Out with the old
By Logan Lane, Managing Editor
September 7, 2016
Over the summer, Scott Scarborough ended a short but controversial tenure as The University of Akron’s president. The Board of Trustees, the governing body of the University, announced Scarborough’s resignation on its May 31 board meeting. “The Board is charged with ensuring the effective governance, ...
Grad students unsatisfied with leadership
By Logan Lane, Copy Editor
May 4, 2016
University of Akron graduate students are not confident in President Scott Scarborough’s leadership, new survey results say. The Graduate Student Government (GSG) sent out the survey to 4,019 graduate students on Feb. 23 and garnered a 21 percent response rate (834 students). The survey’s...
President names new chief of staff
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
May 4, 2016
On Tuesday, May 3, University of Akron President Scott Scarborough appointed William Lyons as his interim chief of staff. Lyons has been a political science professor at UA since 1996, becoming director of the Center for Conflict Management in 2000. He also has led such campus programs as Rethinking...
Less confidence than before
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
May 2, 2016
The results of a survey released yesterday show that UA faculty have even less confidence in University leadership and direction than they did fall semester. “Approximately 9 out of every 10 faculty believe that the university is worse off than it was two years ago, that the public sees the Unive...
Honoring Zak Husein by giving back
By Zaina Salem, Editor in chief
April 20, 2016
“Do not forget your loved ones. Please remember…. tell everybody all the good things you feel about them. Get straight to the point, because sometimes you will not have a chance.” These words came from Ammar Husein, who spoke in front of about 450 people at a charity event held in honor of his...
Quiet meeting, quiet protest
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
April 13, 2016
Out in Orrville at UA’s Wayne College campus, it was a quiet day for both trustees and protesters. Yesterday, April 13, was the UA Board of Trustee’s last meeting of spring semester – its first meeting reviving the annual tradition, stopped eight years ago, of meeting at a location off...
Bodenschatz, Galehouse win USG presidential election
By Logan Lane, Copy Editor
April 11, 2016
Megan Bodenschatz has won the the 2016-2017 Undergraduate Student Government presidential election, USG announced at its weekly senate meeting last Thursday, April 7. Bodenschatz and her vice president Sterling Galehouse received 57.6 percent of the vote, beating out Isaac Lampner and running-mate C...
Choose your leadership
By Logan Lane and Grant Morgan
March 31, 2016
UA’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is now holding elections for next year’s president, vice president, and senate members. If you are an undergraduate, you should have received an email this morning explaining how to vote. There is also a link to the bio page of the candidates. Voting...
Football player injured in shooting
By Dylan Reynolds
March 30, 2016
Akron wide receiver Andrew Pratt is currently recovering after his housemate mistook him for a burglar and shot him in the stomach on March 19. Although he is taking time off from classes, the senior sports studies major recently said that he has recovered enough to go about his day-to-day life. ...
USG should take action after survey
By Buchtelite Editorial Board
March 17, 2016
Several weeks ago, at a time when tension ran high on campus after the Faculty Senate’s overwhelming no-confidence vote in President Scott Scarborough, UA’s Undergraduate Student Government issued a comprehensive survey to its constituents because its leadership was hesitant to act without a clear...
Survey captures student opinion of UA leadership
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
March 14, 2016
Just over 56 percent of undergraduate students say they have no confidence in UA President Scott Scarborough, a survey released last week by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) shows. The survey, which was anonymous and included both multiple choice and open-ended questions, garnered respo...
Distinguished professors rebuke UA leadership
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
February 29, 2016
As the faculty union goes into emergency meetings today and tomorrow to discuss a strike-authorization vote, a group of distinguished UA professors has publicly declared their disapproval of the University’s direction under the leadership of President Scott Scarborough. The title of “Distinguish...
USG seeks student attitudes toward UA leadership
By Nick Peterman, News Writer
February 17, 2016
At the Undergraduate Student Government senate meeting on Feb. 11, USG President Taylor Swift announced plans to issue a campus-wide survey to all students in order to gather student sentiment toward campus leadership. The survey, which was sent to student emails Monday, Feb. 15, comes as USG conside...
Board responds to calls for change
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
February 10, 2016
In the printed version of the article, UA Board of Trustees Chair Jonathan Pavloff is introduced only with his last name, and without reference of what position he holds at UA. After the faculty senate’s near-unanimous vote of no confidence in President Scott Scarborough, and a more ...
Key issues on the table
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
February 8, 2016
According to University spokesman Wayne Hill, the "proposed course fees" mentioned in this article are for law students in the UA School of Law's international program in Asia, and for Fire and Hazardous Materials students for the purchasing of protective clothing. After an eventful week in which...
Big gift, new name
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
February 4, 2016
Yesterday, UA announced plans to change the name of its Honors College after receiving a $3 million gift from alumni Gary and Pamela Williams. The gift expands the Williamses’ $7 million bequest given to the University in 2008, which turns their total commitment to more than $10 million. But even ...
Fewer headed to UA?
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
February 1, 2016
Freshman applications to UA were down 6 percent in mid-January from the same time last year, as the number of admitted students who had confirmed their intent to enroll in fall 2016 were down 32 percent, University data show. These numbers, updated every week, provide only a snapshot of how the annual...
What you might have missed
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
January 25, 2016
Finals week is demanding, and it’s often difficult for students to keep up with anything other than studying, finishing final projects, and taking tests. Then, when winter break comes, many take full advantage of the respite from classes by directing all their focus to other aspects of their lives...
Ad campaign seeking reform in UA governance
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
December 15, 2015
A new campaign is in progress to reform the way top decisions are being made at The University of Akron. Paid for by “Advocates for The University of Akron, Students and Faculty,” the campaign has so far included five three-quarter-page black-and-white ads printed in the Akron Beacon Journal. “STOP”...
In June, a ‘literal political campaign’ to change UA’s name by January 2016
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
December 7, 2015
It started early this year as a post on a zipsnation.org forum. Since, the topic of a UA name-change — a rebranding, a new slogan, a marketing tagline, whatever one might call it now — has been persistently in the news. But last Friday, The Devil Strip released a story about an administrative email tha...
How many times must we ask for transparency?
By Buchtelite Editorial Board
December 3, 2015
Last Sunday the Akron Beacon Journal ran a full-page ad signed by seven of Akron’s prominent business executives, which exhorted readers to put faith in the changes at UA and “come together” to support it. Near the bottom of the ad in smaller letters read: “Paid for by the Friends of The U...
Business council formed to advise Scarborough and Board of Trustees
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
November 30, 2015
In spite of extensive dissatisfaction from other constituents, at least one group puts hope in the direction of UA: Akron’s business executives. On Sunday, Nov. 29, seven prominent Akron businessmen signed a full-page advertisement in the Akron Beacon Journal urging readers to give the University’s ...
Many questions, few answers
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
November 19, 2015
“No topic is off-limits,” UA President Scott Scarborough told the crowd at yesterday’s Akron Press Club event in Quaker Square’s banquet hall, where nearly 175 educators, students, staff, alumni, administrators and community members came to hear him speak. But assuring that no topics are off-limits d...
Thoughts on Akron Press Club meeting
By Keirsten Heckel
November 18, 2015
As one of the four students that attended the Akron Press Club Luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 18, I noticed something that I have not seen with President Scarborough before: he seemed more engaged with the audience and ready to be transparent. Scarborough started the event off with first asking the audience...
A ‘normal meeting’
By Buchtelite Editorial Board
November 18, 2015
UA President Scott Scarborough began his Akron Press Club speech yesterday by pulling out the dry erase markers and telling the audience he was going to run it like he does “normal meetings” with “faculty, staff, or students.” He asked audience members to raise their hand and propose topics, ...
Graduate assistantships on chopping block
By Kristina Aiad-Toss, Photo Editor
November 16, 2015
The headline of the print version of this article incorrectly implied that graduate assistantships will be cut; however, the elimination of some, not all, graduate assistantships is not assured, but is being discussed at this time. In response to persisting budget problems at The Uni...
Burns, Williams featured in third Town Hall meeting
By Logan Lane, Copy Editor
November 16, 2015
At the third meeting in the Undergraduate Student Government’s Town Hall series, students picked up the microphone to hurl questions — directly, this time — at UA Vice President of Advancement Larry Burns and new Director of Athletics Lawrence Williams. “It makes it hard for [administrato...
Students as ‘customers’
By Buchtelite Editorial Board
November 11, 2015
UA President Scott Scarborough recently appeared on the cover of the November issue of the Akron/Canton SmartBusiness magazine. A business magazine? Figures. But “smart” business? That’s questionable. Regardless, UA administrators have been far too fond of likening the Univ...
Sexual assault survey responses released
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
November 4, 2015
Students received troubling, but important, news in a special edition of Zipmail yesterday. The letter was from President Scott Scarborough, and it highlighted some of the findings from the UA Sexual Assault and Violence Education Team (SAVE) survey from earlier this year. Unlike other universiti...
Defining ‘courage’ in light of UA’s plight
By Buchtelite Editorial Board
October 21, 2015
UA President Scott Scarborough’s penultimate slide from Tuesday’s “State of the University” address showed the stoic face of Theodore Roosevelt, one of American history’s most resilient men, along with a quotation of his about courage. “We must dare to be great; and we must realize tha...
Whose ‘State of the University’ is correct?
By Grant Morgan and Kristina Aiad-Toss
October 21, 2015
UA President Scott Scarborough was not the only one to give his thoughts on the state of the university on Tuesday. Faculty did, too. One hour before the president’s first “State of the University” address, around 80 UA educators in academic regalia and black armbands gathered outside E.J. Thomas Ha...
Town Hall meeting leaves something to be desired
By Buchtelite Editorial Board
October 7, 2015
Monday’s USG Town Hall meeting with Scott Scarborough held great promises, but left something to be desired. The idea of a town hall meeting carries a strong connotation of intimacy: guests openly presenting ideas, voicing opinions, asking questions; panelists giving candid, thoughtful responses—all ...
New faculty, recalled staff
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
September 30, 2015
Not all employees whose positions were cut in July have left The University of Akron for good. “We’ve had a number of people who we’ve brought back because of bumping rights or [their] skill set and put in different positions,” UA Chief Financial Officer Nathan Mortimer said, referencing the retur...
Faculty in disaccord with University leadership
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
September 28, 2015
Faculty are not happy with the way things are going at The University of Akron. Yesterday, the Akron chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released results of a survey sent out to assess opinions about the current leadership at UA. The survey results come after months of ...
President says name won’t change
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
September 16, 2015
In the print version of this article, UA Student Trustee Darnell Davis' name is incorrectly written as Darnell Wilson. The Buchtelite acknowledges this mistake. “There are no plans to change the name of The University of Akron— now or in the future. Period.” This statement came from a ...
An open letter: USG to President Scarborough
July 13, 2015
The following is an letter addressed to The University of Akron President Scott Scarborough, written and signed by the UA Undergraduate Student Government's president and vice president Taylor Swift and Richard Angeletti. Dear Dr. Scarborough: As the elected governing body, it is Undergraduate...
Upcoming campus protest against UA name-change
By Grant Morgan, Managing Editor
May 1, 2015
Seventeen students gathered in Olin Hall Room 124 today, May 1, to work out the details of a protest against a name-change for The University of Akron. The protest will take place next Friday, May 8, starting at 3:30 p.m. Students can join the protest at one of two meeting points on campus: in front...
Update on name-change considerations
By Grant Morgan, News Editor
April 1, 2015
A name can tell a lot about a university. Or can it? What is now known as The University of Akron began as Buchtel College in 1870. Buchtel College and its assets were transferred to the City of Akron in 1913, when its name changed to the Municipal University of Akron. Then, in 1967, the Municipal...
Eighth Black Male Summit to address inequities
By Ian Vanek, News Writer
March 30, 2015
The eighth annual Black Male Summit will be returning Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11 to The University of Akron’s campus. The Black Male Summit was started in 2008 and brings together national leaders, educators, policy makers, civic organizations, and myriad other disciplines to addre...
Name change? President Scarborough considers dropping ‘The University of Akron’
By Zaina Salem, Managing Editor
March 11, 2015
The University of Akron might undergo a name change. This idea was one of many discussed as part of UA’s ongoing strategic planning process. According to a statement released by President Scarborough, a new name for The University of Akron would “reflect its unique strengths in polytechnical...
University Council makes recommendations
By Nicholas Summers, Copy Editor
March 11, 2015
University Council held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 10 at 3 p.m. in the Union to discuss a number of topics and motions to recommend to president Scarborough. “UC is a deliberative and representative body that makes recommendations to the President on long-range planning and inform...
