Dozens of students and some faculty protested the decision by Ohio State University President Ted Carter to close the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion offices.
On Thursday, Carter announced Ohio State is shutting down its Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Student Life’s Center for Belonging and Social Change. Many of the students said Carter is closing the offices prematurely and not fighting back against state and federal government attacks on DEI.
Carter supported his decision by citing action by the Trump administration against DEI efforts, and a bill making its way through the Ohio General Assembly that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and faculty strikes.
The students first did a sit-in outside the Center for Belonging and Social Change at the Ohio Union. After dozens gathered, the crowd linked arms and marched to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Hale Hall around noon to sign letters in support of the staff.
Many wore LGBTQ+ flags and flags from their native countries or countries their families hailed from, including a Honduran flag, Mexican flag and multiple flags from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Arianna Kelawala is a fourth-year student studying political science and women, gender and sexuality studies. She said she is disappointed in Ohio State for making this decision too early.
“I think it’s disappointing to see a university that’s regularly committed itself to talking and preaching diversity, equity, and inclusion, those principles over and over again. It’s disappointing to see them cave so quickly before a law has even been passed,” Kelawala said.
Kelawala said she was not surprised. She said many of her friends benefit from scholarships given by Ohio State that support students from multi-cultural backgrounds.
Tania Linares-Escobar is a fourth-year student studying psychology and speech and hearing. She benefits from OSU’s Morrill scholarship for academically-talented students who are actively engaged in diversity-based leadership, service and social justice activities.
She worries the scholarship will not be offered to future students. The university says it will maintain the scholarship and continue awarding to students who already have received it, but it said the criteria for it may be changed to be in compliance with the law.
Linares-Escobar helped organize the protest and said she worries about what this means for potential future students like her brother.
“My brother’s a junior in high school. He’s supposed to be applying in the fall, and so knowing that he might not get the same opportunities that I just had last year, the campus is going to be different. His whole experience could be different, could be changed,” Linares-Escobar said.
Manu Flores also helped organize the protest and was wearing a Honduran flag on his back. He said these offices helped him navigate a difficult time in his life when he experienced homelessness.
Flores transferred to OSU from the University of Cincinnati and studies political science and economics. He said the DEI programs helped him get in touch with other Hondurans.
“I felt very lonely. As a Central American, I thought I was the only one on campus. And then I started meeting my fellow Central Americans and it brought a sense of community,” Flores said.
Luna Celeste-Fuentes, a freshman studying sports industry and strategic communications wore a Puerto Rican flag on her back. She is from New York and said she is now thinking about attending college elsewhere.
“If I knew (Senate Bill 1) was happening, I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t go to a place where I would think that I could be at risk or my education would be diminished,” Celeste-Fuentes said.
Pranav Jani, an associate professor of English at OSU, was one of several teachers who showed up in support of the students. Jani said he was surprised because he thought OSU was holding the line as schools like the University of Cincinnati “caved” into demands to roll back DEI programs.
“There was a sense that we’re different than the University of Cincinnati. But now the situation has flipped. University of Cincinnati has actually came out with cutting all diversity stuff, again, obeying in advance, but now they saw that it was stopped, legally, and they actually put a pause on it,” Jani said.
Jani said if Carter really believes in the values of diversity, there is room to stand up and fight back. The OSU Board of Trustees should come out with a big public statement against Senate Bill 1, Jani said.
“People think this bill is done. It’s not done yet,” Jani said.
OSU spokesman Ben Johnson said in a statement the university’s commitment to free speech and expression on its campuses is unwavering.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that the Morrill Scholarship will not be offered to future students at Ohio State University. The university said in a Thursday statement that this program will be maintained, but their eligibility criteria may be modified to be in compliance with the law. This story has been updated to correct this.