by Ben Zeisloft
Ohio State University students are upset after the school published information about two Black hate crime suspects, as it is required to do under federal law. On September 3, the Ohio State University sent a public safety notice to students, which mentioned a “hate crime” perpetrated by two African-American suspects near Ohio State’s campus. The first correspondence did not mention the victims’ race.
A few days later, the Department of Public Safety sent two follow-up emails, stating that the victims of the crime were White Ohio State students and that the suspects were in custody. One suspect allegedly yelled a racial slur at a student and punched him in the face.
University Police Chief Kimberly Spears-McNatt stated that the university was required to report the hate crimes under the federal Jeanne Clery Act, which “requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to disseminate a public annual security report,” as well as specify policies about crime reporting.
Under the Act, universities must report on crime that occurs on and around campus.
However, students saw the communications as discriminatory and unfair.
On September 8, roughly 100 students gathered outside of the school’s administrative offices in order to protest the “error and confusion in the handling of” the public safety notices.
“OSU is mocking their entire Black student body right now. They’re blatantly making campus more uncomfortable and dangerous for us and POC,” tweeted student Deja Geddings.
The group Student Solidarity at OSU argued that the incident was not a hate crime, as racial slurs directed toward White people “are not based on a history of violence & oppression towards White people.”
Campus Reform reached out to the university for comment and will update this article accordingly.
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Benjamin Zeisloft is a Pennsylvania Senior Campus Correspondent, reporting on liberal bias and abuse for Campus Reform. He is studying Finance and Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Benjamin also writes for The UPenn Statesman and the Wharton International Business Review.
Photo “OSU Police” by Raymond Wambsgans CC BY-SA 2.0.
