Why is entrepreneurship important to Oberlin?
I think it’s important to give students the understanding that it’s okay to undertake a venture you may not feel you’re prepared for. In my experience, if you wait until you’re ready for something, you’ll never really do it. Entrepreneurs are people that don’t do well with structure, people that have conflicts with authority. You know, Ben [Cohen] is the real entrepreneur. He always liked to mix things that normally don’t go together, like candy bars and ice cream, or social missions and business. In your lecture you mentioned Oberlin’s attempt to become the “Harvard of the Midwest.” Do you think Oberlin students have changed since you attended here? Well, I hung out in the library and Wilder today for a while, and what struck me is that it seems like the same gene pool as when I went here. I really like that. The kids here and the friendship I made here were really extraordinary. What was your most powerful Oberlin memory? When the Kent State shootings happened in May of 1970, Oberlin
