Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez gave her first State of the University address Thursday morning in Walter Hall while Students for Justice in Palestine led a protest outside.
Gonzalez began by discussing OU’s achievements within the last year, including expanding and revising degrees for online and regional campuses, such as an associate nursing degree at the Lancaster campus and an online master’s of applied arts and health degree.
Gonzalez also announced as of this fall, OU is the first public university in Ohio to offer a bachelor of science degree in artificial intelligence.
Gonzalez said OU was among the few institutions to receive an $8 million construction and modernization grant from the National Institutes of Health for the Heritage Translation Research Center.
Gonzalez then talked about enrollment and the recent rankings OU has achieved. For the fifth year in a row, OU ranked ninth among public universities included on Forbes' list of best mid-sized employers in the U.S. and first for best value on US News and World Report’s list of best public universities in Ohio. Total enrollment at OU this year was up 4.6%.
“There’s no question in my mind that students are choosing Ohio because they see us as a value, and we deliver on that value,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez announced her approval of a plan by Provost Don Leo and Vice President for Research and Creative Activity Eric Muth to invest in up to 15 tenure track faculty positions to support OU’s research enterprise, an over $1.5 million recurring investment.
“We know an investment in our faculty, including those already here doing great work, is essential to long-term success,” Gonzalez said.
Outside Walter Hall, SJP led a protest against current university policies relating to Israel.
Emma Mathy, a junior studying sociology, said SJP was protesting the State of the University address and demanding divestment from all university investments affiliated with Israel, specifically the Israel Defense Force.
“We have a list of companies that we are sure are affiliated with Israel in some way that we have investment in, especially our engineering department,” Mathy said. “We believe that money should be used for education, not for bombs and occupation.”
Mathy said there are barriers within Ohio Revised Code Section 9.76, but those barriers should not exist. ORC Section 9.76 pertains to boycott provisions in contracts.
“Everyone has a right to life, that’s not up for debate,” Mathy said. “The fact that we do have to protest this is honestly something I find quite disgusting to begin with.”
Dan Pittman, senior director of communications, said Ohio law prohibits public universities from divesting interest in Israel or adopting policies that require divestment from Israel with any associated entities, according to a previous report by The Post.
Chants of “Disclose, divest. We will not stop. We will not rest,” rung throughout the duration of the State of the University Address.
