Ohio University is beginning to explore options for midyear cuts, though administrators stress there is no need for them currently and they may never happen.
Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit has asked academic units to start talking about possible scenarios. Although she hasn’t made a formal request, several deans said they are doing this sort of planning to make sure they’re prepared for whatever might happen with the state budget.
Greg Shepherd, dean of the Scripps College of Communication, said he plans to discuss options with his Faculty Advisory Council.
“I figure we should be making some contingency plans for how we might handle any cuts, should they come, in the next couple of years,” Shepherd wrote in an e-mail. “I will want to involve faculty in those discussions and plan on using the college advisory committee, an elected, standing committee in the college, as folks to begin thinking about this.”
Benoit announced at Faculty Senate this week that people are starting to look at midyear cuts from the state, especially after the Ohio Supreme Court this week ruled that racetrack slot machines – a source of revenue the governor was counting on to balance the state budget – have to be approved by the voters may not be up and running for at least another year if at all.
OU President Roderick McDavis said he and the executive staff will also begin discussing midyear cut options for non-academic units in the next few weeks.
“It’s much better to be prepared for midyear cuts or new fiscal cuts than not,” McDavis said, adding that he and his staff remain grateful to the governor for saving high education cuts for last and hopeful there won’t be further cuts this year. “We want to be prepared for all the eventualities. This is the time for us to do the legwork.”
-Emily Grannis
