Ohio University professor: Schoonover emails show he wanted to stop thought, not encourage it.
Dear Editor,
With regard to the Schoonover scandal and Ohio University, perhaps the larger issue here is really the important one. If we take all emotion out of the dialogue over Mr. Schoonover's suggestion that an accusation of racism might be used to win a fight over how OU — an entity of the State of Ohio itself — spends its money, then what we are left with is why Mr. Schoonover would make such a suggestion. He did it because he wanted to win that argument about how the money should be spent. The problem, however, is that the design of such an argument is not to encourage thought, but to stop it. Anyone who would use such a tactic and believe he is supporting a university has truly lost his or her way. Victory, as the Romans learned, is not the goal. If you destroy the thing you are trying to save, or if you even contribute to its destruction, then what was the purpose of your actions and who or what did they truly serve?
Scott Minar is a professor of English at Ohio University’s Lancaster campus.
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