From the Herald Leader:

Officials with the University of Kentucky and the state’s other public universities have not signed an open letter by the American Association of College and Universities challenging some of President Donald Trump’s administration’s higher education policies.

Kentucky institutions of “higher education” have already bowed to the MAGA demands of the sycophantic Republican super majority in the state legislature. Meanwhile, educators in our neighbor to the Northeast understand the severity of the threat we’re all facing.

From USA Today:

A dozen private Ohio college and university presidents have signed onto a letter against “the unprecedented government overreach and political interference” in higher education, joining hundreds of other school presidents across the country.

The letter, published by the The American Association of Colleges and Universities, has over 300 signatures from college and university presidents urging the federal government to work toward “constructive engagement” with higher education institutions. …

As of April 23, the following university leaders have signed the petition

• Carmen Twillie Ambar, President, Oberlin College
• John Comerford, President, Otterbein University
• Melanie Corn, President, Columbus College of Art & Design
• Jane Fernandes, President, Antioch College
• Michael L. Frandsen, President, Wittenberg University
• Robert H. Huntington, President, Heidelberg University
• David L. Kaufman, President, Capital University
• Julie Kornfeld, President, Kenyon College
• Anne E. McCall, President, The College of Wooster
• Eric F. Spina, President, University of Dayton
• Matthew P. vandenBerg, President, Ohio Wesleyan University
• Adam Weinberg, President, Denison University

I’m relieved to see my alma matter, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the signatories.

And included in the list of Ohio schools is Oberlin College. The website for Oberlin notes that before the American Civil War, the city of Oberlin was a focal point in the antislavery movement and that the college’s presidents backed abolitionist efforts.

In the middle of the 19^th century, Oberlin was the preeminent school for Blacks. According to the Ohio Memory archives:

“Oberlin was founded by Presbyterian minister John Shipherd and missionary Philo Stewart, with the help of wealthy benefactors that included New York City philanthropists and abolitionists Lewis and Arthur Tappan.”

Oberlin first admitted Black students in 1835 after a group of young abolitionists left another school in Cincinnati that banned discussions about slavery. The students agreed to attend Oberlin only if it agreed to integration. The results were significant. It was the first U.S. college with an official policy that opened its doors to people of color, and by 1900, about one-third of America’s Black college graduates were its alumni.  

Oberlin is also the oldest co-educational liberal arts college in America, having women students from the very beginning, but only offering bachelor’s degrees to women in 1837.

So, Oberlin was a DEI university when far more dangerous racists, segregationists, misogynists and bigots dominated the American political conversation.

Other colleges understand the threat to the academic freedom and the education system, but UK and UofL have decided appeasement is better than standing up to bullies. They would make Neville Chamberlain proud.