Weekend Update

Here is the latest from around the Athens campus (...and beyond!) that went down while everyone was enjoying the beginning of Fest season here at OU or just the absolutely beautiful weather!

OU Board of Trustees
The BoT commented on many critical issues during their meeting Friday, including one of the letters delivered by the protesters Thursday evening. OU SPJ President Evan Millward and President-elect Ian Bowman-Henderson were in attendance at the rally, with Ian giving an impassioned speech and calling for more accountability by those in charge.

The Board again delayed finalization of the Statement of Expectations, though they did approve a slew of student fee increases for the 2009-2010 academic year. Chair C. Daniel Delawder even addressed the much-publicized quote that was run in July by the Athens NEWS and has since been posted here several times. In a (hopefully) positive change, Delawder will be replaced as chair next year by C. Robert Kidder.

Read more from The Post: 1, 2, 3
and The Athens NEWS: 1, 2

Hocking College Public Records Disaster
For those who don't know, Hocking College (just up US 33 in Nelsonville) is in the midst of a presidential search. However, when pressed to see public records and evaluations of the candidates' visits to campus, a faculty union representative discovered that those records had been destroyed...what makes this more interesting is that the man who did the destruction is a former OU Trustee...

Read more from The Post and the Athens NEWS.

It would appear that as spring is blossoming in southeast Ohio, so is the tangles of First Amendment and Open Records issues at hand.

We'll keep you updated here as these stories develop!