02/23/2013
Check out the Tuesday One Town Forum Press Release:
For Immediate Release: February 26th, 2013
Press Contact: Lyle Kash, 440-731-0340
Attn: News Desk
Tension Mounts at Oberlin College
Town and College Act on “No Trespass” List Divide
City of Oberlin: Oberlin College’s controversial “No Trespass” list will come under further scrutiny by Oberlin Community Members and College students at the second One Town Campaign Forum on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 6:30pm at First Church, located at 106 North Main, Oberlin, OH. The One Town Campaign Team, a youth-organized coalition of Oberlin College students and Oberlin Community Members seeking to improve the relationship between the Town and the College, will provide free rides, dinner, and childcare to all who attend the event.
The first One Town Campaign Forum was attended by more than 200 people and received national attention. Tuesday’s Forum aims to advance Community concerns about the “No Trespass” list policy into action and movement-building strategy. Topics up for discussion include a more inclusive definition of safety and a list of demands to be delivered to the College.
Last week some Community Members and College students publicly asserted that the “No Trespass” List encourages racial profiling. “Safety and Security stops people who don’t ‘look like’ College students,” says Sofie Ghitman ‘14. “I’m white and I’ve never been asked to present identification.”
Oberlin College Dean of Students Eric Estes first denied the existence of a “List” as such, before announcing the College’s intention to hire a private consultant to examine the “No Trespass” list issue. Community members unanimously opposed an outside expert and suggested that the College follow the leadership and homegrown expertise of the incipient One Town coalition of Community Members and College Students.
“We don’t need a private consultant to tell us what’s wrong with the ‘No Trespass’ List,“ says Tommie Jackson-Smith, Oberlin Resident. “The College needs to listen to the real experts: Oberlin Community Members.”
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The One Town Campaign seeks to generate discussion, awareness, and ACTION around the Oberlin College “No Trespass” list policy. We are dedicated to strengthening our community through a town/college coalition, to stopping the “No Trespass” divide, and to an end to the marginalization and criminalization of Oberlin Community members.
