AN OHIO STATE PROFILE: A Year in the Life of America's Biggest Campus

by Jane Ware ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 1990

The idea for Ware's first book is sound and intriguing: a diary-like profile of the largest (single-campus) university in the US, beginning with orientation and registration in September 1987, and continuing through summer commencement in September 1988. Ware's execution, however, is disappointingly shallow and lifeless. Ware provides scant historical background, taking fewer than two pages to cover OSU's founding in 1873 (under the land-grant college act), in the middle of a field north of Columbus, to its present-day mammoth proportions. There's little to fault with her research and cataloguing of facts, figures, and events, however. ""In a year the giant [university] consumed 179,831 reams of 20-pound Xerox paper, 2.2 million pairs of vinyl gloves, 311,200 rolls of toilet paper, and 1.7 million trash can liners."" She continues in this manner, noting that the school used but two ""ball-type pull chains for sink stoppers."" While that kind of detailed listing can be fascinating, Ware does little more than offer it as an inventory of goods consumed. Her description of events becomes mere itinerary; she provides almost no interpretive analysis and fails to place her numbers in any kind of perspective. The school had a $10.6 million electricity bill in 1987 and has 12,807 employees. How does that compare with other universities or corporations? She interviews administrators, faculty members, and students, but they provide little insight, doing little more than reemphasizing the enormity of Ohio State and giving lie to any notion of a profound sense of community. Perhaps not surprisingly, there's a bit more depth when Ware describes the firing of football coach Earle Bruch; but even here the writing is devoid of tension and impact. A running commentary, laden with names of buildings and people, facts and numbers.

Pub Date: March 16, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1990

Categories: NONFICTION