A couple of students stood outside the University of Akron Student Union on Wednesday, handing out “Scarborough Must Go” wristbands and collecting signatures in protest of President Scott Scarborough and his policies.
“Free Scarborough wristbands and bumper stickers. Students before administrative greed,” shouted Tom Guarino, a UA graduate student and part of the Advocates for the University of Akron, Students and Faculty.
“This is a public university, not a corporation,” Guarino said and listed actions the president has taken that he disagrees with. “Scarborough tried to rebrand the university, has outsourced student services, charged illegal fee increases and abolished the baseball team.”
As students, faculty and staff members passed, Guarino engaged them in conversation, talking about some of the issues at the university and asking for signatures to support the advocates’ cause. The group’s goal is to gather at least 1,000 signatures by Friday.
The action was fueled by a recent survey taken by the Undergraduate Student Government on campus, which asked 3,000 students whether they had any confidence in the president. The results found that 56.2 percent said they had no confidence in the president, 37.4 percent were indifferent and had no opinion and 6.4 percent do have confidence in him.
The Buchtelite, UA’s student newspaper, reported the findings Tuesday.
Sterling Galehouse, a member of the Undergraduate Student Government, would not comment on whether those findings would be shared with the board of trustees. He referred a reporter to Student Government Vice President Rick Angeletti, who was unable to be reached for comment.
‘Wasted energy’
Darnell Davis Jr., 22, of Pittsburgh, a student representative on UA’s board of trustees, said he wishes students would channel some of their efforts and energy into more positive things.
“I think it’s wasted energy, passing out wristbands and bumper stickers, it would be more helpful to help the university like fundraising efforts for scholarships,” he said. “We all want to get a good education here. It’s not that I’m necessarily pro Scarborough, but I am pro University of Akron.”
Keyona Rodgers, 21, a junior from Youngstown, said she is thinking about not going to law school at UA because of the atmosphere on campus and its problems.
“I had a meeting with the dean of [the] law school and I know it’s a good school, but, for me, it’s a cultural problem,” she said. “As a black student, there are not enough resources to excel me. The Office of Multicultural Development has been dwindled down to a staff of three or four people for the 1,500 African-American students on campus.
“The administration is trying to market a lot of things to us, but not telling us what they are, things that are supposed to make our school so much better, but it really isn’t getting any better. Instead it has a jaded effect, so I am considering other options and will probably end up going to Howard University.”
Angel Poole, 21, a senior, said she too is upset about the cuts made in the Office of Multicultural Development.
“When a black male program drops from 50 males to nine because of a smaller staff, I feel like blacks are being overlooked or not given the attention they deserve. It’s a slap in the face,” she said. “On the other hand, the Black Excellence Commission [created last fall by black campus organizations] has been working with the president and [acting] provost to create more programs and scholarships for blacks. We are working on it, so it’s not fair to say changes aren’t coming, but at this point, we’re still waiting for results.”
Leah Akers of Cadiz and Brittany Randall of Alliance, both 19, said they just want a good education at the university, but are upset that the school no longer has a baseball team. They said it was the only sport they like.
David Bramley, 18, a freshman from Willoughby, said he’s a music major and a percussionist in the marching band.
“I wasn’t happy with the attempt to close E.J. Thomas. Most of the time when organizations make cuts, music and arts usually go first, all the creativity programs,” Bramley said. “I don’t know much more about the things going on because I’m so busy, but I know shutting down the baseball team affected a lot of people. I just hope things won’t directly affect me.”
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.