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Ohio University Students Face Backlash Over Social Media Video
By: Benjamin Schwartz
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A group of Ohio University students are facing backlash from fellow students and the university over a video circulating on social media. The video, which is a re-creation of a once popular “Vine“, includes OU freshman Sierra Perkins and three other women in what appears to be a university residence hall saying a racial slur.
The video now has nearly 90,000 views on Twitter, and has since sparked an uproar from students on-line and across campus. Taren Holliman is a Junior at Ohio University, and as a biracial woman, she believes that the main issue is that the women involved felt comfortable enough to post the video in the first place.
“It gets to the point where somebody feels comfortable not just publicly saying something,” said Holliman, “but posting it on the internet for everybody to see because they feel so confident in their ability to speak this language and not face any repercussions, that they’ll do that. It’s actually really sad.”
The video has since been addressed by the University. On Twitter, OU’s dean of students Jenny Hall-Jones reacted via social media, tweeting, “This type of behavior is never acceptable on our campus or in our community”, as well as thanking students for bringing it to her attention. The University sent an official statement to WOUB today as well, which reads as follows:
“Racism in any form is not tolerated at Ohio University. We are aware of the racist post that is circulating on social media, and the appropriate offices on campus have reached out to students who have expressed concern as well as to the student who made the post. There is a process in place to determine if the student code of conduct has been violated, and in addition, there is an opportunity to provide education related to the importance of equality. The Division of Student Affairs and Division for Diversity and Inclusion are available to provide resources and support to anyone with concerns about this incident.”
Perkins has reportedly apologized for the video in a now-deleted post. It is not clear what social media platform the apology was originally posted to, but unverified screenshots have been found in Twitter threads surrounding the incident.
In the video, Perkins claims her friends are drunk, if true, that could be an additional problem for the students.
WOUB has reached out to Perkins for a comment, with no reply as of now.
The video can be viewed below: