Graduate Student Senate addressed Ohio University President Roderick McDavis’ proposal for a cultural competency program for students at its Tuesday meeting.
The body discussed the topic in light of images recently painted on OU's campus graffiti wall, including a depiction of a figure being hanged. The images have since been painted over.
“That wall was made into an icon of bigotry,” GSS member Christopher Glick, who addressed the general body in a formal speech, said. “Here at Ohio University, I believe that we are more.”
Some GSS members disapproved of making cultural competency programs mandatory, which was a strategy proposed by campus groups such as Black Student Union and the NAACP in recent years.
“(Cultural competency) needs to be worked into the curriculum,” GSS member Seth Baker said. “Not something separate from the curriculum … Not like AlcoholEDU. It needs to be worked into our everyday conversation.”
Baker suggested the university could use the implementation of a cultural competency course as a “scapegoat” when confronted with issues of racism and ignorance on campus. Some opposed that idea, including GSS member Claire Eder.
“Seeing racism … seeing microaggressions, this is not just something the university wants to put in place, this is something students have requested,” Eder said.
Other members said the people responsible for the image knowingly rejected cultural awareness and committed hate speech. Therefore, those people would not benefit from a course meant to change their minds when their minds are already made up.
“This was an act of cowardice. They knew it was wrong. They knew it was an act to incite,” GSS member Mitchell Smith said.
The body voted in favor of extending the meeting for 15 minutes to further discuss the wall and how to raise cultural awareness on campus. Members proposed creating a possible PSA-type video. Other suggestions for action included setting up cameras around the site of the wall as a way of holding those who express their opinions in their graffiti accountable.
“Make (the creators of the graffiti) own their anachronism,” Smith said. “Let them reap the ridicule that they rightly deserve.”
Addressing the graffiti wall came last in Tuesday’s agenda, following the appointment of new voting members and new Vice President for Communication Spencer Smith. Both Smith and all new members were voted into the general body without opposition, and the complete body then voted on the adoption of GSS’s report on the General Fee.
The General Fee is a more than $600 per semester required fee for OU students used to pay for non-instructional student services. Based on research compiled by a GSS commission, more than 40 percent of graduate students are at or below the poverty line.
