On Jan. 2, Ohio University’s Black Student Union *posted a letter on its Instagram account addressed to university President *Lori Gonzalez and Executive President and Provost *Donald J. Leo. The letter, dated Nov. 26, 2025, expressed dissatisfaction with OU’s lack of support for students of color and multicultural organizations. The student leaders requested that the Multicultural Exposition budget be reinstated, along with a 30-minute meeting to discuss the impacts of Senate Bill 1.
Citing how the former Multicultural, Pride and Women’s Centers have become “unstaffed lounges without crisis navigation, advising or programming budgets,” mentioning the negative emotional, social and financial impacts occurring to the students who depended on these former spaces.
In the letter, the student leaders expressed the financial challenges when planning the annual Multicultural Exposition. The BSU executive board members had “to spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket” while relying on community support from black businesses, student organizations and alumni.
The Exposition, which usually takes over $6,000 to fund, was dependent on the money of a few college students and donations from community members to ensure “the exposition would still exist.”
While this letter focuses on the “*Post SB1” reality for multicultural organizations, OU isn’t supporting LGBTQIA+ or women-based identity organizations either, raising a new concern of OU’s hypocrisy.
OU has taken away the visibility, space and support of the identities most frequently disrespected, showing that the slogan, “Make Respect Visible,” they promote like the Bible no longer holds weight.
The university has discontinued its support for all of these organizations, yet the “programming budgets” for these organizations have virtually disappeared. We haven’t seen any visible changes in the student programming function to help alleviate gaps created by SB1, and OU hasn’t communicated any actions to the student body.
Yet, they have complied with SB1, as stated in the BSU letter to OU’s Administrators, “in the most restrictive way possible.” In a way that is “far from the respectfulness and visibility that have been emphasized in previous years.” The letter penned two weeks ago has yet to be responded to.
The university was recently criticized for the lack of communication surrounding the firing of *former OU football Head Coach *Brian Smith. The lack of communication between OU and its constituents remains not only irresponsible of an accredited university, but continues to be insulting and disheartening. OU’s lack of transparency has led to a spiral of doubt and negative assumptions.
Fall 2025-26 was a test run for an OU without support for marginalized students, showing the university’s inability to create improved functional spaces. SB1 has not only harmed the student body’s ability to operate but also inhibited the abilities of important student organizations on campus.
Now that SB1 has been implemented statewide, the lack of student support spaces in Baker University Center, located in the heart of campus, has led to it being known as a “ghost town,” which screams OU’s incompetence and inability to address student needs.
OU has proceeded to create new spaces that feel like a mockery of its true legacy. A place that once stood for the radical change and progression of student rights, where student individuality thrived even amidst turmoil and “could exist without feeling judged,” no longer exists.
Reminding its students that it is indeed an institution focused on economic gain, and it will lazily strip the voice from its students in the misguided goal of preserving student academic freedom.
When student leaders on your campus say, “We, as student leaders, have lost faith and trust in Ohio University,” that means their constituents have seen their needs and concerns devalued in a way that causes irreparable damage to OU.
The BSU acts are *one of the most active student *organizations on campus, with 245 registered members in Group Me, and over 1,600 followers on Instagram. If some of the most involved student leaders on campus can’t even get a response to a letter requesting a 30-minute meeting with our administrators, then it becomes apparent that listening to the concerns of students is not a priority.
While our administrators continue to make decisions and create empty spaces in the aftermath of SB1, the student body deals with the changed respect in which we view our administrators.
OU’s eagerness to strip the identities of its students makes us feel as if we are truly just statistics.
Nyla Gilbert is a junior studying Journalism Strategic Communication at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Nyla Gilbert about her column? Email her at ng972522@ohio.edu.
