Below you’ll find a small portion of the many comments about a recent Student Health Center change which were posted, during the first half of September 2022, on the two websites which were created for our 50th reunions. You’re invited to add your  Reply  on this topic right here on this Cluster website; scroll down below.

These are only a few edited excerpts. To read all the Class of 1968 comments, go to https://www.oberlincollege-con68.com/class_forum.cfm. However, you won’t be able to add your own thoughts there unless you’re a member of that website.

To read all the Class of 1969 comments (plus a lot of birthday greetings), go to https://www.oberlin69reunion.com/class_whats_new.cfm. However, you won't see the most recent comments unless you’re a member of that website.

We’d be glad to make you a guest member of either the 1968 or 1969 website, or both! Simply send a message to us here at the Cluster website using the  Contact Us  function.

And you can always start a new topic on this site's  Discussion Forums .

Paul Safyan ’68:   By now, many of you have seen or heard of the article by Bob Kuttner ’65 about the health care system in Oberlin suddenly declining to offer reproductive health and elective birth control services to Oberlin students. At the beginning of the pandemic, Oberlin partnered with a Catholic corporate-owned health care system. It had been well-satisfied with their services at Allen Hospital and its clinics. The hospital had assured the college that it would maintain the above services despite the religious values of its ownership. However, they have recently stated in a letter to the College that they are no longer comfortable providing such services and will cease offering them. Mr. Kuttner told this story with great dismay.

From Kuttner’s article:   The current college president, Carmen Twillie Ambar, has been on a tear to cut costs. She made a contract with Harness Health Partners, a subsidiary of Bon Secours Mercy, a Catholic health system. Last April, Ambar laid off the entire health center staff in favor of the pending contract. One nurse practitioner had solely treated women patients, providing gynecological exams and dispensing birth control. Approximately 40 percent of Oberlin student health visits were about sexual health. But the aptly named Harness won’t even cover contraception for unmarried students. Ambar assured students that reproductive services would continue as before. In her "welcome back" letter to students on August 25, Ambar wrote, “The Student Health Center, for example, will continue to provide prescriptions for birth control and Plan B, referrals for those seeking an abortion, and STI testing and treatment.” But this is simply not true.

Paul Safyan ’68:   There is an outcry from many corners of the Oberlin community. President Ambar has responded to Mr. Kuttner’s article at some length. A crucial section of her response is that the College has found an alternative local partner for these services [Family Planning Services of Lorain County], and there will be no gap in their administration.

John Field ’69:   Her latest statement (out yesterday, August 29) that Mercy Catholic had “suddenly”’ “in the last few days,” “changed course to in fact not provide contraceptive services,” was a pathetic spin. Ugh! Only after intense media exposure was she forced to backtrack and cancel that contract. She cut health services to only 3 days per week in Oberlin. Other days, students must get themselves into Elyria to get care. For people needing immediate access to Plan B or to “PREP” (protection against a recent HIV exposure), it's critical to get seen right away, and not lose time waiting for an appointment in Elyria!

Daniel Miller ’68:   The health care was contracted with a Catholic hospital, which meant Oberlin knew from the get-go that a college with more women than men was going to have more than half its students getting inferior gynecological care. Instead of dealing with two caretakers, it should have been obvious to start with a caretaker that was all-inclusive.

George Spencer-Green ’69:   Sad story about Oberlin and the steps they have chosen to cut costs. Sad story not just about Oberlin, but the way our whole higher education system has run up costs so exorbitantly, making it so difficult for those of limited means to attend college.

Ronald Rapoport ’69:   My sophomore year at Oberlin, Saul Alinsky spoke. One of his lines, taken from Talleyrand: “This is worse than sin, it's stupid.”

Michael Sabiers ’69:   During my last two years at Oberlin I also worked full time (!) as a reporter for The Journal in Lorain. Here are a couple of pages. Sad to say the "abortion referral service" may be needed again on campus, given Ohio's current laws.

Jessica Rosenberg ’68:   As a woman, I find it dismaying that, given the long sorry record of Catholic health care systems, Oberlin made this arrangement at all and let it remain in place as long as it did. (A bit of comfort for my disappointment that my daughter chose Mt. Holyoke over Oberlin.)

Alice Slutsker Lawrence ‘69:   This un-Oberlin-like behavior seems to be spreading into many facets of the college, including their recent union-trampling activities, their poor decisions re student health services, etc. I cringe to think what might be coming next.

Matthew Rinaldi ’69:   Oberlin College is now an elite business which has brutalized unions and townspeople. Wonder why the working class in Ohio is angry at the "elites"?

Michael Lubas ’69:   Interesting to me is that just a few years ago so many, myself included, believed the dog & pony schmaltz of Ambar. Yet slowly, among a politically diverse spectrum of Obies, the sense of something amiss began percolating. Ambar & Friends spoke of Oberlin as if they were Oberlin. It was a non-sequitur as we watched, listened and evaluated actions, not just talk. Now we see how the spirit of Oberlin has been subjected to a painful “arm-bar” where the only option is submission or fracture. I for one, having a very different mindset from a John Field or Matt Rinaldi and so many other worthy Obies, am in solidarity with all who call to account, and not submit to, a foreign spirit of Oberlin… even if the cost is fracture.

Ted Gest ’68:   As our class's only representative on the Alumni Leadership Council, I'm glad to convey the thoughts on this forum to the college administration. The Council is meeting at Oberlin in early October and is sure to learn more about this. Any other suggestions?