Education Alert: Oberlin College Cancels Classes Over KKK Incident

Racist graffiti and hate-related occurrences have rocked the school for a month

Talk about disrupting the learning process! Ohio’s Oberlin College, located 30 miles outside of Cleveland, has endured a monthlong string of what officials there called hate-related incidents and vandalism. In response, the college cancelled all classes and convened a “day of solidarity” in its 1,200-seat campus chapel. The event was packed. And the college president, Marvin Krislov, apologized to students who felt threaten by the hate-motivated occurrences. Over the last month, racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay messages have been left around campus. The incidents included racist remarks written on Black History Month posters and “Whites Only” scrawled above a campus water fountain. After midnight on Sunday, a person was seen dressed in a white robe and hood near the Afrikan Heritage House. “From what we have seen we believe these actions are the work of a very small number of cowardly people,” Krislov told the students. Authorities do not know whether the suspects involved are students or from off-campus. Oberlin College has been considered one of the most progressive and gay-friendly schools in the country. Founded in 1833, it was one of the first in the nation to educate women and to admit black students. Before the Civil War, it was a stop on the Underground Railroad. (New York Times)

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