Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

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MS. SOWLE A five minute walk from the president ' s office is the office of a petite, attractive blonde, who has been said to have more influence on presidential matters than anyone else within the university autocracy. Kathryn Dix Sowle, does more than entertain guests at 29 Park Place and as she explains, there is not any one role of the president ' s wife. Obviously the main job is the official and semi- official entertainment Uj nit; uni veisny. nullum the president ' s home is also her responsibility. But Ms. Sowle claims the role is a changing she said, it is thought of in terms of the social activities. I think you can take it beyond that. Katie, as she is most often called, definitely takes it beyond that ' . A graduate of Northwestern University Law School, Ms. Sowle is chairman of the committee on elections, education, welfare, and the bill of rights, has taught communication law at Ohio University, is a member of the Athens Human Relation Commission, has lobbied and testified for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and has also been active statewide in the area of newsmen ' s privilege. With all her involvements, •a » r» 1 I l j have time for anything else. But in describing herself, she says she is first wife and mother, and then occasional writer, teacher, and feminist. Ms. Sowle feels her family is able to share the effect We do many of the public things together to the extent that the children want to. Our attitudes to our private life is that we don ' t make a great distinction between our private and public lives. If you did, you would always be torn. We look on the university as our private lives taking into account larger groups. 1 don ' t think any of us behave any different in our private lives than we do in our public. It ' s a very large family. Ms. Sowle further explained that you do have to work at it. I don ' t mean to sound as if it isn ' t a concern, because it is. Although Ms. Sowle refers to her position as a job, it is not in terms of financial compensation. I look on it as a job and approach it as a job. There will come a time when executive wives will be paid. The day is coming where more nnr) mnrp nrpsiHpnt ' s wives will be following their own careers. If an institution wants her time, they ' ll have to compete financially for her time. DR. SOWLE 21

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that is responsive to the needs of an institution that is stabilized. Our current funding formula in the state of Ohio places a great premium upon growth. If you ' ve got growth then you ' ve got the extra money each year to do new things and so forth, but if you are stabilized then the current funding thing does no more than at best, cover inflation. Third, 1 would like us to ultimately become as rigorous and challenging to our students, as demanding of them as any institution in the country. The last one 1 would put great, great emphasis upon. 1 think other nice things come along with that in terms of academic reputation. Certainly 1 would like to see us keep a balanced program in the sense that I very much believe that as much if not more education goes on outside the classroom than in it. I think Ohio University is a good place to mature. We do open things up and invite people in to participate, give people alot of freedom, give them a variety of things to participate in, ranging from highly cultural to ICA, to whatever else you might name. I hope we can always maintain and indeed enhance that atmosphere, so that a person comes out of here not only with a very rigorous academic experience but also with a very rewarding outside-the- classroom experience, that has permitted him or her to grow as an individual. How would you say your judgement is influenced by your exposure to student opinion? 1 would say rather considerably . 1 tend inherently to be sympathetic to young people and the concerns they have. If they obviously have done their homework on a particular problem that is bothering them 1 am very eager to go far more than half way to meet them and help them out. 1 try to be responsive to their needs or allow them to influence me to get the university working for them as best I can. What about Open Line and your receptions at your home with the students? This is very important again. Open Line you could view as a communication device outward, but nothing is more important to me than what kinds of questions are asked on Open Line, what the general mood seems to be at the end of a particular program, and so forth. Likewise in the house, you can sense these things. If people are tense and uptight and their problems seem to be more than they can bear, it is very easy to pick that up. That is why I do have many devices not only to get out information but equally important to hear what people are thinking about. Open Line has really put middle management and lower management on its toes to a considerable extent. Sometimes students will even say to somebody, I don ' t think you are handling this right, and if you don ' t do this I am going to call the president on Open Line.

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University budget troubles: a time to reconsider by Chris Stewart Editors note: Chris Stewart is a junior and was one of two undergraduate students chosen to serve on the University Budget Committee Ohio University passed through one of its gravest crises in modern history this year— two servere budget reductions. An enrolment Joss of nearly 1,200 students fall quarter sharply reduced the university ' s fee income. Mid-year budget adjustments had to be made to the amount of $1.9 million. A previously unknown group called the University Budget Committee (UBC) was assigned the task of re-adjusting the university ' s expenditures. The committee was appointed by the president and consisted of all the senior administrators, two undergraduates and one graduate student, an academic dean, a branch campus representative, three faculty members and a representative of the administrative senate. The chairman is the universitv treasurer. During the first budget crisis two additional students, one faculty, one administrator and the university ' s ombudsman, were temporarily added to augment the work. The UBC met intensively for three days in late October. A closed door, three to four hour meeting, was set aside and the committee was to recommend to the president action he may take to solve the problem. The re-adjustment was further compounded by the fact that 40-50 per cent of the current budget had been expended. Also, the faculty and staff cover 80 per cent of the entire university budget and is committed for a full year. Contracts cannot be broken mid-year. Twenty per cent of the budget consists of essential day to day items such as power energy Two alternatives were left to the committee: