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While reading last week’s Weekly, one line immediately grasped my attention: “all first-years are being housed in residence halls exclusive to their class, similar to the majority of the country’s liberal arts colleges.” This sentence, especially the latter half, brought nearly all other concerns, personal causes, and fears discussed in the paper under one perspective. That is, the students at Occidental College struggle against a perceivably growing force that forewarns of an institution no longer “Oxy,” but one made in the pattern of other schools and formed out of the visions of those who do not directly comprise Oxy: those least affected.
Those that actively condemn dialogue about campus climate must, I would assert, not understand the devices that drive it. It is one thing to direct one’s passions towards different goals or activities, but it is quite different to undermine the community-building passions of others at our school. The drive towards dialogue at Oxy stems ultimately from a fear that we are losing what is indispensable within the concept of “Oxy.” Much criticism towards ASOC President Ryan Bowen has ensued over his orientation speech, claiming orientation was “neither the time nor the place” to bring up pervading issues of diversity and race at Oxy. However, Bowen and others spend so much time speaking to deaf ears when it is considered the appropriate time and place that the probability of being ignored drives one to seek out a time where what must be said will actually be heard. What other time do those troubled by the direction of our school have to reach the entire mass of students now isolated in first-year housing?
Dean Avery’s comment in “Full House” that students felt “devastated” when their older mentors graduated is an absurd justification for all first-year housing. A mentor cannot be found in someone of equal experience; it denies the fundamental purpose of a mentor. Thus, in reality, first-year housing limits the opportunity for first-years to find and benefit from mentorship. Furthermore, it denies upperclassmen the opportunity to demonstrate the unique differences of Oxy culture while simultaneously denying upperclassmen exposure to the revitalizing excitement of first-years. Although first-year housing develops a stronger class-connection and community, it breaks down the overall Oxy community. First-year housing is only one example of the unwelcome transformation our community faces.
By forming our school policy in the likeness of other liberal arts colleges, we are detracting from the differentiations that make Oxy stand above the others. Rather, it would seem, the continued decision-making pattern seeks to turn Oxy into yet another Claremont school. The path of destruction our celebrated Oxy culture now faces devalues the distinction and reputation of the degree I sought by choosing Oxy. I applaud those who make “controversial speeches” and write damning editorial letters. Controversy affects change. Perhaps controversy will halt the annihilation of Oxy values that drew many here in the first place.
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