I reported earlier this morning about The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013.
An open question is who knew what and when. Clearly the Oberlin administration and the local police were aware of the culprits and that it was a hoax prior to the campus rallies.
But what about the Board of Trustees, which would have been watching these events unfold as the reputation of Oberlin was sullied?
I reached out to several Board members today.
Clyde McGregor, Chair of the Oberlin Board of Trustees, told me that he was “not aware” of the reports today revealing it as a hoax. When pressed as to whether the Board of Trustees had been informed previously as to the hoax, he stated that he “had not heard” the word “hoax” used with regard to it. When asked whether, regardless of the term “hoax,” the Board had been told that two students perpetrated the incidents to get a reaction, not because of racism, he stated that there were important issues of educational privacy which prevented him from answering. When pressed further to discuss the issue without regard to student identities, he declined to comment and we ended the phone call.
A call to Vice-Chair Diane Yu has not been returned. I also spoke with Karen Buck Burgess, one of the Trustees. She refused to comment at all and abruptly ended the call, promising to look at my website.
An email inquiry was made at 10:30 this morning to Scott Wargo, press spokesman for Oberlin College:
Can you tell me whether the Board of Trustees, or any of its members, were informed that the students who perpetrated the alleged hate acts on campus did it as a hoax (use whatever other word you think appropriate) for the purpose of creating a reaction, not because they believed the hateful language? If so, when were they informed, and what were they told.
Please respond as soon as possible.
No response has been received as of this writing.
Wargo also failed to respond to inquiries from The Daily Caller regarding the hoax.
Oberlin continues the wall of silence which delayed for months disclosure of the hoax. It’s time for Oberlin to reveal who knew what, and when, particularly as to the oversight exercised by the Board of Trustees.
Update 8-23-2013: At 9:44 a.m. I received the following email response from Scott Wargo:
Dear Mr. Jacobson,
Thank you for your email, but all communications with the Board of Trustees are confidential.
Best
To which I responded:
Why didn’t the President simply tell the community that the perpetrators claimed they were not motivated by racism, anti-Semitism, etc., but seeking to get a reaction from the community? That could have been done generically without identifying names.
I’ll let you know if I get any further response.
Update 8-24-2013: How could Oberlin be so cruel as to play along with the racism hoax?
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Comments
This should be pressed. Oberlin has quite a bit to answer for and I’m not talking about the actions of a couple of their students.
It sounds like they’re Fred McMurray in “The Caine Mutiny.” Yes, they vaguely remember a college called Oberlin or something, but they’re unaware of any racial issues or “hoaxes” or what have you.
Parents and students should sue the school for the disruption to their education this hoax cost them, as well as the cost to transfer to another school.
Let’s see them try to justify this in court.
I’m glad this stupid hoax was unmasked, but I’m curious about the premise for police involvement. There should be first amendment protection of even idiotic bigoted speech. So, were these also incidents of vandalism (in making graffiti) or unlawful threats made by these hoaxers?
Check out also
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/22/another-senseless-murder-youre-not-hearing-about-and-some-in-the-family-wonder-if-it-could-be-a-trayvon-martin-revenge-murder/
‘Another Senseless Murder You’re Not Hearing About — and Some in the Family Wonder If It Could Be a Trayvon Martin Revenge Murder’
3 blacks shoot a random white guy in Memphis (not the Chris Lane case in Oklahoma )
There are more of these cases, just heard an anecdotal comment that a law enforcement acquaintance of the radio talker told him there were more than 500 of these black on white shootings or beatings since the Zimmerman trial. Recent mystery shooting in Omaha couple days ago. Looks like Nobama is going to get his race war.
One more reason we need to get the federal government OUT of the education business altogether. It won’t immediately reverse the pervasive corruption of our institutions, but there is little sense underwriting it.
Notice also that of the 88 faculty members at Duke who paid for and signed a full page newspaper ad condemning the Lacrosse team, only one has offered any sort of admission they were wrong and none have apologized.
The penalty from Duke to faculty members who unfairly defamed students? None. No one was fired or reprimanded, several have been promoted, most have received salary increases.
Hmmm. Well, this gives me a new one-liner to use on threads with all the race baiters:
Dich sind ein Oberliner!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I think dich is singular objective / dative of du .
Du bist einen Oberliner . Sie Sind einer Oberberliner. Iirc .
But I do agree dich sounds effective .
This is so especially horrible because there ARE still pockets of unrepentant racists here and there.
If THEY ever do something now, who will ever believe it?
I mean, these jokers are doing a real disservice to those of us who really care, heart and soul, about seeing an end to REAL racism. It’s so rare these days, it’s close to extinct, but I still want to be listened to if and when I see it and call attention to it.
Thanks to these attention-seeking morons, everyone will say “well 12 out of 12 of the last so-called ‘racist’ incidents have been hoaxes; this one probably is too”.
Listen, race-hoaxsters:> YOU ARE NOT HELPING.
While you have a point, the racist actions of the black criminals and the race baiters is creating a backlash among people who would otherwise be “live and let live”. There are a lot of fed up people out there.
[…] William Jacobson is doing follow-up on Oberlin. Obie admin is still not talking. But Jacobson asks important questions such as why […]
Dear Oberlin College and Oberlin Liberals,
We are coming for you.
We are relentless, we will not give up, we are smart and we are going to run you down in Street of Public Opinion like the lying dogs you are.
We will have you, we will torment you with the truth and we will out you in front of all humanity.
We are coming for you and we will have you. Soon.
[…] | I’d like to delve a little deeper into the “hoax” framing of this story, which is getting lots of traction on right-wing […]
Good grief: It looks like “Fake But Accurate” is the line the Left is going to take on this one —
These people have no shame.
I think Michelle Malkin is going to ruin them single handedly.
They will not recover .
[…] What did the Oberlin Board of Trustees know about the racism hoax, and when did it know it? (legalinsurrection.com) […]
[…] and blogger William Jacobson, who has pressed the administration for months about the cover-up, notes: “Oberlin continues the wall of silence which delayed for months disclosure of the hoax. It’s […]
I wonder if there was any coordination of this hoax between Oberlin and the OFA.
[…] There are other adults who deserve to be called out. As Cornell law professor and blogger William Jacobson, who has pressed the administration for months about the cover-up, notes: “Oberlin continues the wall of silence which delayed for months disclosure of the hoax. It’s time for Oberlin to reveal who knew what, and when, particularly as to the oversight exercised by the Board of Trustees.” […]