Ohio State University prof pleads no contest in independent journalist fracas, remains on leave
An Ohio State University professor has pleaded no contest to a charge that he attacked a Columbus-based independent journalist who was trying to ask a former university president a question.
Luke Perez, an assistant professor at the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society, entered his plea in Franklin County Municipal Court, WOSU reported. In addition to a $100 fine, Perez was sentenced to two years of probation.
Perez was placed on leave on Feb. 10 and charged with assault after video surfaced that appeared to show him attacking Mike Newman, a freelance journalist and independent documentarian. According to reports, Newman was trying on Feb. 9 to film and interview former Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee, who spoke in Perez’s class, Profiles in American Leadership.
Gee was Ohio State’s president from 1990 to 1998 and 2007 to 2013.
Ohio State University’s Sanctioning Committee members subsequently concluded in their investigation that Perez should be fired for his role in the fracas. In its findings, the panel called Perez’s actions “the most egregious incident of workplace violence they had investigated,” adding that they “found sufficient evidence that Dr. Perez’s actions constituted workplace violence.”
A university spokesperson told WBNS-TV/10TV that Perez remains on administrative leave.
Ohio State hired Perez, who was previously at Arizona State University, to work at the Chase Center, which was created following the passage of Senate Bill 1, a measure to eliminate what lawmakers see as college campuses’ liberal bias.
D.J. Byrnes, a left-wing political blogger who writes a newsletter called “The Rooster,” filmed the confrontation. Byrnes himself is facing legal trouble after he was arrested outside the Ohio Statehouse and charged with misdemeanor telecom harassment.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that Byrnes said he will take his case to trial after rejecting two plea deals.
State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, said that while the confrontation happened at the Chase Center, it has nothing to do with the institution itself.
“It is absolutely not a reflection on the civic center at all,” Cirino told Ohio.News.
