Some students and Athens residents have expressed support for Megan Marzec following her "blood bucket" challenge.
Some faculty members at Ohio University are rallying behind Student Senate President Megan Marzec in response to the criticism she received after posting her controversial “blood bucket” challenge video.
The faculty members in alliance with Marzec signed an open letter, which will be released Wednesday, in support of her free speech rights.
The letter was drafted by several faculty members, including Loren D. Lybarger, a classics and world religions professor.
“We were deeply concerned about the very negative and violent feedback that Megan Marzec received in response to the video she posted,” Lybarger said, referencing the numerous death threats Marzec received.
Lybarger also voiced concerns about administrators invoking “civility” undermining the legitimacy of Marzec’s actions, as if to say they were “uncivil.”
“The way that she expressed them was also legitimate, and was consistent with other forms of non-violent expression, which has a long tradition in U.S. history,” Lybarger said.
He cited other forms of peaceful protest, including the opposers of the Vietnam War burning draft cards.
Professor of Contemporary History Kevin Mattson signed the letter and echoed many of Lybarger’s sentiments.
“I think it’s strange that people accused her of setting up an uncomfortable climate on campus and the notion that this was some kind of an ‘anti-Semitic’ statement because when you think about who suffered the most from this act, it’s been her,” Mattson said. “She’s the one who’s getting the violent death threats.”
Though Mattson said he does not support every aspect of Marzec’s message, he said he was encouraged to stand with the faculty alliance with Marzec when he read what he called a “very condescending and unthoughtful letter” from Rabbi Danielle Leshaw of Hillel in The Post Monday.
“When you ask a person to resign from an office they were elected to, you are basically asking for a reversal of the election,” Mattson said, calling Leshaw’s rationale behind her letter “faulty logic.”
Groups such as the International Socialist Organization and Athens Coalition for Palestine also have expressed support of Marzec.
The International Socialist Organization is hosting a Facebook event titled “Student Senate Speak Out — Stand Up for Megan Marzec!” Students are invited to attend Wednesday night’s Student Senate meeting in Walter Hall 235 at 7:15 p.m. as a part of the event in support of Marzec.
The event page states: “Last week, a large group of students spoke out, calling for Megan to resign. This week, it is our turn to stand up for Megan and let this campus know why we support her and her actions.”
At the last meeting there was a large turnout from campus pro-Israel groups like Bobcats for Israel and Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish fraternity.
“We just want people to see that there is another side for this,” said Tyler Barton, a 2014 OU graduate and member of the International Socialist Organization and Athens Coalition for Palestine. Barton also had a letter published in The Post on Tuesday.
Barton said he thinks it’s wrong for groups such as Hillel, Bobcats for Israel and Alpha Epsilon Pi to represent the Jewish community because “there are Jewish students on campus that are in support of Megan.”
“We’re not there to argue for the BDS movement; we’re here to say that we have to be able to have that dialogue on campus and that Megan is certainly in her right to do what she did,” Barton said.
Even some Athens residents, like David Hartinger, 47, have voiced support for Marzec.
“I don’t like killing, I’m not about that,” Hartinger said. “The death threats are the same as killing. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth makes everyone blind and toothless.”
Read the full text of the faculty members’ letter in support of Megan Marzec online.
@Alisa_Warren
aw120713@ohio.edu
