Racial episodes shake Oberlin College

Parent Cafe
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<p>If they are going to take on this job - which was obviously abdicated by the parents - then I vote the private school takes on table manners also. 1. Chew with your mouth closed 2. bring the implement to your mouth, not your mouth to table level. and 3 - even if you are the First Lady, keep your elbows off the table and do not use your fork like a shovel.</p>

<p>Is this behavior inappropriate - sure. But, if students feel so very very threatened by a small number of people engaging in this mode while at the same time obviously surrounded by an overwhelming majority who disapprove and support them, then they will feel very very threatened in the real world. Frankly, if bad words written on a wall and ‘mean words’ are going to send you into a nonfunctional tither, you’ll never be able to ride a public means of transportation in most cities.</p>

<p>FIRE - Freedom and Individual Rights in Education - has assigned Oberlin a speech code RED. Nuf said.</p>

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Don’t mix up two things. I agree with you that people need to be tough enough to deal with such things. However, I do think that colleges may have to teach some students that it’s bad to do some of those things–like some of the theme parties we keep hearing about, over and over.</p>

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This is probably changing the subject a bit, but I find this interesting. I understand about silencing the guy who says he wants to kill you, but how do you draw the line here? Would you, for example, silence a devout Roman Catholic or evangelical Protestant who expressed the opinion that homosexual behavior is a sin? I suppose it might depend on what subject you’re teaching. I think it’s very difficult to draw a line between hate speech and speech I hate.</p>

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<p>Yes, they’ll obviously grow up to want to take rash and poorly thought out actions like invading various other countries that cost a lot of lives and money because of a few terrorists.</p>

<p>Being easily provoked into overreaction appears to be common human nature, is not limited to particular political alignments, and is easily exploited by terrorists and ■■■■■■.</p>

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<p>What I like is when somebody does something outrageous to “get a reaction,” and the reaction is not what he anticipated–it’s negative consequences for him. That may still happen in the Oberlin situation.</p>

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<p>Well, that’s part of the larger point that has gotten lost here: it isn’t always clear in small town America where an “overwhelming majority” of people stand on anything relating to a liberal college in their midst. Oberlin is in the middle of feed grain country. Nothing wrong with that, but if all you hear from are the wing-nuts, especially the ones who post anonymously in local newspapers, one can understand why a small, liberal college community might feel spooked by the idea of someone with a pointy hood crawling around at night.</p>

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<p>Now there is a comment meant to bring about an image of …um…what…toothless hicks with a backyard still…and probably a few intermarried cousins? Why is that comment even “okay”. And, if one feels offended and personally threatened by that type of surrounding why would one place oneself there in the first place.</p>

<p>I am certainly odd woman out as far as the local I call home. An overwhelming majority of my fellow county mates hold views and behaviors which I often find offensive and yes, threatening. HOWEVER, I still choose to live here because of other, over-riding positive aspects. It would be rather silly to then howl about known propensities - especially since I have, while being of sound mind and body, voluntarily plunked myself right smack dab in the middle of it. If the ‘grain fed middle’ is not where one wants to be…then don’t go there.</p>

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<p>Wow.</p>

<p>Plenty of racist attitudes in urban areas, too.</p>

<p>Let’s not stereotype each other.</p>

<p>And said to say, without constant conscious raising (I know, old, tired seventies term – I’m dating myself) it’s easy for society to slip back into racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes.</p>

<p>Maybe it does take constant reminding.</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s so much the Oberlin students being such shrinking violets that they are destroyed by graffitti ugliness in their midst, it’s that the college wants to be a positive force for change.</p>

<p>I’m behind that.</p>

<p>As for choosing where one wants to be, if one wants to avoid all negative stereotyping than I suggest we leave planet earth because that’s the only way to avoid it.</p>

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<p>As other commenters have noted, the above is not only unnecessarily stereotypical, but is also misses what IMO is more of a critical issue. </p>

<p>The real issue is that Ohio has had a nasty past with White Supremacists. </p>

<p>Not that long ago when the KKK was at the peak of its popularity nationwide in the early 20th century, Ohio was among the states with the highest numbers of registered KKK members. </p>

<p>Indiana was another state with a strong KKK presence. Ironically, it was the vicious and hypocritical actions of the leader of that state’s KKK chapter which caused that nationwide popularity to rapidly plummet:</p>

<p>[D</a>. C. Stephenson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._Stephenson]D”>D. C. Stephenson - Wikipedia)</p>

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<p>I don’t understand why some posters are thinking “it’s a hoax” should be the first assumption. Shouldn’t “we want a campus where all our students faculty, and staff feel safe and welcome, and these incidents suggest that we may have an issue with that that we should address” be the foremost goal and assumption?</p>

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The way that I would put it is that I don’t think the first assumption should be that there is a major, systemic problem involving many people. If you do that reflexively, it gives too much power (in my opinion) to the lone nut who likes to stir things up.</p>

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<p>That was Williams’ positive but the more PC campuses trounced Williams for being too indifferent.</p>

<p>It’s a case of you can’t win for losing.</p>

<p>Again, I think it a tempest in a teapot to focus too much on the administrative response. The point is that racism still exists and the Supreme Court is ruling on the Voting Rights Bill right now.</p>

<p>Even if it is a lone hoaxer, there would be no reaction if these problems did not still exist.</p>

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<p>I don’t understand why so many posters on this page have such strong opinions about events they don’t seem to know much about. Jumping to the conclusion that the administration overreacted seems to go hand in hand with not taking the time to understand what has been happening at Oberlin. The administrators at Oberlin thought it was important enough to close the college for a day and call in the FBI. It’s their school, their students, and (I’ve got to assume) they know more about what’s been going on than any posters on this page - including me.</p>

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<p>Of course, most people tend to overreact (either in fear or hatred). That is why terrorism works even when the terrorist is too weak to have any actual effect, or does not even try anything violent.</p>

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<p>i’d like to challenge/reject the notion of the “lone nut”. the aryan brotherhood (which is one of the most violent gangs in this country) is known to have active members throughout the state of ohio, as well as indiana and california (which is their official birthplace). these are not lone nuts–this is an organized, criminal, highly racist gang. so to describe oberlin’s response as an overreaction is naive. there is such a thing as domestic terrorism.</p>

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<p>Oberlin convenes the same way a family calls a special meeting at the dinner table. If there is an important issue or incident causing tension within the student body, teach-in is one of the ways the school (very rarely, but sometimes) pulls everyone together to air and share issues.</p>

<p>When I attended in the late 1960’s, I recall a schoolwide teach-in, following a series of student demonstrations on and off campus against military recruitment the career placement office, relative to the Vietnam War. The teach-in was interesting, although in the pedagogy of those years, more top-down with professors lecturing students. History and Economics professors spoke for and against the war. Government (Political Science) profs analyzed protest methods used thus far by students for the different degrees of legality and morality. I recall finding it informative and reassuring to witness a college functioning as a single community of concern. As a freshman, I heard from the most venerated faculty, and made decisions about future coursework with them. </p>

<p>In those years, with the country turning upside-down over that war, it felt confusing. WHen my friends tried to broach those topics in their homes on break, some experienced family argument, disinheritance, alienation of affection. By contrast, at Oberlin college, the administration was gathering all together, to discuss every issue, from every angle. </p>

<p>Issues of racism, antiSemitism and homophobia also resonate throughout this country. I can imagine how a spate of local expressions of hate-speech would similarly distress students. It did not surprise me to hear, in alumni correspondence, that the administration chose to call a “time-out” to address those issues openly through dialogue.</p>

<p>Honestly, Oberlin today feels more like a suburb of Cleveland than the unending cornfields of yesteryear. </p>

<p>As for graffiti, this is the college that boasts a large rock, sitting in the green center of campus and town, for the sole purpose of graffiti. It is painted over nightly by students wishing to express themselves. I imagine it began as a pebble, but all those layers of paint turned it into a boulder. Defacing posters with swastikas or racial epithets would be antithetical to Oberlin’s culture of free speech on campus. Even that is not a trivial breach of campus life.</p>

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<p>But the AB gangsters probably have other things on its mind besides trolling Oberlin. It is one of several violent prison gangs, which also have associated or subsidiary organized crime gangs outside of prisons. Many of its leaders are already serving life-no-parole sentences.</p>

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<p>how would you know what they have on their mind? you have no idea. yes, they are a so-called prison gang, but their reach extends beyond prison (as is the case with most gangs). it doesn’t matter what’s happening with ‘leadership’.</p>

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<p>gotta say, i didn’t know much about this school (other than its name) before this incident. the more i learn about its history, it sounds like a pretty cool place to study.</p>

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<p>It was. It is.</p>