The President will now take your questions. The Oakland University community was invited to engage in an open, online chat with OU President Gary Russi Friday afternoon.

Faculty, staff members and students were welcome to raise questions through the Ellumintate Live! Internet chat session where discussion topics ranged from a university football team to future parking plans on campus, the medical school, the current governor race and more.

The session ran from noon to 1 p.m. An OU e-mail was needed to log in.

Following is a complete transcription of the online conversation with Russi. Topics are followed by Russi’s responses.

– Graduate programs: “As a doctoral research university, we are interested in expanding our graduate programs, particularly in the sciences. I would encourage you to visit with the department chair concerning this topic. The normal process for the development of graduate programs starts in the department with faculty as advocates.”

– A football team: “That is not something that will happen in the foreseeable future.  Starting such a program would cost millions of dollars, and believe it or not, most college football programs lose money.  Moreover, a new program brings up Title XI issues that would have to be addressed.  Although I am aware that some people would love to see us add a football program, the start-up costs alone are too prohibitive.  Our existing athletics programs are very successful and I urge everyone to attend the games and meets to support our Golden Grizzlies.”

– Human Health Building: “We’ve been very fortunate with great weather. As a result is ahead of schedule several weeks. Check the facilities website for a live webcam.”

– The medical school: “Operation of the medical school will be supported with revenue from tuition, partner contributions, research grants and philanthropy.  As a private medical school, it will not have impact on funding for our other academic programs.”

– A timeline for the medical school: “The new medical school is scheduled to open its doors in the fall of 2011 with a charter class of 50 students. The current location is O’Dowd Hall and plans are being developed for a new medical education building to be located on the corner of Squirrel and Walton.”

– The tragic loss of Corey Jackson: “The Oakland University Police Department, in collaboration with the Oakland County Medical Examiner and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, are conducting a full-scale investigation. At this point, police reports have not show any indication of bullying or harassment. If anyone has additional information, I would strongly encourage them to contact the OUPD and provide this information.”

– The O’Rena: “We look forward to any suggestions you might have about making the building more attractive.”

– Facebook and social media: “I don’t have a Facebook page, but  I certainly recognize it as a valuable tool to make connections and build relationships. I also think this is a medium that is being applied more and more in teaching, learning and research.”

– The visibility of the O’Rena: “I received a good suggestion regarding this and I will refer it to the athletic director for consideration.”

– Parking on campus: “As you may know, we created close to 600 additional parking spots on campus over the summer, and we are always looking at ways to create more parking on campus. That said, at the start of the fall semester we had nearly 300 turf parking spots on standby in anticipation of a greater demand, and we ended up not having to use those spots. Chief Lucido recently told me that there has not been one occasion this semester where every paved parking space on campus has been taken. We did some advanced planning over the summer to ensure that we would be able to handle the parking crunch at the start of the New Year, and we believe that really paid off. We created additional signage, provided on-site student assistance and a greater police presence at parking ‘hot spots.’ That, combined with the patience and cooperation of our students, made the beginning of the new academic year a little less stressful for commuters.”

– A parking structure: “Land is a valuable commodity on campus, and as we look toward the future, it would be a shame to dedicate land to surface parking. Therefore, it is prudent to provide parking structures with smaller footprints than surface parking. The facilities group is examining the possible locations of future parking structures.”

– The basketball teams: “The Summit League has predicted the Women to finish third in the league, while the Men are likely to be chosen to finish first. I do believe the Women’s team is anticipating finishing higher.”

– The campus dorms and apartments: “This has been our third consecutive year with 100 percent occupancy to start the semester. We continue to grow our freshmen population in the halls, as well as transfer students, we’ve eliminated all single rooms (with a very few exceptions), and we have plans for a 435-bed student apartment building right across from Vandenberg Hall.  This is still a couple of years away, of course, but we recognize and have begun addressing our need for more on-campus housing.”

– The retail outlets: “As we continue to plan to expand student housing, we are interested in including retail operations accessible by students in those facilities. If you’ve got any good ideas, please share them.”

– The nursing program admissions. “I am sensitive to the wait time to get into the nursing program and we are looking at a number of ways to address this.”

– The race for governor and its impact on the university budget. “This is an excellent question with significant ramifications for Oakland University. It’s hard to know what to expect from either candidate, but we do know the state budget is in bad shape. It seems likely that whoever assumes the reins in Lansing will be forced to make some very difficult budget decisions that could have grave consequences for higher education. Let’s also remember that there will be significant turnover in the state legislature, so we’ll be facing a certain amount of uncertainty from a legislative standpoint as well. That said, we have been effective in making a solid case for continued state support, and we will work to build productive relationships with legislative and executive office staff.”

– Medical applications: “As of early this week, we are approaching the 3,000 mark. That’s a pretty incredible number, considering that we only have 50 slots to fill. To me, that means that we’ve done a good job of telling the medical school story, and have put the right people in place to help build the medical school from the ground up.”

For more information, please visit www.oakland.edu/thepoint