Ensuring a safe, warm and welcoming environment at Ohio University

On Monday, August 27, Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis, Vice President for Student Affairs Jason Pina and Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Gigi Secuban shared the following message with the campus community regarding the importance of everyone at OHIO working together to create a campus model of respect and inclusivity.

Dear University Community,

Over the weekend, our incoming students and their parents arriving to Athens, some for the very first time, were met with open arms by Ohio University faculty and staff. Our resident assistants and others have worked tirelessly over the summer to make sure the resident halls are welcoming places where students feel safe, often putting up supportive messaging on bulletin boards and flyers throughout the halls. 

One such example, from Gamertsfelder Hall on East Green,
is displayed in this photo.

The Housing and Residence Life team does this because they understand words are more than just words. Words carry weight. They elicit very real emotions and reactions. Words can stay with us – comforting us, motivating us, inspiring us, or haunting us. Everyone should feel safe and welcome in their own homes. At Ohio University, we work diligently to ensure a safe, warm and welcoming environment.

Unfortunately, this weekend, that welcoming atmosphere did not extend to all of the off-campus housing locations in Athens where some of our students and their parents were met with banners displaying repulsive, sexually-explicit language. This type of attention reflects negatively on the institution and on you. These banners were photographed and shared on social media – contradicting all the good work of the more than one thousand faculty, staff and student volunteers who helped with move-in weekend and others who are actively trying to build a safe and inclusive community at Ohio University. 

We received emails and social media posts from concerned faculty and community members who also call Athens “home.” They were “appalled that these signs continue to appear year after year.” We echo that sentiment. We all stand as a community to condemn such disrespectful language. The impact of these types of words is very real, especially for survivors of sexual assault. Often, occurrences of sexual violence begin with just words. Words that have the potential to whittle away a person’s worth, a person’s identity and a person’s power. 

We encourage our students to join organizations that uphold the highest of our OHIO values, work with offices like the Dean of Students and Diversity and Inclusion and attend programs that seek to educate and empower you. These banners that were displayed in Athens over the weekend are the antithesis of the words we want to see spread around our community and what we conveyed to our new first-year students only yesterday at the President’s First-Year Student Convocation. 

Remember the 5 shared values of Ohio University students, or the 5 C’s: 

• Community- Membership in the Ohio University community includes being involved and responsible members of not only the university community, but also the local Athens community and the global community.
• Character- Members of the OHIO community are expected to commit to the highest standards of personal honesty and ethical behavior. 
• Civility- For free and open exchange to occur, members of the OHIO community are expected to embrace civility in communication at all times.
• Citizenship- The OHIO citizen gives more than they take. They are responsible citizens both on and off campus, foster community involvement, become engaged citizens acting for the public good, and respect university property and property of others. 
• Commitment- Once you have committed yourself to becoming a community member at OHIO, you commit to hold yourself and your fellow OHIO community members to these values.

We are better than this, Bobcats! Let’s all work together to create a model of respect and inclusivity.

Respectfully,
 

Dr. M. Duane Nellis
President

Dr. Jason Pina
Vice President for Student Affairs

Dr. Gigi Secuban
Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion