University of Akron

The University of Akron is an institution of higher learning located in the center of Akron, Ohio. The college is known as a commuter campus, due to the high number of students who live off-campus.

The school was founded as Buchtel College in 1870.

Enrollment in 2004 is approximately 23 thousand students. The school offers more than 200 undergraduate degrees and 100 graduate degrees. The most famous of which is likely the Polymer College (Akron is known as the "Rubber City"), which is located in a 13 story reflective glass building overlooking Akron's downtown. The university also has a branch campus in Wayne, Ohio.

A massive construction project has been in progress since 2002, called "A New Landscape for Learning", which includes a new College of Arts & Science Building, Honors Dormitory, Recreation Center, and Student Union. Multiple new parking decks have also been constructed to address high demand for parking, despite the stated desire of the university to be less a commuter campus.

Its athletic teams are known as the "zips," originally short for "zippers," a product of Akron.

Critical

Professors frustrated with a lack of self-governance at the university overwhelmingly voted for union representation in 2003 with the American Association of University Professors. In response, the Board of Trustees passed a number of retributive actions, including the removal of the ability for academic departments to democratically select their own chairs.

Also, in 2003, the Board of Trustees passed a resolution against the usage of sweatshop labor in clothing garments sold at the university. The student group Students Taking Action for a New Democracy (STAND) claimed the resolution was without substance, accountability, or monitoring ability. The students had been asking since 2000 that the university sign a code of conduct regarding sweatshops and joining the regulatory Workers Rights Consortium, a project of the United Students Against Sweatshops. In protest, students began a week-long hunger strike.

In 2004, state investigators discovered improper use of funds and acceptance of gifts from at least three individuals in the Information Technology Division, which lead to the firing of VP Thomas Gaylord. Gaylord was instrumental in making the university a "wireless campus" and instituting PeopleSoft as the software that manages all university accounts and data.

External links

Official University of Akron site (http://www.uakron.edu)

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