Correspondent photo / Sean Barron ..... About 20 Youngstown State University students and alumni members met Monday in the main branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County to strategize in opposition to U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson’s selection as university president. He assumes that role later this month.

YOUNGSTOWN – The likelihood is high that many Youngstown State University students opposed to U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson becoming the next university president also will walk in opposition to him by staging a massive walkout on his first day at the top post.

“I think the board (of trustees) is banking on us being quiet, and I’d like not to be,” Rose McClurkin, a YSU senior and political science major, said.

McClurkin made her comments during a student-led meeting she conducted Monday evening at the main branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County regarding the nine-member board of trustees’ decision in November to hire Johnson to succeed Jim Tressel, who retired in February.

In between, Helen K. Lafferty served as YSU’s interim president.

McClurkin, who has been a campus organizer since her freshman year and helped organize recent on-campus protests against the Johnson hiring, noted that Monday’s meeting was to draw up a list of demands for the administration and to hold the university accountable for the decision to install Johnson.

A student-driven petition that gathered more than 2,000 signatures was presented to the board of trustees, which voted 8-1 to hire the longtime congressman and U.S. Air Force veteran, though the board failed to respond to it, McClurkin and others have said. Trustee Molly Seals cast the lone dissenting vote.

Staging a walkout was perhaps the most dramatic idea and seemed to garner unanimous support among those who attended the 90-minute session.

Other ideas students and alums voiced included forming a watchdog group to closely monitor Johnson’s actions as president, developing a monitored website to collect input from students and others, finding ways to generate national press coverage about the controversial move, possibly seeking legal advice regarding organizing and similar matters, creating then posting online informational videos pertaining to Johnson’s actions and words, and collaborating with other Ohio universities on ideas to stop what some feel is an erosion of academic freedoms.

Additional suggestions were to possibly organize protest marches in front of the Pollock House on Wick Avenue, where Johnson will live; make more people aware of what some feel is Johnson’s exorbitant starting salary; and begin an effort to spread greater awareness of Ohio Senate Bill 83 — which some contend is tied to the Johnson hiring.

Many critics of SB83, also known as the Enact Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, contend the legislation will eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion training; create contrived definitions of “nondiscrimination” and “segregation:” and ban certain controversial beliefs or policies based on the notion that institutions of higher learning are centers of indoctrination.

A few students expressed concerns about feeling safe on campus. They included Aiden Holderfield, a fifth-year senior and transgender student who took issue with Johnson’s use of the word “indoctrination” in a recent interview.

Holderfield, who’s majoring in theater and psychology, worried that little distance separates Johnson’s opposition to gay marriage from how he likely views many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. In addition, such views may embolden others with similar beliefs to treat LGBTQ students poorly, she said.

“I don’t think he’ll separate his politics from his position (as president) as well as he claims he will,” Holderfield added.

Also, Johnson will enter the university’s top post with a high level of unpopularity, Grace Persing, a YSU junior majoring in anthropology, said.

She also noted that Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, appointed the board of trustees, who in turn hired Johnson, a fellow Republican — the close political ties of which seemed to be a greater priority than what was best for the university staff and students, Persing said.

“It’s clear this is buddy-buddy,” she continued.

Also discussed at the session were the recent cuts of four majors in YSU’s Dana School of Music: bachelor of arts degree in music, master of music in jazz studies, master of music in composition and bachelor of music in composition.

Neither McClurkin nor Persing, however, were able to provide comments related to YSU’s announcement Monday to enhance reinvestment in high-demand programs and workforce development for 12 majors, including economics, sociology and dental hygiene.

“I want to see an advancement all around, not at the cost of other majors,” Persing said.