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Keenan Bell, a senior studying health administration poses for a portrait near where a man was yelling the n-word into a megaphone the weekend before. 

Racial slurs being shouted through a megaphone detracted from an Ohio University student's experience

While walking home Saturday night, a student heard racial slurs being yelled through a megaphone by another Ohio University student.

Aside from the occasional misstep or tumble on the bricks, most Ohio University students make their way home from the bars without incident.

That was not the case for Keenan Bell this weekend.

"I felt very uncomfortable, and I’ve never felt so unwanted here," Bell said.

A senior studying health services administration, Bell was walking home around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when a fellow OU student was using a megaphone on the porch of his residence on Carpenter Street. Bell said he was shouting phrases with the N-word.

"I (thought), 'I must have misheard that.' Somebody said like 'golddigger' or something," Bell said.

However, after hearing the phrase being repeated, she said she knew she was not mistaken, and she had to say something.

Bell walked across Carpenter, and after spotting the same man bouncing in and out of the house with the megaphone, she addressed him.

"You know a black girl lives across the street from you," Bell said she told him. "You should watch what you say."

A group of about 10 men and one woman, Bell said, were sitting around in the living room of the house and laughed at her comment.

Bell said the man with the megaphone initially tried to blame it on someone else, but when she asserted she knew he had been the one to say the racial slurs, he began to apologize "insincerely with a big smirk on his face." He then said the group "would not say it around certain people" anymore, Bell said.

Bell was then told to leave the residence when the group said they were holding a "private party."

After being told to leave the house, Bell went home and drafted a Facebook post about the incident, which she waited until Sunday to post. 

"I wrote in the moment how I was feeling and what happened because it was so fresh," Bell said.

The Post contacted the accused individual, but he refused to be interviewed. The Post does not typically name those accused of a crime worthy of a misdemeanor charge.

Bell also said she had noticed a Sigma Chi poster hanging in the house's living room. And despite claiming they were members of Sigma Chi, Bell said she was certain they were not.

Matt Falconer, president of OU's Sigma Chi chapter, said none of the men living at the house on Carpenter Street are members of Sigma Chi.

After being contacted by another member of Sigma Chi who had seen the post, Falconer reached out to Bell to apologize because "no one should experience that" and assure her that Sigma Chi members don't live in the house.

"As an organization, we do not accept discrimination even if we're not involved," Falconer said. "We're very sorry this happened to her."

Referencing the recent vandalism of a Black Lives Matter message on the graffiti wall near Bentley Hall, Bell said this is not an isolated incident on campus.

"I've never really … made civil rights a priority for myself," Bell said. "But I definitely feel strongly about this, especially knowing that other people across campus go through this and not just black people, but people of color in general."

Having experienced racism on campus before — though never to that extent — she said people needed to know about this and understand it happens more often than students think.

Winsome Chunnu-Brayda, the associate director of OU's Multicultural Center, said whether that was an isolated occurrence does not dismiss the incident.

"It's not what we project as an institution," Chunnu-Brayda said of the incident. "It's not what we want to see on our campus."

Chunnu-Brayda, also the strategic director for Diversity and Inclusion and Multicultural Programs and Initiatives, urged the individuals involved in the incident to make use of programs she and the Multicultural Center have to help change perspectives. 

When students experience racism on campus, Chunnu-Brayda said, it detracts from their experiences here and for some, those hurtful experiences can overwhelm the rest of their time in Athens.

Captain Ralph Harvey of the Athens Police Department said Monday that no reports related to the incident had been filed.

"Just using the N-word in and of itself is not a criminal offense," Harvey said. "They may have a civil issue and be able to sue the person."

Harvey said despite the act itself not being a criminal offense, APD would still investigate based on the implications associated with the act.

"The implication is that it's an aggressive person or in all likelihood, that they could be drunk," he said. "An underlying offense there could be disorderly by (intoxication) with some hate crime issues. Whether it could be charged out or not as a hate crime can be fairly difficult."

For Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason, only one other similar incident has occurred somewhat recently.

"I went to trial on (a similar case) a few years ago and it was a hung jury (or a jury that cannot agree on a verdict)," Eliason said. "It was a situation in the library where there were racial slurs to two African-American young women, and the jury felt that they didn’t feel threatened by the racial slurs."

In December 2007, a former OU student was charged with menacing and ethnic intimidation, and the jury was deadlocked 7-1 in favor of acquittal, according to The Athens Messenger. The former student pleaded guilty to persistent disorderly conduct and paid a fine of $250 to accompany a two-year probation.

"There has to be more than just the racial slurs (for there to be a charge of ethnic intimidation)," Eliason said. "Someone has to feel like something else is going to happen. Like knowingly causing them to believe that you'll cause them physical harm."

Bell said despite the man and his acquaintances being "verbally aggressive," she never felt threatened.

"You can't just sit there and watch it happen, which is why I chose to say something," Bell said. "Because I can't complain about and be upset about it if I'm not willing to do something about it."

@kaitfoch

kf992915@ohio.edu

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