OSU bans window art on dorms, but why?
The post-Post-it era has arrived on Ohio State University’s campus.
The brightly colored, sticky-note art that filled the windows of Ohio State’s North Campus dorms last school year — stirring political debate, poking fun at that team up north or paying homage to the fallen gorilla Harambe — is now banned at all campus residence halls, thanks to a new rule this year.
The new rule in the university’s residential living handbook prohibits the
posting or hanging of signs or materials in or around residence-hall windows. Windows must remain clear from obstruction, the rule stipulates.
The Office of Student Life reviews the handbook each year, and the new rule came about as part of that review, said Dave Isaacs, spokesman for the office.
“We have also benchmarked other schools’ guidelines and have found this to be a common approach to windows and window coverings,” Isaacs said in an email. “The university maintains the discretion and right to determine use of windows, walls, doors and other university spaces.”
Isaacs would not comment further on what led to the new rule.
“I thought it was fun to look at,” said sophomore Emma Zglinicki. “I just don’t know their reasoning behind it. If they told us why, it’d be nice to know, but they just told us we can’t do it anymore.”
Evidence of a few rule-breakers could be seen Tuesday morning in the windows on North Campus. Some sticky-note messages were as simple as “HEY” and “SEND PIZZA.” Another, facing Lane Avenue, read “MY RIGHTS,” with a line over “YOUR POLICIES.” Flags also hung in a handful of windows.
Freshman Chris Emerson said he and his roommate were asked to take down the sticky notes they put on their window when they moved in last week.
“I guess I understand it, but they’re kind of punishing everybody for a few people who might have put something bad up,” Emerson said. “It’s a little bit extreme.”
The artwork began popping up in the large windows of the newer North Campus dorms last fall. Some of the dorms, including Bowen, Raney, Houston and Torres houses, have windows that face busy High Street and Lane Avenue. Some students used their newfound canvas to weigh in on 2016 presidential politics and send messages back and forth between neighboring dorms, students said.
“The artwork is somewhat creative, but some dorms pushed the limit on what they’re putting up there, especially during the electoral year, (which) somewhat caused some stir,” said junior Alex Buga.
James Smith, a sophomore from Cincinnati and co-founder of the Ohio State chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative organization, cited the window-art policy change while speaking at a Statehouse news conference Tuesday in favor of legislation designed to further protect free speech on college campuses in Ohio.
“For Ohio State, this bill could not have come at a more opportune time,” he said.
Smith’s organization planned a campus rally for Wednesday and is collecting student signatures to urge university leaders to reverse the policy, Smith said.
“It was clear that this new policy was nothing more than an attack on free speech,” Smith said, adding that the Bill of Rights hangs in his dorm-room window.
The new rule doesn’t infringe on students’ rights because it prohibits all types of window art and decorations, said Laura Beltz, a policy reform program officer for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Prohibiting or enforcing the rule only on certain kinds of displays, though, could be a potential violation, she said.
“By putting a blanket ban in place, that actually is within their rights and they’re not violating (students’) First Amendment rights by doing that,” Beltz said. “But on a normative level, we do think it’s wrong to shut out this entire avenue for expression.”
A couple of single Post-its were visible in some windows on North Campus Tuesday. It wasn’t clear if those were subtle acts of defiance or truly just a reminder to “call Mom” or “read Chapter 1.”