About 100 students protesting against tuition increases demanded to speak with Ohio University President Roderick McDavis at Cutler Hall on Tuesday. However, he was about 400 miles away at an annual conference.
McDavis was at U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s, D-Ohio, college and university presidents conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington D.C. with 30 other college presidents.
“The importance of attending this conference is the opportunity to advocate for our students, faculty, staff and university community with our government leaders,” said Jennifer Kirksey, McDavis' chief of staff, in an email. “This engagement also allows him to keep the value of higher education at the forefront of our legislative leaders’ minds.”
After holding a moment of silence for the citizens of Boston, Brown introduced
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who originally introduced the Americans with Disabilities Act into Senate.
Harkin spoke to attendees on the importance of supporting students who want to study art, literature, philosophy and music in addition to college affordability and jobs.
“States like Ohio need to stop reducing their support for higher education,” he said. “We’ve got to do something … it will be a battle, but I’m ready for it.”
However, in January, Harkin said he would not seek a sixth term in 2014.
“We love sports and cheer on our teams and we like new buildings, but colleges and—you,” he said pointing his finger at the university presidents in the audience, “need to make affordability and student success a priority.”
Ohio Congressman Steve Stivers, R-Ohio 15th District, echoed Harkin.
“I hope you will work to make college affordable and control your spending and make sure it makes a difference for students,” he said. “I also ask of you to look out for your students because they are our future, I will work for you, but I hope you work for us.”
The keynote speaker of the event, Eric Shinseki, United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, spoke in regard to veterans receiving higher education.
“Last year, 23,000 veterans attended Ohio Schools using their VA educational and training benefits and $15,000 who used the Post 9/11 GI bill,” Shinseki said. “I ask you to embrace your veteran students and let them know they are welcomed, but make sure they are ready to work.”
A senator who has essentially been in McDavis’ shoes, Lamar Alexander, R-TN, served as president of the University of Tennessee. He took the podium and explained three reasons as to why the cost of college is going up, the first of which he said was because of federal Medicaid mandates.
“The second reason is the inefficient use of college facilities and the third reason is the absurd barrage of federal regulations,” he said. “If a state chooses to participate in the federal Medicaid program, this is the result. I think it will destroy our great public research universities, if this continues over the next 20 years. If they participate you’re not going to have anything left, for the other public state universities.”
On the other hand, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he was proud of Ohio’s universities.
“We’ve got it all, we’ve got great training centers, great community colleges, great private schools and public schools we truly are blessed,” he said. “We need to ensure that dollars are flowing to students who can use them for actual training that will be helpful to a job that is actually needed.”
bc822010@ohiou.edu
