The Ohio State University showed its true colors this week and I think you will find that its students are not surprised. OSU claims to care about the safety of its students, but they have proven that this is not true. Thursday, April 25, 2024, 36 peaceful protesters were violently arrested and since then harmful rhetoric and misinformation have been spread all over different news and internet organizations; I am here to help clear the air as someone who is both a student here and was at the Encampment.
Ohio State University spokesperson Ben Johnson has stated that the protestors were removed due to them violating rules and laws and that may be true, but it is also true that he is twisting the rules and using them to excuse the violence that has occurred when OSU has turned a blind eye to many more harmful incidents. He has stated that OSU has rules against camping and overnight events; This is what the rulebook says about this: “No tents or other temporary structures requiring staking may be set up without prior approval from Facilities Operations and Development. Tents may not cover grass for more than 24 hours after the conclusion of the event” and “Events consistent with the University’s teaching, research, and service missions spanning overnight hours must be confined to a single 24-hour period, with similarly structured events not occupying the same space on consecutive days. Outside habitation must not be the primary focus of the event.” I do not know if the tents were staked down or not, I have seen conflicting answers, but I do know that the event did not last for more than 24 hours and outside habitation was not, contrary to popular belief, the primary focus of the event, the primary focus was showing support for Palestine.
Another argument that I have seen is the noise policy. This is what the noise policy is, “Due to the proximity of offices, residence halls, and classrooms, amplified sound and other loud noise is restricted (i.e., not permitted) Monday through Friday prior to 5:30pm and after 10:00 pm.” The noise that the protesters were making on their own was between these hours; Around 10:00 pm, the police were surrounding the protesters and using their megaphones. After this, the noise from protesters was only in response to the actions of the police. Pleads to let the people pray, pleads to stop hurting them, pleads that they were trying to disperse, but we could not move and to please stop shoving.
Even if the protesters broke all of these rules, is the action the university gave proportionate to the broken rules? They called at least 70 different officers from numerous different branches to brutalize these protesters for supposed trespassing, ignoring that a lot of these people were students themselves. There were many different students also standing on the south oval that were not accused of trespassing, only those surrounding the students in prayer. In the University Space Rules, they have a section about the enforcement of these rules: “When enforcing these rules, an official or employee authorized to maintain order on the campus or facility should make a reasonable attempt to warn and advise registered student organizations, students, faculty, staff and non-affiliates to cease the prohibited conduct or activity before citing and/or arresting the individual for violation of these rules, except where the conduct violating these rules reasonably appears to create a threat to or endanger health, safety or property.” From my understanding of this, I believe that a university official should have spoken to the students first, and from my knowledge, that did not happen.
The line has become blurry about what exactly is trespassing now and who is considered dangerous. Peaceful protesters who were praying are considered more dangerous than the groups of people who come onto our campus and spew hate speech at the students walking by. Telling them that they are going to hell for being a sinner. The university seems to let that happen because of their freedom of speech and religion, but the protesters praying here deserved to be arrested. It seems that OSU only cares about one religion. Peaceful protesters who were praying are also considered more dangerous than a man walking around campus with a gun. That is right. In March of 2023, a month after the Michigan shooting, there was a group walking around campus with flags and guns. While Ohio is an open-carry state, it is against the U.S. Concealed Carry Association meaning that it is prohibited to have guns on Ohio State University’s campus unless it is locked in your car. These people were breaking these rules and what did the university and police tell the concerned students? That they were monitoring the situation and to stay inside. Unarmed peaceful protesters were treated with more force than the people flaunting their weapons around a campus right after another university just lost three people to a shooting. It is appalling to see Ohio State University’s values.
When thinking back on the events of the protest with a clearer head, things just become more appalling. There are some videos circulating around that I want to give more context to. There was someone with a gun aimed at the protesters on top of the union. That was terrifying to know that they were ready to shoot unarmed civilians when they were unwilling to do anything to stop the people with guns on our campus. I want it known as well that the police did not surround us until the prayer started. They started shoving as they were peacefully praying and did not seem to care for our pleas. They shoved us brutally and did not back down when someone mentioned that they were being hurt; In fact, they shoved harder. When the prayers were finished, the police stopped shoving us for a while. It was a relief at the time, but now it seems disgusting that they did not seem to care to shove us when there was no prayer to disrupt. They only started really started shoving again when they tried to disperse us.
I saw somewhere that the police have to give you an unobstructed exit. They did not. They wanted the protesters to go through the inner circle towards 12th Avenue. They shoved them through the circle, not caring that there were things there that stopped them from safely exiting. People were pleading with them to stop to let people get out, as there were things in the way. They did not. The only thing that kept people from falling and being trampled on were the other protesters. The police did not care about their safety at all; they made that abundantly clear. People were smashed together, in pain, having a hard time breathing, and the protesters took the time to make sure everyone was okay. Hearing people plead to the police that they could not move and that they were being trapped reminds me of something and it should remind you, too. The anniversary is coming up soon. The Kent State Massacre, May 4th, 1970. The National Guard was called in to disperse the student protesters and killed four students. Now House Speaker Mike Johnson has stated that he will call the National Guard to these colleges. We have not learned from our past mistakes, and we are destined to repeat them.
The 36 people arrested were treated horribly by the police. Muslim and Jewish people alike were not allowed to pray. I know that there has been harmful rhetoric out there about how this protest was antisemitic. It was not. There were Jewish people there with us. This is not against Jewish people. It is against the Zionists. They are not inherently the same. 38,621 Palestinian civilians have been murdered, 15,780 of which were children. This is not okay. How can this possibly be okay? Israel has been stalling Freedom Flotilla, a ship trying to get aid to the people of Palestine. This is against the International Court of Justice, yet we still aid Israel in its genocide. In 2010, Freedom Flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy, who then boarded the ship and murdered nine activists. Israel has had this blockade in place since 2007 and is prohibited under international law and yet the United States has still been funding their genocide. The state of Ohio has funded the brutalization of peaceful protesters. Our tax dollars have funded a genocide and the brutalization of peaceful protesters. Yet, it is the peaceful protesters who are inconveniencing the American people. Do your research, grow some compassion, and do the right thing. Don’t be the person who is ashamed to tell their grandchildren that they were on the wrong side of history in 30 years.
Works Cited
“200 Days of Military Attack on Gaza: A Horrific Death Toll amid Intl. Failure to Stop Israel’s Genocide of Palestinians [EN/AR] — Occupied Palestinian Territory.” ReliefWeb, 24 Apr. 2024, reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/200-days-military-attack-gaza-horrific-death-toll-amid-intl-failure-stop-israels-genocide-palestinians-enar#:~:text=The%20Israeli%20army%20has%20killed,missing%20and%20are%20presumed%20dead. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
Marsi, Federica. “Israeli Pressure Delayed Freedom Flotilla’s Departure for Gaza: Organisers.” Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 26 Apr. 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/26/israeli-pressure-delayed-freedom-flotills-departure-for-gaza-organisers. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
“UN Experts Demand Safe Passage for Freedom Flotilla’s Humanitarian Mission to Gaza.” OHCHR, 2024, www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2024/04/un-experts-demand-safe-passage-freedom-flotillas-humanitarian-mission-gaza. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
