“The grand (but not exclusive) objects of the Oberlin Institute, are the education of gospel ministers and pious schoolteachers.”

So reads the 1833 prospectus for the first incarnation of Oberlin College, the Oberlin Collegiate Institute. Obviously, the specifics of Oberlin’s aims have changed quite a lot. But many ideals the school was founded on are still relevant to today’s student body.

Oberlin was founded in an era of revivalism, known as the Second Great Awakening. Oberlin was a religious, utopian and communitarian experiment, its pet project being the education of their children and anyone else of like mind..

Even before the Lane Debates made acceptance of African-Americans a matter of course, individuals were accepted into Oberlin’s inclusive community.

Founders, John J. Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart always intended to educate what they called “the misjudged and neglected sex.” Females were even included in the mandatory Manual Labor Department.

The purpose of the Manual Labor Department was twofold. Firstly, it was meant to educate the “whole man,” as the prospectus calls it- “this Institute will provide for the body and heart as well as the intellect; for it aims at the best education of the whole man.” But it was also meant to cut costs and allow for people of modest means to attend the Institute as well.

The Oberlin Collegiate Institute and its community were founded to change the world. Its members intended to strive for their own salvation while convincing others to do the same.

“Obies today still have that reverence for individualism and community and the same sense of striving and social responsibility.”

Carol Lasser, a History professor, who teaches a course on Oberlin history as American history, said.

There are several aspects of the founders’ philosophy that haven’t remained in the current student body. The Christian focus of this school has disappeared. The faculty doesn’t teach students with an aim to “train them up in body, intellect and heart, for the service of the Lord” as the Covenant of the Oberlin Colony reads.

More conspicuous is the absence of the lifestyle originally thought necessary to best serve the Lord. Many students may adhere to the covenant to eat “only plain and wholesome food.” However, the student population as a whole hardly follows the edict of “renouncing all bad habits, and especially the smokingof tobaccostrong and unnecessary drinks, even tea and coffee, as far as practicable.”

The covenant was even against “unwholesome fashions of dress, particularly tight dressing and ornamental attire.” So it’s probably safe to say that Drag Ball would not be approved of.