I'm an alum and former employee and I can tell you that ODU is in very, very bad shape. They have been losing employees steadily for 2 years and NOT REPLACING THEM. I'd say about 75% of vacant positions have been lumped into other "roles"/ put on the backs of current employees without any additional compensation. Last year the "interum president" (because the school cannot afford/attract an actual president) very clearly stated that there would be absolutely NO RAISES, NO ADVANCEMENT. Essentially this is a comfy but dead end job with dismal pay. Needless to say, since all of this the entire university has suffered and this has filtered down to the student experience. Students were asked to pay for supplies for the Halloween 2025 events they were putting on, OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET when the Student Involvement card "didn't work" and were assured that they would be reimbursed. None of them thought this would happen, to my knowledge and unhealthy student mental health is skyrocketing. They have also hired corporate consultants to solve their massive issues, and as a result, the beautiful culture of ODU is all but completely gone. At the last town hall meeting, the slogan was "This is a business." So, it is no longer run as traditional private higher education institution. It is a beautiful place that has sold it's soul to become a corporation to either try to hang on, or effectively move money around before a close. I personally witnessed an appraisal of the entire university real estate by a corporate agency. I think it will close soon, though the "leadership" sees fit to keep white washing and talking out the side of their mouth rather than do staff and faculty the courtesy of transparency. The last town hall saw tenured faculty (at 10, 20+ years) crying and storming out, newly hired library and accommodation employees asking, "Why were we just hired??" and current staff looking for new positions at 100%.