OU faculty and students shared their concerns and readiness to return to campus following an announcement sent by OU President Joseph Harroz discussing the universityâs plans for the fall 2021 semester.Â
On March 2, OU President Joseph Harroz announced the universityâs plans to resume in-person courses at full capacity for the fall 2021 semester. According to the announcement, this decision is being guided by advice from OU Chief COVID Officer Dr. Dale Bratzler and was made possible by OUâs efforts and widespread vaccine distribution.
According to OUâs COVID-19 dashboard, 5,705 vaccination series have been completed by OU Health Services at this time.Â
Editorâs note: This story contains mentions of sexual assault.Â
Despite facing a rape allegation that camp leaders were aware of, an OU student was hired to work at Camp Crimson â a situation one national expert said administrators had limited options in preventing due to privacy laws and Title IX regulations.Â
Courtney Foster, Norman Womenâs Resource Center assistant director, said a freshman orientation setting can be particularly vulnerable for students entering college for the first time, and involving someone even accused of rape can be dangerous due to the nature of the crime. Though the camp has recently been reformatted, she said the extended mentor-mentee relationships between staffers and campers it still boasts add increased risks.
After immigrating from China, OU graduate student Haifan Xiao expected the common challenges of living and studying in another country. She said she never imagined she would have to face a far greater obstacle â not feeling ânormalâ in the midst of a global pandemic.
Xiao and a friend left the airport in Ames, Iowa, after Xiaoâs flight from Beijing, China, which lasted over 24 hours. Xiaoâs arrival in Ames marked the first time sheâd traveled to the U.S. Hungry from the trip, Xiao and her friend decided to head to a local fast-food restaurant. When the pair sat down â the only Asians in the restaurant â and began speaking Chinese, Xiao said she felt as if every eye in the restaurant was trained on their table.
The OU Provostâs Office is assessing salary data to examine faculty pay equity, while one OU professor said sheâs found a consistent pay gap between men and women in the same profession at OU through her own analysis.
Political science professor Alisa Fryar compiled data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System on the 94 R1 research universities. On average, male full professors made $137,060 while female full professors made $114,954 in 2019, according to Fryarâs data. In Fryarâs data, OUâs gender wage gap was 12th largest of the 94 universities.
The gap remained consistent between other titles according to Fryarâs data, including a gap of $9,761 in associate professors, $10,974 in assistant professors, $10,197 in instructors and $3,666 in lecturers.