Despite warnings from the university, mass gatherings in violation of COVID-19 guidelines persisted throughout the fall semester. Credit: Christian Harsa | Assistant Photo Editor
Before fall classes began, students were threatened with suspensions and other punishments if they violated Ohio State COVID-19 guidelines.
The university sent email after email, imploring students to follow the guidelines. Student conduct vans patrolled the off-campus area, taking the “carrot and stick” approach, Senior Vice President for Student Life Melissa Shivers said. They rewarded students for following guidelines, handing out treats such as hot dogs and donuts to those hosting and attending gatherings of fewer than 10 people.
“Perhaps knowing about the action we are taking will influence your decisions and prompt you to encourage others to take this situation seriously,” Shivers said in an email Aug. 21, 2020.
As guideline violations persisted, the university again emphasized the importance of abiding by the rules.
“I have sent you several messages over the past months, even before school started, sharing about the consequences you will face if you are found to have violated the university’s safe and healthy requirements, and thus the Code of Student Conduct. All of these warnings hold true,” Shivers said in an email Nov. 13, 2020.
Despite these warnings, mass gatherings in violation of university policy persisted. Out of the 5,443 charges for COVID-19 guideline violations between Aug. 1 and Dec. 14, only 32 suspensions were issued. The other punishments ranged from formal reprimands to listening to and answering a series of questions about a New Yorker podcast on the polio epidemic, completing a series of worksheets researching COVID-19 or writing a personal essay explaining to a friend how the student would support them in a 14-day quarantine.
Not all suspensions include termination of enrollment; an unknown number of the 32 were placed in abeyance, or suspended but not disenrolled while they work with the university to stay on campus.
After opening “dozens” of student conduct cases between Aug. 1-Aug. 24 and issuing 228 interim suspensions, the university did not publicly announce any punitive actions throughout the course of the fall semester, but continued to go through the conduct process.
Some of the 228 interim suspensions from Aug. 24 were quickly lifted once students provided evidence they were not at the gathering, Johnson said. Interim suspensions mark the beginning of the disciplinary process, whereas suspensions are the end result.
Of the more than 5,000 charges issued, the majority were filed before the start of the football season. By the time of publication, the university did not say what proportion of these charges are pending and which are closed, but “several dozen” are still pending. After Oct. 24, Ohio State’s first football game of the season against Nebraska, there were 1,174 charges — 21.6 percent of the total.
Between Oct. 24-Nov. 25, the university’s positivity rate for COVID-19 increased from 0.88 percent to 2.35 percent, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. Prior to the start of football season, the positivity rate averaged near or below one percent throughout the month of October after peaking at about 6 percent in early September.
The data received was broken down into two periods: from Aug. 1-Oct. 23, 2020, and from Oct. 24-Dec. 14, 2020. It is unclear how many charges or punitive actions occurred on a daily or weekly basis.
The charges ranged from failure to comply with university or civil authority to residence life handbook policy violations, according to the records. One person could have multiple charges for the same instance or for multiple instances, Johnson said.
Between Aug. 1-Dec. 14, there were 2,646 charges for failure to comply with university or civil authority — accounting for just less than 50 percent of the total charges — with 2,190 of the charges coming before the first football game, according to the records.
Charges of violation of university rule or federal, state and local laws had the second-highest number with 1,007 total charges, according to the records. About 74 percent of those charges came before the first football game.
The records state there were 813 charges for endangering behavior, 475 charges for alcohol, 266 charges for residence life handbook policy violations and 236 “other” charges.
More than 26 percent of the charges amounted to sanctions or punitive action taken, according to the records. Punishments varied from a formal reprimand to suspension and cases can contain more than one sanction or action.
Punishments were decided through the student conduct process based on specific facts of individual cases, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said in a text message.
The most common sanction students received was a formal reprimand, with 446 total, according to the records. More than 81 percent occurred before Oct. 24.
The second-highest sanction received, occurring 241 times, was writing a research/reflection paper, according to the records.
The records state there were 189 instances of “Back Up Plan” used as a sanction.
In an email, Johnson said “Back Up Plan” is a punitive action available to hall directors when any further violation could result in the termination of the student’s housing contract.
According to the records, the “Basics/eCheckup To Go/Screen U” sanction was used 178 times. This sanction is used by student conduct when alcohol is involved, Johnson said in an email.
There were 106 instances of restriction being used as a sanction, according to the records, which limits a student’s ability to access the physical campus, Johnson said. Students on restriction are still able to attend virtual classes and activities.
“Educational opportunities,” such as research or reflective sanctions outside of the research/reflection paper, were used 80 times between Aug. 1-Dec. 14.
View two of the most used educational opportunities that the university provided to students in violation of COVID-19 policies.
COVID 19 Testing Motivation Exercise
Hall directors and student conduct staff select the specific educational opportunity, Johnson said in an email.
“Educational opportunities” included listening to a podcast about the polio epidemic, a series of worksheets and personal essays pertaining to the pandemic, essays on how individuals would support friends who had to quarantine and readings and worksheets based on the readings, according to Student Life fliers.
Disciplinary probation was used 69 times and housing contracts were deferred or terminated 37 times, according to the records.
“Enforcement of the university’s health and safety requirements is just one component of Ohio State’s multifaceted approach to keeping the community safe,” Johnson said in an email.
Other facets included a public health campaign, testing program, mask distribution and the engagement of the Ohio State community, Johnson said in an email.
The Office of Student Life observed 4,315 potential instances of misconduct between Aug. 1- Dec. 14.
Johnson said not all observations or “tags” result in charges or cases and that there can be multiple observations for a single person or one observation for multiple people.
Of the 4,315 tags, the records state 2,530 were against males, 1,721 were against females and 64 did not disclose gender.
First-year students had 1,203 tags, according to the records. Fourth-year students had 1,176, third-years had 826 and second-years had 707. Graduate-level students had 83 and “other” had 211.
The rise in cases toward the end of fall semester led University President Kristina M. Johnson to suspend in-person classes Nov. 19 — three days before the university initially planned to.
“Let’s all remember to take care of one another. We must follow the COVID-19 safety requirements but we also need to tend to all other aspects of wellness, including our emotional and mental health,” Johnson said in an email Nov. 19.
