As Athens’ most notorious fest approaches, several Ohio University deans decided to pass on a clear recommendation to students: Don’t attend the fests.
After receiving a form letter from Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith, at least five deans sent variations of the letter to their students, some encouraging students to be safe and responsible at the fests, and others outright telling students they shouldn’t go.
This year, the topic of fest safety also came up in several meetings between Smith and some of the deans. Smith ended up offering a form letter to any of the deans who wanted to give their students additional advice.
The letters stated that almost 300 OU students had been disciplined by University Judiciaries and about 40 had been suspended or left OU after illegal behavior at the fests last year. These numbers have also been publicized on the City of Athens Facebook and Twitter pages.
The idea to outright encourage students not to attend did not come up at the meeting, Smith said.
“I’m not sure where that piece came from,” he said. “We didn’t say, ‘Let’s tell students not to go.’ Students have a choice. We left it up to the deans.”
This week, similar emails were sent from the offices of Ben Ogles, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Renée Middleton, the dean of the Patton College of Education and Human Services; Hugh Sherman, dean of the College of Business; Greg Shepherd, dean of the Scripps College of Communication; and David Descutner, dean of the University College.
The deans of the Fine Arts, Health Sciences and Professions, Honors Tutorial, and Engineering and Technology colleges were not available to comment on whether they also had sent emails.
Although the wording of most of the letters varies, Ogles and Descutner sent identical letters warning students, “Avoid the upcoming fests. Participation in the fests is extremely risky and potentially harmful to your future as a graduate of our program.” Shepherd’s letter encouraged students to “consider avoiding the upcoming fests,” and the letters from Sherman and Middleton encouraged students to be careful if they did choose to attend the fests.
Middleton, who received the form letter from Descutner, said she wanted to express her own beliefs in the letter to her students and not the beliefs of the Office of Student Affairs.
“I don’t believe that’s my place (to tell students not to attend),” Middleton said. “I think we have students who are adults, and they have to make those decisions for themselves.”
Smith and Middleton both said they no longer had copies of the form letter Smith had sent to deans.
Most of the letters sent referenced the “Be smart. Be civil. Be safe.” campaign administrators and city officials have created. The campaign, whose posters state, “What happens in Athens stays on (insert website here),” reminds students of the lasting imprint their actions can leave online and references the number of students who have been disciplined or left the university as a result of fest behavior.
Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi normally sends out information to students about fest safety; his messages this year also referenced the “Be smart. Be civil. Be safe.” campaign.
“There are real and negative consequences through social media outlets,” Lombardi said. “It’s not just a made-up thing. I’ve had students sitting in my office in tears because when you Google their names now, (information about negative behavior) is the first thing that comes up, and they just don’t know how to rid themselves from that.”
rm279109@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCampus
