Two Ohio State students were arrested on January 20 for protesting the presence of the Department of Homeland “Security” (DHS) on Ohio State’s campus. Good for them. Reporting suggests that DHS representatives exited early from a career fair, in response to the protest; if so, then these hero students have accomplished what Ohio State President Ted Carter refused to do: removing the regime’s unwelcome paramilitary force from our campus.

If “paramilitary” strikes you as hyperbole, consider widespread reports that putative federal agents have removed visible insignia while kidnapping people off of the streets. They’ve invaded cities against the wishes of local leaders, in what Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz has called “a campaign of organized brutality.” (So much for “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.) This has resulted so far in the deaths of two civilian observers. Combined with news that DHS is recruiting young men with an interest in guns and UFC—or some might say, a predilection towards violence—it’s difficult to see DHS agents as anything other than an incipient secret police force. Against a backdrop of overtly racist rhetoric flowing from the White House, the presence of DHS on Ohio State’s campus is an affront to our student community, especially students of color and those who have immigrated from countries that President Trump describes with vulgarities.

These facts have all been widely reported, yet President Carter has tacitly endorsed a DHS presence on campus. When those protestors shouted “Shame!” they might as well have been speaking to him.

John M. Herbert
Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
The Ohio State University