Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Ohio State University President Discusses Football Riot
Aired November 25, 2002 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Plain and simple, it got out of control in Ohio.
Our Jeff Flock is never out of control. He brings us more now from what took place in Columbus over the weekend.
Hi -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, hello to you, coming to you now from the campus of Ohio State University.
I'm joined at this hour by the president of Ohio State University, Karen Holbrook.
Thanks for coming, Madam President.
You were right out in front saying, I apologize. This was an awful thing. You stand by that as we speak at this hour?
KAREN HOLBROOK, PRESIDENT, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. It's a very, very sad outcome to a wonderful day.
FLOCK: How did this happen? Do you know the whys?
HOLBROOK: I don't think anybody ever knows how these kinds of things happen, but you might know that there was a long hiatus between the end of the game, which was a great celebration, About nine to ten hours later it started, which means there's nine, ten hours of alcohol consumption, which may have had something to do with it.
FLOCK: Unfortunately, this is no great surprise that there are sometimes problems that happen after games, particularly big games like this one. You knew potentially you had trouble. Did you take the necessary steps to try and head it off?
HOLBROOK: Yes. I think we started sending very quiet messages -- I have called them soft messages -- for a number of weeks, just saying to people, Think, act responsibly, use moderation in your behavior.
FLOCK: One of the things that really struck me, and I have got a newspaper -- perhaps we can come back and take a look at it -- this is from a week ago. This is one of the alternative papers that says, referring to you by your first name, your message to the fans: "Behave." You said this long before any of this took place. You look like you were very prescient. How does that go? HOLBROOK: It started out as the result of one of the games when we started getting some negative feed back of things that happened. We are working very hard to make sure that our image is that of a great academic snug. And when we send other images back to people who visit our campus, where they say, I don't want to send my kids here because I don't like what happens on game days, then you start saying how do we change that image and what kind of things should we be doing so that a positive message goes back?
FLOCK: Before we get away, I want to ask about that. You have said we want to look at the films of this. We want to look at the still pictures of this. We want to arrest anyone we haven't already arrested and charge anyone responsible. Where does that stand right now? Have you got any new folks?
HOLBROOK: Well, I don't think we're out with a vendetta to get everybody, but what we want to do is make sure that the people who are responsible for this are identified and take the responsibility. Because this was the situation of personal accountability and personal responsibility. And the university simply isn't going to tolerate that kind of action. However...
FLOCK: So you'll prosecute?
HOLBROOK: We are going to allow students all their rights, if they are students. One of the things that's been pointed out very clearly thus far is that those arrested are from our students totally.
FLOCK: That's right. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And I don't know what you do about that.
HOLBROOK: I don't think that's our issue. That's the Columbus Police issue. We're concerned with our students here.
FLOCK: Before we get away, you pointed out this is not just Ohio State University, but this sort of thing has gone on increasingly on college campuses across the country. What do you do?
HOLBROOK: As you may know, last weekend there were many instances of this all across the nation. I think we have to step up and take some leadership. Make sure that there's a forum for discussion and for thinking about what kind of resolution we can bring about.
HOLBROOK: President Holbrook, I very much appreciate the time. Thank you so much for coming.
Kyra, that is the latest from here. We will keep our eye on this. As we said, although the president declined to say to what lengths they are going, authorities in Columbus do say that they are still looking for folks, anyone responsible for this, whether they be students or folks from outside the community. So they're still at it. We'll keep watching. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jeff. Thanks so much, Jeff Flock.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 25, 2002 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Plain and simple, it got out of control in Ohio.
Our Jeff Flock is never out of control. He brings us more now from what took place in Columbus over the weekend.
Hi -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, hello to you, coming to you now from the campus of Ohio State University.
I'm joined at this hour by the president of Ohio State University, Karen Holbrook.
Thanks for coming, Madam President.
You were right out in front saying, I apologize. This was an awful thing. You stand by that as we speak at this hour?
KAREN HOLBROOK, PRESIDENT, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. It's a very, very sad outcome to a wonderful day.
FLOCK: How did this happen? Do you know the whys?
HOLBROOK: I don't think anybody ever knows how these kinds of things happen, but you might know that there was a long hiatus between the end of the game, which was a great celebration, About nine to ten hours later it started, which means there's nine, ten hours of alcohol consumption, which may have had something to do with it.
FLOCK: Unfortunately, this is no great surprise that there are sometimes problems that happen after games, particularly big games like this one. You knew potentially you had trouble. Did you take the necessary steps to try and head it off?
HOLBROOK: Yes. I think we started sending very quiet messages -- I have called them soft messages -- for a number of weeks, just saying to people, Think, act responsibly, use moderation in your behavior.
FLOCK: One of the things that really struck me, and I have got a newspaper -- perhaps we can come back and take a look at it -- this is from a week ago. This is one of the alternative papers that says, referring to you by your first name, your message to the fans: "Behave." You said this long before any of this took place. You look like you were very prescient. How does that go? HOLBROOK: It started out as the result of one of the games when we started getting some negative feed back of things that happened. We are working very hard to make sure that our image is that of a great academic snug. And when we send other images back to people who visit our campus, where they say, I don't want to send my kids here because I don't like what happens on game days, then you start saying how do we change that image and what kind of things should we be doing so that a positive message goes back?
FLOCK: Before we get away, I want to ask about that. You have said we want to look at the films of this. We want to look at the still pictures of this. We want to arrest anyone we haven't already arrested and charge anyone responsible. Where does that stand right now? Have you got any new folks?
HOLBROOK: Well, I don't think we're out with a vendetta to get everybody, but what we want to do is make sure that the people who are responsible for this are identified and take the responsibility. Because this was the situation of personal accountability and personal responsibility. And the university simply isn't going to tolerate that kind of action. However...
FLOCK: So you'll prosecute?
HOLBROOK: We are going to allow students all their rights, if they are students. One of the things that's been pointed out very clearly thus far is that those arrested are from our students totally.
FLOCK: That's right. (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And I don't know what you do about that.
HOLBROOK: I don't think that's our issue. That's the Columbus Police issue. We're concerned with our students here.
FLOCK: Before we get away, you pointed out this is not just Ohio State University, but this sort of thing has gone on increasingly on college campuses across the country. What do you do?
HOLBROOK: As you may know, last weekend there were many instances of this all across the nation. I think we have to step up and take some leadership. Make sure that there's a forum for discussion and for thinking about what kind of resolution we can bring about.
HOLBROOK: President Holbrook, I very much appreciate the time. Thank you so much for coming.
Kyra, that is the latest from here. We will keep our eye on this. As we said, although the president declined to say to what lengths they are going, authorities in Columbus do say that they are still looking for folks, anyone responsible for this, whether they be students or folks from outside the community. So they're still at it. We'll keep watching. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jeff. Thanks so much, Jeff Flock.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
