A Message from President Gretchen McNamara, DMA

Dear Fellow Ohio AAUP Members:

I am pleased to share that the Executive Board of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors has selected Jennifer Tisone Price to be our next Executive Director! We were impressed with her level of experience, professionalism, and enthusiasm for meeting the challenges facing higher education in Ohio.

During the interview process, Jennifer shared that she was attracted to the Executive Director position at OCAAUP for two reasons: The challenge of fighting recent laws and proposals that undermine the foundations of higher education and the alignment of the Ohio Conference’s mission with her personal belief system and values.

“As a person who has always been driven by a desire to make a difference, this position presents a unique opportunity to channel my experience, knowledge, skills, and relationships into purposeful advocacy at a critical moment for higher education and Ohio’s professoriat,” Jennifer explained. “The challenges facing Ohio’s colleges and universities demand strategic, courageous leadership—precisely the kind of work that motivates me most.”

Price brings nearly three decades of experience in association management, government relations, and public affairs experience to the Ohio Conference including roles with top-tier associations and non-profits including: the American Lung Association; Ohio Society of CPA’s; and the Ohio Nurses Association–where she served as Director of Policy during the fight against Senate Bill 5. Most recently she served as President & CEO of the Ohio Economic Development Association where she successfully implemented DEI programs and advocated for policies and programs that create economic opportunities for under-represented and marginalized Ohioans.

Jennifer worked in or around Capitol Square for the majority of her career–starting as a page for Speaker Vern Riffe while in college, completing a Legislative Service Commission Fellowship after graduation, working as an aide for multiple legislators, and ultimately as the Minority Caucus Press Secretary before moving into the association community.

We are thankful for Sara’s strong leadership over the past 15 years, which has been a period of tremendous growth, enhanced visibility, and outstanding advocacy for OCAAUP. She will be missed! This week, she began the onboarding process with Jennifer to ensure a smooth transition and we appreciate her continued committment to our association. Sara’s last day with us will be Nov. 8 so both will be at the Annual Meeting this weekend.

Please join me in wishing Sara all the best in her new role and extending a warm welcome to Jennifer!

In Solidarity,

Gretchen

Thank you to all members who took the time to nominate colleagues for the annual meeting awards. It is clear that there are many AAUP members across the state who are very actively engaged in meaningful work that advances AAUP principles.

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 and first-ever recipients of the John T. McNay Memorial Award for Outstanding Service are Stephen Mockabee (University of Cincinnati), Pranav Jani (Ohio State University), Cathy Wagner (Miami University), and David Jackson (Bowling Green State University).

All four recipients have exemplified the chapter-level and statewide activism that John McNay embodied. They have been tireless advocates for academic freedom, organizing/unionism, and quality higher education. Congratulations to Professors Mockabee, Jani, Wagner, and Jackson on this well-deserved recognition! We look forward to celebrating them at our annual meeting next month.

Plaintiffs Are Members of Ohio’s Three Largest Education Unions

Today, members of the Ohio Education Association (OEA), the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT), and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (OCAAUP) filed a lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas challenging an unconstitutional and discriminatory provision in the most recent Ohio state budget that strips educators of their rightful voice on the the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board.

That legislation changes the current composition of the STRS Board (seven board members elected by STRS members and four politically appointed members) by adding four more appointed members, effective September 28, 2025, and then gradually eliminating four elected positions. By the end of this month, elected members will be outnumbered by appointees, and by 2028, the STRS Board will have eight appointees and just three elected members. 

The STRS Board is named as a defendant, but the lawsuit is only necessary because of the reckless actions of politicians. At the final stage of the budget process, the legislature’s Republican leadership — Speaker Matt Huffman and Senate President Rob McColley — inserted this policy, which was drafted by Rep. Adam Bird. Governor Mike DeWine signed the state budget into law and declined to veto this budget line item.

This lawsuit alleges that the STRS Board changes are illegal for three reasons:

1) The policy violates educators’ right to equal protection under the law because only the STRS Board was targeted by this action. Ohio’s other four public pension systems have boards where elected members are in the majority, and those systems will all retain their boards’ current composition.

2) Plaintiffs are also challenging the STRS Board changes for violating the “Three Considerations Rule,” which requires that “Every bill shall be considered by each house on three different days.”

3) The final challenge is on account of the “Single Subject Rule,” which requires that “No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title.”

The rules outlined in numbers 2 and 3 were violated because STRS receives no direct funding from the state, and as such, the policy was not relevant to the state budget. In addition, the amendments were inserted in the budget during the final stage of the process, without allowing any time for the policy to receive public input, let alone three considerations.

This policy change, which was preceded by baseless accusations and investigations targeting STRS Board members, comes at a time when the STRS Board has been able to restore member benefits that were rolled back almost a decade ago. In recent years, the Board, with approval from the fund’s actuary, has been able to once again provide some cost of living adjustments to retirees and begin to lower the years of service required for active members to receive full benefits.

Even Governor DeWine, who had previously been critical of STRS, praised the current direction of the STRS Board. In an interview in April 2025, he said “I’m looking at it from afar, but it seems that the board is working, and working in a productive way. I think we’ve, at least for a while now, we’ve come over from that problem that we’ve had in the past.”

“STRS’s elected board members have made real progress and have pledged to keep fighting to restore more of our benefits,” said Caleb Ochs-Naderer, a Professor at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and OCAAUP member, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “The power-hungry politicians at the statehouse want to take away our ability to elect our own advocates because they want control of our retirement savings. They just see dollar signs when they look at STRS, but educators like me see our years of hard work and our dreams for the future.”

A special thank you to Professors Caleb Ochs-Naderer (Cincinnati State) and Sarai Hedges (University of Cincinnati) for serving as the AAUP plaintiffs in this case!

We will update you as this lawsuit unfolds.

The Ohio Conference AAUP will host an in-person annual meeting this year to celebrate our 75th anniversary as a state conference. The meeting will be held on Friday, November 7, and Saturday, November 8, at The Grand Event Center, just outside of downtown Columbus.

There are three awards that are eligible to be given at the meeting:

• Philip S. Jastram Award: Given to a state legislator who has been a noteworthy proponent of higher education.
• Robert E. Kennedy Award: Given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the cause of academic freedom.
• John T. McNay Memorial Award for Outstanding Service: Given to a deserving Ohio member who has demonstrated exceptional service, leadership, and activism at the state and/or chapter level, particularly in the areas of legislative advocacy and labor rights of faculty.

Click here for the nomination form. Please submit nominations no later than October 1.

Meeting registration is $50. To register and to view all of the preliminary details about the event, click here. In addition, please note that we will hold a roundtable and workshop on Senate Bill 1 for the afternoon session on November 8.

You might recall from our previous communications about the state budget that, during the conference committee process, the legislature added an overhaul of the governance of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS). This extreme, eleventh-hour change will take away control of the system from elected educators and put it in the hands of political appointees.

We have created this Action Network page for you to email members of the General Assembly expressing your opposition to this egregious maneuver. The legislature must rollback its actions, work with stakeholder groups, and allow for sufficient public input about the future of STRS.

In addition, we want to let you know that we’re working closely with the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) and Ohio Education Association (OEA) on other actions we can take, and we’ll share information about these next steps in the near future.