OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. sat down with OU Daily news editors Wednesday afternoon to discuss the University North Park entertainment district, the new Division of Access and Opportunity and first-year experience changes.
Entertainment district
On Sept. 18, the Norman City Council approved the project plan for the $1.1 billion entertainment district in University North Park. Among retail developments and housing opportunities, the district will include an arena, where OU basketball and gymnastics will serve as the anchor tenant.
The vote took place toward the end of the eight-hour-long meeting after a long public comment period. Residents expressed concerns with the funding model, which included the formation of a new tax increment finance district, or TIF.
Harroz, along with other members of OU’s administration like athletic director Joe Castiglione and men’s basketball coach Porter Moser, addressed the council in support of the district.
During an interview with OU Daily on Sept. 25, Harroz said that anytime there is a large change, it can be scary. However, Harroz said he was thrilled with the outcome from council.
“It was this beautiful yet tiring example of how representative government works,” Harroz said. “When you look at what took place on the 5-4 vote, it signals this new era and new opportunity that didn’t exist before.”
Without the entertainment district development proposal, Harroz said the land would be “dormant” and generate no tax for the city. Once the TIF is paid off by the tax dollars, Harroz said the taxes would go toward city funds.
“Once it hits and it’s done, it would then flow into all those other areas,” Harroz said. “So it wouldn’t harm education in the area, but it could benefit it years out once that TIF district is paid for.”
Harroz said developments like the entertainment district are associated with growing college communities and can help keep OU graduates in Norman.
“Having a dynamic investment of live, work, play around this entertainment district, where you’d have not just the arena … but it’s really about the entertainment district as a whole,” Harroz said. “It’ll be a hub of activity.
“When I look at the context of where the university is going, which is not static down or up, if you go up, what are those things that you need to have to be successful? This is an important part of that.”
Division of Access and Opportunity
In March, OU renamed the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Division of Access and Opportunity following Gov. Kevin Stitt’s December 2023 executive order calling for a formal review of DEI in Oklahoma higher education.
Harroz said while shaping the new office, university leaders were considering how, under the executive order, could they still be clear about the core values of OU.
“How do you live within a state statute and still live up to values that you believe are core? One of those that I believe is not political is opportunity,” Harroz said. “Do people have access to a university degree, and is there a chance for them to flourish, for them to feel like they actually belong at the university?”
Harroz said they looked at universities who, in similar situations, chose to eliminate DEI programs, but he said this action didn’t address the underlying question of how the university could ensure students have the drive and chance to be successful under state law.
Harroz said OU looked at various populations on campus and found that first-generation students are not performing at the level they should be compared to other students.
“When you look at those that weren’t getting the same opportunity as others, and you take out race, color, religion, sex, national origin, what is it that most correlates and the answer was first generation students,” Harroz said. “Not really a huge surprise when you think about it, because first generation students don’t know where to go to get help, don’t have the same support structures and baked in mentors in their family circle to be successful”
Harroz said he was not exactly sure how spaces formerly occupied by the DEI office will be utilized under the new division.
Tuition
In a June Board of Regents meeting, OU announced it would increase tuition and fees for undergraduate and graduate students by 3% for the fourth year in a row.
Harroz said that over his nine years as a dean, faculty and staff only received two pay increases. He said that, in the Norman campus, for each 1% pay increase is $5 million, meaning a pay plan each year of 3% would equal to $15 million in new money.
“You’re not gonna attract or attain your best when you fail to have a compensation program,” Harroz said. “It’s a real issue for those we want to stay here and we want to attract here. When you look at it, how do you fund the university?”
Harroz said there are universities that offer free tuition but are shrinking because, even if they give tuition away, if it’s not “a high-value thing,” people wouldn’t want it.
“Our space has to be excellence, and the intersection of excellence and affordability. That’s a hard space to find, but we believe that there has to be a pay plan, if at all possible, every year, and that means there’s going to be action on tuition and fees,” Harroz said.
Harroz anticipates the university will continue to grow and, to do so, it needs to “backstop” that with money that’s available for need-based students at OU.
The university also offers talent-based waivers, which Harroz said come from private fundraising efforts to meet that student need. In July, the university announced it raised $334 million, driving the institution past their $1.1 billion mark of its $2 billion goal.
“Tuition increases like we’ve had over the last five years, and still wind up with it being 28% cheaper than it was for in-state students five years ago, and 6% cheaper than it was five years ago,” Harroz said. “We’re on track to raise the $2 billion, still a big lift, but we’re getting there, and we’re committed to making sure that every student has the resources to get through.”
In the June Board of Regents meeting, Harroz said tuition increases can actually help students gain more financial aid.
Harroz said the total cost of attendance is figured into how much money the university gets from federal government.
“At the end of the day, our job is to make sure it’s an intersection of truly elite education and affordability,” Harroz said. “We know we have more and more students who have more and more need. We’ve got to meet them there. We have to make sure they have the resources to get that done.”
When he was a dean, Harroz said he got to interact with students and learn their individual stories. He said he is aware of how many students are accessing the food pantry, and how many others are struggling financially.
“Our job was to make sure that … if the team grows, how big do we want to be?” Harroz said. “We don’t want to be too big that you don’t really feel like a family, that you can’t identify most of those stories of individuals that are struggling and you can’t meet those needs.”
Freshman class
In August, OU welcomed its largest first-year class, marking the fourth-consecutive record-breaking year.
After this year’s record breaking class, Harroz said he has been in meetings discussing how big the university wants to be and at what point will they start to consider making infrastructure changes or other additions on campus, such as new dorms, parking, or utilities.
“You can grow up to a point, and then there’s a real cost to grow once you hit a certain number,” Harroz said.
Harroz said OU wants to build high-quality buildings for students to enjoy and that the university knows of “places that have grown really quickly, and then their level of service to the student deteriorates.”
While enrollment has been growing over the last four years, Harroz said OU is looking to grow as much as it can, but not so much that it strains its identity or ability to deliver to students.
“We don’t need a new housing unit for it, besides the one that’s coming on next fall, so we feel prepared for next year’s class, even with some growth,” Harroz said.
Harroz said OU is not the position to capping the freshman enrollment and said the growth has been good.
“Last year, when we saw our numbers, I was like ‘Oh, are we going to have to cap?’ and the answer was no,” Harroz said. “If we continue to grow at this rate, that will be answered by the strategic plan work over the next year.”
Campus housing
Harroz confirmed the changes made to Cross Village dorms during the summer will remain the same going into next year.
In June, the OU Board of Regents approved changing some Cross Village dorms from full-size beds in the two-bedroom, one-bathroom layout with two extra large twin beds in each room, creating a four-bed and one-bathroom.
“I think we’re going to stick with it this next year,” Harroz said. “Those new rooms would give us some breathing room.”
The changes made to Cross Village were made in part by the growing demand of students wanting to live there. Harroz said the North Tower of OU’s new freshman housing will be available in the fall of 2025, adding about 525 new units.
After the decision to demolish Adams Center in 2022, OU announced it would carry out the destruction and replacement of both Walker and Coach centers.
Harroz told OU Daily Walker Center will be demolished likely in early 2027, but the decision on what to do with Couch Center now remains in the air.
“We’re still talking about Couch, there’s a way to rehab Couch, and there’s a way to take Couch down,” Harroz said.
According to Harroz, whether Couch Tower will be removed, or refurbished will be dependent on what will work best for students, and if future freshman classes continue to grow.
“Does that work for the students? Does it work overall? That’s exactly one of the questions we’re looking at,” Harroz said.
Harroz said he believes the decision on what to do with Couch Tower will be made by the fall of next year, but it’s one administration is “actively debating.”
Harroz also confirmed that OU will continue to require first-year students to live on campus despite the growing class sizes. Harroz said on-campus experience yields better results for students transitioning into college.
“Students who spend their first year on campus are materially more successful than those that don’t,” Harroz said. “It’s also a reason that flagship on campus research universities are doing well, it’s a big part of the development of freshmen into sophomores.”
University College
In March, the OU Board of Regents approved the restructuring of University College, which previously provided first year students academic advising, engagement programs and foundation courses. With this change first year students began this fall by being placed directly into their major’s colleges.
Harroz said not enough time has passed to fully grasp the impact of these changes, but he estimates that it results will vary by college and size.
“The execution is critical,” Harroz said. “I think it’s going to be a big success, there will be road bumps, and our job is to identify those as quickly as possible and smooth them out the best we can.”
War in Gaza
Since October 2023, the ongoing war in Gaza has sparked several protests on Campus by groups such as the OU Students for Justice in Palestine and counter protests from members of Turning Point USA and OU College Republicans.
SJP’s most recent protest took place in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, where around 60 students continued the organization’s demand for the university to divest from corporate partners involved in the war in Gaza.
Since then, the conflict has continued to expand to neighboring countries, as Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanon based militant group, continue to engage in combat.
On the topic of student protest, when asked his perspective as a person of Lebanese descent, Harroz said his goal as college president is to champion students to think and act freely without providing his own personal input.
“I don’t tell students on charged issues what I think they should think and I also avoid trying to editorialize on my own opinions,” Harroz said. “We shouldn’t teach students what to think. We should teach students how to think.”
According to Harroz, college campuses are places of cultural clashes but also places for growth. He urged students to keep an open mind when engaging with peers who may share a different opinion.
“I’m successful if I’ve gotten people to think for themselves, to challenge their ideas, to look at primary sources, to do their homework,” Harroz said.
Harroz said though civil discourse is a difficult thing to manage, the university will continue to allow free speech while ensuring campus safety.
“These are difficult things to balance, but I think we’re the kind of university that can do it.” Harroz said.
Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
