Editing Oberlin College (section)

==History==
Oberlin College was preceded by [[Oberlin Institute]], founded in 1833. The college's founders wrote voluminously and were featured prominently in the press, especially the [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] newspaper ''[[The Liberator (newspaper)|The Liberator]]'', in which the name Oberlin occurred 352 times by 1865. Original documents and correspondence survive and are readily available. There is a "wealth of primary documents and scholarly works".<ref name=Waite/>{{rp|346}} [[Robert Samuel Fletcher]] (class of 1920) published a history in 1943, that is a landmark and the point of departure of all subsequent studies of Oberlin's history.<ref name=Mahan>{{cite book |first=Geoffrey |last=Blodgett |authorlink=Geoffrey Blodgett |title=Oberlin History. Essays and Impressions |chapter=[[Asa Mahan]] at Oberlin: The Pitfalls of Perfectionism (1984) |location=[[Kent, Ohio]] |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |isbn=0873388879 |year=2006}}</ref>{{rp|20–21}} His disciple [[Geoffrey Blodgett]] (1953) continued Fletcher's work.

===Founding===
[[File:Oberlin_1838_Pease.gif|thumb|left|''Partial View Oberlin'' by H. Alonzo Pease, 1838]]
"'Oberlin' was an idea before it was a place."<ref name=Morris2014/>{{rp|12}} It began in revelation and dreams: Yankees' motivation to emigrate west, attempting perfection in God's eyes, "educating a missionary army of [[Miles christianus|Christian soldiers]] to save the world and inaugurate God's government on earth, and the radical notion that slavery was America's most horrendous sin that should be instantly repented of and immediately brought to an end."<ref name=Morris2014>{{cite book |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |last=Morris |first=J. Brent. |title=Oberlin, Hotbed of Abolitionism: College, Community, and the Fight for Freedom and Equality in Antebellum America. |year=2014 |isbn=9781469618296 |via=[[Project MUSE]] |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/book/32946 |access-date=November 6, 2019 |archive-date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105192102/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/32946 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|12}} Its immediate background was the [[Burned-over district|wave of Christian revivals]] in western New York State, in which [[Charles Finney]] was very much involved. "Oberlin was the offspring of the revivals of 1830, '31, and '32."<ref name=Fairchild>{{cite book |title=Oberlin: its origin, progress and results. An address, prepared for the alumni of Oberlin College, assembled August 22, 1860. |first=J. H. |last=Fairchild |authorlink=James Fairchild |location=[[Oberlin, Ohio]] |year=1860 |publisher=Shankland and Harmon |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b264721&view=1up&seq=7 |access-date=July 18, 2021 |archive-date=July 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718134830/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.%24b264721&view=1up&seq=7 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|12}} Oberlin founder [[John Jay Shipherd]] was an admirer of Finney, and visited him in [[Rochester, New York]], when en route to Ohio for the first time. Finney invited Shipherd to stay with him as an assistant, but Shipherd "felt that he had his own important part to play in bringing on the millennium, God's triumphant reign on Earth. Finney's desires were one thing, but Shipherd believed that the Lord's work for him lay farther west." Shipherd attempted to convince Finney to accompany him west, which he did in 1835.<ref name=Blodgett/>{{rp|13–14}}

Oberlin was to be a pious, simple-living community in a sparsely populated area, of which the school, training ministers and missionaries, would be the centerpiece. The '''Oberlin Collegiate Institute''' was founded in 1833 by Shipherd and another [[Presbyterian]] minister, Philo Stewart,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cityofoberlin.com/Administration/community.html |title=City of Oberlin, Ohio |access-date=September 16, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206012732/http://www.cityofoberlin.com/Administration/community.html |archive-date=December 6, 2008}}</ref> "formerly a missionary among the Cherokees in Mississippi, and at that time residing in Mr. Shipherd's family,"<ref>{{cite book |title=General Catalogue of Oberlin College 1833—1908. Including an Account of the Principal Events in the History of the College, with Illustrations of the College Buildings.p |chapter=Historical summary |year=1909 |location=[[Oberlin, Ohio]] |publisher=Oberlin College |url=https://archive.org/details/generalcatalogue00oberrich}}</ref>{{rp|Int. 37}} who was studying [[Divinity]] with Shipherd.<ref name=Clark>{{Cite journal |title=An Early Report on Oberlin College |first=George Peirce |last=Clark |journal=[[Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly]] |volume=63 |number=3 |year=1954 |pages=279–282 |url=https://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/index.php |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201115554/https://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/index.php |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|281}} The institute was built on {{cvt|500|acre|km2|0}} of land donated by Titus Street, founder of [[Streetsboro, Ohio]], and Samuel Hughes,<ref name=Fletcher/>{{rp|91, 94}} who lived in [[Connecticut]]. 

[[File:JohannFriedrichOberlin.jpg|thumb|150px|The college was named after a prominent minister, Jean-Frédéric Oberlin]]
Shipherd and Stewert named their project after [[Alsace|Alsatian]] minister [[Jean-Frédéric Oberlin]], about whom a book had just been published,<ref>{{cite book |title=Brief memorials of Jean Frédéric Oberlin, pastor of Waldbach, in Alsace and of Auguste Baron de Stael-Holstein; two distinguished ornaments of the French protestant church; with an introductory sketch of the history of Christianity in France, from the primitive ages to the present day |first=Thomas |last=Sims |location=London |publisher=James Nisbet |year=1830 |url=https://archive.org/details/briefmemorialsof00simsrich/page/n8}}</ref> which Stewart was reading to Shipherd.<ref name=Clark/>{{rp|281}} Oberlin had brought [[social Christianity]] to an isolated region of France, just as they hoped to bring to the remote [[Western Reserve]] region of northeastern [[Ohio]].

Their vision was:

{{blockquote|A community of Christian families with a Christian school which should be "a center of religious influence and power which should work mightily upon the surrounding country and the world—a sort of missionary institution for training laborers for the work abroad"—the school to be conducted on the [[manual labor college|manual labor system]], and to be open to both young men and young women. It was not proposed to establish a college but simply an academy for instruction in English and useful languages; and, if providence should favor it, in "practical Theology". In accordance with this plan the corporate name, "Oberlin College Institute"[,] was chosen.<ref name=Manual/>{{rp|385}}}}

Oberlin was very much a part of the [[Utopia#Mythical and religious utopias|Utopian]] perfectionist enthusiasm that swept the country in the 1830s. "Shipherd came close to being a [[Christian communist]], and as he traveled about the country signing up recruits for the Oberlin colony, he carried with him a copy of the Oberlin covenant, which each colonist was required to sign."<ref name=Blodgett/>{{rp|12}}

{{blockquote|The Oberlin covenant is a fascinating document. It has strong communal overtones, though, in the end, private property is allowed. It is very keen on plain, straight living—no smoking, no chewing [tobacco], no coffee or tea; jewelry and tight dresses are explicitly renounced, as are fancy houses, furniture, and carriages. But the main thrust of the covenant is clearly toward missionary education to save a perishing world.<ref name=Blodgett/>{{rp|11–12}}}}

The terms of the Oberlin covenant, as summarized by Shipherd, were:

{{blockquote|Each member of the colony shall consider himself a steward of the Lord, & hold only so much property as he can advantageously manage for the Lord. Everyone, regardless of worldly maxims, shall return to Gospel simplicity of dress, diet, houses, and furniture, all appertaining to him, & be industrious & economical with the view of earning & saving as much as possible, not to hoard up for old age, & for children, but to glorify God in the salvation of men: And that no one need to be tempted to hoard up, the colonists (as members of one body, of which Christ is the head), mutually pledge that they will provide in all respects for the widowed, orphan, & all the needy as well as for themselves & households.<ref name=Blodgett/>{{rp|16}}}}

===Predecessor: The Oneida Institute===
{{Further|Oneida Institute}}
{{blockquote|With the noble exception of the Oneida Institute in the state of New York, which, in the midst of persecution, has stood erect and preeminently true to the slave, mighty in its free testimony, and terrible to the oppressor, the Institution of Oberlin is the only one in the United States in which the black and colored student finds a home, where he is fully and joyously regarded as a man and a brother.<ref name=Oneida>{{cite book |title=The martyr age of the United States of America, with an appeal on behalf of the Oberlin Institute in aid of the abolition of slavery |year=1840 |location=[[Newcastle upon Tyne]] |publisher=Newcastle Upon Tyne Emancipation and Aborigines Protection Society |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/60238308 |jstor=60238308 |access-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913231139/https://www.jstor.org/stable/60238308 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
The [[Lane Rebels]] are commonly mentioned in the early history of Oberlin.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lane Rebels at Oberlin |author=Oberlin Sanctuary Project |year=2017 |access-date=October 2, 2019 |url=https://sanctuary.oberlincollegelibrary.org/exhibits/show/the-lane-rebels/the-lane-rebels--abolitionists |publisher=Oberlin College Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729112255/https://sanctuary.oberlincollegelibrary.org/exhibits/show/the-lane-rebels/the-lane-rebels--abolitionists |archive-date=July 29, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> These original Oberlin students, who had little to do with [[Lane Theological Seminary|Lane]] other than walking out on it, were carrying on a tradition that began at the [[Oneida Institute of Science and Industry]], in [[Oneida County, New York]], near [[Utica, New York|Utica]]. Oneida was "a hotbed of anti-slavery activity",<ref name=Axe>{{cite book |title=Abolition's axe : Beriah Green, Oneida Institute, and the Black freedom struggle |last=Sernett |first=Milton C. |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |year=1986 |isbn=9780815623700 |url=https://archive.org/details/abolitionsaxeber00sern/}}</ref>{{rp|44}} "abolitionist to the core, more so than any other American college."<ref name=Axe/>{{rp|46}} A fundraising trip to England sought funds for both colleges.<ref name=Both>{{cite book |title=Oneida and Oberlin, or A Call, addressed to British Christians and philanthropists, affectionately inviting their sympathies, their prayers, and their assistance, in favour of the Christians and philanthropists of the United States of North America, for the extirpation, by our aid, of that slavery which we introduced into those states, while they were under our power |location=[[Bristol, England]] |publisher=Wright and Albright |first=Charles |last=Stuart |authorlink=Charles Stuart (abolitionist) |year=1841 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/60239226 |jstor=60239226 |access-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-date=September 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913152658/https://www.jstor.org/stable/60239226 |url-status=live }}</ref> Oberlin's anti-slavery activities supplanted those of Oneida, which fell on hard times and closed in 1843. Funding previously provided by the philanthropist brothers [[Lewis Tappan|Lewis and Arthur Tappan]] was transferred to Oberlin. Oberlin became the new "academic powder keg for abolitionism."<ref>{{cite book
|page=102
|title ='Fire from the Midst of You' [:] A Religious Life of John Brown
|first=Louis A.
|last=DeCaro Jr.
|location=New York
|year=2002
|publisher=[[New York University Press]]
|isbn=081471921X}}</ref>

Oneida was founded by [[George Washington Gale]], of whom Oberlin President [[Charles Grandison Finney]] was a disciple. The institute's second and final President, [[Beriah Green]], moved to Oneida after he proved too abolitionist for [[Case Western Reserve University#Western Reserve College (1826–1882) and University (1882–1967)|Western Reserve College]], Oberlin's early competitor in the [[Ohio Western Reserve]].

===The Lane Rebels enroll at Oberlin===
{{blockquote|When the Oberlin Collegiate Institute was formed in 1833 the founders did not anticipate including black Americans in the student body. Additionally, the slavery question did not play any part in the college's or colony's establishment. Such matters arose only when Oberlin's trustees agreed to admit the Lane Seminary Rebels from Cincinnati to Oberlin. The Lane Rebels collectively demanded that students at the seminary have the right to freely debate antislavery issues, and that the seminary's faculty members manage the affairs of the institution.<ref name=Baumann>{{cite book |title=Constructing Black Education at Oberlin College: A Documentary History |first=Roland M. |last=Baumann |year=2010 |publisher=[[Ohio University Press]] |isbn=9780821418871 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/1084 |via=[[Project MUSE]] |access-date=November 17, 2019 |archive-date=November 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117185603/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/1084 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|20}}}}

The charismatic [[Theodore Dwight Weld]], after three years (1827–1830) studying with Gale at Oneida, was hired by the new Society for Promoting [[Manual labor college|Manual Labor in Literary Institutions]], a project of the Tappans. (By "literary institutions" what is meant is non-religious schools, as in "In every literary institution there are a number of hours daily, in which nothing is required of the student."<ref name=Weld>{{cite book |first=Theodore D. |last=Weld |title=First annual report of the Society for Promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions, including the report of their general agent, Theodore D. Weld. January 28, 1833 |publisher=S. W. Benedict & Co. |location=New York |year=1833 |url=https://archive.org/details/firstannualrepor00soci/page/n7}}</ref>{{rp|40}}) He was charged with finding a site for "a great national manual labor institution where training for the Western ministry could be provided for poor but earnest young men who had dedicated their lives to the home missionary cause in the vast valley of the Mississippi."<ref name=Fletcher>{{cite book |title=History of Oberlin College from its foundation through the Civil War |last=Fletcher |first=Robert Samuel |date=1943 |publisher=Oberlin College |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofoberlin01flet}}</ref>{{rp|43}} By coincidence, the administrators of new and barely-functioning [[Lane Seminary]], a manual labor school located just outside Cincinnati, were looking for students. 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.<ref name=Fletcher/>{{rp|54}} He organized and led a group exodus of Oneida students, and others from upstate New York, to come to Lane. "Lane was Oneida moved west."<ref name=Fletcher/>{{rp|55}}

This coincided with the emergence of "immediatism": the call for immediate and uncompensated freeing of all slaves, which at the time was a radical idea, and the rejection of "colonization", sending freed slaves to Africa by the [[American Colonization Society#Opposition to colonization|American Colonization Society]]. "The anti-slavery and the colonization questions had become exciting ones throughout the whole country, and the students deemed it to be their duty thoroughly to examine them, in view of their bearing upon their future responsibilities as ministers of the gospel."<ref name=Arthur>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofarthurtapp00tapp_1/page/226 |title=The Life of Arthur Tappan |location=New York |publisher=[[Hurd and Houghton]] |year=1870 |first=Lewis |last=Tappan |authorlink=Lewis Tappan}}</ref>{{rp|226}} Shortly after their arrival at Lane, the Oneida contingent held a lengthy, well-publicized series of debates, over 18 days during February 1834, on the topic of abolition versus colonization, concluding with the endorsement of the former and rejection of the latter. (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 like the [[Cincinnati riots of 1829]], prohibited off-topic discussions, even at meals. The Lane Rebels, including almost all of Lane's theological students, among them the entire Oneida contingent, resigned ''en masse'' in December, and published a pamphlet explaining their decision.<ref>{{cite book |title=A statement of the reasons which induced the students of Lane Seminary, to dissolve their connection with that institution |author=51 signatures |date=December 15, 1834 |url=https://archive.org/details/ASPC0001868700/page/n1}}</ref> A trustee, [[Asa Mahan]], resigned also, and the trustees fired John Morgan, a faculty member who supported the students.<ref name=Fletcher/>{{rp|159}}

A chance encounter with Shipherd, who was travelling around Ohio recruiting students for his new Collegiate Institute, led to the proposal that they come to Oberlin, along with Mahan and the fired Lane professor. They did so, but only after Oberlin agreed to their conditions:
* Oberlin, like Oneida, would admit African Americans on an equal basis. At the time, this was a radical and unpopular measure, even dangerous.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Baumgartner |first=Kabria |title=Building the Future: White Women, Black Education, and Civic Inclusion in Antebellum Ohio |journal=[[Journal of the Early Republic]] |volume=37 |number=1 |year=2017 |pages=117–145 |doi=10.1353/jer.2017.0003 |s2cid=151585971}}</ref> Previous attempts at "racially" integrated schools, the [[Noyes Academy]] and the [[Canterbury Female Boarding School]], had been met with violence that destroyed both schools. Refugees from both had enrolled at Oneida. No one was calling for racially integrated schools, except at Oneida.
:This measure caused the trustees "a great struggle to overcome their prejudices".<ref name=Arthur/>{{rp|239}} Moving their meeting to [[Elyria, Ohio|Elyria]] on January 1, 1835, at the Temperance House instead of Oberlin, so as to avoid a hostile and possibly disruptive audience, the trustees agreed to hire Mahan and Morgan, but took no action on the black question. They tabled it, until it was made clear that if they did not agree, they would lose the Tappans' money, the cadre of students, Mahan, Finney, and Shipherd himself, who threatened to quit and set forth at length the reasons Oberlin should educate blacks.<ref name=Fairchild/>{{rp|58–62}}<ref>{{citation |title=Pastoral letter |first=John J. |last=Shipherd |authorlink=John Jay Shipherd |date=January 27, 1835 |url=https://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/History268/shipherd.html |access-date=December 9, 2020 |archive-date=February 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210180445/https://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/History268/shipherd.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The Trustees, meeting on February 9 in Shipherd's house, reexamined the question, and it passed after Trustee Chairman [[John Keep]] broke a 3–3 tie vote.<ref name=Fairchild/>{{rp|63–65}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Noyes Academy, 1834–35: The Road to the Oberlin Collegiate Institute and the Higher Education of African Americans in the Nineteenth Century |last1=Irvine |first1=Russell W. |last2=Dunkerton |first2=Donna Zani |journal=Western Journal of Black Studies |date=Winter 1998 |volume=22 |number=4 |url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=1600690&site=ehost-live |via=EBSCOhost |pages=260–273 |access-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604111349/http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true |archive-date=June 4, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|271}}<ref name=Brandt/>{{rp|36–37}}
* There would be no restrictions on discussion of slavery or any other topic.
* Asa Mahan, the Lane trustee who resigned with the students, would become president. This initiative came from the Oneida students, and Weld in particular.
* Professor [[John Morgan (professor)|John Morgan]], fired by Lane for supporting the students,<ref name=Fletcher/>{{rp|159}} would be hired also.
* Under what Fletcher labeled the "Finney compact", in sharp contrast with and in reaction to recent events at Lane, the internal affairs of the college were to be under faculty control, "much to the irritation of our latter-day trustees, and occasionally our presidents and deans".<ref name=Mahan/>{{rp|24}} This commitment to [[academic freedom]] was a key 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."<ref name=Blodgett>{{cite book |first=Geoffrey |last=Blodgett |authorlink=Geoffrey Blodgett |title=Oberlin History. Essays and Impressions |location=[[Kent, Ohio]] |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=0873388879}}</ref>{{rp|22}} The Oberlin Anti-Slavery Society, calling for "immediate emancipation", was founded in June 1835. The names of Shipherd, Mahan, and Finney are first on its founding document, followed by names of the Oneida contingent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution of the Oberlin Anti-Slavery Society |date=June 1835 |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/DocumentsOberlinAntiSlaveryCon.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222015928/http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/Documents/OberlinAntiSlaveryCon.htm |archive-date=February 22, 2015}}</ref>

Oberlin replaced Oneida as "the hot-bed of Abolitionism",<ref name=Jubilee/>{{rp|82}} "the most progressive college in the United States".<ref>{{cite book |page=4 |url=https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/54708/JBC_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Righteous Radicalism: Oberlin Abolitionism from 1839 to 1859 |first=Joseph Blackburn |last=Campbell |publisher=Research thesis, Ohio State University |date=2013 |access-date=October 6, 2019 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806023434/https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/54708/JBC_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=live}}</ref> Oberlin sent forth cadres of minister-abolitionists every year:

{{blockquote|From this fountain streams of anti-slavery influence began at once to flow. Pamphlets, papers, letters, lecturers and preachers, and school teachers, some five hundred each winter, went forth everywhere preaching the anti-slavery word. It was the influence emanating from this school that saved our country in its great hour of peril. There were thousands of other co-operating influences, but had that which went out from Oberlin been subtracted, there can hardly remain a doubt that freedom would have foundered in the storm. Indeed it is doubtful whether there would have been any storm. The nation probably would have meekly yielded to the dominion of the [[slave power]], and the Western Hemisphere would have become a den of tyrants and slaves. As it was, we were scarcely saved.<ref name=Jubilee>{{cite book
|title=The Oberlin Jubilee, 1833–1883
|editor-first=W. G.
|editor-last=Ballantine
|pages=75–84|chapter=The Beginning|first=Rev. John M.|last=Williams|date=January 4, 1883
|publisher=Oberlin, O., E.J. Goodrich
|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924031445152/page/n79/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|82–83}}}}

===19th century – post founding===
[[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 professor of [[theology]]. Mahan's strong advocacy of immediatism—the immediate and complete freeing of all slaves—greatly influenced the philosophy of the college. The same year, two years after its founding, the school began admitting African Americans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/SG1/biography.html |title=Biography: Asa Mahan (1799–1889) |date=March 30, 2003 |access-date=March 27, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201140904/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/SG1/biography.html |archive-date=December 1, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The college experienced financial distress, and Rev. [[John Keep]] and [[William Dawes (abolitionist)|William Dawes]] were sent to England to raise funds in 1839–40.<ref name=Oneida/><ref name=Both/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SG-g_52iY6gC&q=%22William+Dawes%22+slavery&pg=PA192 |title=The Culture of English Antislavery, 1780–1860 |author=David Turley |page=192 |access-date=May 23, 2017 |isbn=9780415020084 |year=1991 |publisher=Routledge |archive-date=July 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718134213/https://books.google.com/books?id=SG-g_52iY6gC&q=%22William+Dawes%22+slavery&pg=PA192 |url-status=live}}</ref> A nondenominational seminary,<ref name="theology2">{{cite web |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/resources/architecture/group11.html |title=Oberlin College Archives – Published Resources – Architectural Records Guide – Group 11 |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date= June 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924054659/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/resources/architecture/group11.html |archive-date= September 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Oberlin's Graduate School of Theology (first called the undergraduate Theological Department), was established alongside the college in 1833.<ref name="theology1">{{cite web |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/resources/women/group11.html |title=Oberlin College Archives – Published Resources – Women's History Guide – Group 11 |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date= June 28, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924054708/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/resources/women/group11.html |archive-date= September 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="theology1"/><ref name="theology3">{{cite web |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG11/adminhist.html |title=Oberlin College Archives – Holdings – Finding Guides – RG # – Name (bdate-ddate) – Biography/Administrative History |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date= June 28, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924054547/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG11/adminhist.html |archive-date= September 24, 2015}}</ref> Oberlin's role as an educator of African-American students prior to the Civil War and thereafter was significant.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ohioswallow.com/book/Constructing+Black+Education+at+Oberlin+College |title=Constructing Black Education at Oberlin College |website=Ohioswallow.com |access-date= September 15, 2014 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118101951/https://ohioswallow.com/book/Constructing+Black+Education+at+Oberlin+College |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1844, Oberlin Collegiate Institute graduated its first black student, [[George Boyer Vashon]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Earliest Black Graduates of the Nation's Highest-Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges |journal=[[Journal of Blacks in Higher Education]] |number=38 |date=Winter 2002–2003 |pages=104–109 |doi=10.2307/3134222 |jstor=3134222}}</ref> who later became one of the founding professors of [[Howard University]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jbhe.com/features/53_blackhistory_timeline.html |title=Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |website=Jbhe.com |access-date= September 15, 2014 |archive-date= March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232733/http://www.jbhe.com/features/53_blackhistory_timeline.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and the first black lawyer admitted to the Bar in New York State.

[[File:Oberlin College - Severance Hall.jpg|thumb|Severance Hall]]
The college's treatment of African Americans was inconsistent. Although intensely anti-slavery, and admitting black students from 1835, the school began segregating its black students by the 1880s with the fading of evangelical idealism.<ref name=Waite>{{Cite journal |jstor=369200 |title=The Segregation of Black Students at Oberlin College after Reconstruction |journal=History of Education Quarterly |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=344–364 |last1=Waite |first1=Cally L. |year=2001 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-5959.2001.tb00092.x |s2cid=143031130}}</ref> Nonetheless, Oberlin graduates accounted for a significant percentage of African-American college graduates by the end of the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Beyond Coeducation: Oberlin College and Women's History |url=https://www2.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/womenshist/women.html#:~: |access-date=2023-06-25 |website=www2.oberlin.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2017-05-23 |title=How the Daughter of a Slave Became the First African-American Woman to Earn a Bachelor's Degree |url=https://time.com/4788672/mary-jane-patterson-history/ |access-date=2023-06-25 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2023}} One such black alumnus was [[William Howard Day]], who would go on to found Cleveland's first black newspaper, ''[[The Aliened American]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Battles |first=David M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/233813714 |title=The history of public library access for African Americans in the South, or, Leaving behind the plow |date=2009 |isbn=978-0-8108-6247-0 |location=Lanham, Maryland |oclc=233813714}}</ref> The college was listed as a [[National Historic Landmark]] on December 21, 1965, for its significance in admitting African Americans and women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=450&ResourceType=Site |title=National Historic Landmarks Program – Oberlin College |access-date=May 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017184121/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=450&ResourceType=Site |archive-date= October 17, 2007}}</ref>

Oberlin is the oldest [[coeducation]]al college in the United States, having [[List of mixed-sex colleges and universities in the United States|admitted four women in 1837]] to its two-year "women's program".<ref name=Time/> These four women, who were the first to enter as full students, were Mary Kellogg (Fairchild), Mary Caroline Rudd, Mary Hosford, and Elizabeth Prall. All but Kellogg graduated. [[Mary Jane Patterson]] graduated with honors in 1862, the first black woman to earn a B.A. degree.<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine
|title=How the Daughter of a Slave Became the First African-American Woman to Earn a Bachelor's Degree
|first=Erin
|last=Blakemore
|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]
|date=May 23, 2017
|url=https://time.com/4788672/mary-jane-patterson-history/}}</ref> Soon, women were fully integrated into the college, and comprised from a third to half of the student body. The religious founders, especially evangelical theologian [[Charles Grandison Finney]], saw women as morally superior to men.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lasser |first1=Carol |title=Educating Men and Women Together: Coeducation in a Changing World |date=1987 |publisher=University of Illinois Press in conjunction with Oberlin College |isbn=978-0-252-01346-1 |pages=67–68 |language=en}}</ref> Oberlin ceased operating for seven months in 1839 and 1840 due to lack of funds, making it the [[List of earliest coeducational colleges and universities in the United States|second-oldest continuously operating coeducational liberal arts college in the United States]].<ref>Hoagland added that this innovation was also advantageous for men because it would uplift them spiritually. {{cite journal |jstor=3786607 |title=Coeducation of the Sexes at Oberlin College: A Study of Social Ideas in Mid-Nineteenth-Century America |journal=Journal of Social History |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=160–176 |last1=Hogeland |first1=Ronald W. |year=1972 |doi=10.1353/jsh/6.2.160}}</ref>

[[File:OberlinArchSmall.jpg|thumb|Peters Hall, the Oberlin Administration Building, in 1909]]

Mahan, who was often in conflict with faculty, resigned his position as president in 1850.<ref name="Hall2014">{{cite book |author=Timothy L. Hall |title=American Religious Leaders |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-eBX522JniwC&pg=PA226 |date=May 14, 2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-0806-3 |pages=226– |access-date= May 3, 2018 |archive-date= January 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126155530/https://books.google.com/books?id=-eBX522JniwC&pg=PA226 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="CowlesMahan1849">{{cite book |author1=Henry Cowles |author2=Asa Mahan |title=The Oberlin Evangelist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JiNFAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA150 |year=1849 |publisher=R.E. Gillett |pages=1– |access-date=May 3, 2018 |archive-date=December 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217022306/https://books.google.com/books?id=JiNFAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA150 |url-status=live}}</ref> Replacing him was famed [[abolitionist]] and preacher Charles Grandison Finney, a professor at the college since its founding, who served until 1866.<ref name="Shook2005">{{cite book |author=John R. Shook |title=Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ijpj1tB3Qr0C&pg=PA747 |date=1 January 2005 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-84371-037-0 |pages=747– |access-date= May 4, 2018 |archive-date= June 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610200758/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ijpj1tB3Qr0C |url-status=live}}</ref> At the same time, the institute was renamed "Oberlin College",<ref>{{cite web |title=Oberlin History |publisher=Oberlin College |url=https://www.oberlin.edu/about-oberlin/oberlin-history |access-date=October 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916231536/https://www.oberlin.edu/about-oberlin/oberlin-history |archive-date=September 16, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and in 1851 received a charter with that name.<ref name=Manual>{{cite journal |last=Lull |first=Herbert Galen |journal=Manual Training |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002102077 |title=The Manual Labor Movement In the United States |date=June 1914 |pages=375–388 |access-date=August 5, 2019 |archive-date=December 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208135647/http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002102077 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|385}} Under Finney's leadership, Oberlin's faculty and students increased their abolitionist activity. They participated with the townspeople in efforts to assist fugitive slaves on the [[Underground Railroad]], where Oberlin was a stop, as well as to resist the [[Fugitive slave laws#Fugitive Slave Act of 1793|Fugitive Slave Act]].<ref>Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, ''Charles G. Finney and the Spirit of American Evangelicalism'' (1996) p 199</ref> One historian called Oberlin "the town that started the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]" due to its reputation as a hotbed of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionism]].<ref name=Brandt>Brandt, Nat (1990). ''The town that started the Civil War''. Syracuse University Press. {{ISBN|0-8156-0243-X}}.</ref> In 1858, both students and faculty were involved in the controversial [[Oberlin–Wellington Rescue]] of a fugitive slave, which received national press coverage. Two participants in this raid, [[Lewis Sheridan Leary]] and [[John Anthony Copeland]], along with another Oberlin resident, [[Shields Green]], also participated in [[John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry]]. 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sculpturecenter.org/oosi/sculpture.asp?SID=44 |title=Underground Railroad Monument : The Sculpture Center / OOSI |access-date=May 12, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012011301/http://www.sculpturecenter.org/oosi/sculpture.asp?SID=44 |archive-date=October 12, 2007}}</ref> and monuments to the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/CivilWarTour/Stop5.html |title=Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Monument |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date= September 15, 2014 |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529044921/http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/CivilWarTour/Stop5.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and the Harper's Ferry Raid,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/CivilWarTour/Stop4.html |title=Harper's Ferry Memorial |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date=September 15, 2014 |archive-date= May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529044854/http://www.oberlin.edu/external/EOG/CivilWarTour/Stop4.html |url-status=live}}</ref> which followed an 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, Ohio|Lorain County]] jail.<ref>{{cite news |title=Abolitionism—Oberlin Negro Riot |newspaper=[[Democratic Standard]] |location=[[Georgetown, Ohio]] |date=March 23, 1841 |page=2 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36668820/oberlin_people_freeing_negros_held_in/ |access-date=October 3, 2019 |archive-date=October 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003113752/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36668820/oberlin_people_freeing_negros_held_in/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1866, [[James Fairchild]] became Oberlin's third president, and first alumnus to lead it.<ref name=Morris2014/>{{rp|122}} A committed [[abolitionist]], Fairchild, at that point chair of theology and moral philosophy, had played a role in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, hiding fugitive slave John Price in his home. During Fairchild's tenure, the faculty and physical plant of the college expanded dramatically. In 1889, he resigned as president but remained as chair of [[systematic theology]]. In 1896, Fairchild returned as acting president until 1898.<ref name=prezlist/>

Oberlin College was prominent in sending Christian [[missionaries]] abroad. In 1881, students at Oberlin formed the [[Oberlin Band (China)|Oberlin Band]] to journey as a group to remote [[Shanxi]] province in China.<ref>Brandt, Nat ''Massacre in Shansi'' Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994</ref>{{rp|24–23}} A total of 30 members of the Oberlin Band worked in Shanxi as missionaries over the next two decades. 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]].<ref>Brandt, Nat ''Massacre in Shansi,'' Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994</ref> The [[Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association]], an independent foundation, was established in their memory. The Association, with offices on campus, sponsors Oberlin graduates to teach in China, India, and Japan. It also hosts scholars and artists from Asia to spend time on the Oberlin campus.

===20th century===
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[[Henry Churchill King]] became Oberlin's sixth president in 1902. At Oberlin from 1884 onward, he taught in mathematics, philosophy, and theology. [[Robert K. Carr]] served as Oberlin College president from 1960 to 1970, during the tumultuous period of student activism. Under his presidency, the school's physical plant added 15 new buildings. Under his leadership, student involvement in college affairs increased, with students serving on nearly all college committees as voting members (including the board of trustees). Despite these accomplishments, Carr clashed repeatedly with the students over the [[Vietnam War]], and he left office in 1969 with history professor Ellsworth C. Clayton becoming acting president.<ref name="prezlist"/> Carr was forced to resign in 1970.

Oberlin (and [[Princeton University|Princeton]]) alumnus [[Robert W. Fuller]]'s<ref name="CarrPapers">[http://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/archon/?p=collections/controlcard&id=330 Robert K. and Olive Grabill Carr Papers, 1907–1981] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804114541/http://www.oberlinlibstaff.com/archon/?p=collections%2Fcontrolcard&id=330 |date=August 4, 2016 }}, Oberlin College Archives. Retrieved December 17, 2013.</ref> commitment to educational reform—which he had already demonstrated as a [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]] dean—led his alma mater to make him its tenth president in November 1970. At 33 years old, Fuller became one of the youngest college presidents in U.S. history. During his Oberlin presidency—a turbulent time at Oberlin and in higher education generally—Fuller reshaped the student body by tripling the enrollment of minorities at the college. He recruited and hired the first four African-American athletic coaches at 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 (magazine)|Life]]'' as one of the first colleges in the country to have co-ed dormitories.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.oberlin.edu/175/didyouknow-coed.html |title=College web site |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date= September 15, 2014 |archive-date= May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529161858/http://www.oberlin.edu/175/didyouknow-coed.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://new.oberlin.edu/office/housing/housing-options/gender-policies/ |title=Gender Policies |website=Greenreportcard.org |access-date= June 28, 2015 |archive-date=June 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621220118/http://new.oberlin.edu/office/housing/housing-options/gender-policies/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Fuller was succeeded by the longtime Dean of the Conservatory, [[Emil Danenberg]], who served as president from 1975 to 1982, and died in office.<ref name="prezlist">{{cite web |title=Presidents of Oberlin College |url=http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/ |work=Oberlin College Archives |publisher=Oberlin College |access-date=October 21, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021212656/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/ |archive-date=October 21, 2013}}</ref> In 1983, following a nationwide search, Oberlin hired [[S. Frederick Starr]], an expert on Russian and Eurasian affairs and skilled musician, as its 12th president. Starr's academic and musical accomplishments boded well for his stewardship of both the college and the [[Oberlin College Conservatory of Music]].<ref name="OCbio"/> Despite increasing minority hiring,<ref name="OCbio"/> Starr's tenure was marked by clashes with students over divestment from South Africa and the dismissal of a campus minister,<ref name="OCbio">[http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/SG12/biography.html "2/12 – S. Frederick Starr (1940– ),"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507144631/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/SG12/biography.html |date=May 7, 2015 }} Oberlin College website. Retrieved November 5, 2015.</ref> as well as Starr's reframing Oberlin as the "Harvard of the Midwest".<ref name="Review">Foss, Sara and Miller, Hanna. [http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/archives/1998.05.22/news_review/pomp_and_circumstances.html "Pomp and circumstances: Nancy Dye's first four years,"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818233306/http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/archives/1998.05.22/news_review/pomp_and_circumstances.html |date=August 18, 2016 }} ''Oberlin Review'' (May 22, 1998).</ref> A particularly vitriolic clash with students on the front lawn of his home in April 1990<ref name="Review"/> led Starr to take a leave of absence from July 1991 to February 1992.<ref name="OCbio"/> He resigned in March 1993, effective in June of that year.<ref name="OCbio"/>

===21st century===
[[Nancy Dye]] became the 13th president of Oberlin College in July 1994,<ref name=OCPrez>[http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/ "Presidents of Oberlin College"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021212656/http://www.oberlin.edu/archive/holdings/finding/RG2/ |date=October 21, 2013 }}. Oberlin College Archives. Retrieved December 17, 2013.</ref> succeeding the embattled Starr.<ref name=Review/> Oberlin's first female president, she oversaw the construction of new buildings, increased admissions selectivity, and helped increase the [[Financial endowment|endowment]] with the largest capital campaign to that point.<ref>McIntyre, Mike, [http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/oamcurrent/oam_winter2002/feat_nancy.htm "Nancy Dye's Presidency,"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721185728/http://www.oberlin.edu/alummag/oamcurrent/oam_winter2002/feat_nancy.htm |date=July 21, 2016 }} ''Oberlin Alumni Magazine'' vol. 97, #3 (Winter 2001).</ref> Dye was known for her accessibility and inclusiveness. Especially in her early years, she was a regular attendee at football games, concerts, and dorm parties.<ref name="Review"/> Dye served as president for nearly 13 years, resigning on June 30, 2007.<ref>Kaplan, Maxine and Hansen, Jamie. [http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2006/09/15/news/Dye_Announces_Retirement.html "Dye Announces Retirement: After 12 Years, Dye is Set to Step Down,"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721235741/http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2006/09/15/news/Dye_Announces_Retirement.html |date=July 21, 2016 }} ''Oberlin Review'' (September 15, 2006).</ref> [[Marvin Krislov]] served as president of the college from 2007 to 2017, moving on to assume the presidency of [[Pace University]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/nyregion/pace-university-set-to-name-head-of-oberlin-as-president.html |title=Pace University Names Head of Oberlin Its Next President |last=Chen |first=David W. |date=February 14, 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 30, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302234347/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/nyregion/pace-university-set-to-name-head-of-oberlin-as-president.html |url-status=live}}</ref> On May 30, 2017, [[Carmen Twillie Ambar]] was announced as the 15th president of Oberlin College, becoming the first African-American person and second woman to hold the position.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.oberlin.edu/articles/oberlin-announces-15th-president/ |title=Carmen Twillie Ambar Named 15th President of Oberlin |date=May 30, 2017 |work=Oberlin News Center |access-date=May 30, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605132330/http://news.oberlin.edu/articles/oberlin-announces-15th-president/ |archive-date=June 5, 2017}}</ref>

Oberlin's first and only hired trade union expert, Chris Howell, argued 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. Howell wrote that college workers sought the union's representation in response to the administration's effort to "speed up work" to meet a "mounting budget crisis".<ref>P.15. Howell, Chris and Whelan, Megan. ''The Oberlin Review''. vol. 123, no. 25. May 26, 1995.</ref>

In February 2013, the college received significant press concerning its so-called "No Trespass List", a secret list maintained by the college of individuals barred from campus without due process.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wkyc.com/news/education/article/283663/35/Oberlin-Students-protest-no-trespass-list- |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130412051459/http://www.wkyc.com/news/education/article/283663/35/Oberlin-Students-protest-no-trespass-list- |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 12, 2013 |title=Oberlin: Students protest 'no trespass' list |work=WKYC |access-date= June 28, 2015}}</ref> Student activists and members of the surrounding town joined to form the One Town Campaign, which challenged this policy. On February 13, 2013, a forum at the Oberlin Public Library that attracted over 200 people, 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".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/02/oberlins_secret_no_trespass_li.html |title=Secret 'No Trespass' list at Oberlin College raises concerns at forum |work=cleveland.com |date=February 14, 2013 |access-date=June 28, 2015 |archive-date=February 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215160037/https://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/02/oberlins_secret_no_trespass_li.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oberlinreview.org/6203/news/sfp-plants-flags-in-call-to-action/ |title=The Oberlin Review : SFP Plants Flags in 'Call to Action' |first=Elizabeth |last=Dobbins |website=oberlinreview.org |access-date=January 30, 2017 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202043424/http://oberlinreview.org/6203/news/sfp-plants-flags-in-call-to-action/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2016, hundreds of Oberlin alumni signed a letter to the Oberlin administration stating that this protest was an example of anti-Semitism on the campus.<ref name="sites.google.com">{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/oberlinagainstantisemitism/ |title=Oberlin Alumni and Students Against Anti-Semitism |website=sites.google.com |access-date=January 31, 2017 |archive-date=October 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024183759/https://sites.google.com/site/oberlinagainstantisemitism/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jta.org/2016/01/27/news-opinion/united-states/oberlin-college-president-to-discuss-campus-anti-semitism-with-alums |title=Oberlin College president to discuss campus anti-Semitism with alums |website=Jta.org |date=January 27, 2016 |access-date=April 16, 2017 |archive-date=September 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916142135/http://www.jta.org/2016/01/27/news-opinion/united-states/oberlin-college-president-to-discuss-campus-anti-semitism-with-alums |url-status=live}}</ref> Oberlin SFP responded with their own letter, detailing why protest of Israel does not constitute anti-semitism. 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."<ref>{{cite web |date=October 3, 2014 |title=SFP on Anti-Semitism, Complicity and Action |url=https://oberlinreview.org/6319/opinions/sfp-on-anti-semitism-complicity-and-action/ |url-status=live |website=The Oberlin Review |access-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-date=August 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825000607/https://oberlinreview.org/6319/opinions/sfp-on-anti-semitism-complicity-and-action/}}</ref>

In early 2016, an Oberlin professor, Joy Karega, suggested Israel was behind [[9/11]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stanley-Becker |first1=Isaac |title=Protests at Oberlin labeled a bakery racist. Now, the college has been ordered to pay $11 million for libel |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/10/oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-libel-million-racist/ |access-date= June 19, 2019 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=June 10, 2019 |quote=Joy Karega, over incendiary statements on social media, including her suggestion that Israel was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks |archive-date= June 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617225745/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/10/oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-libel-million-racist/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and blamed it for the [[Charlie hebdo attacks|Charlie Hebdo attacks]] and for [[ISIS]],<ref name="thetower.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.thetower.org/3012-oberlin-professor-claims-israel-was-behind-911-isis-charlie-hebdo-attack/ |title=Oberlin Professor Claims Israel Was Behind 9/11, ISIS, Charlie Hebdo Attack |website=Thetower.org |date=February 25, 2016 |access-date=November 4, 2016 |archive-date=November 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105160818/http://www.thetower.org/3012-oberlin-professor-claims-israel-was-behind-911-isis-charlie-hebdo-attack/ |url-status=live}}</ref> prompting a rebuke from faculty and administration.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/12/oberlin-professors-condemn-colleagues-controversial-remarks-others-defend-them |title=Oberlin professors condemn colleague's controversial remarks, others defend them |website=Insidehighered.com |access-date=November 4, 2016 |archive-date=November 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105162703/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/12/oberlin-professors-condemn-colleagues-controversial-remarks-others-defend-them |url-status=live}}</ref> After five-and-a-half months of discussion, the school suspended<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/04/months-later-oberlin-suspends-professor-who-made-anti-semitic-remarks-facebook |title=Suspended for Anti-Semitism |author=Colleen Flaherty |date=August 4, 2016 |website=Inside Higher Ed | access-date = November 4, 2016 | archive-date = November 5, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161105095304/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/04/months-later-oberlin-suspends-professor-who-made-anti-semitic-remarks-facebook | url-status = live}}</ref> and then fired her.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/11/16/oberlin-fires-joy-karega-following-investigation-her-anti-semitic-statements-social |quote=College fires Joy Karega, effective immediately, following an investigation into her anti-Semitic statements on social media |title=Oberlin Ousts Professor |author=Colleen Flaherty |date=November 16, 2016 |website=Inside Higher Ed | access-date = November 16, 2016 | archive-date = November 17, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161117070438/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/11/16/oberlin-fires-joy-karega-following-investigation-her-anti-semitic-statements-social | url-status = live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jta.org/2016/11/20/news-opinion/united-states/note-reading-gas-jew-die-left-at-vandalized-home-of-jewish-oberlin-college-professor |title=Jewish Oberlin professor's house vandalized, note says 'Gas Die Jew' |website=Jta.org |date=November 20, 2016 |access-date=January 30, 2017 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202063832/http://www.jta.org/2016/11/20/news-opinion/united-states/note-reading-gas-jew-die-left-at-vandalized-home-of-jewish-oberlin-college-professor |url-status=live}}</ref>

Oberlin came under federal investigation in late 2023 by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights for alleged breach of Title VI, which protects students from discrimination because of their religion.<ref name=Claims/>  The focus of the investigation was on past statements of Professor [[Mohammad Jafar Mahallati]], which some viewed as antisemitic.<ref name=Claims>{{cite web|url= https://www.cleveland.com/education/2023/11/oberlin-college-under-federal-investigation-over-allegations-of-antisemitism.html |title=Oberlin College under federal investigation over allegations of antisemitism|date=November 3, 2023 |publisher=Cleveland.com, November 3, 2023|accessdate=November 11, 2023}}</ref>

====''Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College''====
{{main|Gibson's Bakery v. Oberlin College}}
In 2016, a black Oberlin student was caught shoplifting two bottles of wine from Gibson's Bakery and Market, a downtown Oberlin business. A scuffle ensued between Oberlin students and Gibson's staff, and the students involved pled guilty to misdemeanor charges. Oberlin faculty and students subsequently staged large demonstrations urging a boycott of Gibson's on the grounds that the store was racist, and Gibson's sued alleging libel and other charges. In June 2019, the college was found liable for [[libel]] and [[tortious interference]] in a [[Gibson's Bakery vs. Oberlin College|lawsuit initiated by the store]]; the bakery was awarded damages of $44 million by the jury, but a legal cap on damages reduced the award to $31.5 million.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oberlin-college-and-gibsons-bakery-a-protest-against-racism-and-a-31-5-million-dollar-defamation-award/ |title=A protest against racism, and a $31.5 million defamation award |website=[[CBS News]] |date=November 3, 2019 |access-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-date=April 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403085202/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oberlin-college-and-gibsons-bakery-a-protest-against-racism-and-a-31-5-million-dollar-defamation-award/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2019, the college appealed the case to the [[Ohio District Courts of Appeals]] in Akron, Ohio.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.oberlin.edu/news/oberlin-appeals-verdict-sets-troubling-free-speech-precedent |title=Oberlin Appeals Verdict that Sets Troubling Free Speech Precedent |date=October 8, 2019 |access-date= October 8, 2019 |publisher=Oberlin College |archive-date= October 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008174742/https://www.oberlin.edu/news/oberlin-appeals-verdict-sets-troubling-free-speech-precedent |url-status=live}}</ref> On March 31, 2022, the Court of Appeals unanimously dismissed both appeals, Oberlin and Gibson, upholding the jury verdict and Judge Miraldi's decisions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2022/2022-Ohio-1079.pdf |title=Gibson Bros., Inc. v. Oberlin College |publisher=Ohio Supreme Court|date=2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403073306/https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2022/2022-Ohio-1079.pdf |archive-date=April 3, 2022 }}</ref> The [[Supreme Court of Ohio]] chose to not accept the appeal and cross-appeal on August 29, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2022/2022-Ohio-2953.pdf | title=Case Announcements | publisher=The Supreme Court of Ohio | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319203218/https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2022/2022-Ohio-2953.pdf | archive-date=2024-03-19 | date=2022-08-30}}</ref> In December 2022, Oberlin College paid Gibson's Bakery $36.59 million, the entire amount due.<ref name="WKYC">{{cite news | last1 = DeNatale | first1 = Dave "Dino" | last2 = Buckingham | first2 = Lindsay | date = December 16, 2022 | title = Gibson's Bakery receives complete payment of $36.59 million from Oberlin College in defamation suit | url = https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/lorain-county/oberlin-college-completes-payment-gibsons-bakery-defamation-case/95-ff4da16c-37d1-433f-bc1b-3e1ee219da29 | work = WKYC}}</ref> "We hope that the end of the litigation will begin the healing of our entire community", said the college.<ref name="WKYC"/>