S.B. 5 and Kasich budget imperil shared governance

On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Kasich announced a budget for the state of Ohio that included what he portrayed as a slight increase to K-12 and higher education. However, upon examination it is evident that these "increases" in no way offset a loss in federal stimulus money. In fact, overall Ohio public colleges and universities will take a collective cut of 13.1 percent (OhioConferenceAAUP).

At Ohio University many of the budget cuts will affect our regional strengths disproportionately. For example, funding to the Voinovich Center, which is concerned with public policy and economic development for our region, has been eliminated from the state budget. The clinical teaching line from the College of Osteopathic Medicine one of the region's few sources of medical care has been cut by 10 percent. The President'sstatementto the university community announced a reduction of $2.9 million to the regional campuses' State Share of Instruction once again undermining OU's ability to serve the region.

However, the numbers are only a part of the story. We are concerned with the way decisions may be made using "the budget" to change longstanding university policies and the core mission of the university. One serious concern is the call by the governor to increase faculty teaching load in the name of the budget to one more course every two years. The governor's mandate to teach more sets an alarming precedent of state micromanagement of faculty workload. It also demonstrates once again the governor's disregard for shared governance and collective bargaining. On state university campuses that have union-negotiated contracts, workload is generally defined through collective bargaining.

OU AAUP thus applauds theOhioUniversityFacultySenate'sresolutioncondemning President Roderick McDavis and the Inter-University Council's support of Ohio Senate Bill 5, proposed legislation that strips faculty at public universities of their right to collective bargaining.

S.B. 5 is a direct attack on the fundamental values of shared governance and transparency in public universities. The Ohiochapterand the national AmericanAssociationofUniversityProfessors(AAUP) hold that college and university faculties are notmere employees or second-tier "managers" subservient to boards of trustees, administrators, the state legislature or the governor. Rather, we are professionals who possess authority and expertise in areas of academic competence. We exercise this authority first and foremost on behalf of the broader public, students, and the profession. Many faculties have organized behind collective representation to protect the unique identity of their profession.

The capacity of a university to fulfill its core mission depends on whether faculty are free to determine the shape and direction of teaching and research within the institution. Crucially, it entails the right and responsibility to shape the direction of an academic institution; this right and responsibility, shared governance, is different from managerial priorities and political interests which often focus on achieving short-term results unrelated to teaching and learning. College and university faculty have a responsibility to protect and advance the core academic mission not only for today's students but for the generations to come.

But OU faculty are increasingly marginalized in decisions that directly affect the core mission of the university, and S.B. 5 threatens to deepen this isolation. Worse, the OU Faculty Handbook no longer guarantees an authoritative role for faculty in university decision-making. Unlike contractual agreements on unionized campuses, the Handbook has no legal standing. The administration and Board of Trustees are free to ignore the Handbook's requirements, and they frequently do so. This is no trivial matter. Academic freedom at OU and OU's academic mission are at stake.

A collective-bargaining agreement can make shared governance procedures and the Faculty Handbook legally binding on the administration and establish Faculty Senate and its committees as partners with administrators in university decision-making.

By depriving public university faculty of the right to bargain collectively, S.B. 5 will further weaken shared governance mechanisms. President McDavis and Gov. Kasich say they want greater "flexibility" to manage OU and, in the case of the governor, universities in general. This is corporate speak for the desire to concentrate power within the managerial structure and transform universities into firms whose workers serve at the whim of administrators. If we allow this to happen, faculty will have no authority whatsoever to shape the terms of their employment in any meaningful way. "Shared governance" will finally have become nothing more than an Orwellianism masking the basic fact of faculty irrelevance.

Instead, we urge our colleagues to, as the president stated, 'becomeactive, informedparticipants.' Let's come together faculty, students, staff and community to restore the basic humanrightofcollectivebargaining and rededicate OU to our core academic mission.

OU AAUP Executive Committee
Ohio University
Athens

Editor's note: The committee members as listed on the OU AAUP website are Norma Pecora, president; Julie White, vice president; Loren Lybarger, secretary; Kevin Mattson, past president; at-large member Michael Sisson; and card-drive chair Ken Brown.