Scrolling through our Oberlin College tag presents a very sorry recent history of the campus.
The Great Oberlin College Racism Hoax of 2013 was not used an opportunity to examine the campus grievance culture, but rather, as an excuse to to advance “even more extreme policies”. A student wrote to me at the time:
I’d like to personally thank you for your coverage of the Oberlin hate hoax. Many students… have been following your site and are glad that somebody is helping to get the word out about the Oberlin administration’s response.The Daily Caller story just grazes the surface of what really happened. The administration didn’t just allow students to live in fear, they actually used that fear to get students to push for even more extreme policies on campus. Many students formed into “working groups” to propose solutions for “institutional change”, nearly all of which have been approved by the administration and are being enacted.
An alumnus also contacted me:
I am an Oberlin College graduate in Chemistry…. I am still very active in science program management and know many people in my field, including faculty at Oberlin.Your detailed article on the Oberlin racism hoax is very troubling to me. The actions taken by the administration over the past six months seriously damage the reputation of the College in the outside world. More important, however, is the internal damage that is ongoing at the College. The plans for re-education of faculty in the Natural Sciences and the Conservatory are of grave concern. Both the science departments and the Conservatory have national reputations for the quality of the faculty and the education and post-graduation accomplishments of students. The full implementation of the proposed plans would make it extremely difficult for faculty in these areas to continue to provide a meaningful education.The Alumni Office sent a short email on August 24, copied at the end of this message. [My note: It’s the same statement as described here.] It does not admit to any responsibility on the part of the President and other officials for what happened. This is all that we have received from Oberlin to this point.Please keep reporting on new information about the situation.
Given the institutionalization of the grievance culture, it came as no surprise that two years later, in April 2015, Oberlin Radical Feminists Freaked Out at Christina Hoff Sommers, demanding safe spaces and warning of triggering:
[Oberlin College protest over appearance of Christina Hoff Sommers][Image credit: Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute]
A petition protesting both the quality and selection of food options served at Lord-Saunders Dining Hall began circulating on Wednesday, Nov. 18.Students called for CDS to adhere to more traditional meals, including making fried chicken a permanent feature on the Sunday night menu and providing more vegan and vegetarian options.“The food quality at Afrikan Heritage House has decreased dramatically,” wrote Kendra Farrakhan, College senior and one of the authors of the petition, in an email to the Review….The petition also outlines a list of proposed meals, offering authentic food ideas, recommendations on how to properly prepare food and reduce the amount of cream used in dishes because, as stated in the petition, “Black American food doesn’t have much cream in it….“We students are concerned about our safety,” said Gloria Lewis, College sophomore. “And so beyond that, it’s about having a safe space. So it’s not just the dining hall. It’s everything. It’s the posts on Yik Yak. It’s the micro-aggressions.”Beyond the concerns of Afrikan Heritage House, Lewis said that she would like to see more oppression training held by faculty and staff on campus.”
Given this past, I was interested to read quotes from a variety of Oberlin alumni and students in The Atlantic, Oberlin Students and Alumni Reflect on Activism at the College. Many of the points made are similar to those made in emails to me during the 2013 racial hoax events.
This comment by a freshman, from which I got the Title of this post, seemed to sum up the situation as we have been observing it over the past three years (emphasis added):
I’m a freshman at Oberlin College. My first semester at Oberlin was interesting to say the least. I’m a liberal, politically active kid from [very liberal city]. I didn’t expect the atmosphere at Oberlin to be much different from the one I’ve been used to for the past 18 years. I was mistaken.Not everyone at Oberlin is a lunatic. Yet the most radical students are by far the loudest so it seems like Oberlin is way more radical than it actually is….The reason is that the radical vocal minority is quick to ostracize anyone who disagrees with them….This is because it became abundantly clear that to critique the [14-page] petition would be racist. Any dissenters are called racists by the vocal minority which completely shuts down conversation…. If you have any specific questions for me, I would be happy to answer them. But again, I wish to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
I do believe that “not everyone at Oberlin is a lunatic.
The problem is that the radical students, aided and abetted by faculty and administrators, are running the asylum. And the sane are afraid to speak out
The lunatic grievance culture is institutionalized.
[Featured Image: Oberlin President Marvin Krislov]
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