Mark Blackman Resigns as Assistant to President

For weeks early in this year's second semester students and faculty were left in the dark regarding the whereabouts of former Assistant to the President Mark Blackman. The failure to announce Blackman's disappearance from campus left student groups Blackman had previously promised money to confused and angry.

A pervasive sense of mystery shrouded the issue of exactly why Blackman had been missing from campus for so long. "It's kind of mysterious. I assumed he was there, but he's nowhere to be found," said Assistant Director of the Student Union Chris Baymiller.

Administrators seemed confused and tentative in publicly acknowledging Blackman's absence. "I believe he's on a temporary personal leave, but I'm not at liberty to say anything about the reasons why," Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said. Whereas Goldsmith confirmed on March 8 that Blackman had not been working for about four weeks, Assistant to the President Kathryn Stuart said, "I believe he's been doing some work."

Goldsmith seemed sympathetic to general campus bafflement over Blackman's sudden disappearing act. "I certainly understand people's puzzlement over his absence," he said.

Finally on March 9 Vice President of College Relations Al Moran alleviated some of the confusion surrounding Blackman's absence by confirming that Blackman had announced his resignation, effective immediately. "He's notified us that he intends to resign for medical reasons," Moran said.

Moran also emphasized that no connection existed between Blackman's absence and funding issues for the hip-hop conference. "There is absolutely, positively, without a doubt no connection." However, it seems likely that the funds Blackman had promised to the conference's planning committee were too great for the president's office to honor, and moreover, that he failed to verify the promised funds with College President Nancy Dye.

"I would not have authorized a donation of money to that magnitude. It's way out of the range of resources of what would have been responsible," Dye said.

Committee members representing the April event, "Six Million Ways to Speak: The Oberlin Community Hip-Hop Conference 2000" proved especially infuriated over Blackman's mysterious whereabouts, as committee members claimed Blackman had promised them significant amounts of funding first semester. Blackman had met several times with conference planning committee members first semester, claiming to have secured funds of at least $5,000 for April's conference.

Committee co-coordinator Thomas Yagoda, a junior, said that Blackman had assured him last semester that he would bring the Philadelphia hip-hop artists the Roots to perform at the conference and that he had secured a $5,000 grant from Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas Klutznick. However, Yagoda and committee co-coordinator Mie Anton, a senior, claimed that Stuart urged them not to contact Klutznick because it puts the president's office in an awkward position. Stuart later said, "I was not aware of any promise [of funding] of any kind. I believe what I said was that none of the people who work for Oberlin College would approach somebody associated with Oberlin to ask for gifts without coordinating it with the development office."

Dye also conceded that Blackman had promised large sums of money to student dance organization Dance Diaspora that he proved unable to honor. Sophomore Tai Collins, who managed the fundraising for Dance Diaspora's Winter Term trip to Cuba, said that Blackman offered Diaspora a sum of money the president's office proved unable to deliver. After asking for $10,000 from the president's office, Collins said that Blackman promised them $5,000 and hoped to raise as much as $15,000. "I met with [Blackman] at least twice a week...and he kept assuring me that we would receive at least $5,000.

The College has made no further statements regarding Blackman besides announcing his resignation for medical reasons. Diana Roos, who Blackman replaced at the beginning of the year as Assistant to the President, will return next year to assume the same position.