a nationwide search, Oberlin hired S. Frederick Starr, an expert on Russian and Eurasian affairs and skilled musician, as its 12th president. Starr's academic and musical accomplishments boded well for his stewardship of both the college and the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Despite increasing minority hiring, Starr's tenure was marked by clashes with students over divestment from South Africa and the dismissal of a campus minister, as well as Starr's reframing Oberlin as the "Harvard of the Midwest". A particularly vitriolic clash with students on the front lawn of his home in April 1990 led Starr to take a leave of absence from July 1991 to February 1992. He resigned in March 1993, effective in June of that year.
=== 21st century ===
Nancy Dye became the 13th president of Oberlin College in July 1994, succeeding the embattled Starr. Oberlin's first female president, she oversaw the construction of new buildings, increased admissions selectivity, and helped increase the endowment with the largest …
