Editor’s note: This article was originally published March 31, 2015.
Park Place was packed with more than a hundred students, faculty and staff members who gathered to protest the lease agreement for a $1.2 million home for President Roderick McDavis and his wife Deborah on Tuesday night.
The event, sponsored by Ohio University Student Union and dubbed the “Bat Rally,” took on a satirical tone as students dressed in bat-inspired attire and demonstrated in front of the residence that has housed OU presidents since 1952.
The Ohio University Police Department positioned barricades around 29 Park Place on Tuesday afternoon to prepare for the rally, which took place later in the day.
Multiple OUPD officers were present at the rally.
Sara Sand, a sophomore studying engineering physics, who attended the rally, once found a bat in her residence hall.
“I’m an RA, and I had to go (check on the situation) because there was a bat in the stairwell,” Sand said.
The bat was alive when she found it.
“They had to kill the bat and test it for rabies,” Sand said, adding the bat didn’t have rabies.
In February, Deborah McDavis broke her right foot after a bat startled her. The McDavises stayed at the OU Inn for her recovery. They then moved into a 4,586 square-foot home at 31 Coventry Lane, which sits on a 2.86-acre property.
President McDavis said last week that Deborah was recovering.
After repairs are made, the university might use 29 Park Place to house a new college or department or to house student programs, Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding wrote in an op-ed to The Post.
Meanwhile, more than 100 OU faculty signed a letter urging administrators to reconsider a lease for a new off-campus house for the McDavises.
“I’m here to support the students,” Joseph McLaughlin, an associate professor of English and one of the writers of the letter, said at the protest. He noted that he has never seen anything like this before, in reference to the protest.
“It’s not about a house or bats; it’s about a bubble,” said Kevin Mattson, a history professor.
Included in the bubble, he said, are the president, vice president and Board of Trustees.
"The house is a symbol of what they want to spend money on," Mattson said. “It's about what they want from the presidency. What better symbol than to seclude the president from the campus that he's responsible for governing?”
During the protest, Student Union circulated a petition against the OU Foundation entering a $1.2 million lease agreement on the new presidential house.
The foundation is the university’s non-profit, fundraising entity.
Student Senate President Megan Marzec was also present at the rally.
“I don’t have any qualms (about being here),” Marzec said. “The police may have some qualms. I’m completely within my rights.”
According to a previous Post report, Marzec was found guilty of persistent disorderly conduct on March 23 and was given a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail. If she gets arrested again, she may have to serve that sentence.
Lindsey Keck, a sophomore who is undecided, missed class to attend the rally.
“I feel it’s important to be here,” she said.
“I think it’s great that students are protesting at the McDavis house, but they should be rallying at the Statehouse instead,” said Ben Mathes, a junior studying political science.
He is running for Student Senate President as part of the Student Nation ticket and was not at the rally. Mathes is a previous Post reporter.
The rally turned into a march as protesters took to the sidewalk and marched down Morton Hill, through East Green, up Jeff Hill and concluded the rally at Cutler Hall.
Councilwoman Michele Papai, whose ward includes the university, was present at the rally up until the march.
“My concern is the … lack of transparency,” Papai said. “The majority of my constituency in the third ward works for the university. The morale is low from what I hear.” Papai’s husband, OU distinguished professor of physics David Drabold, co-wrote the faculty letter with McLaughlin.
President McDavis was not present at the rally.
The protesters will meet next Tuesday at 29 Park Place.
—Emily Bohatch and Alex Meyer contributed to this report.
