Group preparations for Election Day are underway

OU political organizations prepare for upcoming elections

ANNA MILLAR FOR THE POST

With election season just around the corner, various political groups at Ohio University are planning events to promote their respective candidates and policies.

The OU College Democrats, or OUCD, is unable to plan events on behalf of candidates; however, it is hosting a town hall event at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 19, OUCD President Grant Perry, a senior studying geography and political science, said. The date and time for the event are solidifi ed, but the format is still in the works.

As a chapter of the College Democrats of Ohio, OUCD must follow the guidelines set by the Ohio Democratic Party regarding COVID-19, Perry said. To hold an in-person event, masks would have to be provided, social distancing guidelines would have to be followed and proof of vaccination would have to be shown.

The OU Moderates, or OUM, is student-created and not part of a state organization, OUM President Ryan Gwin, a junior studying elementary education, said. The OUMs is planning a tabling event for the fi rst week in November, he said, and the event will be titled “The Power of Your Voice.”

The event will include information on how to fi ll out a ballot and the importance of voting, Gwin said.

The OU College Republicans, or OUCR, is working on planning an event similar to the dinner hosted by the Athens County Republican party featuring Mike Carey, Republican candidate in Ohio’s 15th district special election, OUCR President Brad Kennedy, a senior studying political science, said.

Additionally, OUCR participates in phone banking, door knocking and general information spreading on a day-today basis, he said.

OUCR’s hope for the upcoming elections is largely focused on a win from Carey in the special election, Kennedy said. From there, the organization will look forward to other candidates and elections.

“We don’t have any dates (for specifi c events) right now,” Kennedy said. “But for election season, our big hope is just to get more and more students involved in politics. We try to table at the top of Baker Center, usually about every other week.”

According to OUCR’s social media accounts, meetings are held Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in Copeland hall, room 104.

OUCD is also focusing on student involvement for the 2021 election season. Earlier in the fall, the organization held a voter registration day, Perry said. The day yielded about 120 new voter registrations.

OUCD meetings are also held in Bentley Hall, room 227, at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, he said. Often, the meetings feature speakers to help educate attendees on local politics. Looking to future meetings, OUCD will be hosting Athens Mayor Steve Patterson on Oct. 26.

“We’ve really been trying to ... make sure that we’re providing educational experiences for our members so that then it doesn’t become just an echo chamber of the same thoughts being passed around,” Perry said, “But, instead, it’s something that’s constructive, to where you can go to a meeting and you can learn about a topic that you don’t know about.”

OUM also holds meetings in Tupper Hall, room 002, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays. The meetings include debates and even game nights when appropriate, Gwin said.

“The importance of (voting) is simply staying educated at all times,” Gwin said. “So many students are just going to go around and potentially vote after what their friends think or what their parents are telling them to do. You’ve got to make sure you are educated for yourself so you understand and you validate what you hold true to yourself.”

ILLUSTRATION BY KATIE BANECK

@ANNAMILLAR16

AM157219@OHIO.EDU

ILLUSTRATION BY MARY BERGER

Class of 2025 enrollment numbers indicate positive shift in OU’s declining enrollment trend

SOPHIA YOUNG

STAFF WRITER

Despite five years of declining enrollment numbers, the data for this year’s freshman class points to a positive shift and potential for coming years to challenge the decline.

According to a university news release, the 2021 freshman class tallies 3,664 students and boasts the university’s most diverse and academically accomplished freshman class, with a 3.59 average grade point average.

The class represented a 17.2% increase from the previous year’s freshmen, and a return to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. However, despite the freshman class increase, overall undergraduate enrollment is still on the decline, with university projections estimating that the trend will continue through 2024.

University enrollment peaked in the 2016-17 school year, with 24,210 students enrolled in a degree program on the Athens campus. The following years saw a steady decrease, with that number shrinking to 21,597 for the 2020-21 year, as yearly incoming freshman classes did not keep pace with graduates.

Candace Boeninger, OU’s vice president for Enrollment Management, said it is a natural cycle for universities to experience waxing and waning enrollment, with the expectation that numbers would stabilize.

Boeninger attributed declining numbers largely to increasingly competitive university offerings, a trend that was only exacerbated by the pandemic as students carefully evaluated their higher education options.

“When we think about why did we have the peak and not sustain the peak, there is some element of enrollment in American higher education that is the people,” Boeninger said. “We are thinking about college students who are making choices among a set of peer institutions, and there’s lots of intense competition for students who have lots of choices.”

James “Jim” Mosher, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences who has done research into OU’s budget, named declining enrollment as one of two major factors impacting the university’s financial situation during his September presentation to the OU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, or OU-AAUP, according to a previous Post report.

Mosher pointed to the significant loss of tuition revenue alone resulting from a drop in student enrollment. Mosher approximated the net loss of revenue between 2016 and 2020 to be about $127 million and a loss of $37.9 million per year. He also indicated the university could potentially be facing another $190 million loss over the next five years, resulting in close to $300 million in lost revenue since 2015.

“The reason, in very simple terms, why OU is losing enrollment and has lost enrollment, is it made choices that made itself less competitive with its competitors. So this drove down enrollment, and it’s had a huge negative budget effect,” Mosher said at the meeting.

Mosher said those choices included a lack of investment in the university’s academic mission, as well as campus features and attractions that draw the attention of prospective students. Mosher declined a request to be interviewed.

To boost enrollment interest and competitiveness, the university has taken on more aggressive marketing tactics, hosting a number of virtual events, as well as focusing on embedding staff in both Ohio and out-of-state communities to engage with prospective students, Boeninger said. She also highlighted changes to the Ohio Excellence Award Program, which the university hopes will incentivize students by offering a competitive financial aid offer.

Boeninger indicated that despite enrollment and marketing challenges that the pandemic created, it also provided an opportunity to assess recruitment strategies going forward, which may include incorporating more virtual aspects and opportunities.

“We’ve learned some really great things about how to do some of this virtually, too,” Boeninger said. “So, how do we build a hybrid model that meets students where they are and also take some of the really successful things that we had in place pre-COVID and put them together into a plan that helps families choose us for next fall?”

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