Earlier in the year, as allegations against Roger Ailes mounted, email records show faculty, staff and alumni pressured Ohio University administrators to remove his name from a WOUB newsroom.
Administrators began receiving emails calling for Ailes' name to be removed from the newsroom as early as mid-July, a few weeks after Gretchen Carlson, a former anchor at Fox News, sued the former Fox chairman and CEO, accusing him of sexual harassment. On July 21, Allison Hunter, editor in chief at WOUB News, sent a letter via email to Scott Titsworth, dean of the Scripps College of Communication, to call for the removal.
“As you know, (Ailes’) resignation from Fox News follows the company's investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against him,” Hunter said in the email. “I'm sure you'll agree Scripps & WOUB do not need any further association with misogynistic claims/practices.”
Hunter cited the actions of other universities when removing Bill Cosby’s name from facilities and endowments.
“I wholeheartedly believe we should immediately follow suit with what is now marked as the Roger E. Ailes Newsroom,” she said in the email.
Robert Stewart, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, reached out to OU President Roderick McDavis in August and asked for a decision to be made on the newsroom, which also serves as a classroom for some journalism courses.
“I know there are many scenarios being considered, but I do hope that one of them includes you going to him directly and asking him to allow us to remove his name, given how it is prolonging a nationwide discussion about his alleged behavior and distracting us from focusing on our job,” Stewart said in an Aug. 20 email to McDavis.
Stewart reached out to McDavis again a few weeks later asking him to consider removing Ailes’ name from the facility.
“I strongly believe that you should take this opportunity to make a public statement on behalf of the university condemning the kind of behavior being alleged, and proceed to meet with Roger as soon as possible to negotiate a conclusion that extracts us from our current naming arrangement,” Stewart said in a Sept. 3 email to McDavis.
Mark Kuhar, a 1980 OU alumnus and father of a 2016 Scripps graduate, reached out to Titsworth and asked for a statement to be released or a decision to be made.
“The example (Ailes) has set, first as a con man who peddles political propaganda disguised as ‘fair and balanced news,’ and now as an apparent sexual predator forced to resign in disgrace from the Fox News empire, is not the standard we ought to be upholding for students being prepared for a career in communications,” Kuhar said in an email to Titsworth on July 28. “Any affiliation with Scripps is an insult to both alumni, and students, especially the females. I believe it is the department's and the university's responsibility to right this wrong immediately.”
On Aug. 22, Gregory Moeller, assistant dean for student success in Scripps, said parents asked about the “scandal” during admissions sessions and orientation.
McDavis announced on Sept. 12 that the facility would be renamed after having considered feedback from alumni, students, faculty, staff and administrators. Before electing to remove the name, McDavis had to make a decision for the university based on the allegations without a policy serving as guidance.
“I’m sure there are lots of faculty, students and alums who have been sending them emails, so I felt when I met with them on Friday that the conversation about this was quite advanced,” Faculty Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin said after the Sept. 12 Faculty Senate meeting. “I don't know if I would characterize it as an apology, but President McDavis, as part of his remarks you'll notice, actually tried to explain why coming to this decision took a little bit longer than some people wanted it to.”
