We present the results of optical spectroscopy of 139 stars obtained with the Hydra multi-object spectrograph .
The objects extend over a 1.3 square degree area surrounding the main cloud of the \rho Oph complex .
The objects were selected from narrowband images to have H \alpha in emission .
Using the presence of strong H \alpha emission , lithium absorption , location in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram , or previously reported x-ray emission , we were able to identify 88 objects as young stars associated with the cloud .
Strong H \alpha emission was confirmed in 39 objects with line widths consistent with their origin in magnetospheric accretion columns .
Two of the strongest emission-line objects are young , x-ray emitting brown dwarf candidates with M8 spectral types .
Comparisons of the bolometric luminosities and effective temperatures with theoretical models suggest a median age for this population of 2.1 Myr which is signifcantly older than the ages derived for objects in the cloud core .
It appears that these stars formed contemporaneously with low mass stars in the Upper Scorpius subgroup , likely triggered by massive stars in the Upper-Centaurus subgroup .