Several Ohio University groups will team up to host a budget discussion focusing on the university's Department of Intercollegiate Athletic tomorrow afternoon.
The primary focus of the meeting, which takes place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Baker University Center's Ballroom A, will be to shed light on OU's current athletics budget as well as how it has changed over time, said Bernard Debatin, a journalism professor.
We'll get people aware of where the money goes
where the different missions are that OU tends to pursue and where our priorities should be Debatin said.
The forum will occur with two presentations - the first presentation will be given by Professor Ken Hicks, who will present an updated version of his study on rates of funding for academics and administration services, Debatin said.
In general it will be towards how spending has changed the university
and shifted toward administrative costs over time
Debatin said.
The second presentation will be given by Professor Steve Hays, and will focus on the costs Intercollegiate Athletics has historically incurred to OU.
It seems that OU is spending a lot of money on non-academic programs
and we're not sure what the benefit is
Debatin said. He emphasized the forum will not be against athletics but rather will be a discussion on how it and other non-academic departments have historically been funded, compared with academic departments.
The forum comes without sponsorship from Student Senate. Graduate Student Senate, Future OU and the American Association of University Professors will still sponsor the event.
Student Senate President Robert Leary said Senate wanted someone to speak for Intercollegiate Athletics at the event, fearing it may otherwise become too one-sided. Organizers were unable to get anyone from ICA or who could speak for the department.
When it came down to the wire
we didn't want to sponsor something that was more one side than another
Leary said.
My understanding is that originally it was planned that there would be a number of presentations and it was more planned as a pro- and con kind of thing Debatin said, The format was changed to basically saying we want to have a focus on what is the type of money that goes toward the athletic department and what's the type of money that goes toward academics and has this increased or decreased over time.
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