Yes, Sir! I always liked McDavis. I never understood all the negativity toward him from some quarters. Some hated him because he liked athletics. I understand that. But the general McDavis bashing that was rampant on campus never made any sense to me. I thought overall he did a very good job. Never wanted him to leave.
I liked both Glidden and McDavis - both easily accessible. Rod got off to a bad start when he made the Urban Scholars Program his first big initiative followed by elevating the diversity office to a seat in Cutler Hall. Had he made the Appalachian Scholars Program his first big initiative, things probably would have gone much smoother.
Alan, can you expand on why you think he should've pushed the Appalachian scholar program first and why the Urban Scholar program push was a mistake? I’m genuinely interested to hear your take.
At the risk of opening a can of worms, I’ll give it a go. Whenever someone is a first, they are often identified by that characteristic – first this or the first that – and in this case, McDavis was the first black president at OU just like Julie has been identified as the first female AD at OU. With those labels come certain expectations and preconceived notions.
Secondly, and this is something I’ve observed over the almost 41 years I’ve lived in Athens and traveled extensively throughout the area, there are quite a few people including current and former employees of OU who don’t have a very positive view of the institution. Yes, I’ve lobbed my share of criticism at various programs and people associated with the university but at the same time I believe in it enough that I’ve encouraged countless high school students to give OU a serious look. Those criticisms are quite different than the outright disdain for the institution that I’ve heard and seen.
With that background, imagine what some people thought when the first big initiative of the first black president at OU was to offer scholarships to kids from the big city – read – black kids. What about the kids from Vinton County and Scioto County or Athens County? Aren’t those kids good enough? Don’t they deserve an education?
I honestly believe that had his first initiative been an Appalachian Scholars Program, he would have received far less initial criticism than he received.