Tensions remain high between demonstrators and officials.
Tensions remain high between demonstrators and officials after Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, with at least one Ohio University administrator calling for more “fact checking” from students.
University administrators have expressed frustration regarding inaccuracies in a press release from the OU Student Union.
The original press release Friday stated the trustees voted “not to fund the Survivor Advocacy Program.”
Funding for the Survivor Advocacy Program was not on the agenda for Thursday and Friday’s trustee meeting.
“I would reiterate the importance of fact checking before releasing information,” said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student affairs, adding that OU currently has no plans to change the Survivor Advocacy Program for this semester.
Even if those students did not feel comfortable asking an administrator about the program’s funding, “They could have looked at the board agenda,” Lombardi said.
The Student Union sent out a revised version of the press release later in the day to correct the error, while asserting that the Board “has made it clear that supporting survivors of sexual assault does not rank among its priorities.”
Though the grant that funds the program is set to run out in October, Lombardi said the university has no intentions of removing support for sexual assault survivors.
“In terms of anything we’re doing to support survivors of sexual assault … there are no plans at all to diminish any support whatsoever to any of those programs,” he said.
Meeting absence
Student Senate President Megan Marzec and Graduate Student Senate President Carl Edward Smith III, who both have seats on OU’s Budget Planning Council, did not attend the Dec. 8 meeting where votes were cast on tuition recommendations.
“I had hoped that we could have some conversations before today, but unfortunately, that did not occur,” OU President Roderick McDavis said Friday.
Marzec said she missed the meeting because it was rescheduled for when she and Smith had final exams.
“I did not forget about it,” Marzec said. She added that she tried to appoint a proxy to temporarily fill her spot, but her request was denied.
Smith called the rescheduling of the meeting “strategic” and convenient for university officials in a statement.
“Had I been at the meeting, the administrators definitely would have received an ear full and at least one vote against tuition hikes,” Smith said in the release. “They were already well aware of my position.”
Misplaced blame
During Thursday’s demonstration, a protester pointed toward a group of officers from Ohio University Police Department and the Athens Police Department, accusing the Athens Police Chief of mocking the Eric Garner “I can’t breathe” chant.
Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed in July by an arresting police officer in New York City when he was put in a chokehold.
The protester was likely referring to a personal Facebook post from suspended Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly in December. Kelly later deleted the post, according to a previous Post report.
The backstory
The OUPD arrests Friday are the second round of charges for students during the Boards two-day meeting. On Thursday, Athens Police said it would charge three for persistent disorderly conduct near College Green.
Three members of Student Senate — Marzec, Senator DJ Amireh and Senator Kyle Tussing — were charged Thursday.
Marzec had previously said she would challenge those charges, which she said she finds “quite baseless.”
Those cited Thursday were charged but not arrested.
Three more students were charged after being arrested Friday for disrupting the OU Board of Trustees meeting.
The students, charged with disrupting a lawful meeting, have since appeared in the Athens County Municipal Court and have a pretrial date set for Feb. 16 at 8 a.m.
Claire Chadwick, a junior studying sociology and women and gender studies, alumnus Andrew Lake and Bekki Wyss, a senior studying English and former Post columnist, were arrested by OU Police after intentionally disrupting the meeting.
“We disrupted the meeting because we believe tuition hikes are class war,” Chadwick said.
OUPD Chief Andrew Powers said protesting wasn't the problem — it was the way in which some did it.
"They're just not allowed to disrupt the meeting,” Powers said. “Holding up signs was fine.”
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— Maygan Beeler, Dina Berliner, Megan Henry and Emma Ockerman contributed to this report
