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History


The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 called for educational institutions as part of the settlement and eventual statehood of the Ohio Territory: "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." In 1797, settlers from Marietta traveled up the Hocking River to establish a location for the school, choosing Athens due to its location directly between Chillicothe (the original capital of Ohio) and Marietta. Originally chartered in 1802 as the American Western University, Ohio University was founded on February 18, 1804, when its charter was approved by the Ohio General Assembly. Its founding came 11 months after Ohio was admitted to the Union. The first three students enrolled in 1808. Ohio University graduated two students with bachelor's degrees in 1815. In 1828, a free black man, John Newton Templeton, became one of the first African Americans to earn a college degree. The four years Templeton spent at Ohio University, in which he compiled a superior academic record and became an active member of the Athenian Literary Society, are chronicled in the stage play Free Man of Color by Charles Smith.

1970 Protests and School Closing
Claude Sowle entered the presidency at Ohio University at an interesting time in the university’s past. There had been protesting on campus before his term as president on such matters as equal treatment of women and African Americans. Protesting on Ohio University campus had not yet reached the extreme that it would during the school year of 1970. Claude Sowle became president of the university in August of 1969 and almost immediately was met by protesting on issues such as the National Moratorium and others due to an increase in university fees for the 1970-1971 school year. There were some that believed that campus should have been closed on the National Moratorium, but President Sowle left campus open due to the fact that he felt the Moratorium was a tax payer issue, which involved viewpoints on both sides of the spectrum. On January 30 in 1970, a university fee meeting was held in Cutler Hall during the late morning to discuss the fee increase passed by the Board of Trustees on January 12. Near the end of the discussion, some 150 students entered Cutler Hall in an attempt to get into the meeting. There were some damages caused in Cutler Hall, and the demonstrators were redirected from the entrance of Cutler Hall to College Green. By the afternoon, a temporary restraining order was issued to Judge Bolin as Sowle felt necessary to disperse the crowd on College Green. Those who failed to disperse were placed under arrest, forty-six demonstrators were arrested, thirty-nine of whom pleaded guilty and received fines. In mid-April of the same year, tension on campus began to rise due to a sensitive topic, whether Army and Air force ROTC should exist on campus. Nine female students demonstrated against its existence by performing a sit-in on an Army ROTC class in Carnegie Hall, resulting in the arrest of these women who became known as the “Athens 9”. The Athens 9 were not allowed on campus, which did not sit well with certain people who viewed the campus ban as unfair because they did not receive the right of due process after their arrest. On April 30, President Nixon announced that several thousand ground troops would be deployed in Cambodia, which added extra uneasiness to the controversial topic of the war in Vietnam. On May 4, a student demonstration was organized on College Green at the same time the news was revealed of the tragedy at Kent State in which four students were shot and killed by unprepared National Guardsman. This added fuel to the fire on the topic of ROTC on campus and the intensity of demonstrations increase. Until this point demonstrations succeeded to remain almost completely non-violent even though there had been some damages caused throughout campus. On May 7, in the early hours of the A.M. the peace was broken after two fire bombings in the ROTC supply room in Penden Stadium. Throughout the next few weeks demonstrations such as sit-ins and rallies on College Green were organized. Also within the first few weeks of May, discussion and meetings were held on whether Ohio University should remain open. There were some who wanted to close the university, but President Sowle wanted to keep the campus open, and encouraged students to keep a peaceful nonviolent stance. There was even a meeting that was held where a man named Bruce Kuhre moved to have Ohio University closed but the motion was denied 25 to 6. Despite his desire to keep campus open, increasing intensity and tension on campus led to a serious consideration of safety on campus. Student safety was a concern of the faculty as well as concern for the disruption of campus life. Around 2 a.m. on May 15 President Sowle and Athens Mayor Raymond Shepard jointly requested that the Ohio National Guard be called to Athens to help close Ohio University. At 3 a.m. President Sowle announced that campus would be closed immediately until the beginning of Summer quarter. Students were told to gather up their belongings and head home before the quarter was able to come to a close. The next issue that had to be handled was how to deal with closing a quarter early, since this had not happened before in school history. There were some amounts of refund granted due to the fact that students paid for an entire quarter that was cut short. Student grades remained the same as they were at the time that Ohio University was closed. Those students who were seniors that year were not able to receive a ceremonial graduation because of the closing. Though they were not able to attend a graduation at the time that was expected, the class of 1970 was able to receive a proper Commencement Ceremony in June of 2010, forty years after a turbulent time in Ohio University’s history that will not be forgotten by those present.

In the early 20th century, Alumni Gateway was dedicated on the College Green, inscribed with words borrowed from the Latin inscription above the main portal to the ancient university of Padua, Italy. The famous E.W. Scripps School of Journalism was established with a grant from the Scripps Foundation. In 1975, Ohio University opened the College of Osteopathic Medicine; today it is the only Ohio institution to award the D.O. degree

Currently the university's medical school and college of engineering are engaging in a major collaboration to develop the Academic and Research Center funded by physician and engineering alumni. This University is also well known in Malaysia for its ties with MARA University of Technology in the 1980s.

Ohio University is classified as Tier 1 University by U.S. News ranking of Best American Colleges. It was named by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Doctoral/High Research Activity institution to reflect its growing number of graduate programs. University libraries contain more than 3 million bound volumes.