Police are expected to file persistent disorderly conduct charges against three members of Ohio University’s Student Senate following a protest Thursday afternoon.
Police are expected to file persistent disorderly conduct charges against three members of Ohio University’s Student Senate following a protest Thursday afternoon.
The rally was part of the #RAISEHELLNOTTUITION march against a proposed 5.1 percent tuition hike for incoming freshman as a part of the Ohio Guarantee.
The three students expected to be charged are Student Senate President Megan Marzec and senators DJ Amireh and Kyle Tussing.
The demonstration began when a planned protest against proposed tuition raises started at the bottom of Baker University Center.
Marzec, holding a megaphone, said, “let’s march.”
And it began. Demonstrators marched through Baker Center and the Uptown area before finishing at College Green.
A group of prospective OU students on a campus tour were walking through College Green as the students marched down the streets chanting: “raise hell, not tuition,” “whose university? Our university!” and “one, two, three, four tuition hikes are class war.”
Once protesters reached East Washington Street, an Athens Police Department officer told them to clear the streets.
Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers said students have the right to peacefully protest but that “they can’t block traffic.”
“It is not what they are saying, but how they are saying it,” Powers said.
The protesters were marching on the street before moving to the sidewalk after a confrontation with police. They finished the demonstration at the Civil War Monument on College Green.
Students held signs that read: “CEO :( McDavis,” “Blame the system, not the victim,” “RIP OUr future” and “Tuition hikes are class wars”.
“I’m going to default on my loans,” said Michael Outrich, a junior studying geographical information sciences. “I can’t afford to pay it.”
Outrich said he has slashed his personal budget to afford being a student and is on a meal plan that only supplies him with one meal per day.
“I’m tired of being a number,” he said.
Approximately 10 to 15 minutes after the crowd dispersed, multiple police officers walked up to Marzec, Amireh and Tussing to ask for their identification.
“Some of us were sitting down very casually,” Marzec said. “It was obvious that everything that was planned for the day had ended.”
Marzec said that there was no intention of blocking traffic at any time.
The three students were told they would be charged with persistent disorderly conduct, but were not arrested or handed a paper citation.
Amireh said police told him he would receive a summons.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle confirmed to The Post that the department "did identify three persons and do intend to file charges this afternoon for persistent disorderly conduct."
Pyle clarified that no one was arrested at the scene. He said the department would comment further Friday morning.
Both OUPD and APD were present at the protest.
“This was clearly intimidation by police. We obviously were in a vulnerable position,” Marzec said. “This is just a very significantly low point for OUPD, where they’re actually trying to intimidate students.”
Marzec said she will “certainly be challenging these charges. I find them to be quite baseless.”
Tyler Barton, a residential coordinator for Residence Life on South Green, said he was sitting on the Civil War Monument when police walked up to several of the protesters and asked them for identification.
"We were all pretty shocked ... There were cops everywhere," he said, adding that he thinks police officers waited until media members covering the protest had left to charge the students.
Students continued to express deep concerns about further raising OU tuition. The university has raised tuition every year since the 2009-2010 academic year.
Marzec said she was happy to see “newer faces” at the protests.
Megan Popke, a second year in pre-nursing, was one of them.
“I shouldn’t have to have emotional stress,” said Popke, who noted she worked four jobs last summer in order to foot the bill to attend college. “It agitates me.”
She switched her major from pre-medical to pre-nursing because she said she couldn't afford additional schooling after graduation.
This isn’t the first time OU students have protested a Board of Trustees meeting. Several students, including Marzec, were escorted out of a board meeting held at OU in 2013.
Another protest against tuition hikes will take place Friday at noon at the Civil War Monument.
—Lucas Daprile contributed to this report.
