the President or other members of the University Community. The Post has its own edit to make: CTRL + A + DELETE.
So the Ohio University Board of Trustees has decided to revise its Statement of Expectations for trustee behavior and present a revised resolution to the board's governance committee in April. The revision is a hollow victory, as the board refuses to admit that even a revised version of the policy is an affront to free speech. In its original form, the resolution called for members to speak with a single voice and refrain from publicly criticizing actions of the Board the President or other members of the University Community. The Post has its own edit to make: CTRL + A + DELETE.
Educators sometimes refer to situations like these as teachable moments. Since Ohio University, at least for now, remains a place of learning and not a business run by CEOs drunk on their own power, perhaps the board might be willing to review its knowledge on the First Amendment as it reconsiders the resolution.
It's painfully apparent that such education is necessary. Last July, The Athens News reported that Board Chairman C. Daniel DeLawder opposed a records request by The Post and had the gall to write in an e-mail, It sickens me to think of the waste and unproductive time being spent in the name of open records and freedom of the press.
More recently, DeLawder has moved to suppress dissent on the board by saying that any member who does not support a board decision should leave it.
Let them eat cake, indeed.
While such an attitude might have served DeLawder well in his position as CEO of Park National Corporation, it is antithetical to the spirit of a university, where free discussion, debate and dissent should be encouraged. The very word university derives its origin from the Latin universus meaning whole entire. Mr. DeLawder and the rest of the Board cannot claim to represent OU if diverse opinions must be amalgamated into groupthink
as Student Trustee Tracy Kelly so eloquently pointed out.
The trustees have a few months to think it over. But it should not take more than a few minutes for any American to realize that stifling free speech can only result in dictatorship and abuses of power.
If that's DeLawder's Vision Ohio, perhaps he's the one who should leave it.
Editorials represent the views of The Post's executive editors.
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Opinion
Board needs Bill of Rights refresher
