Ohio University has a proud tradition of being on the right side of history.
Ohio University has a proud tradition of being on the right side of history.
OU was a hotbed of abolitionism, active in promoting the rights of freed slaves, for women’s suffrage, against Nazism, for civil rights, against America’s genocidal campaign in Southeast Asia, against Apartheid in South Africa, for the rights and dignity of the LGBT community. Name a social justice issue, the Ohio University community actively supported it.
The day before Bush launched his war crimes against Iraq, more students were arrested for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience at OU than on any other campus in North America. I remember feeling as though my heart would burst from my chest that day with pride of affiliation with this institution. The recent plea of Student Penate President Marzec for Ohio University to disentangle itself from a genocidal enterprise, falls squarely within this institution’s generations long ethical tradition.
This is not Gaza. This is not the West Bank. Elections are not overturned at OU because advocates of a genocidal enterprise do not like their outcomes. Hillel Rabbi Danielle Leshaw has called publicly for Student Senate President Marzec to resign. That call is anti-free speech, anti-democracy and stands as an odious affront to the proud progressive tradition of Ohio University.
I call for unelected Rabbi Leshaw to resign and find a position at an institution with a less robust tradition of advocacy for the dignity and freedom of humankind. Perhaps she can find an institution where students are required to check with the campus Rabbi, or Imam, or Minister before taking a principled position. A segregated Jews-only university in an illegal Israeli settlement might be a good fit. The disgusting barrage of defamation and abuse directed at President Marzec makes one wonder if some people on this campus think that this is also Israeli occupied territory.
I applaud President McDavis for sending out a temperate request for civility in the discussion of this issue, and of all other issues on our campus. President McDavis indicated that President Marzec’s actions do not reflect the position of Ohio University or President McDavis. I take issue with this statement. Ohio University includes the entire community of students, faculty, staff, support personnel and alumni.
President Marzec’s statement reflects the position of many members of that aggregation. President McDavis did go on to qualify his statement, indicating that the message shared today by her is not an institutional position. It would be more accurate to state that disentanglement of OU from the genocidal enterprise underway against the natives of Palestine is not the current institutional position. There are many proud members of the Ohio University community who will work without remit until the ugly stain of entanglement with the Zionist project is removed from the exemplary history of this institution we love and respect.
Tom Hayes is an assistant professor of postproduction at Ohio University and a 1977 alumnus.
