UPDATED
School’s PBS affiliate celebrates the snub
Ohio University literally ripped the name of a famous alumnus off the wall before it even adjourned a meeting announcing the plaque’s fate.
To add insult to injury, it may also be stiffing him on the current dollar value of his 2007 donation, which led to the naming of the Roger E. Ailes Newsroom at WOUB Public Media, a PBS and NPR affiliate.
The Fox News founder, who resigned suddenly from the network in July, was unceremoniously dumped by his alma mater Monday night after President Roderick McDavis informed the Faculty Senate.
The campaign to remove Ailes’ name from the WOUB newsroom, which he paid $500,000 to remake into a state-of-the-art facility nine years ago, started less than a week ago when the Graduate Student Senate approved a resolution demanding the removal.
MORE: Students demand removal of Roger Ailes’ name from building
It cited the sexual harassment claims against the former Fox News chairman and CEO by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who received a reported $20 million settlement from Fox News two months after Ailes’ resignation.
Though the school told The College Fix Friday that it was “carefully evaluating facts surrounding allegations” against Ailes “as they come to light,” by Monday it had finished evaluating.
If students cause a ‘distraction,’ administration will give in
In a statement given to The Fix by the university Monday, McDavis suggested that his decision was a mix of pragmatism and moral revulsion.
“The distraction from the teaching and academic mission of the Scripps College of Communication has weighed heavily on my mind as I deliberated over the sustained effect on our university community should we continue to have our newsroom named for Mr. Ailes,” McDavis said.
But he decided to return Ailes’ money because of “the allegations against Mr. Ailes and the circumstances surrounding his departure from Fox News.”
Despite the controversy over Ailes’ name not turning into official action until last week’s Graduate Student Senate vote, McDavis suggested he had taken “a long time to make a decision” because of his desire “to be deliberative.”
McDavis’s announcement drew a “standing ovation” in the Faculty Senate, according to Athens News reporter Conor Morris.
BREAKING: Decision has been made to remove #RogerAiles name from WOUB Newsroom bearing his name, standing ovation in Faculty Senate
— Conor (@condormorris) September 12, 2016
Journalism Prof. Mary Rugus gave a “tearful thank you” to McDavis for his decision, according to Morris. She said: “I don’t know how I would have taught in that space another day[.]”
Tearful thank you to McDavis from j-school prof @MTRogus: "I don't know how I would have taught in that space another day
— Conor (@condormorris) September 12, 2016
Rugus herself explained her emotions.
https://twitter.com/MTRogus/status/775515115466661890
According to a reporter for The Post, the university’s student newspaper, Rugus said that Ailes – who reshaped the cable news landscape with Fox News 20 years ago – “represents the worst in broadcasting.”
It’s not clear from Ailes’ contract with Ohio University, given to The Fix by a spokesperson Tuesday, whether it can unilaterally rename the newsroom.
Ailes seems to think his $500,000 gift will put his name on the newsroom “in perpetuity,” but the “University Advancement Gift Agreement” only says: “Designation of this gift is to … The Roger E. Ailes Newsroom.”
It contains no provision for handling a situation in which one party wishes to remove the name.
University Advancement Gift Agreement between Roger Ailes and Ohio University by The College Fix on Scribd
Save objectivity for another day
The Faculty Senate also considered a resolution at Monday’s meeting requesting that the university appoint a task force to review its naming practices, which have not been updated in 13 years and do not cover “classrooms, laboratories, and conference rooms.”
OU's Faculty Senate also discussed this resolution. Proposes changing policy abt naming facilities after donors(!) pic.twitter.com/njluRaX0wy
— Conor (@condormorris) September 13, 2016
The official Twitter account for WOUB also celebrated the name’s removal, calling it a matter of “respect.” In another tweet, the station showed unidentified students taking pictures of the now-bare wall.
Enough said. #Respect #Journalism #PublicMedia pic.twitter.com/iTMNh3X9kW
— WOUB News (@woubnews) September 13, 2016
When your newsroom is the news… #Respect #Journalism #PublicMedia pic.twitter.com/Dzh0pV7eTP
— WOUB News (@woubnews) September 13, 2016
Ailes’ name had already been taken down when the Faculty Senate meeting ended and a piece of wood was placed over the damaged sheetrock to block any remembrance of the generous 1962 graduate, who has given $635,575 since 1966.
MORE: University of Oregon to rename ‘offensive’ buildings
The name was “literally torn from the wall,” according the Post’s editor-in-chief.
Literally torn from the wall, the Roger E. Ailes newsroom is no more. Stick with @ThePost pic.twitter.com/RZrfUl8znG
— Emma Ockerman (@EOckerman) September 13, 2016
In a photo posted less than 30 minutes later by another Post staffer, the outline of Ailes’ name is completely covered.
The Roger E. Ailes newsroom is no more. pic.twitter.com/Zp1mXgNaWt
— Megan Henry (@megankhenry) September 13, 2016
The Post confirmed that the name was ripped from the wall during the Faculty Senate meeting after McDavis spoke. Ailes’ $500,000 gift provided a “quantum leap” in technology and space to the newsroom, which had not been upgraded since the 1960s, according to its news director at the time.
$500,000 in today’s dollars or 2007’s?
The university did not immediately respond to a College Fix request Monday night to clarify whether it will pay back Ailes the current dollar value of his gift, and how it will repay him.
If it did, the university would give back Ailes about $586,000, according to an estimate by the inflation-adjustment calculator on DollarTimes.com. Ailes originally made his donation in four annual increments of $125,000 each.
Earlier this year, Vanderbilt University paid $1.2 million in inflation-adjusted dollars to United Daughters of the Confederacy so it could legally rename a building that was funded by a $50,000 donation from the group in 1933.
MORE: Vanderbilt pays big bucks to remove ‘Confederate’ from building name
Regarding the scholarships for journalism students funded by Ailes since 1994, an Ohio University spokesperson implied that they could end after the current scholarship recipients graduate.
“[T]he administration is evaluating how to proceed in a manner that does not disadvantage students currently receiving the scholarship,” spokesperson Carly Glick told The Fix in an email earlier Monday night.
The Post said: “Scholarships with Ailes’ name will continue.”
Students over ‘Roger Ailes’ money’
Ailes appears to not have any public defenders in the university community, judging by reactions Monday night.
The director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism told the Post “it’s a relief” to have Ailes’ name gone. An alumnus who spoke in favor of the anti-Ailes resolution at the Graduate Student Senate meeting last week, Ohio state house Democratic candidate Sarah Grace, tweeted that “it was a pleasure joining forces” with the senate.
It was a pleasure joining forces on this important issue https://t.co/W68NlR2ib5
— Sarah Grace (@SarahGraceForOH) September 12, 2016
Another alumnus, Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Bradley Parks, thanked McDavis “for choosing students and staff over Roger Ailes’ money.”
https://twitter.com/Bradley_W_Parks/status/775486146985938944
Ailes has credited WOUB with sparking his interest in broadcasting. Neither his attorney Charles Harder, nor former employer Fox News, responded to requests for comment Monday night.
The local chapter of the International Socialist Organization, which apparently started the drumbeat against Ailes and was scheduled to host a campus rally and march against him Thursday, has yet to respond to McDavis’s decision.
UPDATE: Ohio University provided the “University Advancement Gift Agreement” signed by Roger Ailes to The Fix. It has been added to the article.
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