Many of us Bobcats spent the weekend celebrating our Ohio University pride, reveling with alumni and current students alike.
But by Sunday evening, we at The Post had a good-sized dent kicked into our Bobcat pride.
During the Uptown festivities, a woman was allegedly sexually assaulted on the sidewalk. A cheering crowd captured it on video, snapped photos and laughed. The next day, many of that crowd took to Instagram and Twitter to post their comments and images.
The original video has since been deleted, and the woman has filed a rape complaint with the Athens Police Department.
But the actions of the OU students who posted the videos and photos have now gained national attention, and not the flattering kind.
We aren’t here today to argue about the actions of the man and woman in the video (although we believe consent cannot be given if subjects are intoxicated), but rather to express our extreme disappointment with those who witnessed the event and did nothing to stop it, who in fact cheered on the act. Frankly, it’s an embarrassment to our university.
It is extremely distressing to us that the witnesses to this event were unable to recognize anything wrong with what was happening.
It is disgusting that during the event, no one interfered. Police were out in full force this weekend, and it would not have been difficult to tip them off.
And it is horrendous that bystanders then took to social media to shame this woman. If it had been you, or your sister or friend, would you have wanted photos, videos and scornful comments circulating?
These pictures, comments and tweets will be online forever. So please, put your cellphone down, show some compassion and use some common sense.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
