Located on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Only photos with the original story are republished.)
Ohio’s flagship public university is once again in the news for old and new scandals.
Last week, Ohio State University assistant professor Luke Perez was caught on video knocking on a door A filmmaker and his equipment land Former university president Gordon Gee was speaking outside the classroom.
OSU alumnus Mike Newman was waiting in the hallway to ask Gee a question on camera when Perez lunged at him. The incident was recorded and posted by political blogger DJ Byrnes “The Rooster” and has been viewed more than 10 million times on social media.
Burns wrote that the video was inconsistent with what he said were initial attempts by Perez and others. Recast Attack As self-defense against disorderly criminal trespassers.
Ultimately, documented evidence of Perez’s assault on Newman forced OSU to place the professor at OSU, where, ironically, the professor was hired in January to promote free speech and civil discourse. administrative leave.
a guard Oregon State University President Ted Carter said he was disturbed by the viral video and stressed that “it does not represent who we are as faculty, staff, or even senior administrators.” Perez was sent Summons to appear in court for assault.
The Ohio State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors believes Says a recent new employee at the Chase Center on campus—one “Intellectual Diversity” In 2023, right-wing Ohio Senate legislation would order centers to replace supposedly liberal indoctrination at state public universities with coercive conservative indoctrination — resorting to physical confrontation to silence someone.
“Unfortunately, this attack — and the embarrassing behavior associated with it — makes it clear that these centers do not truly encourage civil discourse and intellectual diversity,” the organization said in a statement. “AAUP-OSU supports free speech for everyone on campus, not just the ideas politicians want to promote.”
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In the latest bizarre bookend for Ohio State when a faculty member went berserk, the Republican mouthpiece of the Ohio Senate Republican Party Riding to rescue accused professor and anger management issues.
In a column that wavered incoherently between hostility and disdain, John Fortney argued that Perez was right to rage against “clowns” with recording devices who have no need to be in public buildings. In taxpayer-funded public agencies. Seeking public accountability of public officials.
“The left wants to politicize the mission of Ohio State University’s Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society and discredit what could clearly be called a self-defense incident,” Fortney declared, noting that the photographer (who was stopped by Perez) appeared to be holding “a SLR camera with a microphone that could be used as a weapon.”
Throughout his victim-blaming, Fortney referred to the hooded Newman as “Mr. Hoodie,” suggested that his own background in self-defense made him an expert at reading body language, and boasted that “some of the guys I trained with, who weren’t going to help Newman get up,” made sure Mr. Hoodie didn’t get up. ”
this Is it the communications director for Ohio Senate Republicans?
Burns speculated that Fortney, who was apparently not a fan of the Rooster newsletter, “saw a video of Lucas Perez attacking a man walking away from him with a camera in his hands and immediately fantasized about committing violence himself.”
As for Fortney’s accusations that bloggers and independent photographers don’t belong in places where they don’t belong, Bryans said that two days after the altercation at the Smith Lab building, Ohio police informed him that he and Newman “had every right to stand in the hallways of a public university during business hours. They acknowledged that our initial trespass notice…was issued in error.”
University spokesman Ben Johnson confirmed that neither Burns nor Newman were under investigation and that Perez was told he must appear in court to answer the assault charges.
While the OSU professor’s alleged attack on a Columbus filmmaker is “very concerning,” it pales in comparison to the unresolved scandal that has plagued former OSU student-athletes. Sexually abused by campus team doctor Richard Strauss.
The abuse was allegedly an open secret but covered up by OSU leaders decades.
Last week, a judge finally ordered Ohio billionaire Leslie Wexner to testify in a lawsuit filed by a group of Strauss survivors. Leslie Wexner was an alleged co-conspirator of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Today, Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers ousted Wexner amid the investigation into Epstein.
Wexner was a member of the OSU Board of Trustees during Strauss’s time, and he and his wife were OSU’s largest donors.
“Fantastic philanthropist,” Carter gushed after Wexner was mentioned more than 1,000 times in Epstein’s dossier. “The word co-conspirator is what is called an accomplice. We have to remember that. He was never charged. He was not arrested. So we take all of this very seriously.”
Carter’s self-described “wingman” Gordon Gee, who presided over Strauss’ eight-year term and allowed him to retire with emeritus status, also served for Wexner.
He called the billionaire a victim of “cancel culture” as efforts to remove Wexner’s name from university buildings intensified as news of his long-standing relationship with Epstein, the most notorious pedophile and sex trafficker in modern history, stoked outrage.
Ohio’s flagship public university thrives on power, privilege and institutional wealth, not reparation for alleged wrongs.
Scandals that scar students for life or go viral over violations of free speech are organizational risks best eliminated through poor recall, rationalizations, feigned concern, and denial of culpability. Unless there is video.
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