While the proposal of an academic center for student-athletes was recently celebrated by Ohio University’s Athletics Department, some faculty members feel it’s “inappropriate,” “discrimination” and akin to creating a “segregated” facility.
While the proposal of an academic center for student-athletes was recently celebrated by Ohio University’s Athletics Department, some faculty members feel it’s “inappropriate,” “discrimination” and akin to creating a “segregated” facility.
Faculty Senate’s second meeting of the semester began Monday with a question and answer session with Board of Trustees Chair David Brightbill and Vice Chair David Wolfort.
“We are volunteers, we spend a lot of time here, we put a lot of energy and time into what happens at the university,” Brightbill said before the session.
Some of faculty members’ main concerns related to the university’s impact on the environment, student opportunities for community service and continual tuition increases.
”With the overall economic health of the university, a tuition increase was necessary,” Brightbill said of the latest increase.
The next Board of Trustees meeting will take place Thursday and Friday in Walter Hall.
The trustees, OU President Roderick McDavis and Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit left after Brightbill and Wolfort spoke, opening up the floor to several faculty outraged over the Sook Academic Center.
The building, which will abut the north-end zone of Peden Stadium, was announced in September after the university received a $2.25 million donation from OU alumni Perry and Sandy Sook.
The center’s estimated cost is $5.5 million; administrators have said the remaining money will be fundraised and no tuition or state dollars will go toward building the facility. It remains unclear who will pay to upkeep the facility.
“We’re not saying students-athletes don’t deserve academic support,” said Beth Quitslund, chair of Faculty Senate and an associate professor of english. “There was something off in the message of a new facility restricted to the use of a very small number of students.”
Several faculty members feel the facility is not justified, citing the fact that all other academic facilities on campus, such as Alden Library, are open to all students.
An estimated 450 student-athletes will use the facility.
“I think it’s perfectly legitimate to reject a segregated (facility),” said Bill Reader, an associate professor of journalism, of the academic center. “(Athletes) don’t warrant this kind of special treatment.”
Senate members said they were angered by the fact that the proposed building “floated out of the sky.” Faculty added they should have been consulted about the creation of an academic center.
“There’s a loss of credibility between us and the administration as a whole,” said Steve Hays, an associate professor of classics and world religions. “We need a voice in development.”
Faculty also questioned the center’s purpose as an academic center since it will be used as a “hospitality center” during athletic events for donors and fans, according to a university news release.
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