Report to the YSU Academic Senate on the Ohio Faculty Council, Tom Shipka, March 2002 The Ohio Faculty Council met on Friday, February 15, 2002, at the Board of Regents offices in the Rhodes Tower in Columbus from noon to 3:00 p.m. Most of the time was taken up with a report by Chancellor Roderick Chu. The Chancellor addressed a variety of issues in higher education.  He talked extensively about Governor Taft’s State of the State Address, in which he spoke about the new knowledge and technology-based economy and proposed a $1.6 billion program over ten years to make Ohio competitive in the new economy. The Chancellor said that the Governor’s program was very similar to the Ohio Plan proposed by OBOR to the Governor and the Ohio General Assembly unsuccessfully last year. He urged support on the campuses for the Governor’s program. The program will require approval of a bond in spring 2003 which, if passed, will lift the debt ceiling in the state and permit the use of bond-generated income for endowed chairs in higher education. The Governor’s program seeks a collaboration between leading scholars and the private sector. The Chancellor also . . . 1. applauded the OFC’s plan to stage a conference this summer on general education in Ohio higher education, 2. noted that in real dollars Ohio is supporting higher education at 1988 levels, 3. said that the capital budget will probably be approved in November of this year, 4. estimated that Ohio public campuses will have to raise student fees roughly 20% this year to offset the poor basic state funding, the recent state budget cutbacks, and inflation, 5. estimated the overall enrollment increase at Ohio public colleges and universities at 4% this year, 6. reported that the Higher Education Funding Commission is taking a fresh look at financial aid to assure that state aid is coordinated with federal aid and that part-time students’ needs are addressed, 7. informed us that Wright State, The Ohio State University, and Ohio University are collaborating on a project aimed at overhauling math education in the state, 8. said that the Regents are studying a state and national crisis in medical education due in part to hospitals' providing less and less support in the training of physicians, 9. opined that there is no solution in sight for the K-12 funding problem and that increasing K-12 spending has produced no appreciable improvement in student performance outcomes, 10. notified us that 36% of entering first-year students in the public colleges and universities need remedial courses, and 11. alerted us that OBOR will be releasing a report card on Ohio public high schools in May which tracks the remediation necessary for their graduates in Ohio colleges and universities. Vice Chancellor Robert Sheehan spent a few minutes with the group but agreed to carry over his report to the next meeting due to time constraints. He did report that OBOR will not conduct a faculty survey this year. Part of the meeting was also spent in a discussion of escalating insurance costs at the colleges and universities. I gave a written report to the group on initiatives being taken on this front by the Inter-University Council, the organization of our public college and university presidents. There were several points of levity in the meeting, as when one participant said that public universities in Ohio have gone from “state-supported” to “state-assisted” to “state-located.” The next OFC meeting is scheduled in April.

Top of Page