Cole Scholars Prepare for Political Life By Matthew Van Winkle
			SEPTEMBER 22, 1998--"The black community can decide who wins a political race in New York City," says Samuel Taylor, a junior from Sacramento, California. And he should know. This summer, with a Cole scholarship from the Oberlin College Initiative in Electoral Politics (OCIEP), Taylor helped coordinate longtime New York City councilman Peter Vallone's outreach to the African-American community. He informed the community of Vallone's efforts to fund sickle-cell-anemia research, protect black jobs, and prevent police brutality. "The Cole Program allowed me to work with the black community to remove some of the apathy that has unfortunately blinded it," says Taylor. Taylor was one of eight students who worked for Democratic and Republican candidates in Michigan, California, Connecticut, New York, and Ohio over the summer as part of the Cole program. (See "Eight Oberlin Students to Sample Electoral Politics This Summer" in the May 22, 1998, Observer.) For the past six years, between five and eight students have worked in campaigns, political party headquarters, and media organizations as Cole Scholars. In 1992 Richard and Dorothy Cole, both members of the Class of 1956, started the program to create a political foothold for Oberlin students with ambition to solve social problems. "The students recognize there are real stakes," says Eve Sandberg, assistant professor of politics, who helps coordinate the program. "They are engaged with the ethical questions that go with campaigning." The three-part OCIEP prepares the socially engaged students for political campaigns. The meat--a summer internship with a political campaign--is sandwiched between spring and fall electoral-politics courses. The spring course acquaints students with current issues in American politics and teaches them campaign skills. The fall course integrates the lessons from the spring with the students' experience in the field.