Kansas church threatens to protest Oberlin coach

July 24 wasn't business as usual at Cox Administrative building. That day a fax from Westboro Baptist Church, in Topeka, Kan., arrived in the hands of College administrators.

The fax attacked the College for hiring Mike Muska, the new Athletic Director, who is an openly gay man. The fax, which is riddled with profanity and explicit language, reported the church would send a mission team to Oberlin at the beginning of the semester.

"From the moment this arrived there has been a sense of revulsion about the language, views and tactics that this group represents," said Dean of the college of Arts and Sciences Clayton Koppes.

The fax reported the team would "educate and warn Oberlin to repent and flee from the wrath to come." It criticized the College for embracing diversity, saying, "Pastor Finney must be spinning in his grave."

"This is an issue that goes way beyond me," Muska said. "This is not a community that tolerates hate. It is a community that does not respond with hate when someone threatens it. This community is far stronger."

"We don't feel it should be his job to defend the College," Assistant to the President Diana Roose said. "We want to keep the focus on the community."

The College formed a task force in August to confront the possibility of the group's visit. Oberlin administrators have been looking to other schools that have been picketed to try to anticipate what the group plans to do. Kansas State University was picketed, but Grinnell College, which was also threatened, was never actually picketed.

Thus far, there has been no formal communication between the College and the group, and Roose said there will not be. Roose is chair of the task force that is made up of 13 people including students and a chaplain.

Roose said schools typically receive some notice before the group arrives and that they have received no communications since the original fax.

"When we received the fax, Nancy said we had better be proactive about this rather than reactive," Roose said.

The task force has met three times to draft an all-campus mailing distributed to the Oberlin community Thursday and to formulate programs to transform this reminder of intolerance into an opportunity for community growth.

The letter contains an excerpt of the College's free speech policy that Roose said they included to remind people that the College will not prevent the group from exercising their right to speak.

If the group comes to Oberlin, the task force has planned programs with the Chaplain's office and the counseling center as well as other campus organizations "to promote open, thoughtful dialogue," the letter said.

"The churches have been planning an interfaith service to be in response to this," Roose said.

Protestant Chaplain Fred Lassen was unavailable for comment.

The Westboro Baptist Church is led by Reverend Fred Phelps. His group has become nationally know for its blaring displays of anti-gay sentiment. According to the church's web site, the group has been featured on such national programs as NBC's 20/20, and Eye on America.

"I think it is most unfortunate. He is a very isolated and idiosyncratic individual," College president Nancy Dye said.