News
Ohio University places the Black alumni reunion on hold, citing new federal policies involving race
By: David Forster
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Black alumni from around the country were supposed to be gathering at Ohio University next month for a reunion.
The university said in a news release announcing the decision that some of the programming that historically has been part of the reunion may run afoul of recent guidance from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
A letter from the office last month informed schools they “may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race.”
Jillian Causey is a co-chair of the planning committee for this year’s reunion and has been working with the university for the past 11 months planning the event. She said the university didn’t point to anything in particular planned for this year’s reunion that raised concerns.
Instead, she said, it’s the very fact of hosting an event for Black alumni that may be worrying university officials.
“One of the things that we are going to try to make sure we reiterate moving forward is that this event is open for everyone, which it always has been,” Causey said. “This has never been an exclusionary situation. And so we are going to have to think about how we can convey that information while still honoring the tradition and the legacy of it.”
With the reunion just weeks away, hundreds of people have already registered and made their travel arrangements. One option would be to move the reunion off campus, but Causey said there likely just isn’t enough time to make all the arrangements necessary to make that happen this year.
This will be a loss for the city of Athens, said Damon Scott, president of the Ebony Bobcat Network, a national organization of Ohio University alumni.
“They book hotel rooms, they eat in restaurants, they shop uptown in Athens and throughout the city, really providing an economic boom to the city during this four-day weekend,” he said. “So unfortunately, all of that is lost now because of the policies and the laws from both the state of Ohio as well as the federal government.”
The Ohio Legislature is expected to pass a bill in the coming months that, among many other things, would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives at colleges and universities. The university referenced this bill in its news release about the reunion.
“We are very frustrated and disappointed, and it is honestly a travesty that this has gotten caught up in the political wave of whatever this administration is trying to do,” Causey said, referring to orders by President Donald Trump to eliminate efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
“One of the things that we’re going to first tell folks is take the time to grieve, take the time to be angry and process, and then we’re going to come back together and figure out how to move forward,” Causey said.
Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said once the renovations of the Armory are completed this year, it could be a possible location for hosting the reunion, or at least part of it. He also noted that Mt. Zion Baptist Church, just down the street from the Armory, is also undergoing major renovations with plans to turn it into a Black cultural center.
“I’m more than willing to make sure we can create other spaces that are off campus to host the Black reunion in the city of Athens,” Patterson said.
The reunion, held every three years, is a tradition dating to the 1980s. OU President Lori Stewart Gonzalez noted in the news release the university also is disappointed about having to place the event on hold.
“In light of changes to federal and state guidance, we will need to think differently about some of the ways that we live out our mission and vision,” she said, “and I’m incredibly thankful for the planning committee’s willingness to work with us to reimagine this event moving forward.”
Causey and Scott emphasized that university leaders have been supportive and transparent in their decision making.
“It’s not like the administrators and the powers that be at Ohio University woke up yesterday and said, ‘Let’s make the decision to press pause or place on hold the Black alumni reunion,’” Scott said.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “Ohio University’s hands are tied because they have been threatened by the state of Ohio and the U.S. Department of Education to be investigated and to lose its state and federal funding if it promotes events, programs and services around diversity, equity and inclusion.”