In July, a University of Cincinnati Police Officer shot Samuel DuBose to death. Mr. DuBose 
was black and he was unarmed. The white officer pulled Mr. DuBose over for an automobile violation (no front license plate) and the shooting was filmed on the officer’s body camera. At the time that the killing became known, the University, in not its finest hour, cancelled classes and closed the campus. Whatever anticipated demonstrations or riots the school was anticipating never happened. What did happen was that Officer Ray Tensing was arrested and is waiting his trial for murder.
Despite its initial overreaction, the University President, Santa Ono, 
stepped up in negotiations with Mr. DuBose’s family. President Ono has generally been considered a vibrant and effective leader. On Martin Luther King Day, as a result of settlement negotiations, he obligated the University to pay $4.85 million to Mr. DuBose’s family. Settlement was reached after only two days of negotiations. While the University did not admit liability, the School will apologize to the family as part of the agreement. “Dr. Ono said the university felt a “civic responsibility” to go beyond the kind of cash settlement customary in police-involved deaths.” The President went on to say that he wanted to be clear that the University cares not only about the DuBose family but about peace in the City, as well. It was one of Mr. DuBose’s daughter, Raegan Brooks, who discussed the pain of the experience, including the negotiations that at times caused emotional disturbance of what felt like putting a price on her father’s life. She also spoke of her prior intentions to attend UC, plans that changed after her father’s death.
Since the killing, the University has established a community advisory council on which a family member of Mr. DuBose will sit.
