USG Parliamentarian John Fuller met criticism on social media Tuesday following a clip of his comments at a March 23 General Assembly meeting. Credit: Jessica Langer | Campus LTV Producer

The Undergraduate Student Government’s parliamentarian faced backlash on social media after he made a controversial comment about race while presenting a resolution to the General Assembly floor March 23.

While presenting a resolution to condemn all anti-critical race theory legislation, John Fuller, a third-year in human development and family science, said he believes “that Black people are superior.” 

Prior to this statement, Fuller said white people learn through lived experiences that they are inherently superior, and Black people are not taught in schools that they are superior. 

“I would absolutely love to live in a world where Black people were taught that they are superior. I would love it because I full-heartedly believe that. But that’s not the case,” Fuller said.

Fuller declined to comment.

According to the American Bar Association, critical race theory analyzes the role of race and racism in academics while critiquing how society creates racial tiers with minorities at the bottom. The theory also acknowledges how slavery, segregation and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to impact society.

Fuller said during the meeting white supremacy — defined as the belief that white people are inherently superior to other races and should have control over other races — is a “relatively new,” “heavily debated” term that is not taught because “a lot of people don’t like calling white people superior.”

“By taking away the teaching of one race as superior to another, that is inherently white supremacy because white people learn from birth that they are superior. There is nothing that they need to be taught in school that tells them that,” he said.

USG President Jacob Chang said once Fuller made the comment, the Speaker of the General Assembly Bobby McAlpine dismissed him, saying the chamber does not support his rhetoric. Members of the General Assembly reported video and audio recordings to the Office of Institutional Equity. 

“The comments made during the General Assembly session is fundamentally, like, diverging from our values as the student government of Ohio State,” Chang, a fourth-year in psychology and political science, said. “Therefore, it is our responsibility to report a case like this. I think we need to stand in solidarity with all people of color and anyone who suffers from racism, but we need to do it from a space that is unilaterally empowering everyone around them instead of like single out one group.”

The Lantern requested the records of the reports to the Office of Institutional Equity and will update this story once they are received.

Chang said multiple senators considered impeaching Fuller for his behavior, but the impeachment process would not have concluded before Fuller’s last day working in the current USG administration, which was Wednesday. 

The video recording of Fuller’s statement spread across social media Tuesday, including on Reddit, with many speaking out against his rhetoric. A partial clip was also shared on the Barstool Ohio State Instagram account, garnering over 60,000 views at the time of publication. 

The resolution condemning all anti-critical race theory legislation passed in the General Assembly, Chang said. The resolution is crucial to ensure critical race theory is taught at public universities, but the way Fuller presented it made it about “empowerment and another form of like supremacy” that was “inherently racist,” he said. 

Chang said the next step is to hope the university takes action on the case against Fuller. 

“No matter what race you are from, what background you are from, you cannot say stuff like that,” Chang said. 

 

Jessica Orozco contributed reporting.