On Friday, Ohio University President Hugh Sherman and Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion Gigi Secuban announced action steps the university is taking “to help combat racism and create a more inclusive community.”

The video announcement comes after multiple racist hate crimes and misconduct occurred on campus and on the heels of a Black student town hall. Both Sherman and Secuban attended the town hall.

“Our message today is not only to those who were in the room, who have made it clear that words are meaningless without actions to back them up,” Sherman said in the video. “But also to the thousands of you who were not in attendance.”

Sherman and Secuban expressed their understanding of students’ concerns and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to supporting students of color. Sherman and Secuban said they will engage in the following action steps immediately:

• Engage a nationally recognized external expert in diversity to guide a review of OU’s current climate and practice.

• Renovate the Multicultural Center space to better support today’s students

• Implement additional diversity training for faculty this summer and next fall 

• Implement inclusion and incident response training for residence life staff

• A new LINKS living learning community focused on new students of color

• Expand diversity training through Bobcat Student Orientation, welcome week and learning communities

@E_SkidmoreGS