among them the entire Oneida contingent, resigned en masse in December, and published a pamphlet explaining their decision. A trustee, Asa Mahan, resigned also, and the trustees fired John Morgan, a faculty member who supported the students.
A chance encounter with Shipherd, who was travelling around Ohio recruiting students for his new Collegiate Institute, led to the proposal that they come to Oberlin, along with Mahan and the fired Lane professor. They did so, but only after Oberlin agreed to their conditions:
Oberlin, like Oneida, would admit African Americans on an equal basis. At the time, this was a radical and unpopular measure, even dangerous. Previous attempts at "racially" integrated schools, the Noyes Academy and the Canterbury Female Boarding School, had been met with violence that destroyed both schools. Refugees from both had enrolled at Oneida. No one was calling for racially integrated schools, except at Oneida.
This measure caused the trustees "a great struggle to overcome their prejudices". …
