KKK robe classes canceled - Oberlin Cancels Classes After Figure in KKK Robes Spotted Near African Heritage House, A figure "wearing KKK regalia" was spotted at Oberlin College this morning, the culmination of a month of racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic graffiti being discovered on buildings around the Ohio liberal arts college's campus. In response, the school has cancelled all classes and non-essential activities, instead holding "a series of discussions of the challenging issues that have faced our community in recent weeks." Reported http://gawker.com...
"A person wearing a hood and robe resembling a KKK outfit" was reportedly seen near the African Heritage House on the Oberlin campus early this morning. This is the latest in a string of hate-related incidents at Oberlin, beginning with the February 9 vandalism of Black History Month posters, in which an unknown person changed the word "black" to "nigger." These incidents, and more, are catalogued at the blog Oberlin Microagressions, from which the photos in this post are taken:
Oberlin Microagressions also links to "Adolf Krislov," a Nazi-themed account "parodying" Oberlin President Marvin Krislov:
The account appears to be one of those 18-year-old-thinks-he's-taking-a-political-stand-by-saying-"nigga" things, and claims not to be associated with "hate messaging"
The Oberlin Review has a list of the incidents—which include the discovery of swastika and "faggot" graffiti; the weekend of February 16 was particularly bad:
Feb. 16; Students found a number of offensive notes written around Burton Hall. "Whites Only" was written above a water fountain, "Nigger Oven" was written inside the elevator and "No Niggers" was written on a bathroom door.
Feb. 17; The Office of Safety and Security released a Special Alert of a strong-arm robbery of a student near West College Street and Cedar Street. The student reported that he was approached by an individual who made a derogatory remark about his perceived ethnicity and then physically knocked him to the ground.
Oberlin professor Ann Trubek notes that while hate incidents "happen every few years," this is the first time the situation has reached a level that requires canceling classes:
According to a person with access to the faculty mailing list, faculty members had been told—"unofficially," (i.e., not through official channels)—that "the investigation into this incident was dropped when it was discovered that the person responsible was someone within the MRC [the Multicultural Resource Center], who would be disciplined internally"; according to conversations with other members of the Oberlin community, this appears to be a widespread, and widely-believed, rumor. (The same source, who asked to remain anonymous, claims that the MRC, whose former director, Eric Estes, is now the Dean of Students, has been criticized for the amount of student college money it receives, and that its leadership has "had trouble justifying how many campus coordinators they have on staff.")
This source also speculated that the incident is likely related to Oberlin's infamous "no-trespass list," "a list of townies and college alumni who are banned from all college property," managed by the college and kept secret from the town. The college has long denied the list's existence—but last week it was leaked to the local paper by the Oberlin Police Department, with whom the list was shared. This list contains a number of "successful and well-connected" alumni, and we've heard that Oberlin's legal counsel is "reeling" over the leak of the list, which was meant to be kept confidential.
That being said, several—really, several, please stop emailing me—students have emailed to object to our source's characterization of rumors and discussions on campus: "The MRC has not been criticized for the money it receives and there is no campus conversation about the number of staff people in that office," one writes. "I think that what [was] said about the MRC's funding is either BS or seriously taken out of context," writes another. "Every single year, there are campus-wide arguments about... funding. There is a faction of students who basically claims... that anything that has any anti-oppression or political intent shouldn't be funded by the student activity fee."
"Whoever is passing on this information is likely involved and perpetuating these falsities in an act of hate in itself," one student wrote. Another: "But we, the students, are communicators, friends, activists, poets, and our voices are louder. How dare you contribute to the promotion of an oppressive act and the desecration of a sacred space."
Other students have objected to the connection of the hate incidents to the One Town campaign:
I'm not sure what your source thinks the No-Trespass List is, but it has absolutely nothing to do with incidents of hate speech on campus. Protest surrounding the list is concerned with issues of racial profiling and a lack of transparency from College administration - how exactly that has anything to do with a person wearing a KKK hood is beyond me. Incidences of hate speech started before the One Town Campaign gained any steam, so your source really had to stretch to make a connection there. It seems to me that someone upset about the list would be standing in solidarity with minority communities, not terrorizing them.
So: to be exactingly clear. No one has officially been found responsible or reprimanded. A rumor circulating the faculty and administration holds that an MRC member is responsible. It is just that: a rumor. The MRC has a large and vocal backing in the Oberlin community, many if not most members of which fully support it and believe that it receives the proper amount of funding.
Students, faculty and staff received emails this morning from administration and the student center, letting them know that classes and activities were canceled for planned solidarity demonstrations and a teach-in. "When faced with difficult situations," writes President Marvin Kislov, "Oberlin has consistently met the challenges and affirmed its commitment to the highest quality of education and the noblest aspirations of its community members."
