Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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Bl3l Stdskhouse, hOUSQTlIFOt tor ot Harkncss urop New measure sought to ease budgetary woes Oberlin's already bared-to-the-bone budget had to be cut yet more in planning for 1976, In January President Danenberg announced his new budget - the product of months of hard work and discussion. This budget was the first since 1972-3 not projecting a deficit. Obviously a raise in tuition, room, and board fees was necessary to meet the cost of living inflation experienced across the country, but even more revenue than these increases could bring had to be generated. This year marked the institution of many new methods for raising additional monies. A differential tuition fee 6570 first semester, 4570 second semesterl was proposed to help the budget in two ways. First, such a charge makes staying on campus second semester more financially prudent, which offsets a traditional second semester underenrollment. Second, the charge defrays the costs of even a reduced attrition experienced most second semesters. In 1976 we noted the institution of a voluntary alumni magazine subscription fee, proposed to bring in $10,000. Also, beginning in 1977, Oberlin applicants will have to pay more to be considered for admission; this increased fee is expected to pull in an additional $25,000. The transfer credit fee for summer courses and semesters away from Oberlin $10 per credit up to 8 and $5 for every credit above BI created the most controversy of all the revenue-increasing schemes. Students felt insulted that they had to pay a l'punishment fee for taking courses Oberlin does not offer. Such complaints were particularly valid in the Russian and Judaic Near-Eastern Studies UNESI departments, whose faculty slots were cut due to budget problems. Therefore, Russian students were not only compelled to take courses at other universities, but they were financially punished for doing so. This fee is expected to provide the College with an extra $25,000. A cut of $22,000 from the College's subsidy to off-campus rental operations was the second largest budget reduction, next to a $31,000 cut in financial aid. The Budget Advisory Committee had suggested cutting financial aid by $42,000; however, in drawing up the final budget, Danenberg chose to make the cut $11,000 less than BAC recommended. The entire Oberlin community is concerned about next years budget planning. The Oberlin Review, which suggested that a bare-to-the-bones budget is 1'down to the vital organs proposed that using endowment money to meet operation costs be considered as an alternative to cutting funds from important areas of an Oberlin education. Also suggested was that instead of partially cutting many areas in stop-gap budget-saving measures, cuts should be directed toward one or two areas. Oberlin's 1977 budget depends largely on the national economic atmosphere; if inflation is not considerably less than it has been in recent years, Oberlin has no choice but to decide where to add revenue and where to cut expenses. Co-ops strike and win. On April 26, 1975, Oberlin Student Co- operative Association president-elect Dan Hotchkiss requested a re-analysis of the rates paid by co-opers to the Housing and Dining office, specifically through the General Fee. Dayton Liv- ingstonls explanations of fixed costs of the dining halls and dormitories and Dean Richard Dahlls rationale of dorms serving broader functions which are open to the entire student body'l contrasted with co-opers' feel- ings that they were subsidizing college residents and boarders. Hotchkiss ar- gued that more than half of the Gener- al Fee was used to pay for Housing and Dining services, and that co-opers were forced to pay for services which they, in actuality, never enjoyed. 50, throughout the 1975-6 school year, a rent strike was waged against the Col- lege by co-opers; late in May the strike was settled through binding arbitration in the co-ops' favor. In dollars and cents, the rent strike meant approxi- mately an extra refund of $60 for the year to co-op boarders-only and an extra refund of $90 to roomers-and- boarders. 29

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MINORITY GOAL SUPPORTED BY CF A rally and strike of student workers on May 5 in support of a numerical goal for the Colleges minority student recruitment culminated a year-long concern with the issue. In October the Oberlin Review reported that the Office of Admissions had consciously limited the minority enrollment for 1976-7 to seventy minority financial aid recipients and ten minority non-financial aid recipients. This limit disregarded the General Faculty legislation of 1971 which had committed the College to a target of I10 minority students per year Carl Bewigy Director of Admissions, told the Review We have reduced minority enrollment to the extent that we have to limit those students who are on financial aidf' The problem seemed a purely financial one. In order to meet the 110 minority student goal, the College would have had to set aside, exclusively for minority students, more than half of its $545,700 financial aid budget. The College felt that such a division was inequitable and decided to spend $200,0CD Iapproximately 3700 of the totall for minority financial aid. President Danenberg denied that the College had ever changed its policy on minority recruitment. Akiba Sullivan, director of Afrikan Heritage House, in October ... Any time any group wants to start segregating, they can do it almost perfectly along financial lines, she told the Review. In April the General Faculty was charged with the responsibility of deciding the College's future minority enrollment policy. The Committee to Review Minority Programs twhich had spent months researching and analyzing data on minority programs and performance at Oberlinl recommended to CF that a commitment of 35-38070 of the finanacial aid budget be made to minority students. This percentage goal would clear up the internal contradictions of the 1971 legislation which proposed 110 blacks and latinos enroll in Oberlin each year, but limited the expenditure of the financial aid to minorities to 3106 per year. The College has found that even 50070 of the budget cannot accommodate this number. The General Faculty did not establish a numerical goal but approved the 353-3896 financial aid expenditure in its first vote on the subject. However, after a massive show of support by the student body for a numerical goal, the CF reconsidered and decided in favor of stating a target goal of 110 minority students enrolled per year and a commitment of 35-38070 of the financial aid budget to minority students. The supporters felt that even though the numerical goal probably will not be lawngmgbwtkn. la EHUV'ERAJ'uaAq-h. e. achieved in the next few years, it is important to have that figure as a stated, on-the-record target. expressed her feeling that the problem was not merely a financial one. I'l think they are capitalizing on the financial issue to exclude blacks and other minorities from this school The year . . . briefly :Vrhcaw- 46vmwin Reverend L. Peter Beebe, removed as rector of Christ Church in March, 1976, won his appeal in an Episcopal clerical review court in late April. Beebe supported women's ordination in defiance of Bishop John Burtls ruling against it by inviting two women priests, Allison Cheek and Carter Heywood, to celebrate the Eucharist at his church A vocal majority in the parish was opposed to Beebe's illegal defiance of Church authority i lk 3'! :0: On April 2, 1976, the Board of Trustees appointed David Boe dean of the Conservatory. Boe became acting dean in spring of 1975 following former dean Emil Danenberg's selection as president of Oberlin College. Boe mentioned that his plans for the Conservatory include improvement of the proportion of women and minority members on the faculty, hiring of a costume and scene designer for work in opera productions, and eventual faculty positions in ethnomusicology, vocal coaching, jazz, and eurythmics. xx :0: 2i: xix In a year when Yale returned to a standard grading system and when academic ethics have been undermined by flagrant violations of honor codes, Oberlin College experienced its share of discussion about and adoption of more conservative academic practices. In October new rules for academic standing established more stringent credit requirements for freshmen and sophomores to stay off academic probation. The Educational Plans and Policies Committee devoted much time to a consideration of reinstitution of distribution requirements, which Oberlin had abolished in February of 1972 Extreme concern about entrance into graduate schools or ability to find employment upon graduation is presumed to be the major factor in an increased emphasis on strict academics nation-wide. Ijlmh

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