The Athens Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) supports the Ohio University Faculty Senate, Graduate Student Senate and Student Senate resolutions that demand that charges against the 70 Ohio University students arrested in Baker Student Center on Feb. 1, 2017, be dropped.
Students have a right to engage in non-violent protests — given the unconstitutional and arbitrary nature of the United States President’s executive orders for a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, and for the building of a wall on the United States-Mexico border and the potential impact of both actions on people of color and international students, they have cause to protest.
In their long history, Quakers have practiced and advocated for non-violent civil disobedience in response to unfair laws and actions by the
We respectfully request the university recognize that the protest was peacefully conducted and the students did, in fact, allow for ingress and egress to
John Howell is an Associate Professor of Physiology, emeritus, at Ohio University.
