KKK robe classes canceled: Oberlin College canceled classes Monday after several hate-related incidents. It was triggered after someone wore a KKK-style robe on campus.
A college in Ohio canceled classes for the day following a series of “hate-related incidents,” which included an instance where a person wore a Ku Klux Klan-style robe and hood. Officials at Oberlin College said the KKK hood-wearing person was spotted at the Afrikan Heritage House.
“This event, in addition to the series of other hate-related incidents on campus, has precipitated our decision to suspend formal classes and all non-essential activities for [Monday],” reads a statement on the school’s website.
There will also be “a series of discussions of the challenging issues that have faced our community in recent weeks,” it reads.
“We hope today will allow the entire community—students, faculty, and staff—to make a strong statement about the values that we cherish here at Oberlin: inclusion, respect for others, and a strong and abiding faith in the worth of every individual,” the college continued. “Indeed, the strength of Oberlin comes from our belief that diversity and openness enriches us all, and enhances the educational mission at its core.”
The New York Times reported that there was a “day of solidarity” gathering involving at least 1,200 people.
In the past month, there have been anti-Semetic and other hate-related messages left around the campus. They have included racial slurs scrawled on Black History month posters, swastikas, and the term “white’s only” on a drinking fountain.
“From what we have seen we believe these actions are the work of a very small number of cowardly people,” college Marvin Krislov said Monday, according to the paper.
Authorities have not yet determined if it is a single suspect acting alone.
“I was pretty shocked it would happen here,” Sarah Kahl, a 19-year-old student at the university, told the Times. “It’s a little scary.”
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