is a small, highly selective
Liberal Arts College in
Oberlin, Ohio ,
USA . It was founded in
1833 , and is home to the
Oberlin Conservatory Of Music , a distinguished music school. A recent study found that more Oberlin College alumni receive doctorates than do alumni from any other liberal arts college in the country.
Oberlin was the first college in the United States to regularly admit
African-American students (
1835 ), and is also the oldest continuously-operating
Coeducation al institution. The first four women to enter as full students were
Mary Kellogg (Fairchild),
Mary Caroline Rudd ,
Mary Hosford , and
Elizabeth Prall ; all but Kellogg graduated. Oberlin has long been associated with progressive causes. It was a hotbed of
Abolitionism and a key stop along the
Underground Railroad , station number 99. Both students and faculty were involved in the controversial
Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of a fugitive slave in
1858 . One historian called Oberlin "the town that started the
Civil War ." A century later, many Oberlinians were deeply involved in the
Civil Rights Movement and various peace and justice campaigns, and a railroad track rising from the ground towards the sky has been erected as a monument to the Underground Railroad.
The school's varsity sports teams are the
Yeomen . They participate in the
NCAA 's Division III and the
North Coast Athletic Conference . Oberlin's
Football team was the first team coached by legendary coach
John Heisman , who led the team to a 7–0 record in
1892 . Though in modern times the football team was more famous for losing streaks of 40 games (1992–1996) and 44 games (1997–2001), the Yeomen have enjoyed limited success in recent years.
Oberlin College is a member of the
Great Lakes Colleges Association and The
Five Colleges Of Ohio consortium, including
Ohio Wesleyan University ,
Denison University ,
Kenyon College , and
The College Of Wooster .
Oberlin College's motto is "Learning and Labor" (see College seal above). Its school colors are officially crimson and gold though more often than not maroon and white are used.
The Oberlin Student Cooperative Association, or
OSCA , is a non-profit corporation that houses 175 students and feeds 630 students. Its budget is nearly $2 million, making it the third largest of its kind in North America.
Of Oberlin's 2,800 or so students, roughly 2,200 are enrolled in the College of Arts & Sciences, a little over 400 in the
Conservatory Of Music , and the remaining 150 or so in both College and Conservatory under the five-year Double Degree program.Office of Admissions (web link: http://www.oberlin.edu/coladm/about/stats/enrollment2005.html)
The College of Arts & Sciences offers over 45 majors, minors and concentrations. Some of the school's most popular majors are Biology, English and History. Sciences are considered quite strong for a liberal arts college, especially Chemistry and Neuroscience.
The college's unique "Experimental College" or
ExCo program, a student-run department, allows any student or interested person to teach their own class for a limited amount of college credit. ExCo classes by definition focus on material not covered by existing departments or faculty.
Many courses supplement conventional disciplines, from
Languages and areas of
Cinema or
Literature , to musical
Ensembles ,
Martial Arts and forms of
Dancing .
Other ExCos cover non-traditional topics too numerous to mention, in the past ranging from Aquariums
to Wilderness Skills[http://www.oberlin.edu/exco/students/oldcourses/spring03.htm .
Due to the nature of ExCo, while some staple courses are continued for years, the overall number and selection of classes offered varies dramatically from semester to semester.Exco Committee (web link: http://www.oberlin.edu/exco/about/history.htm)
Another notable aspect of Oberlin's academics is the Winter Term during the month of January. This term was created to allow students to do something outside the regular course offerings of the college. During this time, students work on individual or group projects in one of three categories: academic study, field experience, or personal growth. Students may work alone or in groups, either on or off campus, and may design their own project or pick from a list of projects and internships set up by the college each year. Projects range from serious academic research with coauthorship in scientific journals, to humanitarian projects, to learning how to bartend. Almost anything will be considered, although two of the three winter term credits required for graduation must come from the categories of academic research and field experience. A full credit project is suggested to involve five to six hours per weekday.Office of Winter Term (web link: http://oberlin.edu/winterterm/)
]]
Both the college and the town of Oberlin were founded in
1833 by a pair of
Presbyterian ministers,
John Shipherd and
Philo P. Stewart . The ministers named their project after
Jean Frédéric Oberlin , an
Alsatian minister whom they both admired. Oberlin attained prominence because of the influence of its second president, the evangelist
Charles Finney , after whom one of the College's chapels, also a prominent performance space, is named.
The college was built on 500 acres (2 km²) of land specifically donated by the previous owner, who lived in
Connecticut . Shipherd and Stewart's vision was for both a religious community and school. For a more detailed history of the founding of the town and the college, see
Oberlin, Ohio .
Prior to
1950 , most of Oberlin's students lived in large houses around town, some owned by the College, and others owned by individual landlords. Starting with the
G.I. Bill and continuing with the
Baby Boom , Oberlin's student body swelled in the years after
World War II , and the College's president,
William Stevenson , decided to house this influx in large dormitories on campus. In Oberlin's own version of urban renewal, many wooden houses were torn down to make way for Dascomb Hall and its fraternal twin, Barrows Hall, both completed in
1956 . Dascomb is named for one of the wooden houses it replaced, which had been named for
Dr. James Dascomb , the first doctor in Oberlin and one of the signers of the Oberlin Covenant in
1834 .
In and the
Vietnam War . Dascomb went from being the impetus for protest to the vehicle of social change in
1967 when it was transformed into a coed dorm during winter term of 1967.
Hebrew House, as it was known, was set up as winter term project to operate similar to an
Israel i ''
Kibbutz .'' In January
1969 , with the approval of Dean of Students
George Langeler , Dascomb became the first co-ed college dormitory in the
United States . The experiment was a success, and now almost all of Oberlin Colleges dormitories are co-ed.
.]]
Oberlin has always cultivated a lively community of talented musicians and artists. The college radio station
WOBC , and the party circuit (including the popular on-campus venue,
The 'Sco ) contribute to the success and popularity of their homegrown talent. Some notable alums go on to have lucrative careers on the
Indie Music scene. Due in part to both this and the school's proximity to Cleveland, the college attracts touring artists with a frequency nearly unparalleled among institutions of its size.
Oberlin is also notable for its unique art rental program. At the beginning of every semester students camp out in front of the north gate of the college's
Allen Memorial Art Museum to get first pick of original etchings, lithographs and paintings by famous artists like
Renoir ,
Warhol ,
Dalí , and
Picasso . For five U.S. dollars per semester, students can hang these works on their dorm room walls. The program was started in the
1940s by
Ellen Johnson , a professor of art at Oberlin, in order to "develop the aesthetic sensibilities of students and encourage ordered thinking and discrimination in other areas of their lives." Angell, Sue (September 26, 2005). "Art Rental Still Going Strong After 60 Years". ''OBERLIN Online: News and Features''. (web link: http://oberlin.edu/news-info/05sep/art.html)
Oberlin is also famous for
Safer Sex Night and the
Drag Ball, two annual school-sponsored parties that garner national attention and/or concern. Pearce, Jean (November 5, 2003). "Radical Activist U: Oberlin College". ''FrontPage Magazine''. (web link: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10633)In addition to this, an annual bike derby takes place on Harkness Bowl.
The students have a reputation for being radically liberal and/or progressive. Oberlin has a thriving
LGBT community and most students are well informed as to the intricacies of gender politics. The college was ranked as the eleventh most politically active, by the
Princeton Review , in 2005.
Recent activism among the student body has resulted in a campus-wide ban on Coca-Cola productsTaylor, Samantha (November 19, 2004). "College set to ban Coca-Cola". ''Oberlin Review'' (web link: http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2004/11/19/news/article1.html) and a vote of no confidence in the college's president, Nancy S. Dye, in May 2005.Keating, Josh (May 13, 2005). "Students vote 'no-confidence' in Nancy Dye". ''Oberlin Review'' (web link: http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2005/5/13/news/article1.html)
- Alison Bechdel 1981, cartoonist ('' Dykes To Watch Out For '')
- Eric Bogosian 1976, novelist/playwright ('' Ararat '')
- '')
- Antoinette Brown 1847, the first ordained female minister in the U.S.
- Blanche K Bruce , second African-American Senator from Mississippi from 1874-1881
- James Burrows 1962, producer/creator of '' Cheers '' and director '' Will & Grace '', '' Wings '', '' News Radio '', among others
- Marc Canter , 1980 degree in Intermedia, co-founder of Macromind (later Macromedia), led development of Director software and Flash format
- John Cazale , actor ('' The Godfather '', '' The Deer Hunter )
- Tracy Chevalier 1984, novelist ('' Girl With A Pearl Earring '')
- Yvette D. Clarke 1986, New York City councilwoman representing the 40th district (Kensington, Prospect-Lefferts, Ditmas Park and other areas).
- Rachel Cline , author ('' What To Keep '')
- Henry Roe Cloud , Native American political leader
- Stanley Cohen 1945, Nobel laureate (Physiology and Medicine, 1986)
- Marc Cohn , Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter
- Kenneth S "Kacy" Cole , prominent membrane biophysicist
- Fanny Jackson Coppin 1865, influential African-American educator and missionary
- Richard Cowan , posthumously awarded the Medal Of Honor during World War II
- Carl Dennis , Pulitzer -winning poet ('' Practical Gods '')
- Chris Eldridge 2004, bluegrass guitarist with The Stringdusters
- Adrian Fenty 1991, DC Council member, Candidiate for 2006 mayoral race
- Lee Fisher 1973, former Attorney General of Ohio
- Jim Fixx , writer (''The Complete Book of Running'')
- Kim France 1987, editor of '' Lucky Magazine ''
- Alan Furst 1962, novelist
- Myla Goldberg 1993, novelist ('' Bee Season '')
- William Goldman 1952, novelist ('' The Princess Bride '') and Academy Award -winning screenwriter ('' Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid '')
- Elisha Gray , an inventor of the Telephone
- Jerry Greenfield 1973, co-creator of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
- Erwin Griswold 1925, lawyer, late Solicitor General Of The United States and dean of Harvard Law School
- Richard N. Haass 1973, president of the Council On Foreign Relations and former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Department Of State .
- Al Haig , jazz pianist
- Charles Martin Hall 1885, co-discoverer of the Electrolytic Process of producing Aluminium (and contributor to the American spelling of "aluminum")
- David M. Halperin , author ('' One Hundred Years Of Homosexuality '')
- Jon Hamilton , NPR science correspondent (and editor emeritus of the student newspaper ''The Oberlin Review'')
- Philip C. Hanawalt , scientist; co-discoverer of DNA excision repair; (http://www.stanford.edu/~hanawalt/)
- Ed Helms 1996, correspondent on '' The Daily Show ''
- Paul Horn , jazz flutist
- Edward Everett Horton , actor ('' Pocketful Of Miracles '', '' It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World ''), voice actor ('' Rocky & Bullwinkle '')
- Noelle Howey , author ( Dress Codes )
- ''), actor ('' Northern Exposure '')
- Lisa Jervis 1993, creator and editor of '' Bitch ''
- Fred Kaplan 1976, journalist and '' Slate '' columnist.
- John Kander 1951, of the musical theater team Kander And Ebb ('' Cabaret '' and '' Chicago '', among others)
- Daniel Kinsey 1935, Olympic champion (110 m hurdles)
- Jennifer Koh 1997, violinist (1994 International Tchaikovsky Competition winner)
- Robert Krulwich 1969, Journalist
- H. H. Kung 1906, Chinese banker and Premier of the Republic Of China (1938–1939)
- John Mercer Langston 1849, early Civil Rights activist
- Romulus Linney 1953 (honorary degree: 1994), playwright
- Tom Lopez 1989, computer/new media composer
- Michelle Malkin 1992, journalist ('' Los Angeles Daily News '', '' The Seattle Times ''), author (''In Defense of Internment''), political commentator
- Rollo May 1930, psychologist, author
- James McBride 1979, journalist ('' Boston Globe '', '' The Washington Post ''), author ('' The Color Of Water ''), musician
- Josh MacPhee 1996, political artist
- Robert Millikan 1891, Nobel laureate (Physics, 1923) for measuring the charge of the Electron
- Eduardo Mondlane 1953, Mozambican political leader
- Roger Montgomery , Dean of Architecture, City Planning, and Landscape Architecture, University Of California, Berkeley
- Adam Moss 1979, editor of '' New York Magazine ''
- Thylias Moss 1981, poet, playwright
- Amy X Neuburg , classical and pop singer
- Thisbe Nissen 1994, novelist ('' Out Of The Girls Room And Into The Night '', '' Osprey Island '')
- Karen O , lead singer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (transferred to NYU's Tisch School)
- Liz Phair 1989, singer/songwriter
- Sarah Pirtle 1971, children's musician and educator
- John Wesley Powell , geologist and Civil War soldier
- Jane Pratt 1984, creator of '' Sassy '' and '' Jane '' magazines
- Willard V. Quine 1930, philosopher and logician
- Tim (Mikesell) Riley 1983, rock author, free speech activist, pianist
- David Rees 1994, cartoonist ('' My New Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable '', '' Get Your War On '')
- Josh Ritter 1999, folk singer/songwriter
- Carl T. Rowan 1947, journalist
- Oren Rudavsky 1979, filmmaker (''Hiding and Seeking'', ''And Baby Makes Two'')
- William F. Schultz 1971, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
- Gary Shteyngart 1995, novelist, ''Russian Debutante's Handbook'', ''Absurdistan : A Novel'' (forthcoming).
- Lorenzo Snow , Mormon prophet, fifth president of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints
- Donald J. Sobol 1948, author, Encyclopedia Brown series
- Robert Spano , music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Roger Wolcott Sperry 1935 and 1937, neurobiologist and Nobel laureate (Medicine, 1981)
- Larry R. Squire 1963, Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at University Of California, San Diego , a world expert in the field of memory, Past President of the Society for Neuroscience
- William Grant Still , composer
- Lucy Stone 1847, feminist and abolitionist
- Anna Louise Strong 1905, activist and author
- Julie Taymor 1974, theatrical and cinematic director ('' Frida '', '' Titus '', Broadway 's '' The Lion King '')
- Jen Trynin , rock singer/songwriter
- John Vinocur , foreign correspondent for '' The International Herald Tribune ''
- Aaron Walker , Naval Historian.
- Moses Fleetwood Walker 1881, first African-American player in Baseball 's major leagues
- an historical writer
- Thornton Wilder , author ('' The Bridge Of San Luis Rey ''), playwright ('' Our Town ''). Wilder attended classes at the college but did not graduate.
- Harrison "Pete" Williams 1941, U.S. senator and congressman from New Jersey, implicated in Abscam .
- Wendell Willkie 1915, Republican nominee for the 1940 Presidential Election
- Christopher Robin "Kit" Woolsey 1964, bridge internationalist and writer (''Matchpoints'') and backgammon expert
- Franz Wright 1977, Pulitzer-winning poet ('' Walking To Martha's Vineyard '')
- James Zemaits 1990, head of Sotheby's 20th-century-design department
- David Zinman , music director of the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival And School
- Stephen Zunes 1979, University Of San Francisco professor of Politics, and political activist
