Today, the local Fox-TV affiliate in Cleveland Ohio refers to a 130 am incident: "KKK Figure Spotted on Oberlin Campus". "Last week, a swastika and other graffiti appeared in Oberlin's Conservatory of Music. Earlier last month, anti-Semitic, racist and homphobic graffiti was found on the campus".
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.In the southern part of Ohio a 2012 article noted that "The number of Klan members in Ohio has dwindled down to about 200 from the thousands of members present in the ’20s," However Tony Mayle, a half black doctoral student at Ohio University noted, “Some people argue that KKK doesn’t exist, But we know what time of the night we can’t go out and which restaurants we can’t go to.”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 Cancels Classes After Series of ‘Hate-Related Incidents’
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA NY Times
Published: March 4, 2013Oberlin College canceled classes on Monday and convened a “day of solidarity” instead, after a person wearing a robe and hood appeared near its Afrikan Heritage House early Monday morning, the latest in a string of what it described as hate-related incidents and vandalism in the last month.
That event and a number of others are being investigated by the college’s security staff and the Oberlin city police.
The sighting of the person on Monday, “in addition to the series of other hate-related incidents on campus, has precipitated our decision to suspend formal classes and all nonessential activities for today, Monday, March 4, 2013, and gather for a series of discussions of the challenging issues that have faced our community in recent weeks,” according to a statement issued by Marvin Krislov, Oberlin’s president, and three college deans.
In the last month, a number of racist and antigay messages have been left around campus, a jarring incongruity in a place with the liberal political leanings and traditions of Oberlin, a school of 2,800 students in Ohio, about 30 miles southwest of Cleveland. Guides to colleges routinely list it as among the most liberal, activist and gay-friendly schools in the country.
“I’m not sure why anyone is doing it, but those actions have made people uneasy and say we need to come together and discuss this,” said Scott Wargo, an Oberlin spokesman.
Founded in 1833, Oberlin was one of the first colleges in the nation to educate women and men together, and one of the first to admit black students. Before the Civil War, it was an abolitionist hotbed and an important stop on the underground railroad.
Underground Railroad sculpture on Oberlin College campus
Some updates at Twitter and Oberlin campus radio http://wobc.org/...
Map of hate groups in Ohio
More interesting in the Gawker article is this bit reflecting the Town/Gown issues that may contribute to the situation:
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.
see http://www.newsnet5.com/... and http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/...