In the early 1970s, Ohio University’s financial problems looked rather similar to today’s.
The university faced decreases in state funding, budget deficits, salary freezes, and increased student tuition and fees, according to a written account by Robert Mahn, secretary to OU president Claude Sowle and the Board of Trustees during that time.
However, Sowle and his administration took a transparent approach to budget planning that had not been seen before.
In 1970, university officials decided to host annual open budget hearings in which administrators would present their budget plans to an audience of employees, students, the press and Sowle.
The university was planning for a $1.5 million budget deficit for the 1972-1973 school year due to sharp enrollment declines, which amounts to about $8.02 million in today’s dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. OU is currently facing an $11.6 million budget shortfall for next year due to a reduction in state funding, increasing health care and utility costs, and employee salary increases.
“It was an extremely volatile period. … All parts of the university had complaints,” said Kathryn Sowle, Claude’s wife. “He thought the way to deal with that was communication — not to shut down debate, but to open it up.”
During Sowle’s tenure, the university had 14 open hearings. One was combined with a University Budget Committee meeting, and many were broadcast by WOUB, according to Mahn’s account.
“We thought we ought to have open hearings so that everyone knew what we were doing,” said John Milar, OU vice president and treasurer during Sowle’s presidency and chair of the University Budget Committee.
Sowle’s wife said the former president believed communication was important throughout the entire budget process.
“(The hearings) gave access to the process, not just the conclusions to the process,” Kathryn Sowle said.
OU’s current administrators held public forums April 11 and 12 in which students and employees asked how Gov. John Kasich’s budget proposal would affect the university. More forums are planned for early May.
OU tries to be transparent with budget processes today through its efforts to discuss the budget at various senate meetings, to put information on the provost’s website and to post Budget Planning Council meeting minutes online, spokeswoman Katie Quaranta said in an email statement said.
BPC is a group closed to the public that makes financial recommendations to OU President Roderick McDavis.
“The council includes representatives who are encouraged to communicate budget news to and to gather feedback from their respective constituencies,” Quaranta wrote. “It is not, however, a public body subject to Open Meetings laws.”
The Sowle hearings took place in January and February 1971 and lasted about 24 hours total, according to Mahn’s account. Milar, who ran the hearings, recalled them as “kind of riotous,” with students and faculty criticizing the presenters’ budget proposals.
“It was a little bit like a circus part of the time,” Milar said.
Most of the audience was against funding for athletics and other programs not directly related to education, he said. Milar said that although some good came of the hearings, he was unsure whether new decisions were made because of them.
After 1974, when Sowle resigned and Harry Crewson took over as interim president, the hearings ended.
“People got some concerns off their chest, and whether it became productive overall, it’s hard to judge,” Milar said. “Problems still existed afterwards.”
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