am the daughter of a Jewish man and although raised Catholic, I have always felt strongly about those who practice anti-Semitism. Like my father before me, I went to Ohio University and it was the best five years of my life. When you poured blood and defamed my college, you broke my heart. You made my college dirty with hate and left me sick with anger.
Dear Megan,
I am not a person who writes letters or speaks out against much, but what you did to my college left me feeling violated. I am the daughter of a Jewish man and although raised Catholic, I have always felt strongly about those who practice anti-Semitism. Like my father before me, I went to Ohio University and it was the best five years of my life. When you poured blood and defamed my college, you broke my heart. You made my college dirty with hate and left me sick with anger. I wanted to call you every name possible and fight your hate with my hate, but instead I would like talk to you and explain what it truly means to be an adult. Maybe show you, that for every action there is a reaction and as a new adult there may be some lessons you haven’t learned yet.
The first lesson a new adult learns is they have choice. When you turn the age of 18 you legally are considered an adult and you begin to embrace new rights afforded to you as an adult. Most children begin adulthood going to university and it is there they begin to express their own opinions about life, including political views. When you made the premeditated decision to use a challenge brought forth to you, by the president of our university for something other than the purpose intended, which was raising awareness for ALS, you made an adult choice. You, an adult, decided to use the opportunity to protest a conflict, which I am unsure you even understand and I question your understanding of the conflict, because it had already ended. However, your knowledge of global events is not the point of my letter, my point is you made a choice and now it’s time for the consequence.
The second lesson a new adult learns is it that anything you say or do holds consequence. Megan, you’re not a child, but a regular adult and with the rights you exercise comes consequences. First and foremost Megan, as the student president, you abused your power of authority. A president is never to show extreme favoritism to one group, while denouncing another. By pouring blood on yourself, you denounced every student and alumni who is of the Jewish faith and who supports Israel. In one act you personally attacked thousands. Some people may think that is an extreme statement or that holding you so harshly accountable for your act of protest, too much for a kid, but you are not a child. You are over 18 and hold the most respected office a student can have at Ohio University, so you have consequences for your behavior. Free speech is an amazing thing and you absolutely have that right, but free speech is not one sided. You made your voice heard loud to the entire world when you chose to make your political interests so public and that merits consequence. When you made your protest video you were not representing only yourself, but also Ohio University. So not only are you being judged as an individual, but because of the power of your office, you have involved many. You are not only facing public punishment, but our college is facing punishment.
The third lesson a new adult learns is that with consequence there is always a punishment. Let’s be very clear, I do not wish you any type of physical harm, but you do deserve to be punished. You deserve to be either impeached or to resign as president immediately. What you did while holding the office of president was a breach of ethical conduct and that justifies you being stripped of that high honor. Your actions also merit you to take classes on tolerance and be monitored by the university during an agreed upon time to ensure you are fully educated on this matter and to make sure you understand the difference between peaceful protest and anti-Semitism. You deceived the university president by manipulating the trust instilled to you by mocking your high office to further your own attention-seeking agenda. Therefore, it is proper for the university to oversee your actions as you have proven that, although an adult, you are still very much a child and for the safety of other students you need to be evaluated to make sure your ideology isn’t violent in nature and doesn’t endanger yourself or others, as this act has also exposed your other acts of protest are have been disturbing and include storming trustee meetings and comments such as F the police on social media.
Healthy and sound-minded adults don’t seek the type of attention you have displayed and I have sincere concerns about you mental health. As for the punishment of Ohio University, you may not understand this, but you have put our college in jeopardy. Every year alumni donate millions to our school and every moment you remain in office those millions dwindle. Like me, thousand of donors are not going to write a check this year. The longer you remain in office the longer you make the school you claim to love suffer.
So Megan, you now know choice, consequence and punishment, the first three lessons of adulthood. Great leaders are not those who divide, but who unify. There were many other ways you could have raised awareness for your cause, other than how you did it. People are furious and they have every right to be. There is never an excuse for anti-Semitism.
I understand at your age you think you know everything, but you don’t. Take this situation and learn to be a leader. Resign your position of president and get some help with you prejudices, before it is too late and your entire heart turns to hate. How you decide to act regarding this matter is your own, but know that you have stained Ohio University greatly in your actions and the longer you avoid the consequence and punishment the longer the school we both love will suffer.
Jacqueline Sicherman is a graduate of Ohio University.
