Ohio University administrators fielded questions about budget reduction targets, while senators voiced concerns about the university’s commitment to academic quality at last night’s “extraordinary” Faculty Senate meeting.
The meeting was added to Faculty Senate’s usual monthly meeting schedule as an opportunity to respond to OU’s budget recommendations, which were released this past Friday. Senate did not consider any resolutions last night regarding the recently released budget reduction targets.
Although OU’s original projection of more than $11 million for fiscal year 2012 was significantly more than the actual $5.3 million loss in state funding, Faculty Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin said senators are displeased with a possible lack of focus on academic quality.
“There’s a loss of quality,” said Bernhard Debatin, a senator from the Scripps College of Communication. “This might be a short-term solution, but in the long run, we have to be very careful.
“We are a very particular university, and we have to understand what our benefits and our values are that we have to offer. I think that quality is one of those.”
Based on the cuts facing academic units, OU will have to get creative in order to maintain high academic standards, said Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit.
“I do think that what the state is saying to us very clearly is that they are reducing how much they provide to us for instruction,” Benoit said. “And as a result of that, we’re going to have to find a way to efficiently, with less money, teach our students.”
Faculty members also addressed concerns regarding the strategies OU has implemented to help cope with a lack of funds. These include Responsibility Centered Management, a budgeting approach that gives more power to individual college deans and the employee buyout plan.
“The only people that are (retiring early) are the people that planned to this year or maybe next year ... so in a sense we’re paying people a bonus for doing what they planned to do anyways,” said Judith Lee, a senator from the Scripps College of Communication.
With the budget reduction, senators also questioned whether they would receive salary increases each time they face a possible increase in the cost of health care and parking fees.
Although no resolution was passed, senators made it clear they would prefer academics to be the main priority.
“I can’t imagine how anyone would set up a budget like that,” said Eugene Ammarell, a senator from the College of Arts and Sciences. “I would imagine the goal would be to minimize the effect on academics.”
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