Students voice outrage over racist incidents in dorms

Content Warning: The content of this story depicts acts of hate and racism.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included an image of the racially derogatory note. It has since been removed from the story.

A trash bag with a racially derogatory note attached was left outside of a student’s room on the third floor of Sargent Hall Sunday morning. An image of the incident has been making its way around social media as students and others share their outrage.

An image of the scene was posted in a GroupMe chat and then shared across Twitter and Instagram. According to Tamryn Lindsay, whose close friend lives next door to where the incident took place, the room where the bag was left belongs to a non-Black student. However, Lindsay added that a single Black student lives on the third floor of Sargent Hall.   

Sargent Hall Resident Director Asanté Littleton sent out an email to all Sargent residents condemning the act and requiring mandatory floor meetings. 

“As a Black man I am beyond furious with the culprit(s) and Ohio University Police have been pulled in to conduct an investigation upon this matter. Not to mention leaving this outside of someone’s room is a major form of disrespect whether you were making a joke or not,” Littleton wrote in the email.

According to students, this is not the first racially motivated incident to occur in Sargent Hall this academic school year. Hali Bridges, a resident of Sargent Hall, shared an image showing an upside down Black doll taped outside a Sargent dorm room from December 2021 and that Black History Month bulletin boards were ripped down in February 2022. 

Photo obtained by Hali Bridges.

Another incident was posted in a Twitter thread by Resident Advisor Christopher Brown. The thread details that an undisclosed resident in James Hall, who is an Ohio U baseball player, urinated on his door at 2:30 a.m. Monday morning. The resident’s urine destroyed Brown’s Xbox, according to Brown. 

In a tweet, Brown wrote, “Going to a PWI (primarily white institution) has been nothing short of a mental battle, I’m in classes everyday with people who look nothing like me and now I have to deal with a Hate crime where I lay my head at night.”

Ohio University Communications and Marketing (UCM) is aware of the events from the weekend and condemns the act. UCM stated that the university will be investigating the racially derogatory actions. Ohio U released a statement Monday regarding Sunday’s incident.

“We take these matters very seriously and are thoroughly investigating them to determine appropriate next steps,” Carly Leatherwood, UCM Executive Director, wrote in an email. “Ohio University categorically rejects these types of hateful acts, which are anathema to our shared values of inclusion and trust.”

Students and staff can contact the Ohio U Division of Student Affairs at studentaffairs@ohio.edu and Ohio U Division of Diversity and Inclusion at diversityinclusion@ohio.edu for support. 

Students can also contact Counseling and Psychological Services at 740-593-1616 to get in touch with a counselor. Ohio U employees can reach out to the Employee Assistance Program for support.

Madeline Harden contributed to this report.