Students, Faculty, Staff Deserve Better; Board of Trustees Must Engage Them In Next Presidential Hiring Process

Attribution: Jennifer Tisone Price, Executive Director, American Association of University Professors-Ohio Conference

“The students, faculty, and staff of the Ohio State University deserve better. Better looks like respecting colleges and universities as institutions of higher education; not running them like businesses. Better looks like focusing on providing quality, affordable education. Better looks like investing in instruction, learning, and programs to support students. Better looks like improving faculty to administrator ratios. Better looks like standing up for education rather than bowing down to powerful special interests, big donors, and politicians.

This is OSU’s third president since 2020. If the university wants to do better with the next one, it must have a transparent hiring process that honors shared governance which includes the input from faculty. Shared governance isn’t just a bureaucratic nicety. It’s how universities stay honest.

OSU needs a president that prioritizes education, supports students, respects faculty, and values diversity. When faculty have a voice in hiring and curriculum, students win. Faculty don’t just teach the curriculum — they are the curriculum. No one understands what students need in the classroom better than the people standing in it every day. Faculty must be meaningfully engaged in the hiring process if OSU is going to do better and continue to hold itself out as a top-tier university.

Carter’s administration boasted about bringing in revenue and silencing faculty and students. What did we get with that approach? A president stepping down because of an inappropriate relationship and peddling access to leadership for personal gain. A conservative think tank professor assaulting a reporter. The board of trustees needs to do things differently. They can start by showing they value the voices of faculty and students.”

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