Students, faculty and administrators gathered Wednesday night at University Hall to discuss the recent events concerning racism that occurred on campus last quarter.

In an open forum, “Recourse: A Direct Response to the Continued Presence of Racism on Campus,” hosted by the Black Graduate and Professional Student Caucus, students and faculty were invited to become informed about the incidents and to also spark discussion about plans of action.

Two overt racist acts – defined as acts intended to hurt or otherwise inhibit people of color – happened on Ohio State’s campus last quarter: a racist Facebook.com group was discovered, and a racist letter was sent to students living in three of OSU’s 37 residence halls.

The letter was sent to students shortly before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The university responded first with hall directors sending letters to the students in the residence halls explaining that the postmarked letters had to be delivered because of federal law. Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Rich Hollingsworth also sent a letter to students saying that the letters were hateful and totally irrelevant to students at OSU.

OSU President Karen A. Holbrook responded by writing a letter to the university saying that OSU does not tolerate any form of racism.

The students involved in the racist Facebook group are all students at the Wooster branch of OSU. None of the students enrolled for classes spring quarter but were told that they must receive counseling before returning to school.

Students at the forum on Wednesday gathered to discuss other options and to see what students can do, or want to do, in direct response to racism.

John Powell, director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, said that open forums like this should be held so people can talk about race and have constructive outcomes from the discussion. He also said hate crimes, such as the two incidents at OSU, are grossly underreported due in large part to the fact that hate crimes are hard to prove and convince the police and courts that a crime has been committed.

Ruth Peterson, Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center, said that we can individually do things that can make a big impact. She said it is important that these crimes are reported to someone and that all information on these types of incidences should be accumulated so that strategies can be developed and applied to large issues.

Carla Jackson, a graduate student who worked to put on the forum, said there is no provision in the Code of Student Conduct where these types of incidents fit.

Jackson said that students should try to construct amendments to the Code of Student Conduct that would make hate crimes prohibited and have punishable consequences.

Hollingsworth said the code gets revised every three years and OSU will begin the process again this fall.

He said OSU needs a new code and process to deal with hate crimes and thinks the Code of Student Conduct can legally be changed so that hate-based crimes can have harsher sanctions from the university.

Students were able to speak and offer opinions at the end of the forum.

One student suggested that OSU hold some type of program, rally or march on the Wooster campus in order to directly react to racism.

“Those students still represent Ohio State. They are still Buckeyes, and so am I,” she said.

Many students said they thought the Wooster students deserved harsher penalties for what they did.

Other students objected to any response. They said the events were absurd and that no one should internalize the events. The students said they know they deserve to be here and are just as entitled as any other OSU student.

Others also said students should focus on bettering themselves and not get angry over stupidity.