Islamophobia prevents some students from finding community in sports culture

“We always want to offer that support to individuals recognizing the impact that it has had on that person,” Peirano said.

Then, the office looks at the facts presented and assesses what resolution options may be available, based on the information given, before finding an informal solution or opening an investigation.

There is no set time frame from when a student files a report to when the informal solution is presented or an investigation is started, Johnson said in an email.

If an investigation is opened, Peirano said a trained civil rights investigator will look into the matter and start by meeting the impacted person or people and asking for evidence, such as names of those allegedly involved, videos, pictures and text messages.

They then look to interview the alleged person and any witnesses available, Peirano said. After gathering information, it goes to a hearing to determine a policy violation. If a policy has been violated, the case goes to a sanctioning process for the offending parties.

Peirano said there are key things they look for when identifying a suspect, such as a name, what they’re involved in and where they live. Without specific details and a name, it can make it difficult to identify the person, Peirano said. She said if there’s no way to find the suspect, they try to find other solutions.

“We still may try to do some broader education, because even though we can’t do an investigation, we still want to help that community recognize what our expectations are,” Peirano said. “And so sometimes we can do a broader education-based resolution so that we’re still able to do something, even if we can’t determine the identity.”

The incident with the students at Ohio State resulted in an investigation, and civil rights investigator Courtney Johnson reached out to them for information on the parties involved, Aboshahba said.

Aboshahba said they provided as much information as they could to the Office of Institutional Equity, from photos of the stadium and who they said began the “F— Osama” chant, to a video of the chanting and the section, row and seat numbers where the students sat.

On Oct. 19, 2021, Aboshahba said she got a call from Courtney Johnson saying the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Aboshahba was also issued a letter of dismissal from the Office of Institutional Equity. She said Courtney Johnson said the letter was “confidential,” so Aboshahba declined to share the letter with The Lantern.

Courtney Johnson was unavailable to comment and directed The Lantern to university spokesperson Ben Johnson.