BGSU’s summer snapshot: What students missed while away

Brandon Loe, Falcon Media Content Director

August 25, 2023

Despite the BGSU student population being in Bowling Green for a little over eight months out of a year, the action doesn’t stop while the students are away. Over Summer, the city of Bowling Green is still buzzing, just in a different way.

Here, we take a look at what happened while many students were away:

Campus

BGSU announced a 1.15% tuition increase for undergraduate instructional and general fees for in-state students.
On June 23, the Board of Trustees approved renaming the Mathematical Sciences building to Mitchell B. McLeod Hall. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 23 during Homecoming weekend.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires hung in the skies across the university, city and Wood County in late June, leading to local and state agencies issuing alerts for unhealthy air quality.
University professor Dr. Kate Dellenbusch helped Ohio State Fair attendees prepare for April’s eclipse. Bowling Green will be in the “path of totality” for a once-in-a-lifetime event on April 9.
More than 200 college professionals from over 40 organizations came to campus Aug. 1 as BGSU hosted its second annual Anti-Hazing Summit. Organizers with the university announced the summit will be held at Ohio State University next year.
More than 800 BGSU students made the transition to alumni during commencement exercises in early August.
Dozens of interactive high school camps ranging from STEM to journalism to business brought hundreds of students to campus, at times flooding The Oaks Dining Hall with overflow crowds.

Construction

A newly constructed roundabout has changed the traffic flow in Bowling Green near the Doyt L. Perry Stadium. The roundabout is located off of I-75 at the intersection of Wooster Street and Campbell Hill Drive.

City

Two inmates from the Northwest Community Corrections Center escaped and went on the run before being captured in Fostoria. The two inmates, Justin Firman and Dakota Embry, were later booked into Wood County Jail. Embry was later found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead.
A Bowling Green bicyclist was killed after being struck by the vehicle of a Dunbridge man who was later indicted on a vehicular homicide charge.
A project to convert the old post office on Main Street into a new home for city offices created some parking headaches, but ended with a grand opening and public tours. Communication issues bedeviled city offices in early August, though the short-term disruption did not have an impact on emergency services.
Labor shortages caused the city’s pool to close in mid-August.
The City of Bowling Green received a nearly $1.2 million grant for water infrastructure upgrades.
The Wood County Fair celebrated its 150th Anniversary at the beginning of August. While organizers thought they would be able to serve beer for the first time, Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn refused to sign the application and no alcohol was served during the event.
The seemingly endless work on water and sewer infrastructure along West Wooster continues, but several paving projects were completed, including a stretch of Haskins Road.
The city held two Firefly Nights, turning several blocks of Main Street into a street fair with arts and craft vendors, food, music and family-friendly activities.

BGSU Athletics

To kick off the summer, Zaresha Neal represented BGSU at the NCAA Track and Field Nationals by. Neal placed 15 out of 24 athletes in the discus event and earned Second Team All-American honors.
The baseball and softball teams wrapped up their respective seasons. The baseball team put up a 6-7 record after classes ended, including taking two of three games against Toledo to conclude the season. The team finished 20-30 overall. The softball team finished a season of growing pains, winning one of three May games to finish 9-41.
The Sun Belt and Mid-American conferences announced a partnership for both men’s and women’s basketball called the SBC-MAC Challenge. The SBC-MAC Challenge will consist of two matchups over the course of the season for all programs involved.
Former BGSU hockey players Brandon Kruse, Sam Craggs and Brandon Hawkins signed on to play with the Toledo Walleye for the 2023-2024 season.
BGSU athletic programs slowly released their schedules over the course of the summer and the basketball programs should have their schedules coming out within the next few weeks.

State

The Ohio Higher Education Act passed in the State of Ohio Senate. The controversial measure could drastically change the makeup of college faculty and curriculum.
Voters soundly rejected Ohio’s Issue 1 in an August special election aimed at altering the amendment process to the state’s constitution. The issue was largely seen as a proxy fight between pro-life and pro-choice voters, as an effort to enshrine abortion rights into the Ohio constitution would have been prevented if Issue 1 passed.
Cannabis supporters gathered enough signatures to get recreational marijuana on the state’s ballot for the November election. Also on the ballot, will be a proposal to determine if abortion and other reproductive rights, including fertility treatment and contraception, should be included in the state’s constitution.