Ohio University's Faculty Senate, which has been outspokenly critical of athletics' spending, will consider two resolutions about Intercollegiate Athletics reform tonight, while also discussing the number of times students may retake a course.
Senate's Finance and Facilities Committee is introducing two resolutions about Intercollegiate Athletics, one building on a national group's ideas for reform and the other calling upon university presidents to work together for change.
University presidents and appropriate state and national government officials should seek rapid and meaningful alternatives to the current 'arms race' approach to Intercollegiate Athletics funding
the second resolution states, adding universities should provide no more than 15 percent of their athletics' budgets.
The first of the athletics resolutions is based on a template from the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, which is a group of faculty senates at Division IA schools that is pushing for reform in intercollegiate athletics funding.
The resolution calls for more faculty involvement in decisions about athletics funding and operations. Senate Chairman Joe McLaughlin made clear it is not just about communicating with faculty.
I think what's at the heart of that resolution is that there needs to be better integration between the campus - and in particular faculty - and Intercollegiate Athletics McLaughlin said. It's about giving the faculty a real voice in the proper scope of what they do.
The resolution deals largely with who sits on OU's Intercollegiate Athletics Committee as well as the committee's charge.
Senate will also discuss how many times students should be able to retake classes, and whether that should be the same for all courses.
PeopleSoft, OU's new student information system, only allows for one setting for number of retakes. Under the current system, each department can determine how many times a student can retake each course. The senate resolution would set the limit at two retakes after the first try.
McLaughlin said some senators might be concerned about taking the decision out of department hands.
The big issue it will raise is whether or not we're making decisions on academic policy for sound pedagogical reasons or whether we're letting a software package drive our curriculum he said.
OU could modify the PeopleSoft program, but it would be expensive, McLaughlin said.
It is not clear whether administrators would be bound by a senate resolution on retakes. The body has generally had control over curricular decisions, McLaughlin said.
All of the resolutions before senate today are up for first reading, meaning they will go through another round of edits before the senators will vote on them.
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Emily Grannis
