It's no secret that the McDavis administration has many vocal opponents on campus, nor is it a secret that roughly three out of four students voting in last year's Student Senate election voted no confidence in OU's president. Although political rhetoric turned toward McDavis' resignation last year, this school year the tone of campus debate has been a bit more conciliatory. Student activists, along with concerned faculty and staff, have been offering strong suggestions for how the McDavis administration must change to regain the confidence of the university community. Some of these suggestions have included re-employing laid-off custodial staff, eliminating so-called free speech zones and making the university system more open and democratic. Across the board, the McDavis administration has ignored these suggestions, and now it seems that there is only one option left for Dr. McDavis, Dr. Krendl and the other key figures in the administration: They must resign.
Resignation is the only remaining option for President McDavis because he has demonstrated time and time again that he will not listen to voices outside his administration, whether those voices belong to students, faculty or staff. The recent message sent by Dr. Krendl to the university community only reaffirms the anti-democratic position that the administration has taken. While paying lip service to students being active and constructive citizens of this institution and raising the idea of action-oriented conversations
Dr. Krendl nevertheless makes light of student demands for open and democratic university government. In this same message, Dr. Krendl blames the administration's ineptitude and unaccountability on the state and federal levels of government, once again proving that the buck will never stop at Cutler Hall while McDavis is in office.
Students, faculty and staff, I ask you: How much longer are we going to listen to the same broken record? When we were angry over athletics cuts and the closing of the Oasis, we were told to wait and that things would improve. When nothing improved and we voted no confidence in President McDavis, the significance of that vote was dismissed by the administration. When we let an academic year slip by without action from the administration, many again believed that things would improve. We returned to campus to find that matters had only worsened, as the administration had dawdled on the issue of free speech zones and, in the meantime, cut the jobs of valuable union employees in clear violation of the labor contract. How much longer will we wait for change? Another quarter? Two quarters? Another academic year? How many chances are we going to give an administration that is only biding its time, hoping we will forget and move on to other issues?
The time for change is now, and the only way to effect change is to believe that it can and must occur. This means taking back our university and refusing to let the McDavis administration hold power without accountability. It means no longer demanding student power, but realizing that the power is already there to be wielded by a willing student body along with collaborators among the faculty and staff. When we return from winter break, we must stop demanding more power and begin functioning as if we already have it ' because we do. This university cannot function without the cooperation of the student body, and no administration can hold power over the university without student consent. It is time to withdraw that consent, time to demand nothing less than the resignation of the principal figures in the McDavis administration, and time to demand that the Board of Trustees get out of the middle of the construction zone as we build an open, accountable and democratic Ohio University. Winter quarter should be the winter of our discontent, and we should not be content again until our university is truly ours. 17
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Nathan Nelson
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