AAUP Ohio Conference

American Association of University Professors

OCAAUP Submits Testimony on SB 135

For the June 2 hearing of the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee, OCAAUP President Marty Kich submitted interested party testimony to address several key concerns that we have with the substitute bill.

On May 19, the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee had adopted a substitute version of SB 135. Substitute SB 135 is different and somewhat improved from its original version.

Of particular concern to us in the original bill was language that implied that faculty could be fired for speaking about material deemed to be outside of their discipline or for expressing personal views. The new version of SB 135 no longer has this language.

Instead of a second chance voucher program financed by universities, there would be a second chance grant pilot program funded by the state. The goal of the program is to help students re-enroll at an institution of higher education to obtain a degree or certificate.

The revised bill also scales back the authority of the chancellor in opening and closing programs based on “in-demand” jobs. Under the new language, the chancellor should consider in-demand jobs when potentially approving a new program.

The bill’s new language still would allow universities to withhold transcripts from students, if the students have outstanding debt at the institution, but makes an exception when the student or graduate needs the transcript for a job.

There is no doubt that our advocacy efforts made a big difference in making this bill more palatable to this point, and we thank the AAUP members who spoke to legislators on our behalf and sent emails to members of the Workforce and Higher Education Committee.

Jackson Delivers OCAAUP Testimony about State Budget

On May 4, Dr. David Jackson, Professor of Political Science at Bowling Green State University, as well as President of the BGSU AAUP chapter, delivered testimony on behalf of OCAAUP regarding House Bill 110, the state budget bill.

The testimony focused on the importance of investment in public higher education, as well as the importance of educational quality and full-time faculty.

You can watch the video of the testimony and subsequent questions by legislators by visiting this page, clicking on the May 4 hearing, and going to the 35 minute mark in the video.

Roosevelt Network Report: The Financialization of Higher Education at the University of Cincinnati

A hard-hitting report about the upside-down priorities at the University of Cincinnati has been released by current and former students at UC who are members of the Roosevelt Network.

The report criticizes UC’s lack of inclusiveness in decision-making and transparency. It challenges the university’s centralized budgeting model, which usurps money to the central administration — money that often is later allocated to non-academic areas, like deficit-generating athletic programs.

Ultimately, the report recommends increased transparency, greater student and faculty representation, decentralizing university funding, freezing tuition, and re-examining expenditures on athletics.

As described on its website, the Roosevelt Network trains, develops, and supports emerging progressive policymakers, researchers, and advocates on campuses and in cities across the US, focusing on communities historically denied political power.

OCAAUP President Addresses Workload, Administrative Bloat to House Committee

McNay Testifies Before Higher Education Reform Study Committee

On Monday, September 9, Ohio Conference AAUP President John McNay delivered testimony to the Higher Education Reform Study Committee – a new standing committee started in the Ohio House of Representatives over the summer.

McNay
John McNay

The committee has embarked on a “road show,” traveling all over the state to public and for-profit colleges to discuss a myriad of issues in higher education.
On September 9, the committee met at Columbus State Community College to address the topic of “Reducing the High Cost of Higher Education.”  “Faculty Workload” was a topic listed under that heading.
During his testimony, McNay explained, “The common assumption is that universities’ costs are so high due to the labor (e.g. faculty) that they have to employ…Yet the most recent data from the Integrated Post-Secondary Data System (IPEDS) reveals that between FY 2002 and FY 2011, Ohio’s institutions spent, on average, 29.5 percent of their operating budgets on total instructional compensation (e.g. salaries and benefits). Over the 10 year period, total instructional compensation declined by 3.9 percent.”

Citing additional IPEDS data, McNay went on to tell legislators that the real culprit of rising tuition and waste is “administrative bloat,” and that future discussions about reducing higher education costs should focus on reining in administrative spending and redirecting it to instructional purposes.  

Members of the committee seemed to acknowledge the problems of administrative bloat and the shrinking numbers of full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty at Ohio’s institutions.  Vice Chair Christina Hagan (R-Alliance) asked for a list of recommendations from the Ohio Conference AAUP.  We will continue to update our members with relevant information about this committee. You can follow the committee and read other testimony that has been given by clicking here.

Support the Collective Bargaining Rights of Adjunct Faculty at Duquesne

The death of Margaret Mary Vojtko, an adjunct professor of French at Duquesne University, has sparked a national debate about the treatment of adjunct faculty. In the midst of this debate, Duquesne University is fighting back against unionization efforts of their part-time faculty. Below, you will find two items: 1) a link to an online petition that you can sign to show your support for adjunct faculty; and 2) a letter from OCAAUP Vice President Marty Kich to Duquesne’s Provost in which Kich voices his support for the adjuncts’ unionization efforts.

Click here to sign a petition to show your support of adjunct faculty at Duquesne University.


Dear Provost Austin:

I am a graduate of a Jesuit prep school and a Jesuit university. Although I have certainly had many reasons to appreciate the excellent education that I received at both institutions, the Jesuit emphasis on social justice has had, perhaps, the most profound impact on the course of my professional life. Specifically, I have committed myself increasingly to trying to insure that those who do the core work of instruction at our colleges and universities remain meaningful participants in institutional decision-making. I have worked to stem the continuing marginalization of faculty, demonstrated most pointedly in the increase in contingent appointments, both full- and part-time. I don’t believe that anyone committed to higher education really thinks that the current trends represent a positive direction for our institutions, that they provide a basis for a promising future.

Your university is not responsible for those broader trends, and it cannot by itself reverse them. But as a singular institution, as the only Spiritan university in the U.S., you do have a somewhat unique opportunity to make a salient, moral statement that might begin to reverse them. The adjunct faculty at Duquesne have voted to unionize through a legal process, and the university should respect the effort and commitment required for them to do so by entering into serious negotiations with their new collective bargaining unit. Even incremental changes in their compensation and working conditions can have profound ramifications both within and beyond your institution, especially if those changes result from mutually respectful negotiations. Your institution should view this circumstance as an opportunity, rather than as a conundrum, for it is indeed an opportunity to demonstrate that the value that your university places on instruction is a reflection of the core values on which it was founded and not just a facile talking point.

Sincerely,

Martin KichPresident AAUP-Wright State UniversityVice-President, Ohio Conference of AAUPExecutive Committee, Collective Bargaining Congress of AAUP