FBI To Investigate Hate Crime Reports at Oberlin College
Image by Wikicommons
The FBI has opened an investigation into possible civil rights violations after reports of hate speech at Oberlin College in Ohio, one of the first U.S. schools to integrate black and white students, a school spokesman said on Friday.
The investigation by the FBI’s Cleveland office follows Oberlin’s decision to suspend classes and activities for the day on Monday and hold campus-wide discussions after a report that a person wearing a Ku Klux Klan costume was seen near its Afrikan Heritage House residence hall.
Image by Wikicommons
“Based on the college’s ongoing conversations with them and the evolution of our investigation, the FBI is initiating an investigation of the bias incidents that have occurred on the campus,” Oberlin spokesman Scott Wargo said in an email.
A school-wide Peace Week had just begun when Oberlin canceled classes for the day.
School officials said in a letter to parents on Monday that they were investigating incidents of hate speech on campus over the last several weeks, “including racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic defacing of posters that were advertising events and programming.”
The letter to parents also said offensive postings had appeared via untraceable accounts on popular social media sites.
Wargo said Oberlin was “cooperating closely with the FBI in its investigation.”
FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson said she could not confirm or deny any ongoing investigations because of the agency’s policy.
Oberlin, a private college with about 3,000 students, provided co-education for men and women from its inception in 1833. It has been regularly admitting students of color since 1835. (Editing by David Bailey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
