<p>thatsall, have you seen the videos posted by the [One</a> Town Campaign](<a href=“http://onetowncampaign.com/]One”>http://onetowncampaign.com/)? The issue is more complex than “a few free thinkers that are attracted to the town because of the college” and “flout social conventions.” The campaign describes youth who have lived in Oberlin for their entire lives and, because of what they describe as minor offenses (like attending a loud party in a campus house, or skateboarding on college property) were banned indefinitely from all college property. That includes public areas like sidewalks, parks, and parts of downtown.</p>
<p>Is this an accurate representation of the no-trespass list? I don’t know, and neither do any other students or community members – because no one receives a formal charge or hearing before being added to the no-trespass list, and there is no transparency about who is on the list and why.</p>
<p>I do think that the no-trespass list is a real injustice, not just a perceived one. It’s the kind of injustice that arises in a small college town, where a substantial amount of property and resources are controlled by the college, and where there are profound socioeconomic differences between most college students and faculty and other community members. Those issues aren’t unique to Oberlin – they’re present to one degree or another at all of the small-town LACs that I prospied at and that my high school friends went to. What is unusual to Oberlin is the growing extent to which students take interest in confronting those issues.</p>
<p>Oberlin is a school with a history of radical tolerance, and acknowledging the injustices that are still present doesn’t weaken that commitment to tolerance – it makes it more meaningful.</p>