As someone who has a deep affection for Oberlin, having taught here for more than 30 years, I find it profoundly disheartening to read the many negative articles about the College that have recently appeared in the national press. Some, no doubt, are the product of the right wing’s feverish devotion to anything that might cast a negative light on Oberlin, such as the women’s lacrosse coach’s views on transgender issues. Others require further investigation before we can judge their merits, such as whether the Allen Memorial Art Museum holds artwork stolen during the Holocaust in its collection. One which did not earn a headline, however, is the most troubling. In a study by The New York Times examining economic diversity among the 286 most selective colleges in the country, as measured by the share of Pell Grants going to first-year students and other metrics, Oberlin ranks at the very bottom, sharing that dismal position with three other universities. For a college which rightfully takes pride in a history of inclusion and an explicit commitment to social justice, this is shameful. It can not be explained away by reference to factors like the amount of endowment per student or the actual average “net price” of tuition — the published tuition cost minus aid and grants — since colleges with smaller per-student endowments and a lower net price rank much higher than Oberlin in terms of the economic diversity of their students. The implications of this are considerable. As Marc Novicoff noted in a recent Politico article on how to achieve race-neutral diversity in a post-affirmative action world, “There’s only one race-neutral method … to increase racial diversity on selective college campuses, and it happens to align with the supposed social-justice goals of highly selective schools: giving a clearly defined, substantial boost to low-income applicants.” Oberlin, it would appear, has little interest in this path. Unlike other rankings, the economic diversity index is one that actually matters. I only hope that the administration and the trustees will see our dreadful placement at the bottom as not just an embarrassment but a call to action.