If you associate tuition de
bates, hundreds of millions of
dollars, controversy and wide
spread construction with col
lege, you’ve come to the right
place. Here are stories that
shaped Ohio University in the
past year, and some that will
continue to play out this fall:
TUITION INCREASED
OU’s Board of Trustees is expected to vote — for the sixth-
consecutive time — to raise tu
ition, this time by 1.5 percent, at
its June 27 meeting. That means
tuition and fees will increase
$156 to $10,535 for current stu
dents. Tuition for the 2014-15
academic year is, adjusted for
inflation, 12 percent higher than
a decade ago.
“RAPE CULTURE” CONTROVERSY
Following a tweet some perceived as “slut shaming” sent by
Student Senate’s then-president,
which preceded a public sex
act on Court Street, a campus-
wide debate about whether OU
has a “rape culture” — and how
severe it is — engulfed campus
conversation during Fall Semes
ter.
Rape culture is
a concept in which
sexual violence
toward women
is permitted or
at least tolerated
within a society,
thus normalizing
a culture that ex
cuses rape.
A group of s
tudents called
F--kRapeCulture
formed and, in
a public show of
anti-rape culture,
staged a march
around Athens and
OU to protest the
campus’ attitudes
toward women
and sex. Many
march partici
pants were nearly
nude. Dozens of
letters were writ
ten to The Post
and other campus media out
lets, both arguing that there was
and was not a presence of rape
culture at OU.
The controversy was so
intense that when the March
ing 110, OU’s student marching
band, began practicing Robin
Thicke’s Blurred Lines, many
students expressed outrage that
a song they
said supported
rape culture
would be per
formed by OU
students. In
the end, the
administration
and directors
in the school of
music decided
not to play the
controversial
song a day be
fore the foot
ball game.
GUARANTEED TUITION
The university saw its guaranteed tuition program —
dubbed “The OHIO Guarantee”
— jump through more hurdles.
The trustees approved the mod
el in January, which will hold
“tuition, housing, dining and fee
rates established at enrollment
unchanged for 12 consecutive
semesters (four years),” accord
ing to the university.
The Ohio
Board of Regents’
Chancellor ap
proved the plan
in April. The tui
tion plan will be
implemented in
Fall 2015 and will
only apply to new
students.
TRUSTEE VOTING RIGHTS
A bill that would have
given Ohio public
universities the option
to grant their student
trustees voting rights
stalled in the Ohio
Senate this year.
OU’s Student Senate,
some student trustees
and other campus
groups have long been
behind such a bill.
OU’s Board of Trustees
and administration
have not taken a
public position on the
legislation but have
been accused by state
legislators of lobbying
against it in private.
PROFESSOR PLEADED NOT GUILTY TO CHILD-PORNOGRAPHY CRIMES
An OU professor
pleaded not guilty
in February to child-
pornography crimes.
Amol T. Kharabe, who
has been with OU since
2012, was placed on
administrative leave.
In May, Kharabe was
dealt nine more felony
charges, bringing
the total number of
charges he faces to 21.
FUNDRAISING
GOALS MET
The university ended the 2013-14
academic year by
reaching its $450
million Promise
Lives Campaign
goal 14 months
ahead of schedule.
OU will continue
to fundraise un-
til the campaign, which launched in
2007, ends in July
2015. Goals met
include more than
$100 million for capital projects,
$105 million in support for facult
y and $50 million for academic
and student programs.
INVESTMENT PLAN ANNOUNCED
OU also detailed a seven-year plan to internally allocate
$100 million toward “strategic
initiatives” for the univer
sity. They include $25 million
for scholarships;
$25 million for
endowed profes-
sorships; $8 million for academic
and research pro
grams; $5.9 mil
lion for student
success programs;
$34.5 million for infrastructure
;
and $12.5 million
for economic de
velopment. The university
hopes to have the
$100 million inv
ested by fiscal
year 2019; it starte
d the plan in fiscal year 2012.
The $25 million for scholar
ships will be matched with $50
million in donations, and the
$25 million for professorships will be matched with an equal
sum in donations.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
OU’s historic campus is getting an update. New buildings
are going up across campus,
many will be coming down over
the next several years and even
more will see renovations.
The university is planning
to spend nearly $1 billion by
2020 to completely change sig
nificant parts of its campus.
New residence halls will go
up as much of current South
Green is knocked down and re-
placed. A new science facility will replace Clippinger Labora
tories, which dates back to the
1960s and will be destroyed.
Dozens of other buildings will
see renovations or additional
construction as well.
The plan will be paid for by
OU’s stable revenue sources —
namely room and board and
possibly tuition cost increas
es, according to OU officials.
Four residence halls near the
Ping Center and South Green
comprise the first major part
of the construction and are ex
pected to open in Fall 2015.
@WillDrabold
dd195710@ohiou.edu
