Kasich Taps Gee to Lead Study Group

At a press conference on Monday, October 21, Gov. John Kasich announced that recently-retired Ohio State University President Gordon Gee will lead a study group to examine college “affordability” and “relevance.”  

Kasich said that Gee will work with college presidents and leaders in the business community to find ways to better tie education to the job market while finding cost savings for students.  There was no mention of consulting college faculty or students, which is troubling given the implications such a study group could have on both constituencies.  

As the Ohio Conference AAUP has ostensibly noted in legislative testimony, letters to the editor, and other communications, the two most well-documented and agreed-upon causes of skyrocketing tuition costs are the declines in state subsidies and administrative bloat.  

Given that Gordon Gee was the highest paid public university president in the country, and often cited as a driver of the escalation of administrative bloat, one has to question whether Gee is the right person to oversee such an initiative.  The Ohio Conference AAUP plans to reach out to the Governor’s office and Mr. Gee to encourage inclusion of faculty and students as these issues are examined. We will keep our members apprised of any developments.

New GASB Rule Will Have Universities Deep in the Red

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has released a new rule – Statement No. 68 – that will require public universities and other public employers to report net pension liabilities on their financial statements.  

Previously, pension liabilities only appeared in the aggregate under each pension system. However, GASB believes this change is necessary to improve transparency in accounting and financial reporting.  In the case of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), the new liability amounts will be large, and public employers will have a greater appearance of debt.  

While it is not yet completely clear how credit rating agencies will react to these new reporting requirements, Moody’s released a report outlining how this change will influence its ratings methodology. 

The Ohio Conference AAUP is a member of Healthcare and Pension Advocates of STRS (HPA), a constituency coalition that advocates on behalf of STRS beneficiaries. HPA will be working on communicating this new rule to the public, so it is understood that this is merely an accounting change, not a funding issue. 

Statement No. 68 will go into effect for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2014.

In a September 30, 2013 letter to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Michael Colbert, State Senator Nina Turner argues that there needs to be clearer standards by which unemployment claims from adjunct faculty are judged. 

You can read the full letter by clicking here.

Thank you, Sen. Turner, for your advocacy on behalf of the thousands of adjunct faculty in Ohio who simply want to be treated fairly.

Today, Rep. Fred Strahorn (D-Dayton) and Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) introduced HB 96 and SB 65, companion legislation (e.g. identical bills) that would grant collective bargaining rights to adjunct faculty and graduate students.

Under Ohio’s current law, part-time teaching employees at Ohio’s public institutions of higher education are prohibited from forming a union.

“Like all Ohioans, adjunct faculty and graduate assistants deserve a fair shake in the workplace,” Turner said. “They are a pivotal part of the fabric of higher education and need a seat at the table to ensure that they’re being treated fairly.” 
  
Strahorn agreed. “My bill is about fairness. The people who are doing an increased share of the teaching 
deserve to have a say in their working conditions,” he said. “It simply says people who have been excluded from collective bargaining should no longer be excluded from that right if they so choose.”

The Ohio Conference AAUP has partnered with the Ohio Federation of Teachers to support these bills.  

John T. McNay, President of the Ohio Conference AAUP said, “Adjunct faculty and graduate students now comprise the majority of instructors at Ohio’s public institutions of higher education. Their working conditions are the students’ learning conditions, and we need to ensure that they have the opportunity to speak with a unified voice.”

Rep. Strahorn originally introduced this bill in 2002 and decided to reintroduce it upon his return to the General Assembly.

Sen. Turner is a professor at Cuyahoga Community College and an AAUP member.