Oberlin Cancels Classes Amid Racial Uproar

KKK-styled figure seen; epithets appear around campus
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 4, 2013 10:56 AM CST
Oberlin Cancels Classes Amid Racial Uproar
Oberlin is grappling with hate messages.   (Oberlin.edu)

Oberlin has canceled classes today after a person was seen near the Ohio college's African Heritage House in Ku Klux Klan-style robes, Gawker reports. The appearance follows a month of hate messages around campus, including Black History Month posters defaced with the N-word and "Whites Only" written above a water fountain. Homophobic and anti-Semitic vandalism has also appeared. The blog Oberlin Microaggressions tracks the incidents, Gawker notes.

Racist and homophobic epithets have also appeared in tweets under the name "Adolf Krislov," which apparently refers to college president Marvin Krislov. Today, the school will hold "a series of discussions" about the issue. These will include a teach-in and "demonstration of solidarity," as well as a convocation with the theme, "We Stand Together." While instances of hate "happen every few years," tweets a professor, "Never in my 15 years have they cancelled classes for something like this." (More Oberlin College stories.)

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