Ohio State Faces The Haters Within

By Arturo R. García

Courtesy: OSUhaters.tumblr.com

Give the person or people behind the OSU Haters Tumblr some credit: the campaign has actually spurred their school, Ohio State, to confront the racist attitudes of some of its students. Tonight, members of various student groups will hold a special town hall meeting to discuss the ugliness the page uncovered.

The page was founded months ago, but has gained more attention online over the past week or so, including the curious gaze of local media in Columbus, OH.

“The motivation to create these accounts came from the multiple sightings of hate speech online,” OSU Haters told The Columbus Dispatch via email. “Particularly the fact that these posts continued not only without consequence, but were sometimes promoted and shared by their peers.”

Here’s some examples of what they’re talking about:

Courtesy: WBNS-TV

Courtesy: WBNS-TV

Courtesy: OSUhaters.tumblr.com

Courtesy: OSUHaters.tumblr.com

It’s a testament to what social media can do to force attention to an issue that the school’s president, E. Gordon Gee, has weighed in – and thankfully, not to pooh-pooh OSUHater’s cause.

“It’s just clearly unacceptable behavior,” he said to the Dispatch regarding the racism. “We have a very clear policy, and I have very strong personal feelings about how wrong it is.”

And if the “former hater” who submitted this post is really being sincere, then perhaps their tale will serve as a cautionary one:

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