Ohio University Students and Faculty Protest in Support of BIPOC Lives in Athens and Around the World

Illustrations by Macey Elder

Abby Neff

Sasha Estrella-Jones, a 2017 Ohio University graduate and former student activist, recalls seeing the phrase ‘Build The Wall’ spray-painted across the graffiti wall at the corner of Richland Avenue and West Mulberry Street.

“I just sat across the wall and I cried,” she says. She says as an Afro-Caribbean woman, she lived between two dualities at OU: one as a person of color, and one as a student just trying to pass her classes.

“What does it mean to have to be a real student, to have to turn in papers in time, and you’re also having to protest?” Estrella-Jones says. “You’re also having to face the fact that you know other Bobcats, [who] claim, ‘we all bleed green, this is our home,' [that] don’t want you here and make it very clear.”

Following the ‘Build The Wall’ incident, former OU President Roderick McDavis, who was in office at the time, issued a statement consoling the Hispanic/Latino community in Athens.

“Today, I share this message to reiterate and reassure you that Ohio University remains a home to ALL,” McDavis wrote. “We have consistently been a national leader when it comes to inclusion. We have made equality and diversity a campus-wide priority throughout our storied 212-year history and we will continue to do so – I can promise you that.”

OU’s response to controversial statements made on the graffiti wall follows a pattern. The university often mentions their commitment to freedom of expression but condemn hate symbols and speech.

Following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, the graffiti wall was memorialized with a mural of their portraits, honoring the victims amid recent protests addressing police brutality and systemic racism across the country.

This summer Andy Cervelli, a rising senior at OU, walked from their apartment to get coffee uptown. When Cervelli walked past the mural, it was covered in red swastikas.

“I was shocked, y’know? That someone would put that much energy into hate,” they wrote in an interview.

Ohio University responded to the incident in a statement to the academic community, stating, “Although our commitment to freedom of expression means that the University does not shield its community from speech even when it is offensive and disturbing, as in this case, as Bobcats, it is our responsibility to care for and treat each other with compassion and dignity.”

For some members of the academic community, the university’s inaction came as no surprise.

“Every couple of years, there’s always a conversation about the graffiti wall,” Dr. Akil Houston, a professor in the African American Studies department, says.

The graffiti wall is just one aspect of the protesting on OU’s campus.

Every couple of years, Ohio University watches familiar protests unfold. Whether it’s a protest on College Green, an interruption of a football game or an occupation of a campus building, it’s a guarantee that every student will witness or even participate in activism at least once during their time in Athens, Ohio.

But what happens when every conversation with the university administration following an outcry for action ends up the exact same way?

While the spread of the coronavirus shut down several campus and in-person teachings, protests rang loudly on the empty streets of Athens, following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was arrested and killed in custody by a white police officer outside of a shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.

After the president of North Central University, a private Christian institution in Minneapolis, called on colleges across the country to create a fund honoring Floyd’s life, OU announced on June 5 they would establish a George Floyd Memorial Fund Scholarship.

Some praised the university’s decision, while some professors and students saw the move by OU as an empty gesture. Comments on the university’s social media channels acknowledged that the move was a good first step, but it was not enough. Others asked the university to reconsider its “neglect of the African American Studies Department.”

“From the people I’ve talked to, it’s just like ‘wow, this is [performative],’” Dr. Houston says. “Because we’ve been having these conversations for quite some time but nobody’s said or done anything. And then suddenly, everybody’s interested.”

According to OU spokesperson Carly Leatherwood, the university did reach out to the Floyd family and received permission to use his name for the scholarship. She says it’s important to note that alumni contacted OU and asked to establish the scholarship.

The Ohio University Black Faculty Association wrote a letter to OU President Duane Nellis and Dr. Gigi Secuban, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, outlining their disappointment and outrage over the scholarship, amongst other grievances towards the universities efforts of diversity.

“When racism has not been named and called out by administration first, instituting this particular scholarship that will exist amidst ongoing racism, is an insult,” the letter read. “If you perhaps question whether or not racism exists here, simply ask the body of Black faculty, staff, administrators and students who contribute to the collective functioning of Ohio University.”

The letter offered 28 “action-items” including rigorous recruitment of Black professors and students and promoting Black faculty to leadership positions throughout the colleges on campus.

Secuban gave a response to Dr. Bayyinah Jeffries, the Interim Chair of the Black Faculty provided by Leatherwood, stating that she wants to talk more about their suggestions moving forward and, “would love to talk more about ideas to recruit more students of color, to continue to grow intentional outreach to potential black students, to recruit more minority faculty, to increase minority leadership on campuses, and to generally drive a culture of inclusivity at Ohio University. We share these goals, and we want your help achieving them.” According to Leatherwood, the conversations are ongoing.

After the university issued non-renewal notices to faculty in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Department, and the African American Studies department, some faculty were confused when the notices were eventually rescinded.

“And I understand it’s a budget crunch, but priorities always show me what’s important.” Dr. Houston says.

OU is not a stranger to criticism regarding its approach to social justice initiatives like the Black Lives Matter movement, and its handling of racism on campus.

This summer, the OU NAACP chapter published a letter to the university asking the admission of two incoming freshman to be rescinded following a video and a photo of the students, both white, using the n-word. OU responded to the letter but did not bar the students from admission.

“There is no policy or set of rules that will eradicate racism from our University or our nation, and so instead of indoctrination we look to instruct and to inspire a culture of understanding and empathy,” the letters says, signed by both Nellis and Secuban.

In 2014, about 100 students occupied the Baker Student Center after the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, moved to not indict the officer that killed Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager. Nobody was arrested, despite the building closing at midnight. Instead, OU staff members watched over the protestors and allowed them to stay.

Three years later, over 150 students and faculty occupied the same space after protesting President Donald Trump’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim countries in in front of the Athens County Courthouse. One difference since the last Baker occupation? 70 students were arrested.

Dr. Houston can remember professors agreeing that what OU did was wrong, saying they were “embarrassed to be there.” “We call this an institution of higher learning and we arrest our students for practicing civil disobedience,” Dr. Houston says.

In 2014, students created the Black Lives Action Coalition (BLAC) following the first Baker Center protest after the non-indictment of the police officer that shot and killed Michael Brown. Jazzmine Hardges, a freshman at the time, felt compelled to stay through the night. That was the first time she met other activists, including Estrella-Jones.

“I stayed all night, helped them clean up, and I remember it being a solid group of six or seven people at three in the morning figuring out, ‘Okay, where do we go from here?” Hardges says.

That’s when she began to focus on implementing cultural competencies into the curriculums of every college on campus. In 2015, Hardges and Jolana Watson, another member of BLAC, reached out to administrators and professors to advocate for the incorporation of their ideas. Only the English Department gave them a shot.

In 2016, Mara Holt, former Director of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Madeline ffitch, a TA and graduate student, began initiating workshops for professors. Hardges and Watson called the training a ‘brown bag’.

“We kind of dumped a lot of resources on the TA’s and the professors. As far as like, ‘We should be talking about the graffiti wall and how racist incidents happen,” Hardges says.

Holt began adding cultural competencies into the curriculum of the English 1510: Writing and Rhetoric, an introductory course that are taught by TA’s and most freshman are required to take. Hardges, who is now a fourth grade reading teacher in Cleveland, says near the end of the class, the growth in student perspective was evident.

“Part of having a higher education is being able to confront differences that affect people and finding ways where you can still work with that person,” she says.

Hardges says she continued reaching out to programs across campus, but none opted to participate. She says she spoke to administrators who told her it would take years to incorporate cultural competencies in introductory courses for every major on campus.

“We were still students at the end of the day, trying to make it through,” says Estrella-Jones, who is now an activist protesting on the streets of New York City and a writer for a nonpartisan political news company. “The burden always falls on the activists, ‘are we doing enough?’ versus, in which ways has or has not OU stepped up?”

Estrella-Jones remembers a disconnect existing between the administration and students.

“There are action tangible items that if Black lives mattered, you would take, and they didn’t take any,” Estrella-Jones says. “Too little, too late. Period.”