On November 28, The Ohio State University campus was rocked by a vicious terroristic attack. An individual ran his car through a crowd of bystanders and then assaulted several with a knife. Thanks to the quick action of OSU Police Officer Alan Horujko – incidentally, a fellow son of Fairfield– the attacker was stopped before any innocent people were killed. After a few tense hours while authorities secured the scene, the university community could breathe a sigh of relief and try to return to normality.
For my part, I myself was on campus at my job when the attack took place. I know well the anxieties and fears felt by my fellow students in lockdown as we tried to piece together what was happening with rumors swirling on social media and concerned family and friends desperately trying to contact their loved ones on campus. I thank God for the first responders – men and women who seized control of the situation in an amazingly efficient and effective manner. The Buckeye community owes them all a great debt.
As inevitably as the sun rising in the east, unfortunately, there will always be those to utilize a tragedy for political gain; this event was no exception. Some commentators on the right were quick to decry the attacker – a Somali immigrant – as a “sleeper-cell” radical who never should have been in this country, while certain individuals on the left, hearing the first reports that the attacker used a firearm rather than a knife, pounced on the opportunity to bemoan another example of gun violence that could be prevented by stricter firearms regulation.
Though the points they raised may or may not be perfectly valid, it is disgusting to see tragedy used to score political points. That goes for either side. We must have a discussion on these issues, but pundits and politicos should at least allow the dust to settle before allowing partisan bickering to poison a community that is attempting to heal after such an event.
The Monday following the attack, a protest was staged by an open-carry advocacy group. Several individuals, openly carrying firearms ranging from pistols to long-guns, marched through campus to support increased gun rights on college campuses. They were met with several counter protestors, but the event was a peaceful one.
In my personal opinion, the debate over guns on campus is an extremely complex one that has no easy answers. While my gut reaction is to favor increased gun rights, there are perfectly valid concerns on the other side from both law enforcement and students that cannot be ignored. In any event, the open carry rally, coming so close on the heels of a violent attack, was rather tactless. These arguments must be had, but both sides should be cognizant of the environment they are operating in.
With that said, I was not surprised to see voices raised from liberal activists on campus condemning the protest. And while I may disagree with some of their opinions, I fully respect their right to express themselves in a peaceful manner – just as the open carry group had the right to rally as they did.
Within the following days, however, those voices took on a more troubling tone. A group was formed under the hashtag #GunFreeStudyHall to create a “safe space” for students to come together, study, and discuss the previous weeks’ events. The main event took place in the student union, and was demarcated by various signs reading everything from “Books Not Guns” to “Shame On OSU.” There were also flyers which listed several of the group’s claims and demands. In order to avoid inaccuracy, it is from one of those flyers that I will draw my understanding of the group’s goals.
The group seeks “an apology from [OSU] President Drake and the University for allowing students to be terrorized by a group of men and women with guns on campus.” While admitting that the administration has no legal right to restrict this protest – Ohio is an open carry state – the group condemns them for “failing to vocalize its disapproval” of the event and requesting that the protestors desist.
I’ve written before on liberal college activists and their seemingly boundless ability to defy standards of basic self-awareness, but this demand straddles the gap between absurd and outright dangerous to freedom of speech. How entitled do you have to be to demand that your university condemn your political opponents? Imagine for a moment that I issued a similar demand regarding the anti-Trump rallies that dominated OSU following the election. I would be criticized to the ends of the earth – and rightfully so. Ohio State is one of the nation’s largest campuses, our student body comprises of people from all different backgrounds and beliefs. To demand that the administration take a stance on such a hotly-contested partisan issue is to alienate the thousands of students on the other side of the aisle.
Furthermore, while I am sympathetic to those who were unnerved by the attack – I was one of them myself – it is an almost comical leap from that to calling these open carry protestors terrorists. Such language is facile and inaccurate. These individuals, though arguably acting in an insensitive manner, were far less disruptive to campus life than rallies by leftist groups that have occupied administrative buildings with shouting protestors and blocked busy city streets choked with traffic. It is the very definition of hypocrisy to criticize a behavior while engaging in the same.
The flyer also demanded to know why the attacker in November 28’s events was shot instead of being taken alive. The authors – who did not put their names on the flyer – had the gall to imply that this was because he was “a student of color.”
How dare you? How dare these entitled activists criticize the heroic actions of first responders? How dare they attempt to paint this terroristic attacker in a sympathetic light? Have they lost all sense of decency?
The attacker, whose infamy I will not aid by printing his name, sought to kill or maim innocent students and faculty in a vicious manner. Officer Horujko acted admirably; his quick action saved lives. It is a special sort of disgusting to see such heroism besmirched.
