Discrimination against different forms of diversity is something that every school has to deal with, but they solve the problem in different ways.

At the University, Not In Our Town was brought to the school to promote anti-hate and support inclusion for all types of people.

Schools in Ohio have dealt with hate by creating their own campaigns, student groups, or using university-run organizations and departments.

The Ohio State University has a campaign called No Place For Hate, which has similar aspects to NIOT, but it’s not a national campaign. “It is a grassroots initiative that started here,” said Terah Stewart, assistant director of intercultural programming. “It was developed after the Black Cultural Building had ‘long live Zimmerman’ spray painted on it.”

George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, a black teen, which sparked a national debate about whether the shooting came from self defense or was racially charged.

The students marched to the OSU president, Gordon Gee, to demand changes be made, Stewart said. This happened on April 5, 2012 and No Place For Hate came shortly after.

The group has been working to keep the climate on campus as inclusive as possible and we have created awareness events, Stewart said.

“We started with race but the task force was for all,” he said. “It’s for faculty, staff and students and made up of them as well. This task force is specifically for matters perceived as hate.”

Miami University tried to bring NIOT to the University, but it ended up not working out.

“We tried to initiate the campaign last year after we had an issue with an inappropriate flyer,” said Resident Director and First Year Adviser Cory Duchesneau at MU. “We talked about it but didn’t end up doing anything with it. The exec board was so busy doing other things and were confused on how to [start the campaign]. It was put on the back burner.”

The inappropriate flyer was found in a residence hall and was about rape, titled “10 ways to rape women,” he said.

There are other things Miami University does to raise awareness.

“We have diversity affairs, which covers race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and on,” said Yvania Garcia-Pusateri, assistant director of diversity affairs.

The university plans other programs to promote diversity on campus, she said.

“In our group, we have 89 different organizations on campus to represent different students from all over,” she said. “This year, we are taking over the diversity banquet … we also have Diversity Week, where all organizations come to celebrate a theme and get the campus to celebrate diversity.”

Ohio University does not have a program or group that unifies all types of diversity, but rather has different departments within the university.

“Our diversity areas and all programs are separate,” said Winsome Chunnu, associate director of the multicultural center at OU. “There is an LGBT Center and Woman’s Center, but not one specific program.”

Delfin Bautista, director for the LGBT center at OU, said they are trying to make opportunities to go deeper into different identities within LGBT.

“We are trying to see how can we be around raising awareness for different groups and allies,” she said.

These intersections just started in June and they had one on sexuality and religion, Bautista said.

Kent State University is the same as OU in that they do not have one program, but several within the University.

“We have several programs and initiatives that promote inclusion and diversity across campus including a wide-range of offerings in diversity training development such as Safe Space training, Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention, and Cultural Competency,” said Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Alfreda Brown in an email.

However, they do have a plan for the University to spread inclusion and diversity.

“Our Division recently launched the university’s Equity Action Plan, a five-year strategic plan outlining specific and measurable outcomes to foster inclusion across difference within the university communities as well as externally,” Brown said in an email.

In all, every school has something they are doing to help promote diversity and inclusion. NIOT is just one of the ways Bowling Green has chosen to tackle the issues.