Happy Birthday, Ohio University!
Hundreds gather for bicentennial party
By Mary Alice Casey and Joan Slattery Wall
Wei Sun and Joyce Hu cheerfully took turns photographing each other in front of the huge birthday cake at Ohio University's bicentennial party Feb. 18.
"We just feel excited," said Sun, a doctoral student in chemical engineering. "And also lucky. It's my first year here," added Hu, a graduate student in economics.
The international students from China were among several hundred people - faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members and news media - who gathered for the birthday celebration in the rotunda of the University's new classroom building.
Ohio University was chartered by the Ohio General Assembly on Feb. 18, 1804. It is the oldest public institution of higher learning in the state of Ohio and the first in the old Northwest Territory. Today, its enrollment on the Athens and five regional campuses tops 28,000.
President Robert Glidden led the birthday festivities, which featured appearances by the University's other living presidents, Vernon R. Alden, who served from 1962 to 1969, and Charles Ping, whose 19-year tenure ended in 1994. Birthday party celebrants also included the Singing Men of Ohio's Section 8, cheerleaders, dance team members, the Bobcat mascot and music professor Richard Syracuse on piano.
Brooke Hallowell, an associate professor of health and human services who has worked for the University for eight years, said she wouldn't have missed the event.
"It's a big moment in our history," she said. "It's nice to see such a cross section of people - faculty mingling with students, staff members, everyone."
Another faculty member, Trustee Professor of English Sam Crowl, who's been at the University for 34 years, is proud of the school's role in history.
"We tend to forget that you can't have a successful democracy without a successful educational system. The people who first moved West understood that," he said. "This is a good way to remind everybody that it's important. These great public universities are one of the greatest achievements of the American democratic system."
Crowl said the celebration was a good reminder of the University's heritage.
"I live here; I teach here. This is my life," he said. "So of course, if somebody is having a birthday party, you go."
And plenty did go, some especially for the 5- by 5-foot cake, a replica of the College Green with chocolate walkways and models of Cutler, Wilson and McGuffey halls. Housing and Dining Services baked that cake and others to serve the many partygoers.
"Isn't that some cake?" remarked community member George Billy, a 54-year Athens resident. "I'll have to wait pretty long for the next one."
Nancy Savage, a records management associate for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, was equally impressed.
"We wanted to see the cake," said Savage, who attended the event with several of her colleagues. "I think it's fantastic that they're doing this."
Associate Professor Emeritus of Political Science Alex Prisley, AB '54 and MA '58, didn't want to miss the bicentennial fete, especially considering that he was a student when the University celebrated its 150th birthday.
"Today is a better day. They had the big celebration outdoors - and it poured," he said, recalling the sesquicentennial as he and his wife, Joanne Dove Prisley, AB '53 and MA '54, asked Betty Hollow to sign a copy of her book, "Ohio University, 1804-2004: The Spirit of a Singular Place."
Glidden said it is important for the University community to reflect not just on the past but on the future.
"This is a celebration not just for Ohio University," he said, "but in a sense for higher education in America. … Our responsibility is to make sure students do grow in values and character and the things that matter to a society."
As the festivities wound down, Glidden encouraged the crowd to join Section 8 in singing "Alma Mater, Ohio," and "Stand Up and Cheer."
The event's significance wasn't lost on journalism majors Jackie Moss and Jennifer Moore, whose mothers also attended Ohio University.
"I think we're lucky to be here right now with so much going on," said Moss, a sophomore from Mentor, Ohio.
Added Moore, a freshman from Cincinnati: "It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be here for the bicentennial."
Mary Alice Casey is editor and Joan Slattery Wall is assistant editor of Ohio Today
