Oberlin College and Conservatory

to educational reform as a Trinity College dean. He was unanimous choice of the selection committee in November 1970. At 33 years old, Fuller became tenth president of the college, one of the youngest college presidents in U.S. history. His Oberlin presidency was a turbulent time at Oberlin and in higher education generally. Fuller called for reforming the curriculum, reducing the role of faculty, and addressed the status of women, expanded programs in the arts, and enlarged the role of students in governance. He tripled the enrollment of minorities. In what was called the Oberlin Experiment, he hired Jack Scott as Athletic Director, who recruited and hired the first four African-American athletic coaches at a predominantly white American college or university, including Tommie Smith, the gold medalist sprinter from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Fuller was succeeded by the longtime Dean of the Conservatory, Emil Danenberg, who served as president from 1975 to 1982, and died in office. In 1983, following …