The most recent Twitter updates from Roderick McDavis address “presidential snuggies,” the Genie Bra and being fly — but they’re not coming from the real president of Ohio University.
A recently created faux Twitter account, @PrezMcDavis, sports McDavis’s name, headshot and several dozen markedly irreverent tweets.
“McDavis Parody. [ I AM NOT THE REAL MCDAVIS.] but I’m pretty fly,” states the Twitter account’s biography.
The account has amassed more than 500 followers since its creation Wednesday, with such tweets as, “#moodkiller When all you want to do is day drink but you have budget meetings. #hardouthereforapimp #likeameetingcouldstopme.”
Other tweets reference OU Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi and talk about taking vacations on the students’ dime.
The creator of the account, an OU student who wished to remain anonymous, said the main purpose of the account was actually to improve students’ perceptions of OU administration.
“... If a joke twitter account about our President drinking and taking it easy can increase (OU’s and Athens’) sense of community even more, that would be a great end-goal for me personally,” he said in a statement.
The student added he did not want to provide his identity because he feared reprisal from administrators, who he said have not contacted him yet.
“I think it’s in my best interest, both professionally and personally to remain anonymous for now,” he said. “I don’t want pissed off administrators looking for me.”
One of the Twitter user’s followers is @OUVPSA, the account for Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith. Smith said he believes some of the tweets have racial overtones and called several of them “distasteful.”
“Regardless of what you think of President McDavis, he is a man; he is a graduate of Ohio University, and he is working hard every day to do what he thinks is best for Ohio University,” Smith said. “And I respect him greatly.”
The account shouldn’t influence students’ opinions of OU administration, Smith said.
“Clearly, this is someone with not enough schooling to study,” Smith said. “They clearly have a lot of time on their hands.”
McDavis knows about the Twitter account, and his office has contacted Twitter to report the “imposter” account, said Becky Watts, McDavis’s chief of staff. Twitter officials have not responded to the report.
If the president’s office is told the account falls under Twitter’s allowances for parody accounts, since it clearly states the user is not actually McDavis, OU administrators will not take further action, Watts said.
For a full Q&A with the student who created this spoof Twitter account, visit The Post's news blog here.
rm279109@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCampus
