Ted Morgan

As the Quakers would say, it seems we've reached a "sense of the meeting" that the College administration, or at least some of its members, behaved badly during the crisis and in the legal aftermath --at great cost to Oberlin College.  The Board of Trustees, too.

I appreciate Tom Ilgen's reflections on the dynamics and strains within small liberal arts colleges like Pitzer and Oberlin.  It brought to my mind our days as students at Oberlin.

I was struck by one item in the news article Lloyd attached to his comments, one I didn't know about.  Namely Gibson's requirement that Oberlin acknowledge publicly that the Gibsons were not racist, something Oberlin was unwilling to do, as a prelude to a repairing of relations.  I'm just guessing, but I  suspect one of the issues here is that "racism" to the Gibsons may have meant holding deeply prejudiced views of all people of color ("I'm not a racist"), whereas for the College, and especially the black students (and for many of us), it includes treating black customers as if they were suspicious or perhaps prone to shoplift.  The latter is, of course, a form of racism as Peter Griswold's  earlier mention of differential treatment of white and black individuals demonstrated (see also the old ABC Prime Time report "True Colors" that demonstrates this again and again).  I don't know if perceiving this possibility might have led Krislov to approach Gibson differently or not, but that stalemate proved very costly!

Peter Griswold

I hesitated wrting this post because we have already had such an extensive discussion about Gibson's and OC, but each new message from a classmate has added to my understanding, and I wanted to express my appreciation to Tom for writing at length about his perspective and reminding me, at least, about the importance of keeping a balance among differnt currents in human affair, in particular - leadership vs. collaboration, and civfic responsibility vs social justice.  I asked myself if civic repsonsibility and social justice are necessarily separate values, but it does seem to me that civic resonsibility includes an awareness if not concern for the needs and perspectives of others.  

Liz Ryan (Cole)

I think Paul would have us use the Class Chat for discussion and I would be happy to, but they don't seem to draw much comment and I hope everyone sees this - Oberlin Trustees are voting this weekend to change Oberlin's tradition of faculty governance to one where the Trustees call the shots.  I just sent this letter to the Board and if you find this as appalling as I do, I encourage you to do the same:  here is the address secretary.office@oberlin.edu

and here is what I sent

I am appalled to learn today that the Board of the College is so out of touch with what draws exceptional students and outstanding teachers to Oberlin that you are voting on abandoning Oberlin's long established principals of faculty governance in favor of what trustee Birnbaum describes as the the Board asking faculty to offer their opinions!   

John Barrer

Could someone explain what the faculty are worried about?  It seems to me that if the Board has the power to ammend the by-laws without the concurrence of the faculty, then the faculty didn't have much power to begin with and the board always had the power to limit the activities of the faculty.  The proposed by-law change:

"The divisional faculty bodies, subject to the guidance and approval of the Board of Trustees and consistent with the bylaws, are responsible for the internal affairs of the college in matters pertaining to educational policy, curriculum, methods of instruction, degree requirements, those aspects of student life that relate to students’ academic experience, and the evaluation of the faculty for appointment, tenure and promotion."

The original wording just gave the faculty control over "the internal affairs" of the college, whatever "internal affairs" meant in 1834.  https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/content/office/general-counsel/documents/oberlin_college_charter_bylaws_dec_2017_bot_approval.pdf

Kelly Grotke wrote this, but I don't see how it follows from the proposed change to the by-laws:

The re-writing of Article XV, section 2 severely limits the role of the faculty in initiating, debating, or approving strategic and operational directions of the College. This marks a sharp break from the Bylaws as they have stood since significant modifications in 1946 and 1949, and explicitly places the responsibility for any non-curricular changes in the hands of the President and Board. This is nothing less than a denial of the central principle of Oberlin’s system of shared governance: that the faculty are regularly and necessarily engaged in changes to the operations and strategic directions of the college.

thanks.

Amy Rothstein

Thanks so much, Liz, for posting this! I was already furious with the  mess that was made of the Gibsons case, but the power play the board plans to take with this vote is likely to dramatically change the institution we loved and respected to one that has very little similarity to the superb school it was in our day and for years to follow.If this vote is successful, I can't imagine how Oberlin will be the same school that has attracted top notch faculty and students. I definitely am sending an email to protest this board action. 

Mary Johnson (Gartner)

A new, and potentially most significant issue:  The Board of Trustees is proposing changes in the bylaws that would limit the power of the faculty.  An example:  Faculty concurrence would no longer be required in the hiring of deans.  See the following article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.  You can set up a free account for limited access.  https://www.chronicle.com/article/at-oberlin-a-bylaw-feud-feels-like-a-last-stand-for-faculty-power?cid=gen_sign_in

Jean Poppei (Eisenberg)

Thanks, Liz. I wrote as soon as I got a message from Bonnie Wishne ('69) as I experienced a version of it at the college where I taught (and advocated for faculty rights) for 37 years. Btw, we tried to unionize but got hit by the NYS Yeshiva ruling. Jean

Robert Baker

Here is the email I sent to the Board of Trustees on October 5th:

Dear Board of Trustees,

    As an Alumnus with many friends who have a family tradition of attending Oberlin, I am greatly disturbed by any suggestion of taking away the faculty voice from the governance of the institution. Such a move is completely anti-Democratic in that this nation was founded on the basic principle of governance by the governed. The goal at Oberlin should be to teach democratic values; and this approach smacks of authoritarianism. 
    While much of our early history as a country contained mistakes, this concept was not one of them. The lofty ideals that make us so proud as a nation are embodied in the fabric of Oberlin. We must not create fertile ground for authoritarianism to take root at Oberlin. Although faculty rule can be cumbersome, its process is the process of democracy, and should be what we teach our students. Expedience or financial gain should not be motivating factors, the firm financial footing that Oberlin currently enjoys is endangered more by a departure from core values than it is by a shifting climate to corporate thinking. It’s no coincidence that corporations are the least democratic constructs in our society. Liberal arts colleges should be the most democratic. 

Sincerely, 

Robert S. Baker, Class of 1968

Paula Gordon

Pitch-perfect, Bob.  Thanks for the inspiration to follow you "grounded" and poetic lead.

Mary Johnson (Gartner)

Great letter Bob!  But it appears that the die already is cast.  We need to pay special attention to the next Board of Trustees election.  Perhaps select some candidates recommended for Cluster support?

Ted Gest

I've just returned from a meeting of the Alumni Leadership Council on campus. Superficially, all is fine, with great fall colors. And we almost won a football game v. Kenyon. On the issues raised in this forum, however, there is continued strife in some quarters. Here is a brief and inconclusive report on three of them:

* Gibson's case: College officials (including trustees) will not discuss it in more detail right now, apparently because the college stilll is working with insurers about how much of the total verdict is being paid by insurance. There also is a fear (which I don't understand) of more liability, hence a continued ban on discussing the case on the college's official alumni Facebook page. I will keep everyone posted when this is resolved, but we all know the general result. It is not clear to me what budgetary cutbacks are necessary to pay what the college itself owes.

 * Reproductive health: The college insists that it was blindsided by the sudden change in the health care provider's abortion policy. It also says that students are being provided abortion-service referrals. On the question of why Oberlin didn't summarily cut off relations with the main provider when the policy was changed, the college says it needs to maintain a relationship with the operators of the hospital, which is the only health care facility in town. We will also hear more about this.

* Faculty and Finney Compact: The trustees approved the by-law changes this past weekend, so that issue is resolved for now. We talked directly to President Ambar about this. She says it is a matter of resolving a discrepancy between the college by-laws.and written faculty practices, which were in conflict over the selection of and authority of the deans. I spoke to only one faculty member about this. He believes that insurance companies were not going to insure the college as long as this discrepancy remained. My interpretation, to use the Gibson's case as an exmple, was that insurers are insisting on knowing that deans are part of the college administration and what they do reflects official college policy

This may sound obvious, but if the faculty is selectng deans and/or setting their policies and practices, it is then unclear who is in charge. I stress that I am not personally an expert on this, but both the president and the faculty member with whom I spoke did not believe that Oberlin's academic quality would be diminished by the resolution of this dispute.

We will have to see how it plays out. 

There are many unanswered questions in all three of these issues. 

Some 883 new students enrolled this fall, which I believe is far more than when we were students. I don't know how the college cramming them all into existing housing. 

I am not privy to the college's budget, but I am guessing that one motivation for enrolling more students is to obtain more tuition money.

I'm glad to try answering other questions or to get answers, if available, from the college administration.

-- Ted

Chuck Cole

In an article in today's Washington Post about the growing control of hospial beds by Catholic

hospitals, some examples are given about places where Catholic religious doctrine has reduced

patients' access to reproductive health care.  This sentence appears early in the article:

And this semester, Oberlin College had to find a new provider to prescribe contraceptives after

outsourcing student health services to a Catholic system that would not provide them.

Perhaps the plan by the BoT is to attract a different type of student--one not committed to

equality and social justics and ready to help address the problems of our modern world.

 Here is a link to the article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/10/abortion-catholic-hospitals-birth-control/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F38227f4%2F634447b4f3d9003c580bc70c%2F596af1b2ae7e8a44e7ced1f1%2F8%2F68%2F634447b4f3d9003c580bc70c&wp_cu=d9cc97ad2bc912caca5be24f71569d1a%7C4B279992964553A0E0530100007F5728

Mary-Helen Binger

I was delighted to recognize classmate Gregory Stanton on PBS NewsHour interview. Sounds like he has been doing some interesting work with Genocide Watch ( I thinks that was the organization). Did anyone else see it?

Linda Wieser

I saw it, too, and was delighted to see Greg and hear his responses.

Edward McKelvey

To all,

Pam and I are participating in a hike to raise funds for organizations addressing climate change.  While I don't want to use this website directly as part of the fundraising, it occurs to me that many of you might be interested in this.  If so, please contact me at efmck47@gmail.com.  (Note that my email address has changed; Oberlin summarily deactivated my oberlin.edu address without any advance notice in December despite an agreement to keep it in place indefinitely.)

Ralph Shapira

Our Cluster Reunion — Friday night Musical Event — Soliciting Performers

I am in charge of organizing our cluster’s musical event on Friday evening, September 29 at around 9 PM, depending on when an earlier show at the conservatory lets out (I was the only volunteer).  Our event will feature musical performances by any of us who would like to play, sing or dance for our group.  The purpose of this email is to tell you about the event and encourage you to think about participating.

If you would like to perform, please let me know what you would like to do and about how long it will last.  Based on your responses, I’ll put together a program.  An example:  Having taken up singing for the first time at the age of 76, I personally would like to sing either one, two or three songs of about 4 minutes each, the number of songs depending on how many other performers step up and how long each will be “on stage.”

I’ll send a second solicitation in mid-September when you’ve had more time to think about it.  Please let me know now or later what you would like to do.  You can respond with a public or private post here or send me an email at RalphJShapira@gmail.com

Our group will doubtless include professional musicians, and it will be a special treat to hear from them.  But rank amateurs are equally welcome and encouraged to give us a show.  The only point is to have fun.  I’m confident that each performer will be enthusiastically welcomed and applauded, whatever their skill level at our advanced age may prove to be.

Reed Cosper

For anyone who remembers Tom Ukena (bio-chem nerds perhaps?), he finished his MD PhD at H and spent a few years doing academic research. Got tired of living on grad student wages, and spent thirty years, more or less, as chief, pathology at UMass Worcester. Today he sings in a regional chorus, cultivates orchids, and recently found You Tube fame as a fly-tie master. Here’s a link to “Uke’s Brown Bug.”  Someone else named it of course. Tom’s too old school. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRCqzkR3wJ8

Liz Ryan (Cole)

This is an attempt to reply to Reed Cosper's post 

I would like to simply be able to say "what a good idea"  but let's see where this appears. LOL. liz

Donald Salisbury

I of course remember Tom Ukena well - and we remain facebook friends. He was a freshman roommate. And gosh, I had planned to come to the cluster reunion but I have a conflict. I would have much enjoyed reconnecting - but fortunately that's nowadays possible electronically!

Ralph Shapira

Reunion Music Fest

Friday 9 PM

Cat In The Cream Coffee House

180 W Lorain St (inside Hales Annex)

On Friday night, September 29th of our reunion weekend, our class will entertain one another at a Music Fest.  I’m very excited that we will begin with a group sing of the moving choral piece “The Road Home” by Stephen Paulus.  Everyone is welcome to join the chorus.  It will be led by Professor Gregory Ristow of the Conservatory, who will bring a quartet of his current students to assist us.  Youtube has the sheet music and several beautiful performances of the piece; the lyrics are shown below.

After the group sing, other classmates will be welcomed to sing, play or dance for us.  I’m soliciting any and all of you to take a turn at the mic.   As I said in my last posting:  “Our group will doubtless include professional musicians, and it will be a special treat to hear from them. But rank amateurs are equally welcome and encouraged to give us a show. The only point is to have fun. I'm confident that each performer will be enthusiastically welcomed and applauded, whatever their skill level at our advanced age may prove to be.”

So far we have but three volunteers:  Rich Zitrin, Stephen Wagner and me.  I hope there will be more.  Please send me an email at ralphjshapira@gmail.com if you’d like to perform.

The Road Home

By Stephen Paulus

Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own
That I left, that I lost
So long ago?
All these years I have wandered
Oh, when will I know
There's a way, there's a road
That will lead me home

After wind, after rain
When the dark is done
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day
Through the air there's a calling
From far away
There's a voice I can hear
That will lead me home

Rise up, follow me
Come away, is the call
With the love in your heart
As the only song
There is no such beauty
As where you belong
Rise up, follow me
I will lead you home

Richard Zitrin

Yeah, Baby!

I'm going to try to get my atrophied singing voice back in good enough shape to play two songs I wrote in the early 1970's, when I dropped out of law school and was singing and playing the piano in the Village in NYC. (Then I made a wrong turn and went back to school. Ah, well....)

I figure at our age, how bad can I screw up if I'm still standing - er, sitting at the piano and breathing - at the end of the damn thing!

- Rich

Shirley Smith (Kirsten)

I have been ravaged by a particularly virulent flea here in Berkeley Ca.. that resembles in behavior a Tonga Penetrans flea or Jigger, because it bites and burrows beneath my skin--like a tick.. leaves eggs on skin and flea dirt--bucca like impetigo lesions, blisters, plaque. It is confounding docs at Kaiser. I have head to toe invasion. Cat was successfully treated with Revolution Plus. I am looking for some heavyweights in the field to reach out to.. shirley_kirsten@yahoo.com  Has become an emergency situation. I have scanned the internet and even emailed entomologists at UC Davis with pics of fleas I have trapped in Dawn Dish Detergent. I have graphic full body pics of the bites.. etc. Of real concern to be in the right hands.  Thanks Shirley Smith Kirsten, piano. And since I am in Berkeley, one would think there are some Obies around to consult.

Elizabeth Keys (Jaffer)

With all the talk about the movie Oppenheimer, I remembered that Toni Oppenheimer, his daughter, was at Oberlin while we were. She was class of 1966. I didn't know her but I knew of her.  Here is a bit of biography about her sad life: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/toni-oppenheimer/

Dick Hobby

Elizabeth:

     Thank you for calling my attention to Toni Oppenheimer and her tragic life and suicide.  I went to the link you included and read it.

     I did not know Toni Oppenheimer.  Over the years I have thought about the fact that I was at Oberlin for four years and yet I am sure I got to know only a small percentage of the students.  So many bright interesting people there so it seems unfortunate not to know ALL of them!

      Anyway thanks for the link.

      Before going would like to recommend three films that relate to what Robert Oppenheimer unleashed with the atomic bomb:

Hiroshima Mon Amour    by Alain Resnais

Black Rain    with Michael Douglas

Kiss Me Deadly     from the novel by Mickey Spillane

Dick Hobby     '67

Ralph Shapira

ACCOMPANIMENT AVAILABLE FOR 9/29 CLUSTER MUSICAL EVENT

Many of you who might otherwise enjoy performing at our cluster’s musical event on 9/29 may have been discouraged by assuming you would have no band or instrumental accompaniment.  I can solve that problem for you.

Using a free app called Moises, I (you) can download any song from ITunes (or its non-apple equivalent) and break it into its constituent tracks, including vocal, guitar, piano, drums, etc.  Then I (you) can suppress (for example) the vocal track, which enables me (you) to sing the song with its full musical accompaniment.  You’re in effect creating your own karaoke version of the song.  That’s the way I’m going to sing my songs at our event, playing the “karaoke” version from my Iphone through the venue’s audio system using Bluetooth.

You needn’t worry about doing this for yourself — I’m willing to do it for you.  Just let me know what song you want to perform, and I will handle downloading it into Moises and playing it for you when you take the stage at the event.  Unlike a real karaoke system, the lyrics won’t be displayed, so you’ll either have to print them out and bring them with you, or memorize them.  But I recommend downloading the Moises app and the song yourself so you can practice.  ITunes charges about a buck for a song, I assume likewise with its non-apple equivalent.

Hopefully this will entice more of you to perform — right now there are only three individual performers to follow the group sing, which will kick off the evening at around 9 pm.