Report to the YSU Academic Senate on the Ohio Faculty Council, November 8, 2002, Meeting, by Tom Shipka The Ohio Faculty Council held a meeting on Friday, November 8, 2002, at the Board of Regents Suite in the Rhodes Office Tower.  The meeting was called to order at 12:45 p.m. by OFC Chair Ginny Hamilton of Shawnee State University. After nominations and voting, a new executive committee was elected for one-year terms as follows: Chair, Tom Shipka, Youngstown State University Vice Chair, Vijay Konangi, Cleveland State University Secretary, Rodger Govea, Cleveland State University The first half of the meeting consisted of discussion of the OFC agenda for the year.  Among the main items agreed on were expanding the OFC’s contacts in Columbus beyond OBOR personnel, such as the STRS, the Legislature, and the Inter-University Council, soliciting participation from several campuses that seldom send representatives, and collecting and sharing information on key issues.  It was also agreed that the OFC would continue to monitor OBOR’s plans in general education and possibly hold a second conference on general education, to which a representative from the North Central Association would be invited. The second half of the meeting dealt with tuition reciprocity developments.  Jack Connell from the OBOR staff briefed the OFC about the history and purposes of tuition reciprocity agreements and outlined recent agreements between various Ohio public two-year and four-year institutions and institutions in Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia.  He explained that tuition reciprocity plans allow students to cross borders of contiguous states without paying out-of-state surcharges; such students are treated as Ohio residents for subsidy purposes.   The earliest plans, dating back to the 70s, involved Eastern Michigan and Toledo University, and Michael Owens Tech in Ohio and Monroe Community College in Michigan.  More recent agreements involve the University of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky University; the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State College, and Northern Kentucky University; Northwestern State College in Ohio and Jackson Community College in Michigan; Belmont Tech, Jefferson Community College, and West Virginia Northern Community College; Washington State College in Ohio and the University of West Virginia-Parkersburg; Ohio University-Southern, Shawnee State University, and several Kentucky institutions; and Rio Grande Community College, Ashland Community College, and Morehead State-Ashland. (Note: At the request of YSU, Mr. Connell is exploring tuition reciprocity prospects between YSU and various Pennsylvania public colleges and universities.) Mr. Connell also reported that discussions are taking place between Indiana and Ohio about state-to-state tuition reciprocity prospects.  He predicted that probably one or more regional agreements will come out of these discussions. The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.  The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, December 6, 2002.

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