As you might have read on today’s front page, students enrolled in courses taught by Amol Kharabe didn’t find out from the university until Wednesday afternoon their instructor would be taking a period of “paid administrative leave,” after being arrested Monday evening in his Dublin home on child pornography-related charges.
The arrest casts Ohio University in a bad light, and we understand that the university has its hands full in dealing with the fallout, but we believe that informing Kharabe’s students should have been one of the university’s first moves. Students should be notified as soon as possible when something such as this directly affects them.
The Post received confirmation from the university’s Director of External Communications Stephanie Filson late in the day Tuesday that university officials were aware of the arrest and that Kharabe was on paid administrative leave. We appreciate the university keeping us updated so we can do the same for you, but it’s unacceptable that Kharabe was arrested Monday night and the students did not receive any notice from the university until Wednesday afternoon.
Even a nondescript email briefly explaining the situation Tuesday — shortly after news of Kharabe’s arrest broke — would have been better than no official communication at all. Just saying that Kharabe is on leave and that the college is searching for a temporary replacement would have sufficed. Instead, about 70 students were left in the dark, with their only information coming from news reports and social media.
University officials have taken great strides in improving their communication in the wake of emergencies — something we’ve praised them for in the past. We believe that quick-moving mentality should also apply to other matters of immediate student concern.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
