Study committee should focus on real problems in higher ed

On Wednesday, October 11, Steve Mockabee delivered testimony on behalf of OCAAUP in opposition to Substitute House Bill 66. Mockabee is chair of OCAAUP’s government relations committee and is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati.

HB 66 began as legislation that would have required a minimum teaching load of one, three-hour undergraduate course per semester for every tenured university professor. After hearing overwhelming opposition from stakeholders, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ron Young (R-Leroy Twp.), introduced a substitute bill that instead would create a study committee.

The study committee would be charged with “evaluating each university’s commitment to the undergraduate mission, including, but not limited to its efforts to ensure tenured faculty members participate in the undergraduate mission through face-to-face interaction with undergraduate students.”

While the substitute bill is a vast improvement from the original version, Mockabee pointed out in his testimony that there is an underlying assumption that tenured faculty do not teach enough, when the real problem is that institutions do not have enough tenured faculty, or full-time faculty in general.

Prof. Mockabee noted that universities, on average, spend just 24% of their budgets employing faculty, and institutions have opted to hire armies of adjuncts in the face of inadequate state support and tuition and fee freezes. He went on to present data from our latest higher education report, Education First, about how little it would cost to convert adjunct positions to more full-time positions.

“At some point, the realization must be made that we get what we pay for. Our institutions of higher education have been holding the line with tuition and fee freezes, and without sufficient financial support from the state to make up for inflationary increases alone. But that obviously cannot continue forever,” he stated.

Wrapping up the testimony, Mockabee recommended several amendments to improve the study committee’s composition and mission, including an ask for the committee to evaluate the breakdown of faculty at universities and make recommendations for increasing the number of full-time tenured faculty.

He also requested that representatives from the Ohio Faculty Council (OFC) — the body that represents four-year institution faculty — be appointed to the committee. An amendment was added during the committee to appoint one member from OFC to the proposed study committee.

Chair of the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, Rep. Mike Duffey (R-Worthington), thanked Mockabee for the testimony calling it “insightful and interesting.” He asked him whether more adjuncts have been brought in because there is more student demand for higher education, or whether they’re being used to save money.

Prof. Mockabee responded that it is likely a function of both, but more so that adjuncts have been used as a cost-savings measure. “Quality is at stake when undergraduate students can’t meet with their professors because they don’t even have an office to hold office hours, and they’re traveling between three or four campuses trying to eek out a living.”

Duffey continued with a broad question about the need for tenure. Mockabee explained that tenure allows faculty to take on controversial subjects and take risks with research. Without it, faculty would fear losing their jobs for discussing unpopular views, and likely would avoid risky research that might not pan out the way it was envisioned, he explained.

Other opponent testimony was given by two University of Toledo faculty and can be viewed on the House Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee website under October 11. Sub. HB 66 likely will be scheduled for interested party testimony in the near future, after which the committee may choose to vote on the bill. We will continue to keep you apprised.

OCAAUP Annual Meeting: Nov. 3-4-4

NCAA expert B. David Ridpath to give keynote address

The 67th Ohio Conference AAUP Annual Meeting will be held at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel on November 3-4, 2017.

B. David Ridpath (pictured), NCAA expert and professor of sports administration at Ohio University, will deliver the keynote luncheon address on Saturday, November 4: “Shaping Policy and Practice in Intercollegiate Athletics: A Study of Student Fee Resource Allocation for Athletics and its Effect on Access and Affordability of Higher Education.”

In addition, speakers from “UnKoch My Campus” will give a workshop that Saturday afternoon: “Pushing Back on the Power of Private Donors: Strategies for Building Your Chapter & Protecting the Academy.”

UnKoch My Campus is an organization founded by students and activists that exposes the influence of the Koch Brothers in donating money to institutions of higher education in order to push their own agenda and economic interests. UnKoch My Campus’ presentation will highlight Ohio colleges and universities and offer suggestions for ensuring transparency, accountability, and academic integrity at your own campus.

Moreover, members who are able to attend the Friday reception and dinner will have the opportunity to meet State Representative Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent), who is running for Ohio Secretary of State.

The preliminary agenda is available here.

We hope you’ll join us in Columbus for an informative event. It is a great opportunity to network with faculty from around the state. Registration costs just $25. Click here to register.

Education First Report Highlight: Athletic Subsidy

All but one Ohio university heavily subsidizes athletics

In our next few e-mails, we will be highlighting sections of our latest Ohio Higher Education Report: Education First.

To begin, we will focus on an issue that we find catches many by surprise, and is appropriate for this e-mail given the above-mentioned guest speaker and topic at our Annual Meeting: the subsidizing of university athletics.

Only Ohio State University has a self-sustaining athletics’ departments; in fact, OSU makes a profit on athletics each year, mostly on account of its men’s football program. But OSU is the anomaly. All other Ohio universities take heavily from the academic side of the institution to cover its deficit-running athletic programs. See the chart above. 

We hear frequently from university trustees, presidents, and other administrators that athletics is the “front porch” of the university. In other words, they justify athletic subsidy because they believe it promotes their institutions to the rest of the world. But we take issue with money being siphoned from the academic side at a time of increasingly scarce resources and massive student debt.

If academic departments have to live within their means, why shouldn’t athletics?

Read more about this issue in our report.

Colleges and universities will be limited on tuition increases

We last reported to you that Gov. Kasich had signed HB 49, the biennial budget bill. The governor has the ability to line-item veto pieces of the budget bill. It was widely expected that he would veto the “Medicaid freeze,” which he did, but it was not expected that he would veto any pieces related to higher education.

However, as more information trickled out, we discovered that Kasich vetoed two higher education provisions regarding tuition increases.

First, he vetoed the $10/credit hour increase that community colleges would have been allowed to implement for the 2017-18 academic year. Community colleges can implement that increase for 2018-19, though. 

Moreover, Kasich vetoed the provision that would have allowed universities to increase tuition by 8%, if they offer a four-year tuition guarantee. Universities still have the ability to increase tuition by 6%, if they offer a tuition guarantee, which amounts to roughly 1.5% increases each year.

The Ohio House of Representatives returned to Columbus on Thursday, July 6 to override 11 of Kasich’s vetoes, but decided not to override the vetoes of the aforementioned tuition provisions. 

Our community colleges and universities will continue to be squeezed by lack of state support and the inability to raise tuition. While we believe that institutions need to show greater restraint in regards to administrative spending, athletic expenditures, and grandiose construction projects, students are short-changed by the state’s refusal to invest in their education. 

The Ohio Conference will continue to advocate for the need for greater funding to our higher education system, as well as necessary reforms at the state and institutional levels. We put much of this forward in our latest Ohio Higher Education Report: Education First.

Latest News on the State Budget Bill

Senate Calls for “Textbook Selection” Policies

On Tuesday, June 20, the Ohio Senate adopted an omnibus amendment to HB 49, the state budget bill.

Included in the amendment was new language that would “require the board of trustees of each state institution of higher education to adopt a textbook selection policy for faculty to use when choosing and assigning textbooks and other instructional materials.”

Undoubtedly, this raises academic freedom concerns. However, this language puts these decisions squarely within the jurisdiction of our institutions, rather than the state imposing a one-size-fits-all mandate about faculty and textbooks, like the annual textbook disclosure filing provision that was in the House version of the bill.

This is being viewed as a compromise position, in an attempt to preempt the House from pursuing the disclosure filing piece in conference committee. As such, while we plan to raise concerns about academic freedom, we do not intend to oppose this amendment. Should this language be adopted as part of the final bill, it will be up to faculty on each campus to ensure that the policy that gets adopted does not undermine academic freedom.

The Senate formally passed its version of HB 49 yesterday, June 21, along a party-line vote, and the Conference Committee is slated to begin meeting today, June 22. 

Members of the Conference Committee include:

Senate: Scott Oelslager (R-Canton), Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville), Michael Skindell (D-Lakewood)

House: Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell), Scott Ryan (R-Newark), Jack Cera (D-Bellaire)

At this time, there is no strong indication that House conferees intend to push for the various provisions impacting faculty that the Senate removed, but anything can happen in conference committee. We will continue to keep you updated as the budget is finalized over the next week and sent to Gov. Kasich, who must sign the bill by June 30.

Scholarships Available for Summer Institute

OCAAUP Scholarships Available to Summer Institute in Cincinnati

This year’s AAUP/AAUP-CBC Summer Institute is taking place at the University of Cincinnati from July 27 to July 30.

The Summer Institute features a four-day series of workshops and special programs to train faculty from around the country on various issues. It is one of the best and most valuable events that the AAUP hosts.

The Ohio Conference offers scholarships to members from chapters that have fewer resources. If you are interested in a scholarship, please e-mail Executive Director Sara Kilpatrick at sara@ocaaup.org to get more information. 

The registration deadline is July 3. More information about the event, including the full program, can be found here. 

Senate Removes Anti-Faculty Provisions from Budget Bill, But It’s Not Over Yet

On Monday, June 12, the Ohio Senate released its substitute version of House Bill 49, the state budget bill. You can view the Legislative Service Commission’s comparison document to see the changes between the executive, House, and Senate versions of the bill. 

To our relief, the three provisions impacting public college and university faculty — the establishment of uniform post-tenure review; reduction of, and inability to bargain over, sick leave; as well as the financial disclosure requirement for any faculty who assigns textbooks — were removed. 

Moreover, language was added explicitly stating that colleges and universities are permitted to establish paid leave donation programs, which lends clarity to what has been a gray area for institutions. 

State Share of Instruction (SSI) figures remained the same as the House version, which is disappointing. However, the Senate did increase funding to the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), even above the governor’s original proposed increase. 

These are the results of many weeks of meeting with legislators, working with allies, and testifying to committee. Your messages to Senators made a difference, too.

On May 25, OCAAUP President John McNay gave testimony to the Senate Finance Higher Education Subcommittee. You can view the testimony here.

While we are encouraged by the Senate’s actions, the budget bill is far from being finalized. HB 49 still must pass the full Senate (that vote is slated for June 21); and after, will go to a conference committee, through which the House and Senate will work out their differences before submitting the bill to the governor, who is required to sign by June 30.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be working with allies and having conversations with House and Senate members to try to ensure that these provisions remain out of the bill. We may need to call upon you to contact your legislators, as well as members of the conference committee.

We will continue to keep you updated with information and ways you can help. Thank you for the good work and support you have lent to this effort so far.