Ohio State President Kristina M. Johnson said plans will soon be finalized not only for the May 2021 graduation, but for a celebration of those students who didn’t get the chance to do so in 2020. She also outlined her plans for the university moving forward. Credit: Sarah Szilagy | Campus Editor
Lantern editors Sam Raudins, Sarah Szilagy, Max Garrison and Owen Milnes spoke with Kristina M. Johnson during The Lantern’s semesterly interview with the university president.
With just 61 days until Ohio State’s spring commencement, many soon-to-be graduates are wondering what that day will look like. They’ll likely know next week.
In an interview with The Lantern Tuesday, University President Kristina M. Johnson said plans will soon be finalized not only for the May 2021 graduation, but for a celebration of those students who didn’t get the chance to gather for their own in 2020. Along with commencement plans, Johnson outlined what Ohio State will look like moving forward with COVID-19 precautions and testing, as well as how the university will reach her goal of a debt-free bachelor’s degree in the next decade.
End of semester and commencement
Graduates of Ohio State’s last three commencements were not able to gather in person to celebrate the end of their campus tenures. With the end of the academic year quickly approaching, soon-to-be graduates are waiting with anticipation to see if they’ll be the fourth.
In a universitywide email Tuesday, Johnson said the university is working to plan in-person events for spring commencement in Ohio Stadium.
Johnson said a task force charged with planning this semester’s commencement will have the ceremony, in whatever format it takes, outlined and announced likely sometime next week. Ohio State sent a survey to students graduating this semester asking for preferences and gauging interest in what kind of ceremony was wanted. She said the survey was “well returned” and the health mandates the state has modified apply toward such gatherings.
“I think we pretty much understand the desire [of seniors],” Johnson said. “I think we also understand that the guidelines and the guardrails, if you will, and I think there’s tremendous overlap there.”
Spring 2021 graduates won’t be the only ones whose wait will be alleviated. The university told graduates of each of the three previous virtual commencement ceremonies that an event will be planned in the future to recognize and celebrate their achievements — and Johnson announced in her email that in-person celebrations are in the works. She said those plans will likely be announced with this semester’s plan.
Johnson said throughout the pandemic, Ohio State has heeded the advice and guidelines from national, state and local health authorities in their COVID-19 safety restrictions and will continue to take that guidance into consideration as both the state and campus begin to reopen.
Earlier this month, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that if Ohio’s COVID-19 case numbers stay below 50 per 100,000 Ohioans — about 417 each day — for two weeks straight, all pandemic health orders will be lifted.
“We have always connected with our state and local public health advisors and so I think we would be guided by public health, as is the governor,” Johnson said. “I suspect we’d have to look at that pretty carefully and in a pretty favorable light.”
She said the larger question about reopening with the state is when that goal is met and health orders are lifted. If it happens before the end of the semester, the question guiding campus’s reopening will be “how can we have the most optimal commencement?”
Campus life this fall
With the university planning to resume more normal operations by fall, Johnson said a Return to Fall/Reactivation Task Force is meeting regularly to discuss what a transition from hybrid and virtual instruction, physical distancing mandates and health precautions will look like.
Included in those discussions, Johnson said, is the acknowledgment that the pandemic has taken a mental and emotional toll on students, faculty and staff that won’t disappear as restrictions do.
Johnson said the February report from the university’s pair of mental health surveys last semester — which found that nearly three-quarters of students experienced symptoms of burnout and more than half screen positively for clinical anxiety — was “enlightening and eye-opening.” In addition to seeking recommendations from chief wellness officer Bernadette Melnyk on how to best support the university community, Johnson said she hopes to expand virtual telehealth for mental health visits and find other ways to increase existing resources.
Although she expects a transition back to in-person classes and other facets of pre-pandemic life to be difficult, Johnson said she hopes it will be easier than last year’s transition to virtual instruction.
“As we were going into this period a year ago, if you would have said, ‘Well, by next spring there’s going to be three different vaccines and we’re well on our way to try and to vaccinate all individuals that are eligible … by summer,’ I think we’d be all thrilled,” Johnson said. “So, I think there is tremendous light at the end of the tunnel.”
Although no plans are finalized yet, Johnson said the task force expects several health precautions and policies to linger, whether enforced by the university or not. One such policy is COVID-19 testing, which Johnson said will occur in some capacity in the fall.
Vaccinated students may be exempt from testing next year, she said, but the university will wait to make decisions until more evidence regarding transmission and infection from vaccinated people is available.
“I definitely believe in the wisdom of informed crowds of experts to arrive at the right answer. It served us well so far. I don’t see varying from that,” Johnson said.
What experts have found at Ohio State, Johnson said, is little evidence of COVID-19 transmission in the classroom. With more than six months of COVID-19 testing data, Johnson said she is confident that the fall will bring more in-person instruction and activities.
Johnson said in her email that each department is planning to provide at least 75 percent of course sections in-person in the fall. Classes of fewer than 50 will likely be able to take place in person, while classes of more than 100 people will be taught either virtually or in a hybrid format.
Diversity and inclusion initiatives
Johnson said as part of the Task Force on Racism and Racial Inequities, the naming process for buildings is being examined and a review process for names is being developed.
The process, still subject to approval and finalization, would begin with a request made to a committee for review of a name, and if a full review is merited, it will be conducted with University Libraries and Archives. If a review report is made, it will be sent to the president, and it could be then forwarded to the Board of Trustees.
This comes less than a week after the Undergraduate Student Government passed a resolution to rename Bricker Hall and change the process for naming buildings on campus.
The resolution calls for Bricker Hall to be renamed Weaver Hall, after Doris Weaver, a Black Ohio State alumna whose reservation to use the Department of Home Economics lab was revoked due to her skin color. When Weaver sued the university for discrimination, John Bricker, alumnus and the building’s namesake, told the court it was not under the university’s authority to urge students of different races and nationalities to room together, according to Ohio State’s library archives.
Bricker Hall was originally named the Administration Building, but was renamed after him in 1983.
Student debt
Johnson elaborated on her plans for debt-free bachelor’s degrees, which she announced in the Feb. 18 State of the University address. Johnson said over the course of 10 years, the university plans to work with industry partners, the state and private donors to help alleviate debt, while also providing students with living-wage paid internship positions so they can contribute to their own cost of attendance.
It’s a plan that has been in the back of her mind since she graduated college, Johnson said.
“A funny thing happens, and you wake up and you’re 40 years older,” she said. “I thought, ‘Now is the time.’ If we can take a long view together and take 10 years, so that’s in the timeline, can we achieve this?”
Johnson said the plan can be broken into pieces over the course of the next decade, and as of now, she has been in conversations with supporters and donors about how they can help.
In terms of state assistance, Johnson said DeWine’s budget calls for an increase in the Ohio College Opportunity Grant — which provides grant money to Ohio residents of the highest levels of financial need as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid who attend Ohio higher education institutions — by an extra $500.
Johnson said when she announced the plan in her State of the University address, she intended to “put down a marker” to indicate the beginning of the plan.
“I could have hedged. I could have said, ‘We’re going to aim to do this, we’re going to set a goal to do this, we’re going to try to do this,’” Johnson said. “When you’re committed, you’re just committed. So if you’re committed, just say it.”
Big Ten presidents and chancellors using conference server to avoid public disclosure
Records obtained by The Washington Post show Big Ten presidents discussed their return-to-campus and football season plans on the Big Ten portal instead of through emails, because they believe the server is exempt from public records law.
The server allows users to communicate with one another and share documents, and the records obtained by The Washington Post state that it seemed to be the primary source of communication for the discussion amongst conference leaders such as university presidents and athletic directors.
Johnson said she did not participate in any conversation on the server and strongly believes in transparency and openness of those records.
“I definitely believe in transparency and having the records open,” Johnson said.
