The Athens chapter of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) announced today that we will be hosting a rally and march this Thursday, Sept. 15 at 5:30 p.m., beginning at the bottom of Baker, to protest Ohio University’s lack of response to the widespread student and community demand to cut ties with former Fox News CEO Rodger Ailes.
Ailes is a major donor to Ohio University, and the WOUB Newsroom consequently takes his name. However, Ailes is also the former CEO of Fox News, who resigned after multiple allegations of sexual abuse were put forward against him. Perhaps most egregiously, Ailes abused Fox News booker Laurie Luhn for over twenty years, at one point forcing her to dance for him in a black garter and stockings, which he videotaped as blackmail. The list of allegations is both long and incredibly disturbing.
However, in spite of that, the university has repeatedly declined to comment, only offering one, minimal statement on September 9, months after the first victims of Ailes’ abuse came forward. The statement said that “Appropriate decisions will be made” but that the university needs “to exercise due diligence” before acting.
As of September 9, however, President McDavis was still refusing to address the situation when asked. It seems that the university administration thinks that if they wait long enough, the incident will blow over and they won’t have to make any further statement or take any action that would jeopardize their ties with a wealthy donor. He is just one of many scumbag millionaires, whose fortunes are made upon the exploitation of others and upon whom the university is completely dependent due to a lack of state funding.
Ohio University loves to talk the talk of supporting victims of sexual violence and serving as a resource for all students. However, when supporting survivors of sexual violence is in conflict with the university’s financial interests (as is almost always the case) then the university’s actions reflect a far different set of priorities. It becomes clear in these moments, that the university is not interested in actually taking the side of justice unless it is financially viable.
This is why we march. We need to come together and show the university that this will not go away quietly, and that it will actually be more damaging for them to do nothing than to do what’s right. We hope you will join us this Thursday.
Click here to access our Facebook event and RSVP.
Daniel Kington is a Junior studying English at Ohio University and a member of the International Socialist Organization. Kington was previously a columnist for The Post.
