Cloaked in all black to represent their grief, students congregated on the K and at the Williamson House Wednesday to hold a Senate Bill One protest.
In light of SB 1 being enacted at Kent State University for the first semester, the Kent State OSA (Ohio Student Association) hosted and organized the demonstration. Flashes were prompted to wear all-black clothing for the event. The gathering began on the K, which served as the initial meeting place for students to learn three protest songs before marching to the Williamson House, formerly known as the Women’s Center. The songs included “Went Down to the State House,” “This Land is Your Land” and “We Shall Overcome.”
The protest was modeled after a funeral, a symbolic space to mourn the communal centers that had been stripped away from Kent State students. Among those lost were the LGBTQ+ Center, the Women’s Center and the Student Multicultural Center (SMC). The event hosted a myriad of speakers, ranging from OSA student leaders to peers directly connected to the centers. Emotions ran high as speakers expressed anger, disappointment, confusion and even fear for their safety on campus in the absence of these vital programs.
“We wanted to hold this as a funeral to both show the University administration how students are feeling, how devastated we are, how many students are impacted and also to give the students a place to mourn,” explained Grace Goodin, a senior applied communications major and president of the Kent State OSA.
Goodin added that the grief in the crowd was evident. “Everyone is feeling these consequences very deeply, and I saw a lot of tears in the crowd today,” she said. “It is a place for people to build community and build power.”
The impact of SB 1 extends beyond the loss of campus spaces, however. Courses are also undergoing significant changes.
“A lot of ‘controversial’ subjects, which are some of the most important subjects to learn about, like the Holocaust and slavery, are going to look different, feel different, so that’s very disheartening,” Goodin explained.
For many students, the bill represents more than just policy shifts. It feels like an attack on their identities.
“It’s just an overall lack of feeling accepted on campus, feeling like my identities aren’t important and they aren’t going to respect them,” said Goodin.
Despite the grief, there is a determination to not be silent and comply and to keep fighting.
As Goodin noted, “We are currently planning a lot of actions, but nothing is set in stone yet. You’ll definitely be seeing a lot more of us on campus.”
In many ways, the event captured the dual emotions of mourning and resilience. Students stood in black, mourning what had been taken, but their presence together, their voices filling campus, was also a declaration. Demonstrating that they will not be silenced, that their grief will transform into action and that community will persist even when there are attempts to dismantle it.
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