Ohio University (OU) students protest over president’s $1.2 million new home after bats force him out of old house; Canton woman stabs boyfriend over salsa dispute
We boil down what happened in Cleveland this week.
Ohio University students protest over president’s $1.2 million new home after bats force him out of old house
More than a hundred students gathered outside of Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis’ house on March 31 to protest his new $1.2 million residence. The university moved him into the home after bats forced him out of his historical on-campus home.
McDavis and his wife, Deborah, will stay in new home while their original house undergoes repairs. Mrs. McDavis broke her right foot in February after a bat startled her.
The house’s lease will be paid by the University Foundation, a fundraising nonprofit, but students will pay the $4,318 monthly bill on the property.
The students held a “bat rally” on Tuesday, which was also attended by a number of faculty.
“Ohio University buying a $1.2 million home to fix a ‘bat problem’ is bat shit crazy,” said the Facebook event for the rally. “This shows how out of touch our administration is with the OU community. Meanwhile, there are decaying residence halls, classrooms, poor student wages and rising tuition costs. Why should students have to struggle to get by on loans while our highly paid administrators live in gross luxury?”
More than 100 faculty also signed a letter asking administrators to reconsider the expensive off-campus lease.
“The house is a symbol of what [the president, vice president and Board of Trustees] want to spend money on,” said OU history professor Kevin Mattson to The Post, OU’s student newspaper. “It’s about what they want from the presidency. What better symbol than to seclude the president from the campus that he’s responsible for governing?”
Canton woman stabs boyfriend over salsa dispute
Phyllis D. Jefferson, a 50-year-old Canton resident, stabbed her boyfriend, 61-year-old Ronnie Buckner, on March 29 because he had been “eating all of the salsa.”
Jefferson stabbed Buckner with a pen three times, then tried to knock over his TV. After that she got a small kitchen knife and stabbed him in the stomach. Jefferson left the scene but was later caught on an interstate highway.
Buckner was treated at a local hospital for non life-threatening injuries. Jefferson was meanwhile charged with felonious assault and criminal damaging.
According to Buckner, the two were sharing chips and salsa when Jefferson started yelling at him for eating all of the salsa. Jefferson later told the police that she stabbed Buckner because “she wanted to leave.”
Julia Bianco is a senior cognitive science and political science student currently working as The Obsever’s Director of Web and Multimedia. She has...