Ohio University's decision to cancel or place on hold several events for the triannual Black Alumni Reunion in Athens and a Lancaster campus Women's History Month event is drawing criticism from students and alumni.
The university announced the events would be placed on hold this week as OU reviews the events to assess the impacts of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) "Dear Colleague" memo, which demands public universities halt all race-based programs. The university said it is also evaluating an Ohio Senate bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at all public universities if signed into law.
The university has not said whether several events planned for Women's History Month on the main Athens campus would be impacted.
Universities like OU are facing increasing calls not to comply with anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies from the state and federal government before they become law.
This year's Ohio University Black Alumni Reunion would have been the first Bailey Williams had time to attend since he graduated in 2020. Williams said he is worried this is a sign the university will eliminate the scholarship he received that was named for Ohio University's first Black graduate John Newton Templeton.
The university has not said whether the full-ride scholarship would be eliminated or not.
Williams said the reunion and DEI programs help create community and make the Appalachian Ohio campus more diverse.
"OU is not the pinnacle of diversity as it is. So without those scholarships, without those opportunities for students of color, like myself, it's going to hurt diversity there, and it's going to hurt kids who came from working class backgrounds like I did," Williams said.
Current students are growing increasingly concerned with OU's stance on diversity, equity and inclusion and complying with these directives and bills that attack diversity initiatives. The Post, a student newspaper at OU, reported hundreds protested last week, calling on OU President Lori Stewart Gonzalez to communicate what the university will do as Senate Bill 1 makes it way through the Ohio House of Representatives.
Gonzalez responded in a statement this week saying the university would not be taking early steps as of now to shut down DEI programs, as the pending bill in the state legislature would require. Ohio State University took the opposite stance, closing its Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Center for Belonging and Social Change last week.
Williams, a former president of the Ohio University College Democrats, said universities like OSU and OU shouldn't be complying in advance with these policies. He said he is hopeful OU will instead speak truth to power.
He calls not fighting against anti-DEI policies and complying early with Senate Bill 1 before it becomes law "absurd."
"(The anti-DEI movement) was never really about giving a fair chance to everybody. It's not. It's just about making places more acceptable for certain groups, i.e. whiter and less welcoming for students of color," Williams said.
Williams said without events and programs like these, minorities and women at universities will lose a sense of community. He also said he is disappointed he won't get to attend the Black Alumni Reunion this year.
