We are alumni who chose to attend Oberlin College because we believed in its distinctive history and mission, including its enduring commitment to racial, economic, and social justice; its innovative experiments in cooperative living; its highly engaged faculty; its world-class music education; its abiding tradition of student activism; and its fierce commitment to the value of a liberal arts education as an end unto itself rather than a means to extrinsic purposes, occupational or otherwise. Today, however, we fear that Oberlin’s Board of Trustees and its president are forsaking, if not betraying, what has made Oberlin unique among America’s liberal arts colleges.
We are therefore calling on the Board of Trustees to renew its commitment to Oberlin’s most fundamental values. Toward that end, for consideration at its June 5–6, 2025 meeting, we will submit to the Board our Call to Action, which currently has hundreds of signatories.
Over the course of the past few years, we have contacted the Board to express our concerns about its woefully low number of Pell Grant recipients; its failure to support the College’s system of co-ops; its abandonment of robust faculty participation within institutional governance; its failure to demonstrate transparency in its financial investments; its secretive process for nominating candidates for trustee positions; its unilateral decision to shift alumni reunions to the fall; and more.
Our good-faith efforts have generally been met with silence, condescension, or rejection. What seems clear is that we are valued, if at all, exclusively in our capacity as donors to and cheerleaders for the College.
We refuse to remain indifferent as we watch Oberlin abandon the distinctive identity that first drew us to it. We seek some sign that the Board of Trustees is committed to a path forward that is consistent with the values that once made Oberlin an exemplar among U.S. colleges.
As a first step in that direction, at its June meeting, we call on the Board to make a public commitment to endorse and begin to implement three of the measures included in our call:
1. Make Oberlin more financially accessible by adopting a five-year plan to enroll a higher percentage of students from the lowest-income families, including Pell Grant recipients.
2. Establish open and democratic elections for alumni trustee candidates, so that alumni who elect to run can do so by submitting a petition absent prior vetting and approval by College officers.
3. Ensure financial transparency for Oberlin’s spending and investments and prevent conflicts of interest, including written guidelines which provide for full disclosure of all holdings, contracts, and administrative fees for funds held in Oberlin’s endowment.
Our complete Call to Action can be found at: https://alumniforoberlinvalues.org/. Although this effort was organized by alumni, we invite all members of the Oberlin community, including current students, to sign. If you agree with our statement, please join us by adding your name to our Call before May 1 and ask others in the Oberlin community to do the same.
— Alumni for Oberlin Values Steering Committee
