MOVING AHEAD IN A CHANGING WORLD

The History of Oberlin College

Oberlin College was founded by two men who believed they could change the world. So strong were their convictions, so unshakable their idealism, that to this day the College is influenced by their vision and moral courage. In a 1983 article marking Oberlin's 150th anniversary, The New York Times remarked on this legacy, proclaiming, "In its century and a half, while Harvard worried about the classics and Yale about God, Oberlin worried about the state of America and the world beyond."

Oberlin's founders—the Reverend John J. Shipherd, a revivalist preacher, and Philo P. Stewart, a former missionary to the Choctaw Indians—wanted to form a colony and a college on the western frontier of the United States. Their purpose was "to train teachers and other Christian leaders for the boundless most desolate fields in the West." They believed that through education, they could improve people's behavior and thereby change the world. They recruited colonists who dedicated themselves to this ideal, and in 1833 they opened the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, as the College was known until 1850. Shipherd and Stewart named their institute after John Frederick Oberlin, a French country pastor in the remote region of Alsace whose lifelong efforts to improve the lives of his parishioners through education were renowned in Europe and the United States in the early 19th century.

It took far less than a lifetime for Oberlin College to become renowned. In fact, it took just two years. Two pioneering policies—the admission of women and the admission of African Americans—riveted national attention on the fledgling Oberlin Institute and irrevocably defined its character as progressive.

Oberlin's Two Pioneering Decisions

Oberlin was the first college in the country to admit women, and one of the first to admit African Americans. Women studied in the "Ladies Department" at Oberlin from the beginning, but in 1837 four women entered the regular college course. Three of the four graduated in 1841, becoming the first women in America to receive bachelor's degrees. The admission of women caused Oberlin to be the center of controversy over coeducation for years, and yet the decision apparently was made with very little discussion. The founders simply saw the education of women as a means of producing as many missionaries and teachers as possible, and not initially as a feminist goal.

The decision to admit African Americans, on the other hand, was made with great deliberation and vehement discussion. In 1835, with Oberlin on the verge of bankruptcy, Shipherd forged a bold and rather risky deal to save the institute with Arthur and Lewis Tappan, wealthy New York merchants. In exchange for their financial backing, the Tappans, who were abolitionists, insisted on one condition: Oberlin must admit students regardless of color. Many discussions ensued, as did a student questionnaire long on nays. Finally the trustees met in Shipherd's house and put the proposal to a vote.

The first ballot ended in a tie, with the chairman abstaining. The second ballot passed by one vote, the tie broken by the chairman. As a result of this decision, by 1900 nearly half of all the African American college graduates in the country—128 to be exact—had graduated from Oberlin. In contrast, Harvard had graduated just 11 African Americans by the turn of the century. This core of Oberlin-educated men and women formed the first African American professional class in the country.

The import of the decision to admit African Americans is made even clearer when put in its historical context. In 1835, the state of Ohio was debating whether to allow African Americans to attend elementary and secondary schools, and Southern states were drafting stricter slave codes. For more than a half century after the first African American received a bachelor's degree at Oberlin (in 1844), South Carolina and other states would declare it a crime to teach African Americans to read or write.

On Its Progressive Way

Once set on this progressive course, Oberlin became a center for abolitionism. In the years preceding the Civil War, the town of Oberlin became a main stop on the Underground Railroad, the network of safehouses and people that helped escaped slaves and freed blacks make their way to Canada and to freedom. During Reconstruction, over 500 Oberlinians taught freedmen in the Southern states.

After the Civil War, Oberlin established ties with Asia. In 1881 several Oberlin theology students were accepted for missionary service in China's Shansi Province. Not content with mere conversion to Christianity, these Oberlinians hoped to establish an institute of higher education in China. The Oberlin missionaries, along with many other missionaries and Chinese people, were killed during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and its tragic aftermath. Today some consider the Oberlin missionaries "cultural imperialists," but others see their goal, taken in the context of their time, as perfectly in keeping with Oberlin's idealism.

The link to Asia remains strong today. The Oberlin Shansi program, dedicated to educational and cultural exchange, sends Oberlin graduates and faculty members to teach in Asian countries and brings Asian scholars and undergraduates to Oberlin.

Modern Innovations

The progressive impulse that inspired Oberlin's commitment to minorities and social justice in the 19th century spurred innovations in academic and campus life in the 20th century. Oberlin became renowned for its academic excellence—since 1920, for example, more Oberlin graduates have earned the Ph.D. degree than have graduates of any other primarily undergraduate liberal arts college.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Oberlin established a comprehensive program of academic support services to address the special needs of students of color, first-generation college students, and international students. This effort continues today and is augmented by special academic programs for students from underrepresented groups. The features of these programs differ, but all include opportunities for research and faculty mentoring. Additional support comes from Oberlin's host-family program, which pairs African American students with local African American families, and from the Oberlin Black Alumni Network, through which African American students are matched with African American mentors in their home areas. Numerous student groups dedicated to the special interests of people of color provide peer support.

In the 1970s and 1980s, innovative, interdisciplinary majors in black studies, environmental studies, Judaic and Near Eastern studies, Latin American studies, neuroscience, third world studies, and women's studies were established and strengthened. During the same time, Afrikan Heritage House, Asia House, Hebrew House, Third World House, and the Women's Collective were established, connecting students' residential life to related academic majors. Perhaps the most publicized innovation in residential life, however, was coed dormitories. In 1970, after Oberlin had opened one of the nation's first coed dormitories, it again made coeducation history, as well as a Life magazine cover.

In 2002, Oberlin again became a national leader by establishing a campus mediation program through the Oberlin College Dialogue Center. Even more innovative, Oberlin is among the first few schools in the country to base its mediation program on the social-justice model of mediation. This model takes into account cultural, racial, and gender differences among people and strives to improve understanding of others' points of view when disputes arise. In recent years, Oberlin students have also been active in advocating for gay and lesbian rights.

Not a Utopia, but...
Oberlin has never been immune to the social tensions that pervade American society. In the early days of the last century, white students objected to eating at the same table with blacks, and black athletes on Oberlin's teams faced discrimination when playing other colleges. In recent years, overt acts of racism have become less common, but students of color still complain of subtle discrimination.

Oberlinians' forthrightness and idealism—and their broad education—enable them to deal with these problems in a positive way. When discrimination surfaces, students of all races speak up, awareness is raised, and reforms are enacted. Programs focusing on cultural diversity have been part of Oberlin's new-student orientation since the early 1980s, and training sessions on similar topics are offered periodically to employees. In 1991 Oberlin began requiring students to take at least nine credit hours in courses that deal with cultural diversity in order to graduate.

While Oberlin has never been a utopia, neither has it been willing to give up its quest for perfection. Oberlin continually reclaims its proud legacy of dedication to social justice and inspires all Oberlinians to change the world for the better.