OU 'pauses' diversity scholarships. It's a slap in the face to Black students, alumni like me.

OU Oh Yeah, I am a Bobcat.

When people ask which college I graduated from, I tell them about Ohio University: "Harvard on the Hocking" and home of the Marching 110.

I am an E.W. Scripps School of Journalism advisory board member, and more than two decades after graduating, I still get excited whenever I walk through College Green.

I crave Bagel Street Deli's Tom's Turkey on an Asiago bagel with provolone and honey mustard and proudly wear green and white — the colors of the first public institution of higher learning both in Ohio and the Northwest Territory.

Today, I am an angry Bobcat.

Ohio University has, sadly, achieved another first.

It is the first university in the state known to have temporarily paused awarding race-based scholarships, heeding advice Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost first issued one day after U.S. Supreme Court overturned affirmative action last summer.

For the record, only three of Ohio's 14 four-year public universities consider race in the admissions process — Bowling Green State University, Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati.

Deleting every single diversity scholarship

"Temporarily pausing" is the phrase used in the school's official public statement, but it seems far more direct language has been uttered.

Eddith Dashiell, the journalism school's director, told the Ohio Capital Journal that during a meeting, Scripps College of Communication Dean Scott Titsworth said OU is “deleting every single diversity scholarship.”

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“(The Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action is) being stretched to include diversity scholarships, which I think is clearly wrong,” Dashiell told that news organization. "By not awarding diversity scholarships, to me, is a direct slap in the face of Ohio University’s (Diversity Equity Inclusion) commitment. If we don’t reward these scholarships, that’s less money available to all students.”

The Supreme Court ruling bans schools from considering race during admission. It boggles the mind, but sadly does not surprise me that it is now being used to justify eliminating scholarships that help historically marginalized groups of students pay the extremely high cost of higher education.

The rich people deserve scholarships too argument

The justification for this decision is as absurd as the court's ruling against affirmative action.

According to the Journal, Yost spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle said race-based scholarships came up in a Jan. 26 meeting with representatives of Ohio universities.

“Although the court did not expressly prohibit race-based scholarships, it indicated that 'eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,'" she reportedly wrote in an email. "Race-based scholarships discriminate on the basis of race in awarding benefits. Therefore, it would follow that such programs are unconstitutional.”

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Let me get this straight: Scholarships designed to help groups of people who historically have been discriminated against discriminate?

Hmmm.

Using that rationale, athletic scholarships discriminate on the basis of athleticism, and therefore must be banned.

Military scholarships discriminate against people who were never in the military, and therefore must be eliminated.

Income-based scholarships discriminate against rich people. Delete them.

Ohio University does a very bad job discriminating against white people

Diversity at OU is as lacking as it was when I was a student.

Awarding diversity scholarships does not discriminate against white people. If that were the case, it is surely not working at Ohio University where 5% of the student body is Black, 4% is Hispanic, 2% is Asian and 4% identifies as two or more races.

—Just over 80% of Ohio University students are white.

I did not receive a race-based scholarship, but know people who benefited from them, and are doing well in life as a result of that push.

Trying to remove barriers to help people succeed is not discrimination.

A very bad first

To be fair, officials at OU no doubt believe their hands are tied on the matter.

I do not concur. Student success is worth any legal battle that might arise.

As Dashiell pointed out, OU's decision goes against the university's commitment to diversity and inclusion — but disrupting diversity and inclusion is the goal of many of those who use verbal gymnastics to justify wrongdoing.

There's more.

OU's cowardly decision is a slap in the face of John Newton Templeton and Martha Jane Hunley Blackburn — the first Black man and woman to graduate from the university founded in 1804.

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It is a slap in the face of the university's current and former Black students, including the thousands who flock to OU for Black Alumni Reunion, donating time, talent and treasure to the beloved and beautiful institution.

It is a slap in the face of anyone who bleeds green and white, and who believes diversity matters.

My alma mater unfortunately won't be the last Ohio university who will be shamefully deleting every single raced-based scholarship. Ohio State is reportedly evaluating its scholarship criteria.

Ohio University is once again a trendsetter.

OU, Oh Yeah. How awful.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio University pauses diversity scholarships in cowardly move