Officials in the College of Education encouraged students to support Ohio University President Roderick McDavis in a counter-protest Friday, which pitted black pro-McDavis protesters against the overwhelmingly white Students Against McDavis.
Students Against McDavis gathered at the West Portico of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, while a pro-McDavis rally was held across the street at Howard Park.
About 35 pro-McDavis students carried signs ' some homemade and some printed by the university ' showing support for the university and McDavis. The students chanted Vote Confidence
and We support McDavis.
At one point, the predominately black group marched silently across the street to demonstrate adjacent to the group of about 65 people, mostly white, who gathered to listen to students and faculty criticize McDavis.
One of the pro-McDavis marchers, Michael Ward, who was invited to take the microphone and address anti-McDavis protestors, winged a speech supportive of McDavis.
What bothered us as a committee of those who supported McDavis the most is that this was more of a personal attack on him Ward said. We call it structural racism.
The protests precede a confidence vote for McDavis later this week. Students voting in the Student and Graduate Student Senate elections will be asked to evaluate their degree of confidence in McDavis on Thursday. This week, the American Association of University Professors will also survey faculty for the second time, to gauge the level of support for McDavis.
Officials in the College of Education sent an e-mail to every student in the college Thursday, urging them to attend and support McDavis.
However you feel about recent university events please plan to join me at this rally G? wrote Amy Robinson, director of public affairs for the college, in the e-mail. We're sick of seeing our school dragged through the mud!
A stricter alcohol policy, controversy over the elimination of four sports programs and a projected $8.55 million budget shortfall have prompted the recent criticism of McDavis.
Earlier this month, several distinguished professors threatened to send a letter to the Board of Trustees urging a change in leadership.
The letter, leaked to the press by the university, was followed by another letter from the Caucus of Educators and Staff of African Descent that charged racism in the criticism of McDavis.
Several high-ranking university administrators attended the protests, including Kathy Krendl, executive vice president and provost; Terry Hogan, dean of students; Kent Smith, vice president for Student Affairs; and Richard Carpinelli, associate vice president for Budget and Operations. McDavis did not attend.
McDavis recently handed day-to-day control of the university to Krendl as he begins to focus on fund raising and other external tasks. He must still approve final decisions at the university.
Krendl, who stood between the two groups during the Friday rallies, said she was pleased the see the diversity of opinion on campus and was confident that both groups had the university's best interests at heart.
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Sean Gaffney
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Jeremy Wright, left, 20, a sophomore from Chicago, and Tele Gallagher, 19, a student at Hocking College, discuss Ohio University President Roderick McDavis' time in Athens during a public gathering on the College Green Friday. Wright was with a group
