A data point on Oberlin

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I am currently researching schools for my son, who is a junior. My daughter is currently at Berklee. I came across this article that talked about how the Oberlin administration knew that some racism incidents on Campus were a hoax but didn't let the students know about it. They still wouldn't have let the students know it was a hoax unless some reporters found the truth. Make of it what you will, but you might want to at least know about it. I'm glad I know now.</p>

<p>Oberlin</a> racism | hoax | Multicultural Center | Afrikan House</p>

<p>And for those who think this isn't a big deal, the NY Times actually did a major article WHEN THE ADMINISTRATION knew it was a hoax.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/education/oberlin-cancels-classes-after-series-of-hate-related-incidents.html?_r=0%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/education/oberlin-cancels-classes-after-series-of-hate-related-incidents.html?_r=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>This has been discussed at great legnth in the Parents Forum. But I’m not sure exactly what it has to do with the conservatory or Berklee.</p>

3

<p>Musica,</p>

<p>I didn’t know that it had been discussed on the Parent’s Forum. I guess I didn’t even know that there WAS a parent’s forum on here. Most, if not all, of the information I received about schools was in this forum, with occasional general internet searches. This information is important to me. It might be important to others and they, like me, don’t know to look in other forums for information. I’ll scan the Parents Forum now to see what other type of information is on there. Thanks for the heads up.</p>

4

<p>As to what it has to do with the conservatory, working groups were formed based on the incidents, and curriculum changes proposed, ie, add a social justice framework to all courses. For the conservatory, create a multicultural resource center. (If that is funded, something else within the conservatory won’t be funded.) With the new revelations, I’m not sure how much change will actually go forward, but many of the proposals were accepted.</p>

5

<p>^Kudos to you for researching schools for your son so early in the process, it’s a daunting task! It must be a bit of a relief to cross Oberlin off your list as it makes the choices narrower in search of the perfect school–now you can focus on finding a good fit. Best of luck to you.</p>

6

<p>I would be very careful about checking on ‘news’ reports and such, especially if you are deciding on a school. I did some checking of real news sites (the first one is not a news site, it is some sort of right leaning web site, hence its talk of “obama loving liberal elites”. </p>

<p>Apparently, there were a whole rash of incidents on campus, that included anti gay, anti semitic, anti women, you name it graffitti, and it was taken seriously by the administration. The website cited left out something important, the reason why they didn’t tell the campus the status of the investigation, and that is they are not allowed to when it is ongoing. It now appears to have been a hoax, done deliberately (which should get the person or people doing it thrown out of school IMO), but it wasn’t know back there.</p>

<p>As far as this generating ‘massive changes in programs’, apparently if the local papers and such can be believed, some of those were ongoing, and it isn’t surprising given that Oberlin isn’t exactly Bob Jones University. </p>

<p>I did a google search and found a bunch of legitimate news sources, and they explained what happened, and the link given is not a great way to get information, it is akin to websites still claiming that Obama isn’t elgible to be president or NASA is suppressing evidence of buildings on Mars, sensationalism with no proof.</p>

<p>I have no ties to Oberlin, my kid doesn’t go there, I have nothing to do with it, but it would be silly to close a school off your list that has a great music program because of this kind of thing. You will hear a lot of crap about schools out there, you will have those who tell you in the shadows that of course if you don’t go to school X you will never get an orchestra job, you will hear that there is a massive conspiracy to keep certain groups out of school X, you will hear that going to school X guarantees success, and it is crap, there was a long thread from someone bashing Juilliard, claiming that the admissions were all being bought by rich Korean parents with all this proof, there is all kinds of stuff out there. With a music school, the biggest culture war to me is if the place can train a kid to be a good musician, and I think when I read extremes of any kind my donkey doo detector goes off. At the very least, with this story, take a look at what news reports, real ones, report, before deciding, if you go by all the ‘sources’ out there you might find yourself eliminating a lot of good schools, filter everything carefully:)</p>

7

<p>Wait…NASA is suppressing evidence of buildings on Mars??? And more to the point…how does this affect Cal Tech???</p>

8

<p>Sure, it means Cal Tech can buy up all those buildings dirt cheap since there is no competition, so when we land on mars and colonize it they can make a fortune <em>lol</em>. Funniest story about Cal Tech, Arthur C Clarke wrote a series of books around this mysterious artificial asteroid they called Rama ("Rendezvous with Rama and so forth)…his co author was this professor at Cal Tech, and Clarke described Cal Tech as this rough place, where foul language was the norm and how the police often had to be called to break up fights over quantum dynamic theories that turn ugly, so if there is any rough language in the story or other objectionable things, it came from his co author <em>lol</em></p>

9

<p>And then there was E. Simmons the cross dressing scientist. I encountered him more than once at the Athenaeum bar. Pink tutu, pink leotards, and pink ballet slippers. He cut quite a figure. What assumptions do we make about an education based on THAT sort of behavior?
(BTW…no one ever batted an eye) :)</p>

10

<p>Don’t cross Oberlin off any lists yet. I hope you can visit. It’s a great school with a very supportive student body and a great music education.</p>

11

<p>musica- were they toe shoes?!!</p>

12

<p>Mais bien sur! Cal Tech’s Athenaeum is a very classy joint.</p>

13

<p>Tempest in a teapot. I know profs at Ob that explained the situation to me. I’d focus on other problems/assets of Oberlin.</p>

14

<p>I think Oberlin is quite unlike other schools, and the best thing to do is visit in person. Have your student go, take a lesson, and take some time to soak up the atmosphere. Many times a student will love it – or will not love it. We visited once, and then again for auditions. A great conservatory with lots of possibilities for taking other classes or double-majoring.</p>

15

<p>My daughter went to Oberlin. She was a viola performance major. It was an amazing place for her. She loved her time there. She just finished he MM at Juilliard and is playing in an orchestra in a Argentina. Not sure what this rant is about, but Oberlin is an amazing place.</p>