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Holbrook to Retire (Merged)

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BayBuck said:
By the numbers, sure, but at what cost to the OSU student experience? I see she's leaving just in time for students to be without either a main library or student union for about 3 years...
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With all due respect, the Union is woefully outdated right now. I don't think many would miss it, especially since it's so close to High Street which provides the same services. For the sake of Morrill/Lincoln residents, I wish they'd improve the Drake as well.

As for the library, what are you gonna do? The board knew what the renovation plan was going to be like when they voted.

I do appreciate Holbrook spurring much of the construction of new buildings. The campus will look a lot nicer at the end of the decade.

I don't think many students can seriously say that their experience was dampened by her actions. The party scene is burgeoning, even without all the bars people like to reminisce about. South Campus Gateway has improved that area a ton, though the plans preceeded Holbrook.

Tuition is the only beef I have with her, and even that isn't totally her fault. Won't comment on the tailgating issue as I haven't experienced it.
 
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TheStoicPaisano said:
With all due respect, the Union is woefully outdated right now. I don't think many would miss it, especially since it's so close to High Street which provides the same services. For the sake of Morrill/Lincoln residents, I wish they'd improve the Drake as well.
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Gordon Gee pushed for a new union when I was a student.....never got it but they did jack up tuition $100 a quarter to build Larkins. Larkins used to be free, I hear they are charging now? Is this true?

I do appreciate Holbrook spurring much of the construction of new buildings. The campus will look a lot nicer at the end of the decade.
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The entire campus has been under construction for years (at least 12+). I bet she had nothing to do with a lot of the newer buildings (could be wrong) because it would take so long to raise and appropriate the funds.

I don't think many students can seriously say that their experience was dampened by her actions. The party scene is burgeoning, even without all the bars people like to reminisce about. South Campus Gateway has improved that area a ton, though the plans preceeded Holbrook.
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You have no idea what you missed. The southside bars were the ultimate spot for anyone 18+ and they used to rope off High Street to contain the massive crowds. Hell, even Tibor was probably getting laid.
 
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Larkins is $72 a quarter for students and $100 a quarter for facstaff. Not worth it, imo.

This has been in the works for awhile. The rumors have been swirling for a few months. It sounds like a Wexner power play. He pushed for the rule change to allow an expanded BoT which also allowed previous members to be re-appointed. Wexner was added to the BoT a couple months ago. No coincidence.

imo Holbrook focused too much on increasing research at the expense of the undergraduate education. She also hasn't been very vocal in pushing for more state funding downtown.

I don't have a problem with the Union and Library projects. Both are past due, especially the Union. The Library finally got enough money raised to proceed. Can't put it off now.
 
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BayBuck said:
By the numbers, sure, but at what cost to the OSU student experience? I see she's leaving just in time for students to be without either a main library or student union for about 3 years...
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yeah, after all, getting drunk and not getting a degree should be what OSU is known for. :roll1:

Farwell to a great president. Somebody who had the courage to change OSU from the mediocre academic big 10 school that it was.
 
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ekeen said:
You have no idea what you missed. The southside bars were the ultimate spot for anyone 18+ and they used to rope off High Street to contain the massive crowds. Hell, even Tibor was probably getting laid.
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OK, but those were gone when I got down here (9/2002). Everyone still had plenty of activities they could take part in, even at what was evidently the nadir of the social scene. I do feel for those who lost all these bars halfway through their college career, but the students now are only seeing progress.
 
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tibor75 said:
yeah, after all, getting drunk and not getting a degree should be what OSU is known for. :roll1:

Farwell to a great president. Somebody who had the courage to change OSU from the mediocre academic big 10 school that it was.
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My displeasure with Holbrook as OSU president is not at all about the tailgating issue, though I think the way she went about that showed how out of touch with our tradition she was--and to me tradition is fundamental to the college experience because of the way it bonds together ongoing generations of students and alumni. Karen Holbrook disregarded undergrads and staff, the libraries and the humanities, and that directly affects student life. It should also be noted that she has only been in office for 4 years, and some of the initiatives for making OSU more selective had been formulated under Kirwan. And while the Gateway project has been great for South Campus, I'm saying that as a 5-year alum: that area has none of the personality that it had in the 90s (and the 60s, when my mom could go to all the same bars).
 
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I don't post much, but here's my two cents.

Holbrook was always considered as something of a caretaker president, so it doesn't surpise me that she's leaving after only one contract. And, this is probably the wise thing for several reasons.

1) I know that the board of trustees wants a new president established prior to the election. I don't want this to be a partisan political thread, but Blackwell is incredibly hostile to higher education. The board of trustees, even though they're republicans (Wexner and Ong most prominently) want to get this over with so Blackwell has zero influence in the hiring of the new Ohio State University president.

2) The university is about to start a massive fundraising campaign (possibly the largest ever for a public university), so I'm guessing that the BOT wants somebody a little more dynamic in that role and one who will be there for the duration of the campaign. For the first time, they're seperating the medical campaign from the general university campaign. The announced goal for the medical campaign is 1/2 billion, and it's rumored that the general campaign's goal will be 1 1/2 to 2 billion.

Overall, IMHO Holbrook was a good but not great president. She essentially continued and built upon the policies that had been started by Ed Jennings and Gordon Gee and didn't screw things up. She wasn't good at pr and made a few blunders in this regard. Her alcohol crackdown at games was misguided (leave the alumni alone and worry about the zoo north of Lane Avenue). All of the major quality numbers were up under her administration: admissions selectivity, research $, rankings, high profile faculty. Again, here she was IMHO benefiting from the really hard work which was begun by Jennings and Gee. As for construction, hell, the main library should have been renovated 20 years ago. These kinds of things suck for anyone whose watch they happen on, but they can't be avoided.

For those that are breaking out the Champagne at this news, I'm curious as to why you feel so strongly that she was a horrible president?

OK, for someone who doesn't post here that often, this is long winded enough for you guys. Thx for indulging me.:osu4:
 
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BayBuck said:
It should also be noted that she has only been in office for 4 years, and some of the initiatives for making OSU more selective had been formulated under Kirwan.
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It actually was started under Jennings as soon as Jim Rhodes left the governor's mansion and has been built upon by succeeding presidents since. Out of curiosity, do you find this a negative?
 
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ORD_Buckeye said:
It actually was started under Jennings as soon as Jim Rhodes left the governor's mansion and has been built upon by succeeding presidents since. Out of curiosity, do you find this a negative?
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Good point--and no, I generally support OSU becoming more selective and higher-regarded academically: I was just dispelling the notion that she's primarily responsible for it.
 
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She was horrible at glad-handing and raising $$$... she should thank her lucky stars her husband would cover her to an extent.

The tailgating issue pissed a lot of donators off... ticketing old ladies for drinking a bloodymary in the parking lot is not a good idea...

Treating students like they are dog crap tends not to help either... She was one to ignore the small fry (read student) and talk with the managers of the departments... you could at least say "hi" (she literally wouldn't smile or greet students at the media relations area... it was literally as if the students didn't exist).

good riddance
 
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R0CK3TM4NN said:
I'm at Larkins/RPAC everyday and IMO its totally worth it. Best facility I've seen/used. $72 a quarter is nothing if you consider what health clubs are charging, especially a health club with the same quality facilities as RPAC.
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True, although I guess my dislike comes from two places. One, I remember when Larkins and both JO's were free. Not all students can afford an extra $225 or $300 a year. Two, facstaff were originally told they would be able to use the facility for free after it was done. Now they're not only paying, but paying more than students.

Jennings really started the push towards selective admissions and got OSU going on the right track. Jennings had his faults (Hocking Hills and Stone Lab come to mind) but he deserves a lot of credit. The freshman class profile in terms of ACT and class rank have improved every year for the past 10+ which is pretty amazing. OSU's reputation as a fairly selective public school is catching up slowly.

Holbrook came from a research-heavy background, so it's no surprise she put so much emphasis on it. The downside is that, while so many resources have been allocated to research, research buildings, research faculty, etc., the undergrad education has fallen off. OSU still is last in quality of educational technology and central IT services in the Big Ten (and it's not even close). They just have no funding. It's a joke. State funding has been horrible, so maybe the next Pres. will push a little harder at the statehouse for some funding changes. Hopefully the next OH governor will have some better ideas.
 
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CleveBucks said:
State funding has been horrible, so maybe the next Pres. will push a little harder at the statehouse for some funding changes. Hopefully the next OH governor will have some better ideas.
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Don't count on this from Blackwell. The man is completely opposed to higher education. He'll starve it financially. Under his budget plans, Ohio State estimates that state funding will drop to less than 10% of operating costs--if higher education takes a proportional share of the funding cuts. In Ohio, however, higher education has almost always taken a disproportionally high share of any budget cuts. He'll also harass the faculty to appease the far right wing. God knows who he'll appoint to the board of trustees. Rod Parsley? Given his rural and anti-intellectual base, It wouldn't surprise me if he tried to breathe life into the old Jim Rhodes corpse of open admissions.

Strickland won't be great either. I don't think he'll be the disaster for Ohio State that Blackwell will, but neither will he be some beacon of frickin' sunshine.

Petro had some great higher education ideas. In particular he was going to shut down a lot of the lowly ranked, redundant grad/professional programs at the Fredo Universities and focus those resources on the quality (i.e. Ohio State) programs. This probably would have freed up some resources for Ohio State to put into undergraduate education. I'm a democrat, but probably would have crossed party lines to vote for Petro based on what he would have done for Ohio State.
 
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