“Oberlin Offers a Friendly Welcome to Seventeen Japanese-American Students”
Oberlin News-Tribune, October 1, 1942
This community will be host during the coming college year to a group of approximately 17 students who, though they are all American citizens, are of Japanese ancestry. Five of these young people have previously been enrolled here, but the others are new to Oberlin. Eleven will arrive here this weekend who are evacuees from the Pacific coastal areas and who have been living in the evacuation camps of the West.
True to its best traditions the Oberlin community bids these Japanese Americans a completely friendly welcome. They were all born in the United States—in California, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey and Hawaii. They all have excellent records for scholarship, character and citizenship. They have been excellently recommended by friends of Oberlin, and Oberlin College vouches for them.
Oberlin residents will look upon these students, certainly with unusual interest, but with neither prejudices nor suspicion. The war situation makes their lot a difficult one. Oberlin can help by treating them no differently than it treats any of its other 1800 or more student residents.
For an example of how not to act we can take that of Parksville, Missouri. There in recent weeks, the mayor and city council have been “up in arms” over the prospective arrival of seven Japanese American evacuees as students. Boasting that they were not as “soft” as the F.B.I., the city officials threatened to run these students out of town.
We do not believe there are any Oberlin citizens who are so lacking in common humanity, or whose patriotism is of such an empty, bombastic variety as would allow them to adopt the attitude of Parksville’s mayor. If so they surely do not deserve the name of Oberlin, and we wish them elsewhere.
No, in this respect we are still the Oberlin of old. We wish for these fellow American citizens an entirely happy and intellectually profitable stay in Oberlin. May their experiences here only serve to strengthen their belief, and our belief, in the democratic way of living.
生きる 
Wow! What a story…!
Reblogged this on Masako and Spam Musubi and commented:
History repeats itself… Indeed.
I’ve been from beginning to (almost) end of your site and would like permission to put a link on my next post (about Nisei in G-2 Intelligence).
Yes, I’d be honored! Thank you very much. I enjoy reading your posts as well. I’m only sorry to say that as I have now graduated from Oberlin College, I will not be able to post any new stories– save maybe one or two.
As an alum, you should have access to the info, right?
The files I used to compile many of my reports were physical files borrowed from the Office of Stewardship and the Archives at Oberlin, and so unfortunately now that I am not on campus I would not be able to see them. Most of the information I found, however, I already posted.