After being formally inaugurated, OU President Joseph Harroz said he takes pride and obligation in his position and wants to see what “we can do together” to better the university as well as the community.
“It’s what can we do right now, and what can we do together to make it better and to make us better as people,” Harroz said. “Let’s find a way to work together and understand each other.”
Ashley Harroz, Joseph Harroz’s wife, is an OU alumna. She said having the opportunity to be involved with the university through her husband’s presidency is a “complete gift."
“It’s really been amazing,” Ashley Harroz said. “(Joe Harroz’s presidency) brings a lot of pride and gratitude, and what we’re able to impact with our faith through Joe, it’s been wonderful.”
Joseph Harroz said he looks forward to the future of the university following several developments since his May 2020 appointment, including a donation impacting the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences and the Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy announced earlier this week, and the October 2020 rebranding of the OU Health Sciences Center as OU Health.
In July 2020, Joseph Harroz announced a “Lead On, University” strategic plan aimed at advancing academically by becoming a top-tier public research university, preparing students for success outside of OU, making college affordable and attainable for students, creating a place of belonging for students and enriching the state of Oklahoma. He cited this as his “playbook” for the near future.
“(The strategic plan is) our best formula and our best plan to accomplish these things that we value,” Joseph Harroz said. “That’s how you achieve purpose and impact.”
Joseph Harroz cited science and reason as the one constant throughout the pandemic, saying the key is to not “oversteer” in a certain direction when making decisions on COVID-19 but to try to apply judgement.
“Don’t forget to look at both sides, not just what risks are attached to it, but what risks also follow if you don’t have an in-person education, if you don’t have human interactions. … To me, that’s what's been changing the whole time is what your assessment is of that, it moves day to day and week to week,” Joseph Harroz said.
At the September 13 OU Faculty Senate meeting, Senior Vice President and Provost André-Denis Wright said administrators have no official plans to require masks campus-wide, following a previous statement made by Joseph Harroz on September 9 saying that the administration were meeting to discuss a possible mandate.
OU also cites SB 658 and Gov. Kevin Stitt's Executive Order 2021-16 as banning it from requiring students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, though OU Law faculty have disputed the university's interpretation.
Joseph Harroz encouraged vaccinations and masking Friday, saying vaccines are the best solution, but masking is the best thing while in “close quarters."
“Let’s do what the science tells us, and the science tells us to vaccinate,” Joseph Harroz said.
