Bobcat statues delayed

by Colleen Schmidt
For The Post

The 100 4-foot-tall bobcats threatening to overrun the Ohio University campus this Homecoming Weekend now will not be unleashed until Winter Quarter.

The bobcats will be manufactured during winter break. The Bicentennial Campaign's Student Campaign Advancement Committee, which heads this project, plans to sell the statues to student organizations Winter Quarter, said Amanda Cunningham, chairperson of the committee.

The "Show Us Your Bobcat!" project, the committee's largest effort, was moved to Winter Quarter to allow more time to focus on details, Cunningham said. The committee is the student arm of OU's fundraising effort.

"Rather than rush it, we wanted to take time and make sure the bobcats were made to our specifications," she said.

The Bicentennial Campaign, which aims to raise $200 million by OU's bicentennial in 2004, is part of the OU Foundation.

The bobcats will be sold to OU student organizations or organization alumni for $50 to $100, decorated by the students involved in the organizations and then displayed around campus Spring Quarter, said Rick Harrison, assistant dean for Student Affairs Development. The exact price is not yet set.

"We don't want to make it expensive to the groups," he said. "We just want to get as much participation as we can."

The plan, unveiled in Spring Quarter 2001, estimated the statues would be sold for $35.

After the bobcats are displayed, they will be auctioned to OU alumni during Homecoming Weekend 2002, Cunningham said.

The bobcats will be molded, manufactured and cast in polystyrene, a sturdy plastic, by Scale Craft Models, a company located in Massillon, Ohio, Harrison said.

The bobcats will cost about $6,000 to manufacture, Harrison said.

"We established a goal to raise $100,000 by 2004 for the Bicentennial Campaign," Cunningham said. "We're raising this money to go toward the campaign, specifically to go toward the construction of a new university student center."

Cunningham said she hoped to sell some of the bobcats, which cost the committee $600 to produce each, for as much as $3,000.

Harrison said he hopes the bobcats will become collector's items.

The campaign this weekend hopes to sell another collector's item - the torn-down Graffiti Wall.

People also will be allowed to sign up to purchase a piece of the former graffiti wall this weekend, said Alissa Galford, co-chair of the student campaign advancement committee.

Proceeds from the chunks of the cement wall will help to pay for the bobcats.