Ohio University: In and Around

     Ohio University is located on the edge of Appalachia in southeastern Ohio. From a location standpoint, OU tries to sell itself as located on a beautiful campus in beautiful Appalachia. This is used as a powerful recruiting tool for incoming students. However, the University fails to mention that Athens county is one of the poorest in the country, and that's reflected in the availability of luxuries such as shopping, housing, and entertainment. OU is particular when they sell themselves as located in beautiful Appalachia, but really doesn't highlight the culture, which tends to be very rural and poor. This points to the fact that the University administration doesn't advertise Athens in that sense. Overall though, OU views Appalachia as a nice place to get a degree.

      When someone hears the term “Appalachia”, the terms that often come to mind are mountains, poor people, and hill billies. This is often due to stereotypes portrayed in the media by people like Larry the Cable Guy, Talledega Nights, The Beverly Hillbillys and the Andy Griffith show. These all contribute to people having a rather low opinion of people and customs from Appalachia.

      When interviewed, two out of three people didn't consider themselves Appalachian, but all of them said they knew or had met someone that considered themselves Appalachian. This is most likely due to the fact that all of the people interviewed have come to live in and go to school in Athens, thus its almost impossible to not meet someone who considers them selves Appalachian.

      The locals view OU as sort of Catch 22. The college provides locals with jobs, business opportunities, and an opportunity for education close to home. However, with 20,000 young people in such a small town, problems sure to arise. Noise ordinances are often violated, trash has become a huge problem, and the student festivals put a large strain on local resources. The locals also see the students at OU as outsiders, or “city slickers”, which singles students out against local Appalachian population.