In 1835 Oberlin became one of the first colleges in the United States to admit African Americans, and in 1837 the first to admit women (other than Franklin College's brief experiment in the 1780s).
(Although announced as debate, no one spoke in favor of colonization on any of the evenings.) The trustees and administrators of Lane, fearful of violence (see Cincinnati riots of 1829), prohibited any future "off topic" discussions, even at meals.
"Oberlin was the offspring of the revivals of 1830 '31 and '32." Oberlin founder John Jay Shipherd was an admirer of Finney, and when en route to Ohio for the first time, visited him in Rochester, New York.
Oberlin brought social Christianity to an isolated region of France, just as they hoped to bring it to the then-remote Western Reserve region of northeastern Ohio. Their vision was: Oberlin was very much a part of the Utopian perfectionist enthusiasm that swept the country in the 1830s.
Weld visited Cincinnati in 1832, determined that the school would do, got the approval of the Tappans, and by providing recommendations to them took over as de facto head of the Seminary, to the point of choosing the president (Lyman Beecher, after Finney turned it down) and telling the trustees whom to hire.
The Oberlin Collegiate Institute was founded in 1833 by Shipherd and another Presbyterian minister, Philo Stewart, "formerly a missionary among the Cherokees in Mississippi, and at that time residing in Mr.
A nondenominational seminary, Oberlin's Graduate School of Theology (first called the undergraduate Theological Department), was established alongside the college in 1833.
In 1835 Oberlin became one of the first colleges in the United States to admit African Americans, and in 1837 the first to admit women (other than Franklin College's brief experiment in the 1780s).
Finney's desires were one thing, but Shipherd believed that the Lord's work for him lay farther west." Shipherd tried to get Finney to accompany him west, which he did, but not until 1835. Oberlin was to be a pious, simple-living community, a colony in a lightly-inhabited area, in which the school, training ministers and missionaries, would be the centerpiece.
Deliberately meeting in Elyria (January 1, 1835, at the Temperance House) instead of Oberlin, so as to avoid having a hostile and possibly disruptive audience, the trustees agreed to hire Mahan and Morgan, but took no action on the Black question.
This commitment to academic freedom is a key and influential innovation in American higher education. "In the summer of 1835, they all arrived in Oberlin—President Mahan, Father Finney, Professor Morgan, the Lane rebels, the first black students, and the Tappans' money." The Oberlin Anti-Slavery Society, calling for "immediate emancipation", was founded in June, 1835, immediately after their arrival.
Oberlin was now the college sending forth cadres of minister-abolitionists every year: ===19th century=== Asa Mahan (1799–1889) accepted the position of first president of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute in 1835, simultaneously serving as the chair of intellectual and moral philosophy and a professor of theology.
In 1835 Oberlin became one of the first colleges in the United States to admit African Americans, and in 1837 the first to admit women (other than Franklin College's brief experiment in the 1780s).
The college was listed as a National Historic Landmark on December 21, 1965, for its significance in admitting African Americans and women. Oberlin is also the oldest coeducational college in the United States, having admitted four women in 1837.
John Keep and William Dawes were sent to England to raise funds for the college in 1839–40.
Oberlin briefly stopped operating for seven months 1839 and 1840 due to lack of funds, making it the second oldest continuously operating coeducational liberal arts college in the United States. Mahan, who had often been in conflict with faculty, resigned his position as president in 1850.
Oberlin briefly stopped operating for seven months 1839 and 1840 due to lack of funds, making it the second oldest continuously operating coeducational liberal arts college in the United States. Mahan, who had often been in conflict with faculty, resigned his position as president in 1850.
This follows a lesser-known 1841 incident in which a group of "fanatical abolition anarchists" from Oberlin, using saws and axes, freed two captured fugitive slaves from the Lorain County jail. In 1866, James Fairchild became Oberlin's third president, and the first alumnus of the school to achieve that rank.
Oneida was "a hotbed of anti-slavery activity," "abolitionist to the core, more so than any other American college." Oberlin's antislavery activities replaced those of Oneida, which fell on hard times and closed in 1843.
In 1844, Oberlin Collegiate Institute graduated its first black student, George Boyer Vashon, who became one of the founding professors at Howard University and the first black lawyer admitted to the Bar in New York State. The college's approach to African Americans was by no means perfect.
Oberlin briefly stopped operating for seven months 1839 and 1840 due to lack of funds, making it the second oldest continuously operating coeducational liberal arts college in the United States. Mahan, who had often been in conflict with faculty, resigned his position as president in 1850.
At the same time, the school was renamed Oberlin College, and in 1851 received a charter with that name.
In 1858, both students and faculty were involved in the controversial Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of a fugitive slave, which received national press coverage.
Mary Jane Patterson graduated in 1862, the first black woman to earn a B.A.
Oberlin's founders wrote voluminously and were featured prominently in the press (especially in the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, in which the name Oberlin occurs 352 times by 1865).
In his place, famed abolitionist and preacher Charles Grandison Finney (already a professor at the college since its founding) was made president, serving until 1866.
This follows a lesser-known 1841 incident in which a group of "fanatical abolition anarchists" from Oberlin, using saws and axes, freed two captured fugitive slaves from the Lorain County jail. In 1866, James Fairchild became Oberlin's third president, and the first alumnus of the school to achieve that rank.
Although intensely anti-slavery, including admitting black students almost immediately from its founding, the school began segregating its black students by the 1880s with the fading of evangelical idealism.
In 1881, students at Oberlin formed the Oberlin Band to journey as a group to remote Shanxi province in China.
At Oberlin from 1884 onward, he taught in mathematics, philosophy, and theology.
In 1889, he resigned as president but remained as chair of systematic theology.
(In 1896, Fairchild returned to the Oberlin leadership as acting president, serving until 1898.) Oberlin College was also prominent in sending Christian missionaries abroad.
(In 1896, Fairchild returned to the Oberlin leadership as acting president, serving until 1898.) Oberlin College was also prominent in sending Christian missionaries abroad.
Ten died of disease, and in 1900, fifteen of the Oberlin missionaries, including wives and children, were killed by Boxers or Chinese government soldiers during the Boxer Rebellion.
It also hosts scholars and artists from Asia to spend time on the Oberlin campus. === 20th century === Henry Churchill King (1858–1934) became Oberlin's sixth president in 1902.
Robert Samuel Fletcher '20 published in 1943 a history that is a landmark and the point of departure of all subsequent studies of Oberlin's history.
Carr served as Oberlin College president from 1960 to 1970, during a tumultuous period of student activism.
The college was ranked among the Princeton Review's list of "Colleges with a Conscience" in 2005. In the 1960s, Memorial Arch became a rallying point for the college's civil rights activists and its anti-war movement.
In 1965, the board of trustees voted to discontinue graduate instruction in theology at Oberlin, and in September 1966, six faculty members and 22 students merged with the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University.
The college was listed as a National Historic Landmark on December 21, 1965, for its significance in admitting African Americans and women. Oberlin is also the oldest coeducational college in the United States, having admitted four women in 1837.
In 1965, the board of trustees voted to discontinue graduate instruction in theology at Oberlin, and in September 1966, six faculty members and 22 students merged with the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University.
He also recruited and hired the first four African-American athletic coaches in a predominantly white American college or university, including Tommie Smith, the gold medalist sprinter from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In 1970, Oberlin made the cover of Life as one of the first colleges in the country to have co-ed dormitories.
Despite these accomplishments, Carr clashed repeatedly with the students regarding issues related to the Vietnam War, and he left office in 1969 (with History professor Ellsworth C.
Carr served as Oberlin College president from 1960 to 1970, during a tumultuous period of student activism.
Clayton taking over as acting president), and was forced to resign as president in 1970. Oberlin (and Princeton) alumnus Robert W.
Fuller's commitment to educational reform—which he had already demonstrated as a Trinity College dean—led his alma mater to make him its tenth president in November 1970.
He also recruited and hired the first four African-American athletic coaches in a predominantly white American college or university, including Tommie Smith, the gold medalist sprinter from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In 1970, Oberlin made the cover of Life as one of the first colleges in the country to have co-ed dormitories.
Fuller was eventually succeeded by the longtime Dean of the Conservatory Emil Danenberg, who served as president from 1975 to 1982, when he died in office.
This heritage was commemorated on campus by the 1977 installation of sculptor Cameron Armstrong's "Underground Railroad Monument" (a railroad track rising from the ground toward the sky) and monuments to the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue and the Harper's Ferry Raid.
Fuller was eventually succeeded by the longtime Dean of the Conservatory Emil Danenberg, who served as president from 1975 to 1982, when he died in office.
In 1983, following a nationwide search, Oberlin hired S.
However, despite increasing minority hiring, Starr's tenure was marked by clashes with students over such issues as divestment from South Africa and the dismissal of a campus minister, as well as Starr's general approach of reframing Oberlin as the "Harvard of the Midwest." After a particularly vitriolic clash with students that took place on the front lawn of his home in April 1990, Starr took a leave of absence as president from July 1991 to February 1992.
However, despite increasing minority hiring, Starr's tenure was marked by clashes with students over such issues as divestment from South Africa and the dismissal of a campus minister, as well as Starr's general approach of reframing Oberlin as the "Harvard of the Midwest." After a particularly vitriolic clash with students that took place on the front lawn of his home in April 1990, Starr took a leave of absence as president from July 1991 to February 1992.
However, despite increasing minority hiring, Starr's tenure was marked by clashes with students over such issues as divestment from South Africa and the dismissal of a campus minister, as well as Starr's general approach of reframing Oberlin as the "Harvard of the Midwest." After a particularly vitriolic clash with students that took place on the front lawn of his home in April 1990, Starr took a leave of absence as president from July 1991 to February 1992.
He officially resigned in March 1993, effective to June of that year. === 21st century === Nancy Dye became the 13th president of Oberlin College in July 1994, succeeding the embattled Starr.
He officially resigned in March 1993, effective to June of that year. === 21st century === Nancy Dye became the 13th president of Oberlin College in July 1994, succeeding the embattled Starr.
carried out dozens of protests against the Vietnam war ranging from peaceful picketing to surrounding a local naval recruiter's car", to the Oberlin Review in 1995.
On May 30, 2017, Carmen Twillie Ambar was announced as the 15th president of Oberlin College, in the process becoming the first African-American person and second woman to hold the position. Oberlin's first and only hired trade union expert, Chris Howell, argues that the college engaged in "illegal" tactics to attempt to decertify its service workers' July 1999 vote to become members of United Automobile Workers union.
In November 2002, 100 college workers students and faculty held a "mock funeral 'for the spirit of Oberlin'" in response to the administration's laying off 11 workers and reducing the work hours of five other workers without negotiation with college unions.
Oberlin Students have protested instances of fracking in Ohio such as "the first natural gas and fracturing industry conference in the state" in 2011. In 2004, student activism led to a campus-wide ban on sales of Coca-Cola products.
A full-credit project is suggested to involve five to six hours per weekday. ===Creativity and Leadership=== Created in 2005 as a part of the Northeast Ohio Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program (NEOCEP), a Kauffman Campuses Initiative, and sponsored by the Burton D.
The college was ranked among the Princeton Review's list of "Colleges with a Conscience" in 2005. In the 1960s, Memorial Arch became a rallying point for the college's civil rights activists and its anti-war movement.
Dye served as president for nearly 13 years, resigning on June 30, 2007.
Marvin Krislov served as president of the college from 2007 to 2017, moving on to assume the presidency of Pace University.
In the summer of 2007 the main level of the main library was converted into an Academic Commons that provides integrated learning support and is a hub of both academic and social activity. ===Experimental College=== The college's "Experimental College" or ExCo program, a student-run department, allows any student or interested person to teach their own class for a limited amount of college credit.
The Conservatory was one of the recipients of the 2009 National Medal of Arts.
Oberlin Students have protested instances of fracking in Ohio such as "the first natural gas and fracturing industry conference in the state" in 2011. In 2004, student activism led to a campus-wide ban on sales of Coca-Cola products.
One such opportunity is the Creativity and Leadership Fellowship, a one-year fellowship for graduating seniors that includes a stipend of up to $30,000 dollars to advance an entrepreneurial venture. In 2012, the Creativity and Leadership department announced LaunchU, a business accelerator open to Oberlin College students and alumni who are pursuing an entrepreneurial venture.
Howell argues that college workers sought the union to represent them in response to the administration's effort to "speed up work" to meet a "mounting budget crisis". In February 2013, the college received a significant amount of press focusing on the so-called "No Trespass List," a secret list maintained by the college that bars individuals from campus without due process.
On February 13, 2013, a forum at the Oberlin Public Library with over 200 people in attendance, including members of the college administration, the Oberlin city council and national press, saw speakers compare the atmosphere of the college to "a gated community." In September 2014, on Rosh Hashanah, Oberlin Students for Free Palestine placed 2,133 black flags in the main square of the Campus as a "call to action" in honor of the 2,133 Palestinians who died in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
However, this was revoked in spring 2014 and students may now buy Coca-Cola products from the student union. In 2013, after the discovery of hateful messages and the alleged sighting of a person wearing KKK robes, president Marvin Krislov cancelled classes and called for a day of reflection and change.
$10,931,088 were allocated to management salaries for the 2013–2014 school year, much of which came from student tuition. In December 2015, Oberlin's Black Student Union issued a series of 50 specific demands of the college and conservatory including promoting certain black faculty to tenured positions, hiring more black faculty, firing other faculty members, and obtaining a $15 an hour minimum wage for all campus workers and guaranteed health care in their contracts.
On February 13, 2013, a forum at the Oberlin Public Library with over 200 people in attendance, including members of the college administration, the Oberlin city council and national press, saw speakers compare the atmosphere of the college to "a gated community." In September 2014, on Rosh Hashanah, Oberlin Students for Free Palestine placed 2,133 black flags in the main square of the Campus as a "call to action" in honor of the 2,133 Palestinians who died in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
The winner of the 2014 LaunchU pitch competition was Chai Energy, a Los Angeles-based green energy startup focused on modernizing and personalizing home energy monitoring.
In 2014, LaunchU announced the creation of an online network in order to build stronger connections between entrepreneurs within the Oberlin College students and alumni network with a focus on attracting younger alumni. ==Campus culture== ===Political activism=== The Oberlin student body has a long history of activism and a reputation for being notably liberal.
However, this was revoked in spring 2014 and students may now buy Coca-Cola products from the student union. In 2013, after the discovery of hateful messages and the alleged sighting of a person wearing KKK robes, president Marvin Krislov cancelled classes and called for a day of reflection and change.
One of the students responsible said to police that he was "doing it as a joke to see the college overreact to it". During the fall 2014 semester, Oberlin's Student Labor Action Coalition organized a petition to permit dining hall temporary workers working four-hour shifts to eat one meal from food the college throws out each day.
The petition garnered over 1,000 signatures and resulted in workers obtaining the opportunity to put food into a management-given styrofoam container to eat after their shifts. In May 2015, students temporarily took over their school's administration building to protest a $2,300 increase in tuition cost between the 2015 and 2016 academic school years.
" to the school's Vice President of Finance Mike Frandsen on Monday, April 27, 2015, in which their demands were declined for issue.
$10,931,088 were allocated to management salaries for the 2013–2014 school year, much of which came from student tuition. In December 2015, Oberlin's Black Student Union issued a series of 50 specific demands of the college and conservatory including promoting certain black faculty to tenured positions, hiring more black faculty, firing other faculty members, and obtaining a $15 an hour minimum wage for all campus workers and guaranteed health care in their contracts.
In January 2016, hundreds of Oberlin alumni signed a letter to the Oberlin administration stating that this protest was one example of anti-Semitism on the campus.
They wrote, "Feeling discomfort because one must confront the realities of Operation Protective Edge carried out in the name of the safety of the Jewish people does not amount to anti-Semitism." In early 2016, an Oberlin professor, Joy Karega, suggested Israel was behind 9/11 and blamed it for the Charlie Hebdo attacks and for ISIS, prompting a rebuke from faculty and administration.
The petition garnered over 1,000 signatures and resulted in workers obtaining the opportunity to put food into a management-given styrofoam container to eat after their shifts. In May 2015, students temporarily took over their school's administration building to protest a $2,300 increase in tuition cost between the 2015 and 2016 academic school years.
The board of trustees responded by appointing some of the individual faculty and by, "reviewing the allocation of faculty positions with consideration of how they will contribute to interactional diversity in the curriculum" in the college's 2016–2021 strategic plan.
Marvin Krislov served as president of the college from 2007 to 2017, moving on to assume the presidency of Pace University.
On May 30, 2017, Carmen Twillie Ambar was announced as the 15th president of Oberlin College, in the process becoming the first African-American person and second woman to hold the position. Oberlin's first and only hired trade union expert, Chris Howell, argues that the college engaged in "illegal" tactics to attempt to decertify its service workers' July 1999 vote to become members of United Automobile Workers union.
The following week, the home of a Jewish professor at Oberlin was vandalized and a note that read "Gas Jews Die" was left on his front door. ==Academics== Oberlin was ranked tied for the 33rd best national liberal arts college, tied for 11th for "Most Innovative", and tied for 12th best in undergraduate teaching among liberal arts colleges in the 2020 edition of U.S.
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