William A. Jacobson:
A massive racism hoax took place at Oberlin College in February 2013 in which two students made seemingly racist, anti-Semitic and other such posters, graffiti and emails for the purpose of getting a reaction on campus, not because they believed the hostile messages. At least one of the two was an Obama supporter with strong progressive, anti-racist politics.
School officials and local police knew the identity of the culprits, who were responsible for most if not all of such incidents on campus, yet remained silent as the campus reacted as if the incidents were real. National media attention focused on campus racism at Oberlin for weeks without knowing it was a hoax.
The hoax was confirmed when Chuck Ross of The Daily Caller recently obtained police records. Now it’s out in the open. Here is the history of how the hoax developed, played out in the media, and was covered up by the Oberlin administration.
The “hate” incidents cause campus and the media to erupt in protest
During February 2013 into early March, there were racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic postings on an Oberlin message board and in graffiti and signs around campus.
The issues burst onto the national media scene when a student claimed to see someone walking in a Klan robe late at night.
Obamites.
An overzealous, outspokenly liberal Obama campaigner and his friend.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/22/meet-the-privileged-obama-supporting-white-kids-who-perpetrated-cruel-oberlin-race-hoax/
Once the hoaxers had been discovered, suspended, and removed from campus, university administrators concealed their knowledge that it had been a hoax!
Reminded me of a few other hoaxes:
Olivia McRae and Tanasia Linton, two students at Montclair State University in New Jersey, reported that racist graffiti had been scrawled on their door. Days later, they were charged with making a false report, accused of writing the message themselves.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/montclair_state_students_are_c.html
Alexandra Pennell, a student at Central Connecticut State University, claimed to have received threatening anti-gay messages. When it was discovered she’d sent them to herself, she was expelled and barred from all state universities for five years.
http://articles.courant.com/2012-07-02/news/hc-new-britain-ccsu-bias-made-it-up-0703-20120702_1_ccsu-police-anti-hate-rally-notes
Khalilah Ford was expelled from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside for an especially frightening hoax that reportedly prompted some students to drop out of school from fear. She circulated an anonymously penned list of black students with a threat that they’d be dead soon, including herself on the hit-list.
http://fox6now.com/2012/02/06/student-on-uw-parkside-hit-list-admits-to-hoax/
Elmhurst College student Safia Jilani claimed to have been attacked in a bathroom by a masked gunman and to have had her locker marked with a swastika, both because of her Islamic faith. At the time, her report caused a campus lockdown. She was later indicted for making a false report.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Elmhurst_Student_Faked_Attack.html#ixzz2coYQur4m