OU ADMINISTRATOR GIVEN REHAB IN DRUG CASE

An Ohio University administrator who was charged last fall with
cocaine possession has been allowed to take treatment in lieu of conviction.

Richard Harrison, 43, is OU's assistant dean for student affairs
development. He was arrested uptown by Athens Police for public
intoxication last September, a day after his birthday.

When Harrison was taken to the jail in Nelsonville, officers found
less than a gram of cocaine in a bag in his shoe. The cocaine
possession charge is a fifth-degree felony, the lowest level of felony.

In Athens County Common Pleas Court Tuesday, Harrison, accompanied by
his attorney K. Robert Toy, agreed to plead guilty to the charge, and
Toy requested intervention in lieu of conviction.

"He made one stupid mistake," Toy said of his client, noting that
Harrison has no prior felony convictions. Assistant county prosecutor
Michael Huff agreed to the intervention.

Ward, possibly aware of a recent newspaper column that suggested
Harrison is getting kid-glove treatment because of his position with
OU, asked Huff to discuss how his sentence compares to that of similar
defendants.

Huff said the prosecutor's office has typically agreed to intervention
in lieu of conviction for defendants with records and offenses like
Harrison's. "That's been very common for years in our office," he said.

Harrison will undergo a drug rehabilitation program, and will be on
probation for three years. If he successfully completes the program,
he will have no criminal record.

The maximum sentence for the offense committed by Harrison is one year
in prison and a $500 fine.

Harrison has been with OU for more than 15 years. He won an
outstanding administrator award in 1989. His job consists largely of
raising private funds to support OU student programs.

OU officials this week reportedly will make some decision regarding
Harrison's future with the university.