As Ohio University President Roderick McDavis sat in on his final Board of Trustees meeting, the trustees appointed an interim to take his place next month and approved multiple resolutions.
David Descutner was named OU’s interim president, effective Feb.18, during the 10:15 a.m. board meeting.
The board also approved a 3.3 percent tuition increase for the class of 2021.
Benoit said at the start of the 8 a.m. meeting that the university plans to survey students, faculty and staff about concealed carry and then present the results to the board.
During a discussion of the new legislation, some trustees said they would prefer that administrators hold an open forum or discussion that could be livestreamed because it would be a more effective form of conversation.
“Once you start surveying people, there’s an expectation that … something may change,” Trustee Janelle Coleman said.
Ronald Teplitzky, alumni representative, said he believes the concealed carry issue is one that the trustees should decide on their own because it affects the safety of students.
“This is not a democratic issue to me,” he said. “One of our jobs, maybe our most important job, is the safety of our students, and if … the police chief tells us that that will make campus less safe ... our job is to send the kids home safe.”
P.J. Roden, the junior student trustee, said he supports the idea of an open forum so the administration can hear from a variety of people, though a survey could provide quantifiable data.
“One thing we pride in ourselves in as a board and one thing that we get complaints about most is that we’re not communicating with the campus,” he said. “Even if we’re going to pick one way, whether they agree with or not, just letting them feel heard I think is an important for that relationship. This is a big issue, and is going to get a lot of pushback either way, so I think we should at least listen to them.”
The trustees also briefly discussed sanctuary campuses and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Wolfort said administrators were looking a little far into the future and that the university should continue to comply with current policy for now.
In addition to tuition increases and the appointment of an interim president, the trustees approved resolutions concerning facility projects, real estate and quasi-endowments.
