Faculty Senate discussed follow-up to the presidential election about how it could affect Ohio University students and administration.
The last Faculty Senate meeting of the semester began with presentations from OU President Roderick McDavis and Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit.
McDavis began by addressing the national discussion that has occurred since the presidential election, which brought up concerns regarding policies such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. That is an immigration policy the Obama administration enacted that allows undocumented immigrants to have deferred deportation.
“I’ve been asked if Ohio University will be following suit to becoming a sanctuary university,” McDavis said. “I think it is a little premature for us to take a position on that issue, what is actually going to happen is all very speculative at this point because there has not been any changes to our laws or our practices. Now obviously with the impending inauguration in January, we may see the need to have further discussion.”
McDavis said OU has accepted students who are protected by DACA, but if OU declares itself a sanctuary campus, it is possible that consequently, federal funding could be cut.
Additionally, Ohio House Bill 48 is likely to be signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in the coming weeks, McDavis said.
As the bill currently stands, the law would allow colleges' and universities’ governing bodies, such as the Board of Trustees, to determine if concealed weapons are to be permitted on each college campus.
“We will come back to this senate as well as other senates on campus, seeking your input. Also, we’ll probably design a survey to collect even more information from faculty, staff and students across our campuses to get their input,” McDavis said. “So the matter will go from our legislature to our Board (of Trustees).”
McDavis explicitly addressed the importance of OU being an “academy of ideas” that is open to different beliefs and concepts.
“We don’t necessarily have to agree with all the ideas people expose in the academy,” McDavis said. “But we are a place, I hope, where people can feel free to express themselves.”
Benoit continued a discussion about OU’s national rankings in a presentation on the different components of the U.S. News and World Report ranking. OU’s national ranking in the report fell in the past four years.
“Even what (the U.S. News and World Report) says they are measuring is faculty resources, they don’t say they’re measuring academic quality,” Benoit said.
Charles Buchanan, chair of the Educational Policy and Student Affairs Committee, presented a second reading of the resolution to revise credit hour requirements for certificates. Issues arose after the committee’s meeting concerning the maximum number of hours for the graduate interdisciplinary and specialized certificates.
The committee stressed there are certificates “hoping to be set up by the next academic year,” Buchanan said. The resolution was passed with no discussion.
