I assume that the $400,000+ a year salary he and his wife are being paid by the University is to be seen as an announcement that the university is not at all hurting for cash.

John Baker is rolling in his grave right now, Someone please save this once great university

well since his new salary is around 8-10 times the average athens county resident, we must assume that he merely works 8-10 times harder than everyone else. stop giving McDavis such a hard time. its not his fault that everyone else in athens is just too lazy to make a living wage. plus, with market economics, all that money he's making will trickle down into your pockets.

in all seriousness though the only thing thats going to solve our problems is a general strike this year.

"“It sends a strong statement recognizing the position of the president and the market,” said C. Daniel DeLawder, chairman of the board, referring to the raise. “It’s the trustees’ responsibility to remain current and I think we’ve done that.”" - what about remaining current with payment of faculty members that teach? I think we trail pretty far back in the national standards and state standards, but who cares about the people who teach right? It's not like we are providing educational services eh?

"“The basis for our conclusion — the market driven dynamics and comparisons to other institutions in Ohio — justifies the salary,” DeLawder said." - but it doesn't justify the salaries of the rest of the faculty of OU? Why not?

"“We believe a compensated position for the spouse of the president is appropriate,” he said." - well of course. She has a tough life living off that $300 k a year salary that Rod brings home! I mean she even is expected to go to events such as fancy dinners! OMFG!!!!

"The board also announced that it’s looking for a consultant for a comprehensive evaluation of the president, which will be completed sometime this year. It will announce a consultant decision and reveal further details of the review before its October meeting, DeLawder said." - Why do we need to hire a consultant and waste more money? Why can't the faculty evaluate the president and the board for that matter since they are greatly affected by their lavish spending?

Southeastern: Let's not also forget that little cottage across from the library that the school so generously gives them for free. They are really suffering. As for the consultant, they now need to pay someone off to justify the excessive amount they want to pay him.
If they are well off enough to pay him this much, then they can quit sending me those Alumni donation requests every couple of months!!!!

C'mon, give the guy a break. He will undoubtedly go down as one of the best (if not THE best) president this university has ever had. He has managed to grow the institution by leaps and bounds in a time of budget crisis for universities accross Ohio. The increases in nationally competitive award winners, fundraising, and university prestige under his term have been simply phenomenal. Finally someone has stopped settling for the mediocrity that has plagued OU for years.

I do not understand the beef that faculty (and some students) have with Dr. McDavis. He is in a position of leadership, and leaders in any walk of life earn vastly more money than their subordinates...right or wrong, that is the reality of the world. President McDavis is accountable for the entire university, and someone in such a position of power deserves significant compensation.

Faculty have absolutely no arguement for higher pay. A large amount of university
faculty are grossly OVERPAID for the minimal amount of work that they truly put in. No job in the world offers more flexibility in terms of workplace hours. You cannot cut it in the "real" world coming into the office 2-3 days a week. This is not to mention the 3 month break and virtually guaranteed job security for tenured professors.

I for one am excited for where our university is going. It is disappointing that a few "squeaky wheels" always seem to get the grease and create this poor public perception of Dr. McDavis. It's high time us McDavis supporters stand up and be heard!!

I agree 100% with bobcat_football. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I also take issue with writers and speakers who claim to be speaking for "faculty". I am faculty. I never authorized anyone to speak on my behalf. The broad statements that "faculty" are disgruntled are not true. I wish those representations became personal rather than general, no one speaks for me.

I am content, I am satisfied with the direction of the University and I support President McDavis.

You guys are both insane. He has a ridiculous disapproval rating from both students and faculty, the University is in a deep hole financially and he gets a pay raise and continues to spend exorbitant amounts of money to build new buildings and institute new programs we don't need while destroying old ones and cutting funding to areas that make this University what it is. He's a horrible president and every time I hear he name I wish I could find a journalism school this good at another University so I could get as far away from him as possible. Who knows, if the current trend continues, maybe he'll cut enough funding to the Coms school that any school would be better.

OK…. I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and a step back and find some middle ground here… on both sides.

Bobcat_football: You are right in some of the things that you say. Donations to the university have increased. I credit that with Dr. McDavis’s hiring of Howard Lipman, but I think that to treat this like it is some sort of sea change is a bit hasty. We have had one year where donations have increased substantially. However, some of the larger donations came as a result of our historically large donors passing away and leaving their estates to OU. Obviously, we cannot count on large donors dying every year to get more money, so I think we need to wait a couple of years before we start calling this growth sustainable. Still, for the first time in recent memory we actually have a plan to increase giving to the university, all as a result of the hiring of Lipman, so I think we will see a trend in the next couple of years. I just want to wait and see before celebrating.

On nationally competitive awards, yes, we have gotten quite a few of those, but I credit that more with the work of the people in the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards (ONCA). They have spent years building up that office, so I think giving all of the praise to the President is not completely fair. In my experience, winning these nationally competitive awards has just as much to do with the resources there to help you as your personal qualifications, so ONCA’s work has been invaluable in helping out Ohio University.

Will President McDavis be seen as the best president in the history of OU? My guess is no. He will definitely not be seen as the worst (we had some serious “gems” in the 19th century who were just terrible) but I still think his Presidency, despite the successes mentioned above, will still be seen as average, at best. Our national rankings have only marginally increased, if at all. This year, we are still struggling to keep our admit levels on par with what we have budgeted, and lets not forget that our retention problems have been ongoing and this year was the one exception (and is still a little uncertain). For all of the institutional effort we have put into “Bringing Ohio into its Third Century”, we have obtained little more than maintaining our status quo (not to make that sound bad… it was still a hard thing to do with our budget difficulties). Even with all the work I had to do on university committees, I never saw us growing by “leaps and bounds” in fact for most of the time we have simply been limping.

BoneyJones12: I understand your frustrations with having someone speak for you, I personally would hate that, but I also found little evidence that “The broad statements that "faculty" are disgruntled are not true” while working on BPC, or other committees. In fact, my experience has been that the level of faculty disapproval with our administration is very high. It did not matter which individuals I worked with, be it working on Vision OHIO, of the Five Year Plan, etc. I always noticed a very low amount of morale among the faculty (and it has been a pretty broad spectrum of different professors). That has been especially true of your elected representatives on Faculty Senate. Now, my question for anyone who says that a couple of “squeaky wheels” are always to blame for faculty seeming disgruntled and that the majority are actually content is this: Why do these squeaky wheels keep getting elected to leadership positions on the Faculty Senate? I can think of only two scenarios: either there actually are a lot of demoralized faculty members and that is why they get elected, or the “content majority” never vote (in which case I have little sympathy).

Now for the people who are so aghast at the President getting a raise…. It had to kind of be expected didn’t it? Especially when they gave him a new contract? I will admit, I never expected it to be so high. I also find the anger people have for Ms. McDavis receiving a salary to be low blows. She does not just attend fancy functions, she also runs a community service program with the local community. If we wanted, we could hire someone to do that, but they sure as hell would not do it for 28,000/yr… so quit whining. If she was not the First Lady, she would probably be able to make a similar salary as her husband in the private sector. I have never been able to figure out why so many people had a problem with her salary, she earns it.

I think this whole thing comes down to institutional priorities. Let’s face it…. We are facing a situation where if there is even a small decrease of money from the state… people are going to lose their jobs (possibly quite a few)… so a 30% raise for the President at this time is kind of ridiculous.

And I do not like the characterization that the faculty are “grossly overpaid”. Yes they get time off in the summer…. Do you know what every one of my faculty advisors is doing over this “break”? Research. So that they can publish, and actually earn tenure or a promotion… the rest are here…. Still teaching… still working on committees…. “2-3 times a week” in the office is often all that they can give with their other commitments. And if you think all faculty are so overpaid… talk to a group III faculty member (who are not benefiting from this new raise pool) I know of group IIIs who make a whopping $500/ credit hour…. Therefore if they teach 9 courses a year (more than a “full time” faculty member) they take home a whopping $18,000/yr before taxes…. No office… No health insurance…. No job security…. Nothing. Or what about teaching assistants in the Coms Dept. who teach 2 courses a quarter? GSS had to fight and claw to get $110,000 so that people like that can get a whopping $90/yr for a health subsidy. We were constantly told that the money might not be there. So for the Board to give the President an $85,000 raise with barely a peep of debate in a time of budget crisis is kind of insulting. And we are going to hire consultants to do a comprehensive eval? For what? The whole purpose of the comprehensive eval was to determine if the President was going to get a contract extension. He already got one…. So why all the bells and whistles? Do you realize how much institutional resources and time we will waste doing this next year? And for what? Nothing tangible… talk about wasteful spending.

Sorry for the rant folks… I hope it made sense… I think the real problem here is that we have a Board that only meets 5 times a year, they do not follow events on campus… and hell every meeting at least one of them is absent… Now they are going to force the President to lay people off days after giving him a 30% raise… I think they love to make his life difficult…. For all of you who are angry at the President… your true anger should lie elsewhere.

For the record, I was referring mainly to Group I faculty in my comments about overpaid professors. Why?...Because they are almost entirely the ones who are the "serial complainers" threatening to form a union. Group II and III faculty here (and elsewhere) obviously earn a rather meager paycheck for the work they put in.

And as for all faculty doing research over the summer and being overworked, that is almost laughable. Coming from a family that includes several college professors, I know that most tenured faculty have more leisure time than I could ever dream of in my "9-5"! Sure there are some who are serious researchers and advisors, but that they are in a small minority.

They're right that a spouse is critical in representing OU. I'm glad that here in Ohio, the right to collegiate presidency is limited to one man, one woman.

xfactor...try MIZZOU, Syracuse, Northwestern, Columbia, or Indiana

Students don't dislike him as much as you think, xfactor... the fact is when people ask for student opinion most just do not care. hHey blindly follow the opinion of what they hear the most, which is our small faction of vocal little anarchists.

Daddywags:..... Huh? *scratches head*

Bobcat_football: I guess we will probably never agree on how valuable the work that Group I faculty do is.... so let's just agree to disagree.

However, I am puzzled by this statement "Why?...Because they are almost entirely the ones who are the "serial complainers" threatening to form a union".

First off, there is a reason that Group I tenured faculty are the ones you constantly see in the media criticizing the administration, they are the only group with the freedom (and by extension the ability) to do so. One of the whole points of the entire tenure system laid out in the 1940 Statement of Principles from the AAUP and the American Association of Colleges and Universities was the idea of academic freedom. This meant two things, that professors could research whatever they want without fear of repsisal, and that they could not be fired for political activity (such as criticizing those that run the university). That is why you hear Group I faculty members being more open in their criticisms, because they have the freedom (and right under their contracts) to do so. Group II or III faculty are not neccesarily more content than those with tenure, but you will not see them taking the lead on criticising their management in the paper.... because that would be dumb as they can be fired almost at will.

And what is the problem with them wanting to form a union? In addition to it being their right under Ohio Revised Code as public employees, it is not unheard of in higher education. Faculty members at a bunch of institutions in Ohio have collective bargaining units. Even places similar to OU like: Toledo, Cinci, Akron, Kent, CSU, and Wright State have unions.... so I do not know why it is so shocking that they are at least examining the matter. Let's face it, though I listed some of the rights they have under the tenure system above.... tenure is on its way out in higher ed, and on its way out for good. Nationally there are much fewer tenure positions available and the proportions will continue to decrease since more and more univesities are beginning to utilize more adjunct and part-time faculty. Therefore, in order to maintain some of the rights they have under the tenure system, some faculty members form unions that will guarantee them similar rights (groups of employees in any industry will do the same thing in order to protect the quality of their benefits and rights).

The university is just a big business.... and this is a typical employee relations situation, nothing more and nothing less

You know what's funny, I applied to Missouri and Syracuse, but Ohio is far better and after visiting Athens, it jumped from the bottom of my list to the top. And the program here is still much stronger than those... for now...

xfactor...im glad you like the j-school sooo much here, but it is not the best. Around the top, yes; but not the best.

abc news: asu, syracuse, florida, unc, and texas,
usnews: mizzou, columbia, northwestern, florida, harvard, berkely, nyu, american, OHIO, unc, and syracuse

but i digress on this point.

McDavis has come in during a time of transition, a time when changes had to happen. Some like the changes, some do not, and others could care less either way. However, I think we cannot truely be able to judge the success or lack there of of the McDavis presidency until some time after he retires. I disagree with Dom on this, I think that if the switch to semesters goes well ( remember this effects more than just winter and summer breaks...it effects curriculum!) he may be remembered as a very good president. anyway...im graduated and am going to another university where the students AND faculty are happy. good luck!

While I agree that, given the contract extension (which I'm positive will sit well with all the constituent groups who were actually given any consideration) A raise is to be expected. I specify A raise; not THIS raise.

How the board of trustees feel it's okay to greenlight an 85,000 pay hike after the controversy surrounding the layoffs of facilities workers and budget problems forced 4 varsity sports underground, is beyond me.

As a current student, I feel many don't care about what's going on for no other reason than there doesn't seem to be much incentive to. The Board of Trustees has repeatedly shown no respect for constituent opinions- regardless of the fact that it is those very constituent groups that allow this university's existence.

It does make one wonder what would happen if all students stopped paying tuition and all faculty stopped coming in to teach their "2-3 days a week".

I find it interesting that, in stories regarding his administration, President McDavis continually claims that he is blamed for many existing problems with the university. This may very well be true, but you can't pass the buck on existing problems and accept the glory for that which you have no control over.

Yes, some great things have been going on with this historic institution this past year. We have students doing terrific things and competing with the brightest minds across the country. What impact does Roderick J. McDavis have on that?

How is President McDavis responsible for the amazing endowment of the Russ family?

If the New Baker Center (a project that owes much of its success in completion to former President Glidden) hadn't opened up, would Mr. Schoonover still have given his $7.5 million gift to the College of Communication?

For those alumni who read these comments, I am one of those students who bother you every few months to ask for any support you're willing to share. I do this in good conscience because I believe in this university. I have to say, I can't count how many times I, personally, have been told that individuals are refusing to give until Dr. McDavis no longer holds the title of President.

I can count how many times I have heard, "Tell that McDavis to keep up the good work. He's doing a heckuva job."

Zero.

my comment was sarcasm. I think it is preposterous that the president's wife receives a salary from the university. they say it's vital that OU's president have a spouse. does that mean a single woman or man couldn't run the university? that's ridiculous. a spouse is not critical in running the university. I'm perfectly fine with her making a contribution to the university by participating in dinners and other events. but that money could be put to better use.

I don't have a problem with the raise, hopefully this will make the position more attractive to a possible replacement, and hopefully this is in the board’s master plan. As one of the alumni who tells zero every time he calls I will not make a donation that could be used as a positive for McDavis. All of the things listed above are meaningless. The bottom line is McDavis continues to de value my degree by lowering academic standards to increase enrollment. This university was once known as "Harvard on the Hocking". Now we rank below the 60,000 student agricultural school in Columbus. While I don’t necessarily put a lot a stock in rankings because I don't understand how a school that gives away 20,000 degrees every year can be ranked in front of anyone. It still looks very bad.

bd40pe is on to something here. Part of the reason that instructors (and not just group I, let me tell you) are up in arms is that they are seeing the daily result of a widening student/faculty ratio and declining academic interest among incoming students. OU is rapidly turning into a degree mill, and both the livability of Athens as a town and the reputation of the entire university are going to suffer the longer it goes on. For you sports fans, Miami, a school that has historically embarrassed OU in athletics, has strictly limited their enrollment to around 15,000, and their academic reputation is currently well above OU's as a result. People need to wake the hell up and realize that attempting to turn this university into OSU is a fool's errand -- the Athens area has neither the space nor the infrastructure to handle the kind of growth the current administration is pushing for. If OU wants to up enrollment it should take steps to beef up programs at its branch campuses, which have been miserably underdeveloped for decades now.

As for the McDavis raise? Sometimes I think the rest of the administration and the trustees are just using the guy as a lightning rod for criticism because he's black (and most Americans, including you and I, are still a lot more racist than we care to admit). If they can keep people's anger directed at McDavis they can avoid scrutiny of an entire administrative culture that is seriously flawed.

Al Althea
Athens Civic Issues Blogger
athwatch.blogspot.com

Academic interest among students is a serious problem just about anywhere these days. I have several professors in my family, and they all agree that the general quality of students has seriously declined over the last 10 years. One of these men teaches at Northwestern, so it is not limited to your so-called "degree mills".

As far as a good undergraduate education, I do agree that Miami is an excellent institution. However, OU does offer a far wider array of Master's and PhD programs that contributes to a more research-focused environment. Ohio State's strength lies almost solely in its graduate programs and medical school. On the undergraduate level, OSU is still very average and is essentially Franklin County's community college.

As an aside, feel free to compare OU's academic rankings to the 11 other institutions that you find in the Mid-American Conference. Miami aside, OU far and away is the best academic school in the league. This is a more "apples to apples" comparison than talking about Ohio State or other mega-schools.

Must be nice to get a huge raise when the economy is in the pits. I mean the University pays for his housing and pays his wife too.
I think they should take their 85k raise and give it back to the university as a donation to spend it on the students.

Bobcat football said it right there. Miami aside???, NO! There is absolutely no reason to put Miami in another class than OU. 10 or 15 years ago Miami was at best an equal to OU. Now you are putting them in a class that OU is not comparable to. What! Ohio U was the class of the state for undergrad education. That’s where the problem is, since McDavis has taken office Miami and OSU have both surpassed OU and everyday McDavis is in office the gap widens.