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Inside Oberlin
Our Place in History
 The
United States Supreme Court will soon hear two University of
Michigan cases that will determine the constitutionality of
affirmative action in the college admissions process. Knowledge
of Oberlin's experience might be instructive as this important
question is deliberated.
Upon its founding in 1833, Oberlin opened its
doors to men and women, thereby inventing coeducation. A year
later, the trustees decided to enroll African Americans. Oberlin
was not the first institution to matriculate African Americans
(Princeton, Union, and Bowdoin had one or two black graduates
by 1834), but Oberlin did do something new: it made central
to its mission the education of black, white, male, and female
students together. Why Oberlin's trustees took this path will
never be entirely clear, and we know that their motives were
not entirely noble. But knowing their motivation is far less
important than acknowledging the results.
As early as the 1830s, Oberlin had discovered
that bringing together students with different backgrounds and
experiences brought about learning and positive social change.
The College's history clearly illustrates how a diverse student
body, in and of itself, can enrich the education of every student.
In the three decades before the Civil War, Oberlinians
distinguished themselves by their abhorrence of slavery and
their abolitionist zeal. In the years of war and reconstruction,
Oberlin led all American colleges and universities in the number
of students and alumni who helped establish schools and colleges
for freedmen throughout the American South. Long before the
Civil Rights Movement reached the consciousness of most white
Americans, Oberlin students--black and white--recognized and
acted to redress racial inequality at the College, in the town,
and elsewhere in the nation.
Oberlin's history also illustrates the importance
of an ongoing affirmative commitment to interracial education:
throughout the 19th century, Oberlin granted fully one-half
of all baccalaureate degrees awarded to African Americans. After
the establishment of black colleges and universities in the
South late in the 19th century, Oberlin could claim, well into
the 20th century, to have graduated one-third of all African
Americans who earned bachelors' degrees.
Oberlin has retained its commitment to inclusion
and diversity throughout its history. Few campuses are as accepting
of difference as ours. Like most of America's leading colleges
and universities, we use race as one of many factors in our
admissions process. We do this to ensure that Oberlin continues
to be a richly inclusive and diverse academic community. We
also practice affirmative action to help redress the still-prevalent
social and economic inequalities in American life that are rooted
in race.
Oberlin must continue to lead the way in speaking
out in favor of affirmative action and the racial, ethnic, and
socioeconomic diversity that it helps ensure throughout higher
education. The educational benefits brought about by diversity
of all kinds--religious, political, intellectual, and racial--assume
heightened importance at this moment in our history. As our
country and others prepare for war, it is especially important
that students learn there are different ways of seeing, experiencing,
and thinking about the world, and that there are ways to both
appreciate and respect each others' differences and respectfully
negotiate our disagreements.
Nancy S. Dye
President, Oberlin College |
