Plainsman

I couldn't agree more. When I first heard (or rather read) the "We are Oberlin: Fearless" the last thing that would've come to mind is athletics. That's just goofy. Anybody who comes first to that conclusion is someone utterly untutored in Oberlin's history, and probably hates sports. And if objections came from actual students, that's even more mystifying and disappointing.

To me the "Fearless" tag evokes images of rescuing runaway slaves, educating women, protesting against injustice. I think whoever came up with "OBerlin: Fearless" was a marketing genius. Here's why: The "Fearless" tag was intended to change that part of Oberlin's image associated with "weird" but retain and remind people of that part of OBerlin's history of which it is most proud. The "Fearless" tag is what caused me to tell my daughter about the college. She'd never heard of Oberlin, and never would've considered the college, until I mentioned it to her and insisted we visit. The rest is history. It was very effective for me and, I'm sure, other people too.

My daughter loves the "Fearless" tag, and so do I. It gives Oberlin an identity. It made me wish I could go back and start college all over again and go to Oberlin, although I'm certain I"d never get in with the grades I had in high school.

What do the students who objected to "fearless" want instead? "Oberlin: Quirky?" Gee that's inspirational. That'll attract top students. <rolls eyes>. It goes to show you can recruit students with straight As in high school but that doesn't mean they have common sense. Wait till they get out into the real world and have to get a real job that might require them to come up with astute and EFFECTIVE marketing ideas to engage and inspire people who are not exactly like them.