Office of Admissions Records, 1888-present
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Admissions philosophy at Oberlin College has been guided by the historic 1835 resolution of the college's Board of Trustees: "The education of the people of color is a matter of great interest and should be encouraged & sustained in this Institution." Maintaining faithfulness to a founding principle, enlarging its purpose so as to foster both cultural and racial pluralism, and adapting it to the changing mission of the modern institution has been the function of the Office of the Secretary and, after 1928, of the Office of Admissions. Prior to academic year 1928-29, the admission of new students to Oberlin College was carried out by a committee of the faculty, the bulk of the work being done by Secretary of the College George M. Jones (1870-1948), Assistant Secretary John E. Wirkler (A.B. '03), and Assistants Anna Gertrude Ransom (d. 1954) and Ruth Easton (d. 1957). As the process of selection evolved to include not only consideration of a student's scholarship record but also of his personality through interviews, Secretary Jones requested relief from admissions work.
In the fall of 1928, President Ernest Hatch Wilkins appointed William Harlow Seaman (A.B. 1924) to the post of Director of Admissions. During his twenty-year tenure, Seaman initiated a number of practices which have since become routine. He instituted the Oberlin College High School Days, which brought local high school students to the Oberlin campus. He traveled extensively, interviewing prospective applicants to Oberlin and meeting with Oberlin alumni. The "Modern Oberlin" view book, the annual "About Oberlin" pictorial book, the biennial Freshman Handbook, and a number of other illustrated pamphlets were published by the college under Seaman's supervision.
On Seaman's death in March 1948, Assistant Director W. Dean Holdeman (A.B. 1938) was made Acting Director of Admissions and Veterans' Counselor. Robert Lodington Jackson (d. 1989) replaced Holdeman as Director of Admissions in 1949, serving until 1973. Jackson presided over the record-setting application figures of the late 1950s, which continued into the sixties and early seventies. (Freshman applications increased from 1,000 in 1950 to over 3,100 in 1972.) In 1957, Jackson foresaw that the rising tide of applicants could result in restricting enrollments, a prospect he did not welcome. Instead, he advocated an orderly, gradual expansion of freshman enrollments which would preserve Oberlin's standards of education and yet allow Oberlin to remain responsive to the needs of society. Jackson initiated an intensive program of Ohio recruitment, visiting schools regularly to make students aware of Oberlin; the program was abandoned in 1973, but has recently been reactivated. In 1967, the Committee on Admissions and Relations with Secondary Schools was established to report to the Board of Trustees on several issues, including the decline in the volume of male applicants to Oberlin, admissions policy in general, admissions office procedures, recruitment, publicity, financial aid, and entrance requirements. Through their work on this committee and on the full Admissions Committee, the faculty assumed a greater role in making admissions decisions. Faculty began to interview students and were encouraged to make high school visits.
Following the peak numbers of applications in 1972, the number of applications from freshmen began to decrease gradually. Maintaining size and quality in the face of the declining 18-year- old population, dropping SAT scores, mounting tuition costs, and the move to coeducation at a majority of Oberlin's traditional competitor schools became severe challenges for Oberlin and for liberal arts colleges nationwide. As a result, Oberlin began to step up its recruiting efforts. In April 1972, the position of Dean of Admissions was created, and English professor Lawrence Buell (Ph.D. Cornell 1966) briefly held the post. The office now enjoyed representation on the important decision-making committees on campus; moreover, the Dean could spend his entire time attending to the needs of the various constituencies served by admissions. The Admissions Office was now recognized as one of the most important agencies of the college for projecting to potential students an accurate picture of Oberlin.
Robert Jackson resigned as Admissions Director in 1973 and became the college Registrar; he was replaced by Associate Director of Admissions Carl W. Bewig (A.B. 1962). Bewig expanded the role of students, faculty, staff, and alumni in the admissions process in an effort to increase Oberlin's "yield" rate, that is, the percentage of accepted students who elect to enroll. He strongly supported the principle of need-blind admissions. In the spring of 1975, Oberlin purchased for the first time the names of 13,000 high school junior males through the College Board's student search program; yield rates improved, and in 1976, the college purchased the names of 20,000 men and women who would receive publicity. New specialized publications were sent to high school guidance offices, such as those describing science at Oberlin, housing and dining, and black student life. Through close collaboration with Oberlin's Office of Institutional Research, Bewig made use of a growing body of statistical information relating to the applicant's decision-making process and perception of Oberlin. Outside consulting firms were contracted to refine Oberlin's image and marketing strategies. Attracting and enrolling minority applicants, mandated by the General Faculty in 1971, became a prime focus of the work of admissions staff over the next decade. Minority recruitment included targeting not only black prospective students but also Asian, Spanish-American, Native-American, and students from Appalachia.
Carl Bewig resigned his position in 1986. Elizabeth DeLaHunt, reporting to the Provost, served as Admissions Director from August 1986 to January 1987 when she took a terminal leave of absence. President S. Frederick Starr named Registrar Douglass S. Gardner to the post of Acting Director of College Admissions. In August 1987, Gardner assumed the newly created position of Dean of Enrollment Planning, reporting to the President. Gardner's duties involved supervising the work of the admissions directors of the College and the Conservatory, the director of financial aid, and the registrar; developing better ways of assessing the effectiveness of recruiting and admissions procedures, and coordinating strategies for student recruitment. In his report to the President for 1987/88, Gardner described the creation of a computer system designed to rank areas of the country by unmet admissions potential. He reported on a record number of applications for the third consecutive year: 4,630. Minority enrollments were up to 22% from 14% in 1983.
With the appointment of Douglass Gardner in 1987, J. Leon Washington, formerly Associate Director of Admissions and Coordinator of Minority Admissions, became Director of Admissions. His goals for the office included increasing minority and athlete enrollments. After two years as Director of Admissions, J. Leon Washington resigned. He argued, in a hearing before the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, that Oberlin College had unfairly diminished his authority by creating the position of Dean of Enrollment Planning. The Commission ruled in the college's favor. Thomas C. Hayden became Director of Admissions in August 1989. Hayden was later promoted to vice-president for admissions and financial aid, and, in November 1992, S. Frederick Starr appointed Debra Chermonte as Director of Admissions. Upon Chermonte’s promotion to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid in February 2000, Paul Marthers rose to fill the vacancy as Director of Admissions.
DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS
William Harlow Seaman Fall 1928-March 1948
W. Dean Holdeman (acting) March 1948-1949
Robert Lodington Jackson 1949-1973
Carl W. Bewig 1973-August 1986
Elizabeth DeLaHunt August 1986-January 1987
Douglass S. Gardner (acting) January 1987-August 1987
J. Leon Washington August 1987-August 1989
Thomas C. Hayden June 1989-July 1992
Debra Chermonte November 1992-February 2000
Paul Marthers February 2000-December 2001
DEAN OF ADMISSIONS
Lawrence Buell April 1972-1975
DEAN OF ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID
Debra Chermonte February 2000-
DEAN OF ENROLLMENT PLANNING
Douglass S. Gardner August 1987-June 1992
VICE-PRESIDENT FOR ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID
Thomas C. Hayden July 1992-1996
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative Information
The records of the Office of Admissions (1888, 1902-2000), including annual reports, minutes, correspondence, student applications, statistical tables, consultants' reports, and printed materials, document the office's administrative, recruitment, research, and marketing activities over six decades. Minutes of the Committee on Admissions, 1907-28, are housed with the records of the Office of the Secretary. The collection is divided into six series alphabetically arranged: I. Administrative Files of the Office of Admissions; II. Committee Files; III. Public Relations Files; IV. Recruitment Activities; V. Student Applications, College of Arts and Sciences; and VI. Student Applications, Conservatory of Music. Within series, materials are typically arranged in either alphabetical or chronological order.
Of the administrative files of Series I, the annual reports from the Admissions Office to the College President (1928-84), together with a group of statistical reports and admissions studies, provide a thorough and consecutive account of admissions policies and procedures at Oberlin. The annual reports, which contain Secretary George M. Jones' final report as Director of Admissions (1928/29), review the director's recruitment efforts for the preceding year, including travel, attendance at national college fairs, entertainment of prospective students on campus, and arrangements for publicity. Carl Bewig's annual reports to the General Faculty (1974-79, 1984) examine significant enrollment trends, such as declines in the applicant yield rate or shifts in intended majors, and offer explanations for them. The reports of David Davis-Van Atta (1980-87) of the Oberlin Office of Institutional Research, prepared for the Admissions Office, analyze various admissions trends, such as male/female differences in the enrollment decision, and provide projections for conservatory and college admissions. Statistical studies on admissions at Oberlin exist for the College of Arts and Sciences from 1928 to 1986 with gaps for the years 1958-63, 1967-71, and 1974-79. Conservatory of Music statistical studies exist for the years 1928-62 and 1965-67; they are filed in Series IV, Recruitment Activities, together with other materials related to Conservatory recruitment.
Equal in importance to the annual reports are the minutes of the Faculty Committee on Admissions (1929-), housed in Series II, Committee Files. (Minutes for the years 1907-28 are housed with the records of the Office of the Secretary). These minutes record the role of the general faculty in shaping admissions and enrollment policy and include discussion of such topics as scholarship plans and financing, student searches, selective mailings to prospective majors, new publications and slide-shows, the impact of financial aid on enrollment decision, minority recruitment, and staff changes at the Office of Admissions.
Series IV, Recruitment Activities, includes records relating to work carried out by Admissions Office staff in order to attract high school students to apply to Oberlin College. Files include staff memos outlining travel plans for admissions counselors, instructional memos relating to interviewing and travel scheduling, and calendars showing counselors' itineraries. Counselor visit files (1978-85) include thank you letters from high school guidance counselors participating in the Five Ohio College Tour (1981). Recruitment efforts directed at special constituencies are well documented by correspondence, memoranda, and committee reports. Of particular significance are the files of the Committee to Review Minority Recruitment (1976-78, 1981). Also housed here are files of the College Board Student Search Service (1975-87), which include Oberlin's applications to the service for names of prospective applicants; form letters to be sent to identified students; and official publications from the College Board describing its search services.
Files documenting Oberlin's efforts to design and market an institutional image attractive to its applicant pool are contained in Series III, Public Relations Files. Consultants' reports (1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982) assess the effectiveness of college publications, analyze the results of student surveys, and evaluate Oberlin's marketing strategies. Promotional materials include the texts of audio-visual presentations for the high schools and multiple edited copies of "Oberlin College Prospectus," (1984-85) produced by the North Charles Street Design Organization of Baltimore. Also filed here are college publications produced by the Office of Admissions, including a brochure, "Profile of the Oberlin College Class of 1970." This item was printed but never mailed, as President Robert K. Carr objected to the article it contains by Kiyoshi Ikeda, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Oberlin.
Series V and VI contain application materials (1902-56) from students applying to Oberlin's two divisions: the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music. Often accompanied by letters from parents and teachers, these applications provide a record of the academic and character standards to which Oberlin held its freshmen applicants during the first fifty years of this century.
* See also 1997/33, Various publications produced by the College, including video productions, brochures, course catalog, admissions applications, and others; and, 1998/067, Publications of Oberlin College, used for recruiting students or incoming fresh persons or new students. Includes a copy of the Course Catalog, 1998-99; a copy of a booklet of facts about Oberlin College and a blank form used for requesting information; a copy of the packet given to incoming fresh persons for the class of 2002 (i.e. phone card, T-shirt, schedules of events on campus 1998, and a copy of Around the Square, April 1998); and, a copy of "Stepping Stone," a newsletter for parents of high school seniors (Spring 1998).
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Administrative Files of the Office of Admissions, 1928-2000 (6.8 l.f.)*
Series includes files documenting the operation of the office charged with student recruitment and admissions. Included are annual reports to the College President (1928-41, 1964-68, 1977-84); to the General Faculty (1974-79, 1984); and reports of the admissions staff (1980-85) to Carl Bewig, the Director of Admissions. Other administrative records include budget sheets, incoming correspondence from students, inter-office memoranda, staff meeting minutes, and statistical reports on admissions and enrollment. Subject files include materials used by the Admissions Office for reference purposes, such as the 1974 Buckley Amendment guidelines; also filed here are records of the Carnegie Building renovation. Files are arranged alphabetically by type of material.
*Admissions and Financial Aid Reports to the Trustees are restricted for two years. These reports are from the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.
Series II. Committee Files, 1929-86 (1.65 l.f.)
Contains minutes, memos, and accompanying documentation created by committees concerned to review or further the admissions process. Of particular significance are the files of the Faculty Committee on Admissions and Relations with Secondary Schools, which date from 1967 to 1986. Minutes of the full Admissions Committee date from 1928. Files are arranged alphabetically by committee name.
Series III. Public Relations Files, 1888, 1932-51, 1966-86, 1990s (2.45 l.f.)
Contains reports prepared by consulting firms contracted by Oberlin College to assess the effectiveness of Oberlin's marketing strategies. Included are the texts of audio-visual presentations, corrected drafts of catalogs prepared by the North Charles Street Design Organization of Baltimore, and related correspondence. Files are arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Series IV. Recruitment Activities, 1928-87 (4.55 l.f.)
Records document the efforts of admissions counselors and staff to recruit applicants to Oberlin College and its Conservatory of Music. Files include correspondence and reports relating to Conservatory, minority, and international student recruitment, counselor visits to out-of-state preparatory schools and Ohio high schools, as well as records of the College Board Student Search Service. Files are arranged alphabetically by subject.
Series V. Student Applications, College of Arts and Sciences, 1902-48 (72 l.f.)
Each "entrance certificate" includes biographical data on the applicant and is accompanied by forms filled out by high school teachers indicating both academic achievement (courses taken and grades received) and individual character traits. Other supporting documents include photographs and letters of explanation or recommendation. Files are arranged alphabetically by applicant name.
Series VI. Student Applications, Conservatory of Music, 1905-56 (36 l.f.)
Applications are filed chronologically in two series as they were received by the archives, c. 1905-43 and c. 1925-56; thereunder, files are alphabetically arranged by student name. The first series of applications normally includes a photo and personal account written by the applicant. The 1905-43 series contains these features only occasionally. Files include cancels and rejected applicants.