Budget concerns were addressed by administration and senators yesterday at the University Senate meeting.
Both are confident that progress can be made regardless of the financial future.
“I think we all recognize that this is going to be a challenging rest of the budget year, as well as a challenging upcoming budget year,” said Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook.
Holbrook said there was reason to be “cautiously optimistic about our funding, considering our governor’s proposals.” Gov. Bob Taft is in favor of tuition caps for Ohio colleges, but Holbrook said she doesn’t think it is a good idea.
“What we have said — as have our colleagues — is that we all support a tuition increase that is established by our Board of Trustees at each institution, not by a statewide legislative mandate,” Holbrook said.
The University Senate approved the Council of Academic Affairs’ proposal to create a doctoral program in comparative studies. The proposal, which was presented by Russ Pitzel, chairman of the Council of Academic Affairs, was approved unanimously. Pitzel said the next step for the program would be to go to the trustees, then the Board of Regents.
Provost Edward J. Ray talked about the changes OSU has gone through in the past year and encouraged the University Senate to continue adapting to new changes. He stressed that the budget is just a tool to improve the university, rather than an end.
Ray also introduced plans to help the College of Arts and Sciences allocate up to an additional $3 million to invest in areas of need.
Dr. Carol Whitacre proposed a plan to eliminate the cap that restricted the College of Public Health and Medicine in clinical hiring.
Whitacre said if the cap were eliminated, it would allow the college to be more effective in its goals because under the current cap, many faculty are misplaced. She said many faculty were on tenure tracks simply because they were not able to be hired as clinical faculty because of the cap.
Whitacre also said a decision to drop the cap would be beneficial to the national ranking of the college, and a gain in the national rankings would not only benefit the medical school, but would help the university as a whole. The proposal was approved by an overwhelming majority, with only a few opposed and a few abstaining from the vote.
In the report from Undergraduate Student Government, president Eddie Pauline said much of the conversation was about the riots that took place this fall. Pauline said he got some response from the students about why rioting occurs, but USG is more interested in why so many students watch the riots.
Pauline said attention is being paid to freshmen and students who are about to graduate from OSU; but OSU needs to find new ways to keep sophomores involved.
