07-08-2004, 01:25 PM
One of the first controversies he had to deal with at OU, he recalled, was a student protest of CIA recruitment on campus, not long after he took the job.
In dealing with criticism and opposition from community members, he said, of the type that has most recently arisen over OU¹s plans to essentially donate some of its land in the Hocking River flood plain for a retirement center, ³I try to respect people¹s point of view, and hope they respect mine as well.²
As an example of what he means, North cited an incident in which Wilfred Konneker, an alum who has given substantial donations to OU, was being given a medal of merit by the university. Protesters, apparently upset over Konneker¹s involvement with biotechnology research, crashed the awards ceremony, dropped a banner from a balcony, and yelled a few choice epithets.
³Bob Glidden stepped to the microphone and said, Folks, that¹s what a public university¹s all about,¹² North recalled. ³I really felt good about how he handled that whole thing.
<a href='http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=17241' target='_blank'>http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.ph...?story_id=17241</a>
In dealing with criticism and opposition from community members, he said, of the type that has most recently arisen over OU¹s plans to essentially donate some of its land in the Hocking River flood plain for a retirement center, ³I try to respect people¹s point of view, and hope they respect mine as well.²
As an example of what he means, North cited an incident in which Wilfred Konneker, an alum who has given substantial donations to OU, was being given a medal of merit by the university. Protesters, apparently upset over Konneker¹s involvement with biotechnology research, crashed the awards ceremony, dropped a banner from a balcony, and yelled a few choice epithets.
³Bob Glidden stepped to the microphone and said, Folks, that¹s what a public university¹s all about,¹² North recalled. ³I really felt good about how he handled that whole thing.
<a href='http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=17241' target='_blank'>http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.ph...?story_id=17241</a>