Ohio University Students Protest Over Racist Incidents on Campus

Ohio University students gathered on Thursday afternoon to protest over the latest racist incidents that have occurred on campus during the past week.

Some 100 students joined the protest together with the university’s President Hugh Sherman, expressing their worries about the series of incidents that have taken place on the campus recently.

The police is investigating the four incidents that happened, however they said that the motive is still unknown.

According to media reports, the first incident at Ohio University involved a Black doll taped to a residence hall room door.

The university reported the second incident over the past weekend after someone left a note with racial and misogynistic labels on a bag of trash in the residence hall.

The third incident involved a student who urinated at the door of Christopher Brown’s office, who is Black and a resident advisor in James Hall. 

“The person who did this lives all the way down the hall and came to the only black RA’s room, urinated and ran. Of course, my situation is extreme but things like this happen. Mine was the one that got the exposure, so we are forcing their hand to talk right now,” Brown told WBNS.   

Christopher Brown received an anonymous message on Twitter, which message, according to the police, said that someone posted on Snapchat that they wanted to see Brown lynched. This was the fourth incident reported at the university.

Students joined the protest, hoping that it would make an impact on the way that the university deals with racism on campus.

“These are rapidly evolving events, but we are committed to using every resource at our disposal to investigate incidents such as these and hold those responsible fully accountable under the law,” Lt. Tim Ryan from campus police told WBNS.

Meanwhile, Ohio University president Hugh Sherman said that Ohio University’s community will not allow a culture that affects anyone at the university, physically or emotionally.

Racism continues to be present on many college campuses in the United States. Last year, 33 graduate students at Princeton University had completed the Inclusive Leadership Learning Cohort (ILLC), aiming to equip students with the skills necessary to fight racism.

Ohio University was established in 1804, becoming Ohio’s first public university. It has more than ten campuses and centers across the state, and there are more than 28,000 students enrolled at seven Ohio University regional campuses.