Ohio University will have to pay the former director of the Latin American Studies department more than $700 after the court ruled in his favor for his lawsuit about missing artifacts.
The relics were put on display Oct. 3 and were returned to Bruce Ergood on Oct. 25. When he was unpacking them he discovered a hand-woven red tablecloth, ceramic ashtray and two pairs of juarachis, or sandals, were missing.
Ergood decided to put the items on display after a suggestion from graduate student Erica Harding, who took the items to the center Oct. 3 and returned them to Ergood’s house Oct. 25, according to court documents.
Ergood and Harding discussed the location of the exhibit with Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center Winsome Chunnu. They decided on the inner room of the Multicultural Center because it would be the most secure, which Ergood wanted because some of the “80-plus items are very valuable and some are irreplaceable,” he said according to court documents.
Ergood sued the university for $680, which he said would be needed to cover a trip to Mexico to replace the items.
“These juarachis are part of my Otomi culture collection, which I’ve used when lecturing on indigenous cultures. It includes many items I collected, as gifts and purchases, in 1954, while living with the Otomi in the Valle del Mezquital,” Ergood said in court documents.
The Ohio Court of Claims ruled in Ergood’s favor Friday. The court ordered OU to pay $705 — Ergood’s requested amount including court costs.
The court said that OU had the duty to protect Ergood’s personal property that was in its possession. The court also said that Ergood provided enough evidence to prove OU’s negligence, because he provided an inventory of the exhibit’s items, according to court documents.
ml147009@ohiou.edu
