Grey Romohr, a fourth-year in English with a concentration in creative writing, writes “Fascism has no place anywhere” in chalk in front of Thompson Library to protest Ohio Senate Bill 1 and Ohio State’s diversity, equity and inclusion rollbacks. Credit: Carly Damon | Former Asst. Photo Editor
Ohio State updated its signage policy on Aug. 14, banning all forms of chalking across campus. Chalking is labeled as “not permitted” in the University Signage Standards and students can be fined for any damage to campus property from chalking.
“Chalking is not permitted on campus and will be removed by Facilities Operations and Development, which reserves the right to charge for the cost of any repairs required due to removal,” the new policy reads. “In addition, any students found to be responsible would be subject to potential conduct referral.”
Ben Johnson, university spokesperson, said Ohio State updated its policy due to the number of grievances reported to the university and the time spent evaluating each chalking.
“In light of continued complaints regarding chalking on campus and the significant amount of administrative time spent evaluating chalking, we have revised the university signage standards,” Johnson said in a statement.
Chalking has been used as a form of expression across campus, from students exercising their political beliefs, promoting clubs or Greek life and spreading messages to the student body.
For example, in 2016, students took to the Oval to share political messages after a “Trump 2016: Build the Wall” message was written in the Oval, per prior Lantern reporting. Students exercised their own beliefs and wrote in chalk around and above that message.
More recently, Israeli-Palestinian conflict-related messages were reported by Jewish students who perceived chalking to invoke violence against their population, per prior Lantern reporting.
Some Jewish students attempted to create a policy that removes these messages, but Ohio State couldn’t take action at the time, previous reporting stated.
The Ohio State chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) posted on Instagram that the university is impeding personal freedoms.
“President Carter & OSU admin continue the assault on free speech by banning the time honored tradition of chalking on campus,” the post stated. “Whether governments or administrators, once they start rolling back free speech, they don’t stop.”
All reports of chalking across campus can be reported to [email protected].
