Ohio
Ohio State president ‘will not compromise’ on safety as campuses face Gaza war protests
In an end-of-the-semester email sent Monday afternoon to the campus community, Ohio State University President Ted Carter followed up on communication from over the weekend with a reminder of the university’s stances on protesting and free speech.
On Saturday, Ohio State said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that hate speech is “deplorable and does not align with our values, even if allowed under the First Amendment.”
The post came following a couple of campus protests in the past few days over the war in Gaza. Video clips from one of those protests were shared on an Instagram account belonging to StopAntisemitism — “a grassroots watchdog organization dedicated to exposing groups and individuals that espouse incitement towards the Jewish people and State and engage in antisemitic behaviors,” according to its website.
In his email, Carter said that college campuses “must be places where we can process these events through respectful discussion and debate.”
“We are here together to learn from one another and hear new and different perspectives – including those with which we disagree,” he said.
Carter said he wants students, staff and faculty to stand up for what they believe in, and that Buckeyes should “dedicate ourselves to using our voices with civility and compassion.”
“I remain steadfastly committed to maintaining an environment where all members of our community feel welcome while continuing to uphold the First Amendment and the laws of our state and nation,” Carter said.
Cater added that Ohio State will “continue to prioritize safety”, including having university police officers and trained staff on-site for demonstrations, and enforcing space rules, that prohibit “intentional disruptions of university events, classes, exams or programming, including commencement.”
Carter also warned that when protected speech becomes threatening, “Ohio State has and will always move quickly to enforce the law and university policy.”
“I will not compromise on this,” he added.
Carter asked that people consider their words wisely.
“Even if speech is protected, is it how you would talk to a member of your family or a friend?” he said. “Displays of hate speech on our campuses, even if allowed under the First Amendment, are reprehensible and do not align with our values. Ohio State must be a place where all are welcome and safe.”
Remarks come as campuses face protests nationwide
The Israel-Hamas War has sparked protests on college campuses across the country since violence broke out in October.
More than 100 people were arrested last week for protesting Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University in New York City. Students were forcibly removed by police from tents pitched on lawns at the center of campus.
The Columbia students were part of student groups protesting the university’s financial investment in “corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine,” the group told USA Today.
Police in New Haven, Connecticut arrested several dozen protesters at Yale University Monday and charged them with trespassing a protest seeking for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers that supply Israel with arms.
Harvard University restricted access to Harvard Yard until Friday in anticipation of pro-Palestine student protests.
Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.
shendrix@dispatch.com
@sheridan120
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
Have a question for Just Askin’? Email us.
The Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, except maybe Google.
Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to us at justaskin@enquirer.com, ideally with Just Askin’ in the subject line.
It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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