Violation of Policy is Unacceptable

To the Editors:

Last night (Feb. 12) or this morning, our campus was blanketed with posters announcing an event called “smear the queer.” Although this is a well-known playground game, the name of this event is offensive to a great many members of the Oberlin College community, and it should be offensive to anyone who believes in creating and maintaining an open and welcoming environment for everyone.
For more than thirty years, Oberlin College has included sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination policies. We maintain an abiding commitment to creating a campus environment of dignity and respect for all. Language of this nature is in violation of College policy and must not be tolerated.
I call upon all members of the College community to join me in condemning acts of hostility or bigotry, however intended, and to redouble our efforts to make this a community in which such acts have no place and become, indeed, unimaginable.

–Peter D. Goldsmith
Dean of Students