BA, Oberlin College, 1992, History

Over two years ago, I read an article written in 1973 entitled "Sport is Unfair to Women." While researching possible honors topics, I remembered that article. Preliminary research uncovered a wealth of information on women's athletics, Title IX, and the continuing problems faced by female athletes. By sheer coincidence, I learned that Oberlin College was investigated for possible Title IX violations. Further inquiry revealed that little if any research existed concerning the history of Oberlin's young women's athletic program. Before I could say "Jack Scott," the topic entranced me, and I remain under its spell to this day. If ever I have experienced love with an academic project, this thesis embodies those feelings. I became fascinated with how the program evolved to its present state. Working with the premise that Title IX provided a subtle impetus behind the growth of the women's athletic program at Oberlin College, I began my research. Many of the law's effects were hidden by the overwhelming personality of Jack Scott, the director of athletics in the early 1970s. Yet, I wanted to trace the major developments in the program to ascertain the causes behind these changes. I wanted to examine Oberlin College's response to a specific gender issue in light of federal legislation and a vocal constituency in favor of women's athletics.

Committee: Carol Lasser (Advisor) Subjects: Education; History; Sports Management

BA, Oberlin College, 2012, Psychology

Spatial cognition has been implicated in the perception and production of music within both behavioral and neurological experimental paradigms. Using performance on mental rotation of a three-dimensional object, the present study examined the visuo-spatial abilities of conservatory and non-conservatory students. Participants performed the rotation task under no distraction followed by performance with an interference task, which consisted of detecting either tempo or pitch changes. Conservatory students performed better on the mental rotation task both with and without interference. Musical structure (Western classical versus Indian classical) and musical aspect (tempo changes and pitch changes) influenced how much interference was produced in the mental rotation task. The results confirm the relation between music cognition and spatial cognition with the complexity introduced by the musical structure itself.

Committee: Patricia deWinstanley (Advisor); Arnie Cox (Committee Member); Al Porterfield (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Cognitive Psychology; Experimental Psychology; Experiments; Music; Psychological Tests; Psychology; Quantitative Psychology

BA, Oberlin College, 2006, Anthropology

This thesis examines the issues that have become enmeshed in the body politic of the current generation of Asian/Pacific American student activists at Oberlin College. It discusses students' personal trials as they confront academic burnout, institutional amnesia, and a continued lack of support for A/PA studies, through a case study of activism in motion. Other aspects of this research include the role of identity in pan-ethnic Asian American community organizing, the power dynamics of identity and the strategic deployment of identity as a political tool (Lowe 1991, Espiritu 1992). In addition, the project highlights emerging concerns in the community and highlights the relationship between shifting membership and changes in admissions demographics. Examples of some of the new challenges that AAA faces are the difficulty of forming and maintaining new alliances, controversy within the community about the expansion of a focus on "Asian America" to one on "Asian/Pacific America," and the inclusion of South Asians within the movement.

Committee: Valentina Pagliai (Advisor); Linda Grimm (Committee Chair); Theresa Mah (Other) Subjects: Asian American Studies

BA, Oberlin College, 2010, Anthropology

This thesis explores the ways in which straight, cisgender Oberlin College students conceive of gender, and is based upon ethnographic data collected from interviews the author conducted with fifteen informants. Oberlin College is known for its acceptance of gay and transgender students, and the ways in which Oberlin College students self-actively challenge gender norms is visible everywhere, from the gender identity oriented course offerings to the all-gender bathrooms common across campus. The overarching conception of gender at Oberlin College that is prevalent and dominant challenges traditional ideas of gender and gender identity as being fixed to the body, biological, and rooted in sexual dimorphism, and instead asserts that gender is fluid, socially and culturally constructed, and one's own choice. After attending Oberlin College, the author's informants do not subscribe only to the Oberlin conception of gender or the traditional conception of gender, but rather see gender and their own gender identities through dual, competing conceptions. The informants' experiences integrating such different conceptions of gender range from jarring collisions to graceful adaptations and mixtures of each. These differences in reactions are influenced by their experiences prior to Oberlin—the more familiar they were with the ways gender is presented and discussed on campus prior to coming here, the more likely they are to accept and embrace them. The Oberlin conception and the traditional conception of gender have distinct implications for the ideological formation of male and female informants as pertaining to gender; the male informants tend to feel more comfortable with, and embrace, the traditional conception of gender, while the female informants feel liberated by, and tend to embrace, the Oberlin conception of gender instead. All informants have been affected by their exposure to Oberlin's ideas about gender, whether or not they embrace them wholeheartedly.

Committee: Jack Glazier (Advisor); Baron Pineda (Other) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology

BA, Oberlin College, 2020, Archeological Studies

Housed in Oberlin College's Religion department, the Oberlin Near East Study Collection encompasses a wide variety of archaeological material from the Southern Levant. Its roughly 650 artifacts encompass a vast time span from the Epipaleolithic to the Modern Period with most objects coming from the Iron Age. As a teaching collection, the objects were used to vivify Biblical texts for generations of students in Oberlin's School of Theology and later in the College's department of Religion. Starting in the 1980s, the collection began to receive only limited use with its contents being largely forgotten. This thesis utilizes the collection's artifacts, archival documentation, and secondary sources to reconstruct the history of how the collection was assembled and how it was used to teach at Oberlin College. By focusing on these themes, the collection can be used as a proxy to better understand a chapter in the field of Biblical Archaeology as well as the wide variety of collecting strategies employed by Biblical Archaeologists.

Committee: Cynthia R. Chapman (Advisor); Amy Vlassia Margaris (Advisor) Subjects: Archaeology; Biblical Studies; Museum Studies; Religion

BA, Oberlin College, 2020, Economics

This paper studies the personal characteristics and factors that determine alumni giving using a dataset from Oberlin College from 1974-2019. Liberal arts colleges like Oberlin are especially dependent on gifts to cover operating expenses and fund endowments as they don't receive direct public funding. Using Logit and Tobit regression, I find that females, graduates, age, alumni whose spouse attended Oberlin, being married, and GPA are associated with higher giving. Media coverage in years when Oberlin faces bad press lowers giving. The state charitable tax deduction increases giving on the intensive margin (total amount donated) but not the extensive margin (likelihood to give). Additionally, findings suggest taking longer to graduate, enrollment in the Conservatory, and living in rural areas are associated with lower giving. Athletics, race, and undergraduate financial aid do not affect giving.

Committee: Barbara J. Craig Professor (Committee Chair); Ron Cheung Professor (Advisor); Martin Saavedra Professor (Advisor) Subjects: Economics

BA, Oberlin College, 2018, Latin American Studies

This project offers a new perspective for understanding the country and culture of Chile by examining the messages embedded in sport competitions. I will first detail the success of distance runner Manuel Plaza in his second-place finish at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, and analyze how Plaza's success at an international competition was adopted and interpreted to represent the entrance of Chile into modern and Western society. I will then discuss the struggle between different sections of Chilean society to create and monopolize the master narrative of the events that took place following the military coup of 1973. This section will demonstrate how sporting symbols like the National Stadium, World Cup, and Chilean national futbol team were used as the battleground to propagate these conflicting narratives. This project aims to understand how definitions of chilenidad, or Chilean identity, have evolved over time, and explore the intersection of chilenidad and sport. Drawing upon historical, political, and literary frameworks, this project advocates for the continued study of sport within the field of area studies, in order to learn from the cultural significance that sport carries.

Committee: Yago Colás (Advisor); Claire Solomon (Committee Member); Patrick O'Connor (Committee Chair) Subjects: Latin American Studies

BS, Kent State University, 2008, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

During the uneasy years predating the American Civil War, self-proclaimed prophets and messengers of God traveled the frontier proclaiming their interpretations of truth as revealed through Protestant Christianity. As they attempted to convert the nation, they conceived American utopias which, constructed within a sacred history of Christianity, played an important role in redefining the religion in North America. As part of the process of establishing these utopias, individuals interested in the conversion of society utilized and revised the “New Haven” theology of Yale College, from which would emerge a reconstructed concept of “sanctification” in Oberlin, Ohio. These individuals would use this theology to form the basis for their attempts to reform society, applying religious meaning to social action. In Lorain County, Ohio, we can observe these changes in religious thought and practice as numerous “religious virtuosi” carried out social action which they considered to be bound to a sacred history. In tandem with social action would come ecclesiastical conflict, tearing the New England Plan of Union asunder. This thesis is interested in how reformers' attempts to create heaven on earth would result in conflict highlighted by a series of events which would ultimately change the religious landscape of the county as it contributed to and reflected the changing face of religion in America.

Committee: David Odell-Scott PhD (Advisor); Guy E. Wells PhD (Advisor); Leonne Hudson PhD (Committee Member); Leslie Heaphy PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; History; Religious History

PHD, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

Giles Shurtleff died in the early 20th Century a local hero. His life, which had been followed with great interest in his adopted hometown of Oberlin, Ohio, was filled with military feats of glory. Breveted Brigadier General, Shurtleff's war story was well known. He was a recent graduate of the college, and a tutor of Latin when the Civil War began. Shurtleff led a company of Oberlin boys into the conflict, only to be captured at his first major engagement. Although his actions helped save many in his regiment, Shurtleff was off to several Confederate prisons over the next year. When he was released, instead of returning to the Oberlin regiment, he became a staff officer of General Orlando Wilcox, and was on the front lines during the Union disaster at Fredericksburg. Sickness took him out of the service, but only briefly. The Oberlininte returned to lead a regiment of black soldiers in a desperate battle where he was seriously wounded while leading his men to victory. Upon his recovery, Shurtleff returned to his men, and served his country with enormous dedication. This story was well known. Shurtleff's life story, however, is quite a bit larger than his impressive military career. He entered Oberlin virtually penniless, and worked his way through the school's preparatory department, college department, and graduate school. His impressive work resulted in job offers from Oberlin and at least one other college. He returned to Oberlin after the war to teach, and became a very successful fund raiser for the school and was named its treasurer. He retired as a prominent Oberlinite and a trustee of the college. As the Civil War receded into memory, Shurtleff remained on view in Oberlin, as a bronze sculpture of him remains one of the few statues of a human in that college town known for its artistic temperament. Shurtleff's story is significant for much more than just the compelling narrative of his life. In addition to his obvious importance in Ohi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Leonne Hudson PhD (Advisor); Bradley Keefer PhD (Committee Member); Clarence Wunderlin PhD (Committee Member); Babacar M'Baye PhD (Committee Member); Landon Hancock PhD (Committee Chair) Subjects: History

BA, Oberlin College, 2016, Sociology

In his 2007 book Shopping Our Way to Safety, sociologist Andrew Szasz coined the term inverted quarantine to describe a phenomenon in the way that Americans react to the changing natural environment. Inverted quarantine, or the impulse to remove one's self from perceived environmental dangers, often manifests in consumption behavior such as consuming only organic food, drinking filtered or bottled water, moving from a city to a suburb, or even being enclosed in a gated community. Although inverted quarantine may result in some form of protection, in the long run it is unsustainable in the face of the changing natural environment. Through investigations in literature and in-depth interviews with Ohio farmers, Oberlin College students, and parents in Fairfield County, Connecticut, this study examines the different way that environmental dangers are perceived and addressed across three different demographics.

Committee: Christie Parris (Advisor) Subjects: Environmental Justice; Environmental Studies; Gender Studies; Social Psychology; Social Research; Sociology

BA, Oberlin College, 2016, Psychology

In today's world where climate change consequences are apparent, we need to be searching for ways to encourage more pro-environmental behaviors. Connectedness to nature, which is the sense of kinship and sense of community with the natural world, is one factor that has been shown to promote pro-environmental behavior. While architecture types have been tested with states of well-being, they have never been assessed to examine the effects on one's connectedness to nature. This study used Seeley G. Mudd Center (Mudd) and the Adam Joseph Lewis Center (AJLC) at Oberlin College to determine whether biophilic types of architecture versus architecture without any natural aspects can heighten or lower ones sense of feeling connected to nature. Our findings suggest that the AJLC can heighten the participants' connectedness to nature, while Mudd can lower the participants' connectedness to nature scores. We also found that a person's state connectedness to nature partially mediates the relationship between building and ranking of environmental issues. Lastly, we found that there isn't any difference between actively and passively engaging with the architecture. This indicates that architecture with natural aspects can raise people's kinship with the natural world, which can promote more pro-environmental behaviors and concern for environmental issues.

Committee: F. Stephan Mayer (Advisor); Cindy McPherson Frantz (Committee Member); Paul H. Thibodeau (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture; Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Climate Change; Environmental Science; Environmental Studies; Psychology; Social Psychology

BA, Oberlin College, 2016, History

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a globally renowned German Expressionist, painted one of his most famous works, Self-Portrait as a Soldier, in 1915. Today it hangs in Oberlin College's Allen Memorial Art Museum and is greatly sought after around the world for loan exhibitions. Yet the painting did not always have such a great demand; painted during Kirchner's experience as a World War I Soldier and publicly denounced by the Nazis, the painting realized a complicated journey to the United States and its eventual global fame. So how did it arrive at where it is today and why? This paper will examine in-depth the path of this painting and along the way its failures and successes, its popularity and its defamation; it will attempt to unlock the mystery of German Expressionism's relationship to politics and ultimately project a key understanding as to why reception of contemporary German culture in the United States was much better received after World War II than before. It will demonstrate how Self-Portrait as a Soldier's political identity changed with the context of its varying environments. Most importantly it will demonstrate the ability of art to tell history in a way that politics never could.

Committee: Leonard V. Smith (Advisor) Subjects: Art History; History

BA, Oberlin College, 1963, History

Now trying to recover a short part of the past life of Oberlin, I have relied heavily upon The Oberlin Review for factual data and insight into the atmosphere of the times. By spot-checking the other town newspapers, The Oberlin Tribune and The Oberlin News with The Review, I concluded that the review is a reasonably reliable source. To help construct the skeletal chronology of events I turned two other periodicals besides The Review. These included the Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer, The Oberlin College Alumni Magazine, and The Oberlin College Bulletin. These contained such valuable information as the nature of and the enrollment in college classes, geographical distribution of students, reports of the various departments, summaries of the events at Oberlin, and the college calendar. Secondary sources such as Donald Love's Henry Churchill King of Oberlin, the often inaccurate master's thesis of Katherine Hyde, The Colleges in the World War, and Allan Bailey's Mock Conventions in Oberlin 1860-1932 offered supporting material and a few insights.

Committee: Geoffrey Blodgett (Advisor) Subjects: History

BA, Oberlin College, 1990, History

This paper tells the story of four men. They are, by the standards of history, obscure individuals, not nationally known and their names will not be found in the texts on American history. Yet, their lives are important in the on-going attempt to understand the abolitionists' response to slavery. Samuel Lyle Adair, John Huntington Byrd, Harvey Jones and Horatio N. Norton were tied to a common mission--the defeat of slavery in Kansas. Between 1854 and 1856 all four emigrated to Kansas as missionaries of the American Missionary Association. Upon arrival, they established churches and preached a message of Christian brotherhood to often unsympathetic congregations. The Kansas they encountered was scarred by the struggle over slavery. Harsh frontier living conditions combined with the almost daily sectional violence to create an environment of hardship and struggle. Yet all remained in Kansas and refused to turn away from the struggle for freedom.

Committee: Gary Kornblith (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; History

Master of Arts, Oberlin College, 1973, Sociology

This thesis is concerned with certain aspects of the socialization of aspiring professional musicians. Specifically, it deals with factors which influence a music student's self-appraisal of his skill and his choice of a specific profession within the music world.

Committee: Kiyoshi Ikeda (Advisor); Stephen Cutler (Other); James Walsh (Other) Subjects: Music

BA, Oberlin College, 2008, Economics

As concern over global climate change and fears of rising energy costs permeate our collective and individual decision making, more and more private institutions are seeking out innovative and feasible solutions to meet these issues. Many colleges and universities throughout the United States have been among the first private and public institutions to dedicate themselves to positions of climate neutrality and have begun to incorporate the ethics of conservation and commitment to environmental sustainability into their primary objectives. To date nearly five hundred institutions of higher education have signed the American College and Universities Climate Change Commitment, pledging to take immediate and prolonged action to reduce their foot print of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Undoubtedly many of these schools will be able to implement extensive and inexpensive improvements in the efficiency of current facilities and practices in order to meet their objectives. However for those that have committed to complete climate neutrality, such as Oberlin College, additional measures extending beyond the traditional endeavors of an educational institution may also become necessary. One such option that has received attention from the Oberlin community is the construction of a utility scale wind turbine. Although there are many other alternatives that the College may investigate, the choice to be considered here is between investing in a wind turbine or purchasing carbon offsets commercially. Naturally the college faces tradeoffs as it allocates its budget between turbines, offsets, and its myriad other operational activities, so a cost benefit analysis is particularly useful in comparing the advantages and disadvantages of investment in various turbine models. This paper addresses several primary objectives. First, the analysis conducted here will update previous research on the topic of the viability of wind power in Oberlin by incorporating spot mark (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jordan Suter (Advisor); Barbara Craig (Other); Hirschel Kasper (Other); David Cleeton (Other); Shreemoy Mishra (Other); John Scofield (Other) Subjects: Alternative Energy; Economic Theory; Economics

BA, Oberlin College, 1988, History

In searching for the first Jewish student at Oberlin College, I discovered and subsequently researched the life of, 1920 graduate Marion Benjamin Roth who started the Oberlin branch of the Menorah Society, a Jewish literary and cultural group. Mrs. Roth, whom I interviewed, started the group because she was concerned about the environment for Jewish students. In letters to Rabbi Wolsey in Cleveland she discussed her perceptions of life for Jewish students at Oberlin soon after her arrival. Marion Benjamin later reflected that Jewish students needed to have "some place that they could get together if they wanted; to discuss problems, if they had any, and to be together for a holiday. Eventually Rabbi Wolsey spoke at Oberlin. More importantly, Marion Benjamin proposed starting an Oberlin branch of the Menorah Society. In April 1918 the college faculty voted its approval for the formation of the "Menorah Association." Unfortunately, the Oberlin branch didn't last much beyond 1920 when Marion Benjamin graduated. Throughout my research on Mrs. Roth, the question of the history of Jewish students at Oberlin kept surfacing. The concerns she raised about the situation for Jewish students at Oberlin piqued my interest and I submitted a proposal to do an independent research project on the topic. My proposal was approved and in the beginning of 1988 I began researching the history of Jews at Oberlin. The paper is divided into eleven section. To put the experiences of Jewish students at Oberlin in some perspective I will first highlight American Jewish history since the turn of the century, focusing particularly on Jews and education. The rest of the paper will focus on Oberlin. In section two I will examine Oberlin's religious foundation, particularly the general aims of the college since its inception, and in section three I will look at the institutional material on application and admission trends. This material is fascinating as it shows the transformation of a small li (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carol Lasser (Advisor); Geoff Blodgett (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Educational Sociology; History; Judaic Studies; Sociology

BA, Oberlin College, 2005, Archeological Studies

My study will aim at revealing the role of system authors in creating and maintaining catalogue systems for museum collections. These systems, created to organize, structure, and keep track of the material in a museum collection, often hold the theoretical autograph of the people involved in their conception, and are "artifacts in their own right" (Southwood 2003:105). As a result, Kaplan notes, "any residual claims of innocence and objectivity are completely unfounded" (Kaplan 2002:211). To demonstrate, this paper will look extensively at the catalogue systems and reorganizations that have affected the Ethnographic Collection at Oberlin College since its codification in the late 19th century.

Committee: Linda Grimm (Advisor) Subjects: Archaeology; Museum Studies; Museums

BA, Oberlin College, 1987, History

The preceding section is the human evidence behind this paper: what did the Great Depression feel like? What was it like to live in a Hooverville? To travel across the country in a rundown Jalopy? To Jump freight trains and live in box cars? To go on relief? What impact did the depression have on the national and individual psyche? Many authors have dealt with these questions, so why do it again? First, this thesis represents a attempt to draw together all the information for myself. Second, it is also an endeavor to find what people considered then (and perhaps still do) most important in their lives. Third, it may lead to a deeper understanding of what sort of society entered the depression and how the depression changed it. The first thing to be discussed is the economics of the depression. Most importantly, Just what is a depression? No one seems to know. Economists have agreed on a definition for the term recession, but have not reached a consensus on the term depression. Five different handbooks of economics give five different definitions of the word ranging from "a severe slowdown in the economy," to "a long lasting recession in economic activity". Perhaps the best way to define a depression is to list its characteristics. Generally, business activity is far below normal, there is great pessimism among business and consumers alike, there is a sharp curtailment of production, little capital investment, contraction of credit, falling prices, mass unemployment, and a high rate of business failures.

Committee: Geoffrey Blodgett (Advisor) Subjects: American History; Economic History

BA, Oberlin College, 1978, History

Oberlin College is frequently mentioned in connection with women's education, women's rights, or the struggle for women's emancipation. The following passage from the 1834 First Circular is invariably cited: Oberlin's founders strove for"… the elevation of female character, by bringing within the reach of the misjudged and neglected sex, all the instructive privileges which hitherto have unreasonably distinguished the leading sex from theirs." Discussions seek to prove either that Oberlin is to be praised for its correct and "liberated" goals, or that it is to be condemned for hypocrisy in not going as far as publicized in the First Circular. A brief survey of the literature concerning women at Oberlin clarifies what is lacking in the analysis. One strand of thought applauds the coming of coeducation for opening up new paths for American women. James Fairchild, at various times student, teacher, and president of Oberlin College, found himself the defender of Oberlin's experiment, and of coeducation in general. Twenty years after criticizing women who spoke in public, he became the spokesman for coeducation, on the grounds that it worked."

Committee: Barbara Steinson (Advisor) Subjects: American History; Higher Education; Religion, History of