After Wednesday’s meeting, Ohio University’s Student Senate invited Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit and Vice President of Finance and Administration Stephen Golding to attend next week’s meeting.
Senate extended the invitation to receive a clarification of comments Benoit made at a senate meeting last year before the Board of Trustees approved a 3.5 percent tuition increase.
During senate’s April 4 meeting, Benoit and Golding painted a dire picture for the student body; without the tuition hike, faculty would not receive raises. The university would not be able to retain nine percent of its faculty. There would be budget cuts removing the possibility for investments. And Baker University Center, Alden Library and Grover Center would have to be closed because utility costs would be too high to handle.
“I think we’re at a breaking point,” Benoit said at the meeting.
Tuition was raised, and that seemingly apocalyptic scenario did not happen. Additionally, pay for the 10 highest-paid administrators was increased by 17.3 percent for this year.
That sort of spending suggests the picture might not have been as dire as Benoit and Golding implied in April.
Interim Budget Director Chad Mitchell said Benoit’s examples were not meant to be taken literally. Closing Baker, Alden and Grover was simply an example of why more budget cuts would not have worked, Mitchell said.
But using extreme examples like shutting down a library and a student union to win support for a tuition increase seems like an unfair scare tactic.]
Ann Fidler, chief of staff to the provost and chief financial officer, said that of the 3.5 percent tuition increase, some was used for raises. We’re interested in knowing how the rest is helping keep buildings open and retain faculty.
We urge Benoit and Golding to attend the meeting and answer the senators’ questions.
We implore the senators not to pull their punches.
This is a discussion the university deserves.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
