Campus police are reviewing a Feb. 9 confrontation inside Smith Laboratory in Columbus.
COLUMBUS, OH — Ohio State University placed an assistant professor on paid administrative leave after a video spread online showing him grappling with a documentarian in a hallway as the documentarian tried to question former university president E. Gordon Gee inside a campus building.
The confrontation, recorded by another journalist and shared widely on social media, drew sharp criticism from faculty groups and renewed scrutiny of a state mandated academic center where the professor teaches. The university said its police department is investigating and that the faculty member is barred from campus while the review continues. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether criminal charges would be filed.
The video shows Luke Perez, an assistant professor in the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society, stepping into a hallway encounter on Mon., Feb. 9, after Gee appeared in a class session at Smith Laboratory. Two content creators were in the corridor after the event: D.J. Byrnes, who publishes an Ohio politics newsletter called The Rooster, and an independent documentarian who identified himself as Mike Newman in interviews with local outlets. Byrnes said the two men were not working together and arrived separately to try to interview Gee as he left the classroom area. Byrnes said Gee answered his questions briefly and then ended the exchange before Newman could ask his own. Byrnes said Perez moved between Newman and Gee as Newman raised a camera and tried to continue, then the scene turned physical. In the recording, Perez can be heard saying, “I told you not to put that in my face,” as the two struggle and Newman falls to the floor.
Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an emailed statement that the university was “aware of the incident” and described it as “very concerning.” Johnson said the faculty member was placed on administrative leave while Ohio State University Police investigates and the university conducts a review of what happened. Johnson also said that, as a general rule, Ohio State is an open campus and journalists are allowed in public spaces and public buildings as long as they are not disruptive. Perez declined to comment to at least one outlet and referred questions to the university’s communications office. Byrnes and Newman said they reported the incident to university police. University officials did not release a police report publicly in the first wave of coverage, and Thursday afternoon there was no public confirmation of any charge or citation connected to the hallway encounter.
WOSU and other local reports described the location as the Smith Laboratory building, where Gee attended or spoke during a class session tied to the Chase Center. Gee, once the university’s president and later a longtime leader at other institutions, holds the title of president emeritus at Ohio State and has been working as a consultant connected to the center. Byrnes said he was trying to ask Gee about issues that have drawn continued debate in Ohio, including the influence of billionaire Les Wexner and public arguments about whether names should be removed from university buildings. In January, Gee criticized efforts to remove Wexner’s name from campus facilities, calling the push “cancel culture,” according to WOSU. Byrnes said the hallway interview attempt was part of his usual reporting style of approaching public figures in public buildings. Ohio is a one party consent state for recording conversations when the recorder is a participant, a point Byrnes cited in explaining why he believed he could continue filming even after being told not to.
Additional video posted by Byrnes shows a tense moment after the struggle, when he tried to follow Gee toward an elevator. In that clip, Christopher Green, identified in reports as an associate director at the Chase Center, is seen and heard blocking Byrnes at the elevator entrance and accusing him of assault. The video does not show Byrnes touching Green, and Byrnes disputed the accusation as he continued to press questions. Green and Perez are both affiliated with the center, which was created after Ohio lawmakers required several public universities to establish academic units meant to promote what the legislation described as intellectual diversity. Critics of the center have argued it was imposed on campus from outside, while supporters say it adds viewpoint range in teaching and programming. The hallway video has become a flashpoint in that broader debate, with opponents saying it undercuts claims of civility and free expression and defenders urging a full accounting of the facts.
The university has not said when its police investigation will be completed or what discipline, if any, could follow. Administrative leave at Ohio State typically removes an employee from normal duties while a review is underway, and WOSU reported that people on leave generally are not permitted on campus except for limited reasons such as medical appointments. Byrnes said he wants prosecutors to consider a criminal case, but he also told a national higher education outlet that he did not want to see a person “lose his livelihood and never work again,” while still expecting consequences for a physical takedown captured on video. Newman could not be reached by at least one newsroom for comment. Without a public police report, key questions remain unresolved, including whether investigators view the fall as an assault, a defensive response, or a mutual confrontation, and whether any university policies governing filming, disruption, or physical contact in academic buildings were violated.
In the hallway recording, the scene is crowded and fast. Gee appears to be walking away from the camera at the moment Perez steps forward. Byrnes narrates parts of the encounter in real time and can be heard telling Perez and Green that public officials and staff at a public university can be questioned in public spaces. Perez can be heard insisting he did not want a camera near him. At one point after the takedown, Perez suggests Newman put hands on him, a claim Byrnes disputes while pointing to the video. The footage has been shared and reposted across platforms, with commenters calling for Perez to be fired, others questioning Byrnes’ approach, and many focusing on the university’s promise of open public access. Faculty critics, including Ohio State’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the confrontation reflected poorly on the center and the way it was established, though the group’s statement did not determine legal responsibility for the clash.
As of Thursday, Ohio State said Perez remains on administrative leave while Ohio State University Police continues its review, and no public hearing date or disciplinary timetable has been announced. The next major milestone is the completion of the police investigation and the university’s internal findings on the Feb. 9 incident at Smith Laboratory.
Author note: Last updated February 12, 2026.