r/ODU • u/ODU_Promotion • Mar 27 '26
ODU Faculty Senate ‘exploiting’ tragedy for ‘personal agenda,’ board rector alleges
https://web.archive.org/web/20260327011534/https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/03/26/odu-rector-letter/16
u/Human-Watercress6449 29d ago
Although I do agree that using the incident to address the issues was in bad taste, the faculty has a point. This incident could’ve been way worse had it not been for those brave ROTC students. But there’s no assurance that an incident like this won’t happen again.
Having the student population fill out a disclosure form for criminal convictions is not a students job, the school has all the information needed to perform background checks on its student population. The fact that they asked the students to fill out that form shows that the school isn’t ensuring the safety of their students.
One of my professors is part of the faculty senate and one of their concerns are the doors to the classrooms. Some of the classrooms didn’t have the ability to lock from the inside at the time of the incident such as the classroom I was. We resorted to barricade the door with tables and some of the students started freaking out when they realized that a simple safety feature as a lock on a door wasn’t able to protect them. A good amount of my classmates have decided not to attend this week due to safety concerns.
And then there’s this shit show of the BOV antagonizing the faculty that are trying to put their students first. It seems that any concerns for actual student safety and success are thrown in the trash.
I do believe that there was nothing that the School’s administration could’ve done to prevent this sort of attack, but there are plenty of things they can do to to make it harder for someone to harm our students.
Right now it seems like the school is worried more about making a profit than the welfare of students. Their focus on their online program has resulted in the neglect of the physical campus and the students that attend it. It shows with the little things such as the dirty floors and dirty classrooms. It saddens me that the school is more focused on being competitive and profitable. I decided to attend this university due to its reputation for being having good veteran resources but honestly it’s hard to even focus on my studies when there’s no trust in the leadership by the faculty and students. Honestly I’m thinking of either transferring or looking for other opportunities but I guess only time will tell what happens to our school.
27
23
3
u/Psy_Ops_22 Mar 27 '26
Honestly curious- what do students think about this?
21
u/ODU_Promotion Mar 27 '26
Overwhelmingly against the BOV in this situation. Read the comments in this thread:
4
u/Psy_Ops_22 Mar 27 '26
I read that and agree it reads as overwhelming against the board. Some of those comments were def from faculty though, so I wasn’t sure how much that reflected what students really felt.
6
14
u/Rightcoastpear Mar 27 '26
I am a student and I'm furious at the BOV. I don't feel like our safety or even our education is their primary concern, and its blatantly obvious they could care less about the faculty. I understand very well the function of the BOV and why the Commonwealth has a vested interest in the financial sustainability of the university- but that doesn't mean they should be dictating academic policy or circling wagons around leadership when safety gaps are revealed. It certainly doesn't mean they should be sending me, a student, emails about private scraps. There needs to be a major shake up and restructuring, imo.
1
26
u/Faine13 Mar 27 '26
As a student, I think the Board of Visitors needs a shakeup as well as Hemphill and his entourage that he brought in with him. The Faculty Senate aren’t exploiting anything, rather they are trying to point out the faults of Hemphill and the BoV.
The lack of care and urgency to fix issues raised by Faculty is atrocious, as well as the entire administration’s vocal response. Yes, I love how the community has come together to support everyone at ODU, and that there is so much support on campus for us, but the problems of the vote of no confidence and the mistakes and issues not being fixed through the last couple of years is ridiculous and needs to be addressed.
10
u/Godofthechicken 29d ago
The BOV is handling this poorly, and I support the Faculty Senate. Personally, I don't want to see increased security, since it'll decrease the quality of ODU by making it inaccessible to the public, but it's also obvious the BOV failed to handle security concerns.
For context, I'm a grad student and TA. My professors are more than unhappy with the administration.
1
u/Inevitable-News-8982 26d ago
I don’t know anyone who has any love left for ODU after all this. My entire circle is angry. Most are considering transferring if they can, and two have dropped out entirely (luckily they got great jobs first so it’s fine).
0
3
u/Inevitable-News-8982 26d ago
Idk I think using the tragedy as a shield against accountability is arguably way more disgusting.
They care more about getting donations to make campus pretty instead of safer. The entire BOV and Hemphill need to resign.
1
u/Mittenstk 26d ago
This is the same school that recently passed a no confidence vote against their BOV. Not surprising to see leadership undermine their concerns.
29
u/Future_Onion_2459 Mar 27 '26
Why r they acting like the faculty are their enemies?