This week, I was saddened to learn that Terry Hogan, the Dean of Student Affairs, will be leaving Ohio University after more than 30 years, in what increasingly appears to be an exodus of not only personnel, but of institutional knowledge and memory.
My dealings with Dean Hogan revolved primarily around my role in student government. Though we often found ourselves in disagreement, I always felt that Dean Hogan was consistently honest, forthright and reasonable.
On many occasions I have heard similar sentiments echoed about Associate Provost Michael Mumper, former advisor to Graduate Student Senate, who also recently left OU after a 20-year career. From what I have personally seen, and heard from others, it would appear that this trend of departures has made itself felt at the faculty level as well.
In Dean Hogan's case, the fact that he was exploring other job opportunities has been public knowledge for months (See the April 25th edition of The Post). I genuinely hope that our cabinet-level administrators made a real effort to persuade him to stay in Athens. Kent Smith, the vice president of student affairs (and Dean Hogan's direct superior), called his departure a big loss for the university, due in large part to Hogan's knowledge not only in student affairs
but of Ohio University in general.
Who can we go to for knowledge about previous decision-making processes, when everyone with an answer heads to California, Colorado or Iowa? How can you make decisions on an institutional level without knowing how you previously made decisions on an institutional level?
When considering our administration's effort to avoid the creation of public record, this lack of institutional knowledge becomes doubly problematic. Someday, President Roderick McDavis will leave Ohio University, which, given the farcical nature of the Board of Trustees' recent evaluation, will probably be due to old age.
I just hope that when that time comes, there is still someone left to provide a framework (be it verbal or written) of how our institutional processes operate, independent of who is in charge. Drew Pusateri is a graduate student and senator for the College of Education 17
Archives
Letter to the Editor
