In light of the “alleged” rape during the Homecoming Weekend festivities (let’s face it — as long as the rapist isn’t an athlete, he’s going to prison), I am going to officially spearhead the charge of alumni calling for Student Senate President Nick Southall’s immediate resignation.
I’m also calling for the resignation of our esteemed faceplate of a university president, Roderick McDavis.
To Mr. Southall, I’m not saying that you, in any way, caused the rape to happen.
However, you have done an excellent job of perpetuating the rape culture of OU and making a mockery of your position. The fact that you deleted those tweets last month and submitted an apology after pressure from the administration and your fellow senators doesn’t mean that you don’t still feel the way you felt when you published those tweets.
Despite pressure from your entire constituency, you hold tightly to your position, undoubtedly for the scholarship money that comes with it. It is disgusting and appalling. As a public servant, your constituents come first, and you no longer fit our need. It is time for you to go. You perpetuate everything that is wrong with the college scene.
To Dr. McDavis, you are just as guilty of perpetuating rape culture at OU. By not forcing Southall’s retirement, you made everything he did OK. Sure, as an undergraduate student from 2009-13, I spent plenty of time saying that you were “worthless,” “invisible,” and at one point called you “Santa” because I questioned your existence. At that point I was engaging in a bit of hyperbole. Not anymore.
Southall’s reprehensible behavior happened on your watch, and all you did was have your staff slap him on the hand, if you did anything to punish him. Your job is just as much to represent us as Southall’s is, and you have failed. For at least four years that I know of, you have failed each and every one of us by deeming a tuition increase necessary to line your already-full pocketbook.
You are getting paid a lot of money to do absolutely nothing, and the fact that the most action you’ve taken to ensure the safety of your students is releasing a statement calling a clear, videotaped rape “an alleged assault” is detrimental to the image of Ohio University.
I can’t even wear my OU cap or windbreaker right now because I have no pride in my alma mater. As a graduate of the Class of 2013, I urge all of my fellow alumni to stop donating to Ohio University until Nick Southall and Roderick McDavis resign their positions.
Though our voices can’t seem to get through to our administration, we know our money talks. There is no place in Athens for two men that stand to perpetuate rape culture through inactivity.
Tom Pinney is a 2013 Ohio University alumnus who studied political science.
