After the Ohio University Foundation entered a lease agreement for a new house for Roderick McDavis earlier this month, over 80 faculty members signed a letter asking the university to overturn the decision.
More than 80 Ohio University faculty members signed a letter to The Post urging administrators to reconsider a lease for a new, off-campus home for President Roderick McDavis and his wife, Deborah.
The letter comes nearly a week after the university announced plans for the OU Foundation, its non-profit fundraising entity, to enter a $1.2 million lease agreement for the property the McDavises now reside at, 31 Coventry Lane.
“I would characterize most of the reaction from faculty as ‘furious,’” said Faculty Senate Chair Beth Quitslund in an email.
The petition cites rising student debt and decreases in state higher education funding as reasons why the decision is a “poor use of scarce resources.”
Jennifer Kirksey, McDavis’ chief of staff, said in an email that it was necessary to provide alternative housing.
“Speculation on the foundation board’s decision, the cost to address the extent of the concerns with and appropriate use of 29 Park Place is extremely premature,” she said.
People who shared their feelings on the new property to the President’s Office were “very understanding of the situation and have expressed support,” Kirksey said in an interview Tuesday before the faculty letter was released.
The letter also mentions various conditions in university properties such as in residence halls and classrooms, including poor climate control, leaking roofs and mold.
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“Faculty are understandably sensitive to new costs for non-academic facilities when our academic buildings are in need of so much expensive renovation or replacement, and no one has publicly offered a persuasive rationale for not renovating 29 Park Place or for the high purchase price of 31 Coventry,” Quitslund said.
The $4,318 monthly payments to lease Coventry Lane will be paid for with tuition and fees, state funding and other university revenues, Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, said in a statement.
“These fees have historically covered the costs associated with operating 29 Park Place … if the Foundation chooses to purchase the house, these funds will continue to be used to cover the operating costs of the facilities,” he said in a statement.
The property is appraised at more than $580,000, according to the Athens County Auditor’s website.
The OU Foundation has the right to purchase the property until April 28, 2017.
If the OU Foundation decides to purchase the residence, it will pay $1.2 million for the more than 4,500 square-foot property, set on a 2.86-acre property that includes a swimming pool.
It also has the ability to purchase land that surrounds the property, which is included in the lease agreement.
“In addition to the home itself, the leased property includes adjoining acreage and four separate undeveloped parcels that comprise the Sycamore Hills sub-division,” said Donna Goss, director of engagement and real estate management, in a statement. “The surrounding acreage may be used to support university events.”
Officials are unsure whether the Foundation will purchase the property and surrounding land.
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“The Foundation Board has that amount of time to decide what happens, and I think it’s important to keep that flexibility because there’s a lot of issues that have to be factored into keeping that decision,” said Renea Morris, an OU spokeswoman.
Prior to the recent bat incident, the Board of Trustees was considering moving the presidential residence last year, Kirksey said.
“(Park Place) has grown exponentially with the amount of foot traffic,” Kirksey said.
The Board of Trustees' conversations pertaining to this topic have largely focused on using Park Place for “more academic purposes,” Morris said.
Questions have also arisen regarding the fact that the Foundation bought the new property from John and Joyce Wharton. John Wharton is the owner of Ohio Realty and was a board member of the OU Alumni Association from 2008 to 2012.
Officials say Wharton’s relationship with the university did not play into the Foundation’s decision to lease the property.
“I think its just serendipity (that Wharton owns the house),” Morris said. “There’s not very many people living in Athens that we don’t have relationships with as a university. … It’s a pretty small real estate market that we’re dealing with.”
The Post has requested records for donations Wharton has made to OU and where they’ve been used within the university.
“There is nothing that is under the table,” Morris said.
The McDavises moved out of their home at 29 Park Place after a recurring bat problem caused Deborah McDavis to break her foot in February.
The Board of Trustees passed a resolution March 13 allowing the McDavises to leave their 29 Park Place residence, which they were previously required to inhabit under Roderick’s contract.
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“I think that the issues that happened just a couple months ago precipitated a long standing issue,” Morris said. "There’s been issues with bats every year they’ve been in the house, so this hasn’t been a quick ‘lets get them out of the house and take care of this.’”
The decision to move the McDavises to a new home was also influenced by the need for Deborah, who has been wheelchair-bound since having surgery on her foot March 11, to recover, Kirksey said.
The new residence has three bathrooms and four bedrooms, with the master bedroom located on the first floor, a feature officials say Deborah needs to recover.
“I don’t think that anyone takes lightly the transition that this temporary arrangement has taken,” Kirksey said. “There has been a lot of thought about the tradition of 29 Park Place, the history of 29 Park Place, and that is why we have been so open and tried to be as transparent as absolutely possible.”
The now vacant Park Place property will undergo an assessment by OU Facilities to determine the next steps for the bat and structural problems in the residence.
“Even though it is now uncommon for presidents of large universities to live on campus, I am sad to see that tradition end at OU; it has been one of the symbols of the ‘small college experience’ that we are so proud of offering to our students,” Quitslund said.
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