OU’s Board of Regents approved a $5.1 million budget to demolish Adams Tower and Stubbeman Village and a list of nominees for a search committee for vice president of marketing and communications during its meeting Friday morning.
Demolition, set to begin this summer, will make room for OU’s new dormitories as part of the First-Year Housing Plan announced in March 2021.
At the September Board of Regents meeting, OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. said a new housing building will be completed by 2025.
“Those of us who lived in Adams will weep a little, but not a lot,” Harroz said.
Regent Rick Braught said during his Facilities and Properties committee report that OU is trying to fill food service roles at the Norman campus. Regent Frank Keating asked if the process was well organized. Braught said it is, but it is difficult to retain students after winter break.
Braught also said the university is making an effort to hire more OU Police Department officers. As of September, the department had only 27 officers to fill its 40 allocated positions.
“We continue to search for additional police officers … which remains a challenge,” Braught said.
The board approved a list of nominees for a search committee for vice president of marketing and communications. Mackenzie Dilbeck, who formerly filled the role, left the university last summer. Robin Meeks is the acting vice president.
The regents also acknowledged a few gifts given to the OU Foundation, including two anonymous $1 million donations for the presidential strategic initiatives fund and to support OU Softball.
Regent Rick Nagel said OU would also be moving forward with research into fusion energy in partnership with Longview Fusion Energy Systems, Inc. Harroz said he is proud of the university’s commitment to researching alternative sources of energy.
“When we look back in time,” Harroz said. “We’ll see it as one of the great discoveries that changed the landscape of humankind.”
