Ohio University President Roderick McDavis formally welcomed incoming freshmen with a rousing speech — and some selfies.
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis formally welcomed incoming freshmen with a rousing speech — and some selfies.
"Does it still count (as a selfie) if it includes 4,300 students? Because that's a lot of selfs," McDavis said, holding his cell phone turned toward the crowd.
McDavis inducted the estimated largest class in OU's history — about 4,300 students — into the university and kicked off his Twitter account, @OHIOPrezOffice, by tweeting a selfie with the Class of 2018.
“You’re not here to be an expert on Court Street,” McDavis said. “You’re here to be an expert on success street.”
Numerous speakers took the stage to encourage the Class of 2018 to expand their curiosity, to get to know their peers and professors and to "go and do." "Today, you may feel like one small student in a class of 4,300 students," said Pam Benoit, executive vice president and provost. "For some of you it may be comforting to retreat to your laptop screen or smartphone, but I challenge you to rethink your preferences."
Speakers stressed the importance of the "Bobcat Family," an idea many freshmen, like Tylisha Allen, who is studying psychology, said was better impressed upon her during the Convocation speeches.
"(McDavis) was turnt; he was a preacher," she said. "I was like 'yes, President, yes."
McDavis riled up the crowd, at one point yelling, “You have come to Ohio University for a reason, not for a season.” Students cheered McDavis on, yelling “OU, Oh Yeah!”
"(The administrators) seem very nice and friendly," said Hallie Grinstead, a freshman studying communication sciences and disorders. "(I want to) continue to meet new people and I'm excited to start class too."
Among the crowd at the convocation were many of the estimated 4,354 first-year students who had submitted their housing deposits to the university as of Aug. 7. Preliminary enrollment numbers are not yet available.
Last year, 4,464 first-year students had submitted their housing deposits by August. Only 4,249 ended up enrolling last year, which was, at the time, the largest freshman class in the university’s history.
More than 1,000 "Go Green" volunteers — the most ever — were on hand to help students and their families move in, according to an OU news release. Volunteers included students, faculty and staff, including McDavis.
Due to the record number of students enrolled in the incoming class, Residential Housing has been scrambling to find enough space to house the more than 8,300 students who have put down housing deposits.
Housing officials have come up with two solutions: a few hundred students were put in triples, rather than a double, and some Residential Assistants had to share their rooms with non- RA students.
“We want small incremental growth on the Athens campus,” McDavis told The Post last year. “We’ll always be right about 4,000 freshmen.”
The Post requested preliminary enrollment numbers from Craig Cornell, the vice provost for Enrollment Management, last month through OU’s me- dia relations office, but was deferred to Pete Trentacoste, executive director of Residential Housing, for all information.
Cornell will be presenting enrollment numbers to the Board of Trustees on Thursday at the board’s meeting at the Dublin campus.
@OHITCHCOCK
H271711@OHIO.EDU
