The four Ohio University students who demanded that Board of Trustees instate a tuition freeze were forced to plead their charges from protesting at the meeting down to small fines early last week in Athens Municipal Court.
Ellie Hamrick, Eden Almasude — both 2013 graduates of OU — Megan Marzec and Jessica Lindner — both sophomores at the time — were fined $100 each for disorderly conduct stemming from their protest at the trustees’ last meeting of the 2012-13 school year April 19.
Each student paid $104 in court costs as well, Hamrick said.
OU students who face legal repercussions from the city of Athens are also typically disciplined by the university.
The four students received a letter of warning from Ardy Gonyer, the acting director of Community Standards and Student Responsibility, which oversees legal offenses, asking the students to convey their thoughts “in more appropriate ways.”
"I’ve tried really hard at OU to have my voice heard. I went to President McDavis’ office hours every time he held them for three years,” Hamrick said. “I feel like I’ve exhausted every possible resource to talk to and have a dialogue with administrators.”
The students feel as if they got arrested “as the last resort” to reach out to administrators, Hamrick said.
Though the initial police report showed the students broke the law, Gonyer said he chose not to charge the students.
Disciplinary records are considered private educational records and Gonyer refused to comment further on the case.
But Gonyer said he didn’t serve a lesser charge because the students were graduating.
"Typically we don’t give (students) any special treatment because they’re graduating,” Gonyer said. “We can put holds on their diploma and transcripts.”
People with charges such as the ones tuition protesters received have not historically been punished by the university, said Jenny Hall-Jones, associate vice president and dean of students.
"We want to treat people kind of evenly throughout the years," she said. "In that statement of concern letter, (we said) if you had expressed your voices in legal ways you wouldn't be here right now."
Hamrick believes that Hall-Jones, who was present during her Community Standards and Student Responsibility hearing, does a good job of being a friendly face of the administration but worries that she does not represent student views well in Cutler Hall.
“What we’d like to see is students with the ability to represent themselves,” Hamrick said. “If (the administration) want us to be respectful and appropriate, they need to be respectful and appropriate.”
dd19579@ohiou.edu
