Ohio University's hiring freeze is being pushed from the headlines by a new idea: In an effort to curb budget woes, OU officials are laying the groundwork for a universitywide wage freeze. The scheme would keep all employees - administrators, faculty and staff alike - from receiving a raise next year. The idea is still in its preliminary stages, but already an addition has been suggested: Exempt employees earning less than $30,000 a year. That thoughtful exception could save many people, including OU's grad students, from a pay cut they simply couldn't afford.
Evidence of the slumping economy's effect on OU operations has graced headlines for months while the university has scrambled to cope. The results aren't always pretty. We're left with some big questions and bigger problems. Should the university continue to heap expenses onto a semester-switch project that has already exceeded quota? Can the university really afford pay raises for top administrators? And ask any professor or faculty member: A new wage freeze probably isn't something they are looking forward to. But regardless, a well-executed wage freeze might be necessary.
The graduate student program is a vital part of OU's academic landscape. The future of the university, and of the much-ballyhooed Vision Ohio plan, depends on expanding graduate research. What might be a bother to tenured faculty could be a severe blow to the struggling future Ph.D.s on campus. Should the Budget Planning Council go ahead with a wage freeze, an exemption for the lower-paid employees would be a welcome addition.
The wage freeze itself isn't yet set in stone. It hasn't, in fact, surpassed the status of recommendation. But it is another viable strategy to counter the university's continued financial struggles. Desperate times call for desperate measures, don't they? Usually - but it's encouraging to see that someone at OU has the foresight to know when those measures might hurt more than they'll help. Let's hope the follow-through matches the thought.
Editorials represent the views of The Post's executive editors.
4 Opinion
A wage freeze
