March 8, 2024 - United Academics of Ohio University condemns the actions of State Attorney General Dave Yost demanding that Ohio University cease offering race-based scholarships to BIPOC students. We demand a robust response from Ohio University administration to protect these scholarships, and to continue the necessary work of building a diverse, equitable, and just institution.

These actions by the state government will have a negative impact on students, endangering the scholarships of currently enrolled students, while also affecting the enrollment choices of newly admitted students in our next incoming class. The value of a college degree is especially important for students who have not received equal opportunities because of historic and ongoing discrimination at the interpersonal and structural levels. Scholarships are key to allowing students to have the resources to successfully complete their college degrees. The loss of these scholarships endangers the work of building supportive communities on our campuses where students of color can flourish rather than merely have their basic needs met while attending Ohio University. 

We are heartened by University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez’s remarks in our recent faculty senate meeting that Yost’s decision “flies in the face of the values of higher education” and that we “should be committed to opening doors and removing barriers.” We hope that President Gonzalez will remain committed to her words to be “innovative and ensure that we have diverse populations on our campus.” 

However, we are also very seriously concerned about the University’s choice to rescind qualified immunity protections for faculty and staff engaged in doing their jobs in awarding these scholarships. Our UAOU colleague Eddith Dashiell addressed this aspect of Yost’s directive in the Athens News earlier this week:

I do not have a law degree, but I have more than 35 years of experience in researching, interpreting, and teaching case law, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions. After reading this decision numerous times, I’m convinced that efforts to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023) decision to also include diversity (race-based) scholarships provided by donors is a political move — not a legal one.

The decision focused only on university admissions decisions that “turn on an applicant’s race.”

This decision had nothing to do with scholarships. The word “scholarships” appeared only once in the entire opinion — and that was only in passing.

This decision only focused on “race-based government action.” I would argue scholarships provided by third parties (donors) are not “a state action.”

There currently is no university formal policy or notification to deny the scholarship committee, or the faculty, from honoring the terms and conditions of diversity scholarships enacted through donor agreements with Ohio University. In actuality, the scholarship committee and the faculty remain obligated to honor the agreements signed between scholarship donors and Ohio University regarding scholarship qualifications, regardless of the political whims of politicians in Columbus or anti-diversity sentiments among some members of Ohio University staff.

Ohio University must resume the distribution of scholarships and ensure legal protections for those faculty, staff, and administrators who are involved in the awarding of scholarships. In the meantime, we can already see negative impacts: donors who had built relationships with the university may offer to fund scholarships as private individuals or organizations, but damage to the relationship, and achieving key goals of building a diverse, equitable, and just community is already underway. Students considering attending Ohio University will not only be negatively impacted financially, affecting their decision to attend, but also more broadly in being sent a message that they are not welcome, a message they receive all too often.