes that, in a couple of years, Pathfinder would also involve alumni and community members from the City to help support students’ ideas. 

“If it’s successful, we would see Pathfinder taking in a healthy number of students and then taking their ideas to the point where they could pitch in front of investors who say  ‘I get your 10 minute pitch that you just gave me,’” Evans said. “It had all the elements that we’re seeking. You articulated them properly, you did your research. That’s how we would envision Pathfinder two or three years from now. We’re hoping for this ideal situation, the output of Pathfinder is a number of these sound business ideas that have been well-researched and well-documented that moved on to a funding stage.”

Admissions for the Pathfinder program are currently on a rolling basis. Students can get involved by filling out the interest form.

With a high demand for introductory classes in all majors, some departments have prioritized hiring continuing faculty for core courses. Ron Cheung, chair of the Economics department, which added two assistant professors this fall for the first time in around four years, explained the department’s priorities. 

“We always do need our professors to provide some support for our core courses,” Cheung said. “So this year, for instance, we definitely wanted to bolster our professors who could teach Intermediate and Advanced Microeconomics as well as … our introductory Econometrics course. But in addition to that, we definitely want to have professors who work in applied fields.” 

In other disciplines, finding academic advisors has been difficult as the number of students grows. The Psychology department is excited to add tenure-track faculty as one of six departments adding more than one tenure-track professor to their ranks. 

“I personally asked a new professor last year to be my advisor, and she had to turn me down because she couldn’t take advisees,” College third-year and Psychology major Skye Slade said. “Ultimately, I asked a professor who I had less of a previously established relationship with. It ended up working out really well, though, and I admire all of the professors, new and old, for their adaptability and kindness to their students.” 

Students also find it challenging to find academic advisors when many of their classes are taught by visiting faculty. 

“In both of my majors, I have had similar experiences in that I have had professors that I developed a rapport with and that fit my learning style very well, and they have both left Oberlin,” College second-year Ana Howard said. “That has made me question my major choices and also increased my anxiety about this year in general. … It almost felt like [the first] year all over again.”

Cheung highlighted the importance of representation in hiring, especially when considering gender equality and racial diversity. 

“Students have noted that they like to take courses from professors who they can see themselves being, or that they can share experiences with,” he said. “In such a male-dominated field, … it’s really important for the [Economics] department to really demonstrate that we understand some of the concerns of women students, and we want to provide for them. It’s really exciting as well to have two faculty members of color joining our department. Again, Economics [is] not often seen as an ethnically diverse field.” 

Recently hired assistant professors also bring along a diversity of pedagogical techniques. It is these techniques that benefit the student body by diversifying the department and broadening students’ worldview. 

“In the Biology department, all of the faculty teach in different ways in order … to figure out what [works] best for students,” new Assistant Professor of Biology Gabriel Moore, OC ’15, said. “And we’re encouraged to do so, especially using different evidence-based approaches. It’s been really nice to be welcomed back by all the people I saw as mentors now being colleagues.”

CliftonStrengths, which was launched by Gallup in 1999, starts with a 30 minute assessment where participants are asked to evaluate 177 statements on how much they feel they connect to them. When the assessment is completed, the participant is given their top five “Strengths” and an analysis of how these traits, all associated with leadership, may help them in their personal, academic, and professional goals. 

A page of information is provided instantly about each of the Strengths, but the staff of the Center for Student Success recommend that students come in and talk to a Success Counselor trained in CliftonStrengths for a personal analysis. 

“There is no such thing as leaders and followers – [leadership] is a practice, not a position,” Director of Student Leadership Jess Gorgas said. “The 34 Strengths are all different practices you can take on.”

The incoming first-year class was told to take the test via an online portal before the school year started. Residence Life, Student Health and Wellbeing, all Resident Assistants, and the Peer Advising Leaders have received some training in CliftonStrengths.

College third-year Gavin Cahill received some CliftonStrengths training as an RA, but wasn’t given a way to implement the program with his residents, aside from scheduling a community-wide training session with the Center for Student Success. 

“I feel like as a get-to-know-each-other thing it was effective, but as an actual activity, not really,” Cahill said. “At least in my opinion, and some of the others I’ve talked to, it’s not a very good system.” 

The Center for Student Success believes the program is part of a wider effort to expand the center to cater to Oberlin’s entire student body. Jacob Dunwiddie, another CSS staff member, joined the committee working on CliftonStrengths after experiencing its effects in a past position. 

“Rather than thinking about things you’re not good at, this is a language students can use and instead say, what are you good at? And how do we use that to help?” Dunwiddie said. 

CliftonStrengths differs as a program in comparison to another popular analytical questionnaire, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator test, which has been largely discounted as an analytical tool alongside other personality tests. Nevertheless other campuses have also adopted the CliftonStrengths program including Kansas State University, University of Nebraska Lincoln, and North Carolina State University. 

“CliftonStrengths is not a personality test — dead stop,” Assistant Dean of Student Success Rebecca Morrow, who has been trained in MBTI in the past, said. “I don’t love MBTI so much, because it does kind of put you in a box. [With CliftonStrengths], you can take what fits you and maximize that and make that what you use.”

The CSS is continuing to offer training on CliftonStrengths throughout the semester, including a Winter Term project. Students can find more information about upcoming events relating to Strengths on the CSS’s Presence website and make an appointment to discuss their Strengths via Engage.