YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A protest was held Monday at Youngstown (Ohio) State University over the college offering the president’s job to the Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta.

Against a backdrop of increased anti-Palestinian sentiment and anti-Semitism, Tala Alsharif fears for her safety and that of others who look like her if the decision the board of trustees made to fill Youngstown State top post is realized.

“Members of my group are immigrants. I think of how we would feel knowing the president is against us,” Alsharif, president of Youngstown State’s Students for Justice in Palestine, said. “I would not feel safe knowing he would not stand with us if we were threatened.”

Johnson was offered the position of university president Thursday by the university Board of Trustees in an 8-1 vote. Trustee Molly Seals was the lone dissenter.

Alsharif was among about 100 students, staff, faculty, residents of the community and others in a peaceful protest Monday afternoon in front of Tod Hall to denounce what they feel is Johnson’s lack of credentials for the post. Many of them also were angry at what they contend was the absence of transparency and stakeholder input in making the decision and Johnson’s political positions.

Youngstown State has nearly 1,000 international students, so it’s anathema to the university to hire someone who opposes diversity, equity and inclusion, Alsharif said. It is hoped the trustees will reconsider its choice and listen to what students and others with a vested interest have to say about the selection of Johnson, she said.

Also vehemently opposing Johnson’s hiring and the closed-door process many say was used to select him is the YSU-Ohio Education Association, which said the usual four-part process of campus visits, open forums with candidates and feedback from university stakeholders, then making a final hiring decision was circumvented.

“What happened here at YSU shortchanges faculty, staff, students and members of the Youngstown community who deserve the opportunity to meet and ask questions of our prospective leaders, particularly leaders of public institutions. This undermines a lot of progress we’ve made,” Mark Vopat, YSU-OEA president, said in a statement.

Vopat and other union members said they hope the board will reconsider its decision, resume the presidential search and fully vet candidates via introducing them to community members beforehand.

The Community Concerned for the Future of YSU organization also issued a statement condemning what it says are some of Johnson’s extremist views.

“Bill Johnson has repeatedly demonstrated hostility to the rights of women and protected classes of minorities, two populations that constitute the majority of our student body,” the statement reads in part. “Johnson also has demonstrated animus toward religious pluralism, which means he will threaten YSU’s diverse religious community and academic freedom.”

University student Elise Williams told protesters she was blindsided by the trustees’ decision to offer Johnson the top post. Williams said if Johnson accepts the position, the longtime congressman and U.S. Air Force veteran likely will do so more to promote himself than what’s best for the college.

“Politics aside, we do not want him here,” she said.

Expounding on that view was Lynn Anderson, a community activist and former Youngstown State adjunct professor who said Johnson likely would heavily push a profit-motivated agenda supported by businesses that, in turn, would use the university as an added means for making money.

“He is a very bad choice because he is not qualified,” Anderson said. “He would not further the interests of academic excellence at YSU.”

She also said Johnson has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative nonprofit organization of state legislators and private-sector representatives who draft and share legislation to be distributed to state governments. The Center for Media and Democracy and other groups accuse council members of secretly voting to rewrite state laws that almost always benefit large corporations at the expense of individual rights.

Sarah Lowry, a Youngstown State alumni with degrees in English and American studies, said she spoke out to ensure trustees listen to stakeholders’ voices and realize the university also is a place for community engagement. She demanded the board rescind its offer to Johnson largely because of the lack of transparency and find someone for president who will uphold the college’s mission and values.

Lowry said she hopes faculty members and others see the importance of working together to make Youngstown State and the Mahoning Valley “a place where we all can be proud.”

“I know that everything that happens on this campus affects the entire Valley,” Daphne Carr, a community activist, said.

A better, more inclusive process must be incorporated to select a president for a university that’s multicultural, multiracial and filled with international students, she added.

Another student blasted some of Johnson’s political stances and accused him of denigrating and debasing immigrants, saying that his views paint a false and damaging picture of those who came from foreign countries and, in turn, can lead to many of them being targeted and marginalized.

Also during the one-hour gathering, participants chanted in a call-and-response manner, “YSU trustees, do over!” and “We do not accept this process!”