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OU President Responds To ‘Denouncement’ of Black Lives Matter
By: Susan Tebben
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Ohio University President Roderick McDavis is calling for change in the New Year after a mural promoting the “Black Lives Matter” movement was painted over.
In a letter to students, faculty and staff, McDavis said he “witnessed for himself” comments spray-painted over a symbol of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which was painted on a public wall on campus.
The mural, which consisted of a white fist over a black background, was painted by students after a Black Lives Matter poster was torn down in a residence hall over Thanksgiving break. The organizer of the wall painting, Black Student Union
member Jalen Perkins, said the painting was “BSU’s personal response to it.”
He also said, in an interview with WOUB when the mural was painted, that he wanted others to gather and “unify everyone just to figure out how to handle racial injustice on campus.”
But on Wednesday, the wall had changed. Over the fist, statements such as “wake up you neo-progressive f***s,” “were (sic) more alike than we are different,” “everyone goes through their own s**t” and “life is hard, it transcends race and gender.”
Along with the statements, in the hashtag “BlackLivesMatter” on the wall, the word “all” had been spray-painted over the word “black.”
Pictures of the wall spread through social media, including to the Twitter account of Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones. Jones and other administrators then called for a meeting with members of the community who wanted to discuss the statements and the overall attitude within the university toward diversity and inclusion. A group of about 50 students and university community members met at the meeting.
McDavis wrote in his letter that while the wall is a place for free speech and expression, “this public denouncement of the Black Lives Matter movement is another example of the intensity with which our community is grappling with racism and the social movements of our time – movements that are intended to educate and not divide us.”
He made clear that he believed the movement to be important, and said he wanted the university community to meet the challenge.
“We need to talk about why Black Lives Matter; we need to explore the meaning of this and other movements; we need to recognize that race and gender are the most recognizable human categorizations, which transcend all other characteristics,” McDavis wrote. “We should all be prepared to acknowledge that we have biases, and we should feel safe enough to discuss and work through these issues on our campus.”
McDavis encouraged the community to attend the Campus Conversations and other multicultural events in an effort to “make our community more inclusive and a source of strength for all of its members.”
The Ohio University Police Department has not said whether they plan to investigate who wrote the comments on the wall.