Charles Ross, 1970
We are saddened to hear of the passing of longtime OSU Professor Charles O. Ross, who died last week at the age of 79. For decades, he was a constant champion of issues of racial equality, even when it cost him his job as director of the black studies department.
After the campus riots of 1970, the University approved a plan for a new Department of Black Studies. Ross, a professor of social work, was chosen as its first director. Immediately, Ross demanded more money for the program, and he pushed for substantive changes related to African-American involvement on campus, such as recruitment of much larger numbers of black students to the University.
Ross was also politically active and was involved in a movement to organize high school students. Racial disturbances subsequently occurred at area high schools, and the OSU Board of Trustees, displeased with Ross’ involvement, fired him from the directorship a year after he was hired.
Ross, 1988
Ross continued to be an outspoken figure throughout his tenure: In 1993, for instance, he briefly occupied the office of the then-new Dean of Social Work, Beverly Toomey, to protest then-Provost Jean Huber’s decision to hire Toomey over him. According to The Lantern, Toomey was named Dean, despite a faculty recommendation in favor of Ross, who called the Provost’s decision racist, but filed no legal action on the matter.
Despite his sometimes contentious relationship with the University, Ross remained at OSU for 35 years, and in 2006, the Board of Trustees awarded him the title of associate professor emeritus upon his retirement.
Read a Columbus Dispatch obituary here:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/02/19/longtime-osu-prof-known-for-activism.html
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