Dear Ohio University, #saveOUrprofs
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Student Life

Dear Ohio University, #saveOUrprofs

Dear President Nellis, you've made a huge mistake.

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The backstory

Due to COVID-19, colleges across the nation switched all in-person classes online for the remainder of spring semester and summer sessions. As fees were returned to students forced to move out of dorms early, the financial strain became evident. Many Americans have lost their jobs during the nationwide lockdown and now can't afford to send their children to college, resulting in even lower enrollment for the freshman class of 2024. Due to these financial burdens, when facing the reality of fall semester, many universities almost had no choice but to open or face even greater losses without students returning. In April, Duane Nellis made a promise to hold off any faculty cuts due to the difficult circumstances everyone faced with the sudden transition to remote learning. However, he went back on his word in May and announced layoffs for 340 people, including 43 instructional faculty. The remaining faculty are to take a pay cut of varying percentages, based on their salaries. Those who have received a non-renewal notice have one terminal year from fall 2020 to spring 2021. After that, they must find employment elsewhere. President Nellis, his wife, the head football and basketball coaches, along with other administrators have taken 10-15% voluntary pay cuts to help the situation. OU stated that this has saved them millions of dollars. However many employees have expressed their discontent through various protests in Athens, demanding a firing freeze.

After reading various articles and news stories on this topic, I feel the need to share my discontent with the president's decisions as they impact the quality of students' education. So, what is the negative impact of these decisions? To start, professors were treated unfairly. Heads of departments were asked to rate their instructors on a numbered list to determine their value, and submit it to the university. Assumingly, those on the bottom of the list are terminated. In return, many refused to do so to protect their programs. Small yet important departments immediately went under fire, deemed unessential to the university as a whole. Some of the best professors this university had to offer were cut, despite consistent stellar class evaluations from students in which they expressed their gratitude for them being so passionate and effective at teaching difficult courses. Yet, because the university is scrambling for money and won't touch the athletics programs, they won't have a job come May 2021.

What about the professors who consistently receive poor reviews every semester from frustrated students? Why do they get to stay? If they can't do their job correctly, which is to TEACH effectively, they should be the first to go. It is simply unjust to pick and choose who is renewed or not without giving them legitimate reasons for their termination, other than blaming it on the budget crisis.

Let's discuss pay cuts

While Nellis, other top administrators, and sports coaches have agreed to take pay cuts and no bonus this year, it really does not make a big dent. The President's salary is over $489,000 annually. Reducing it by 15% leaves him with a salary of about $415,953. He also still took bonuses and salary raises accumulating to tens of thousands of dollars last year, fully aware of the low enrollment rates across Ohio. Similarly, Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Sayrs, who makes $378,750 annually, took a pay cut of $56,812.50. Additionally, the men's basketball coach reportedly earns about $581,000 annually, and the head football coach made about $525,000 last year and they will take only a measly 10% cut to do their part.

There are three issues that many students, including myself, have on this topic

First of all, why do sports coaches, who do not contribute to the university's academic integrity, get paid so much, and make almost $100,000 more than the president himself? Talk about overpaid. Yes, sports rack in money and are the face of the university, as it's easy to show how great student life is at OU thanks to the various sports we can watch or participate in. I'm not saying that we should eliminate athletics altogether. Going to hockey games is one of my favorite things to do on the weekends at OU. My point is that they pale in comparison to the professors. We're ultimately an academic institution, so when it comes to getting out of debt, the athletics budget should be the first to get cuts. It doesn't make sense to lay off phenomenal professors, cut entire departments, but save the coaches, some who have half a million-dollar salaries and could easily take more than 10% of their paycheck off and live wonderfully. We need to think of what/who is worth saving.

Second of all, they can take at least a 20% reduction, and still have a very minimal effect on their lives. As mentioned before, in my opinion, they should take the greatest cuts, instead of many faculty who live paycheck to paycheck, taking no time off and working their butts off to support themselves and their families. Doing so would help the university the most while also not awfully affecting the lives of the higher-ups. For example, if President Nellis takes 20%, that'll take off $97,800. So, he'd make around $391,000 a year which is still a very good salary. If the head basketball and football coaches take 20% as well, they're left with $464,800 and $420,000. Combined, if Elizabeth Sayrs, President Nellis, and the two coaches all take 20% pay cuts, that'd save the university almost $400,000, which would help so much with the debt the university is currently facing. This would also ease the strain on the rest of the faculty who are furloughed. So by increasing the reductions of their salaries, it would help everyone involved and most importantly the faculty which has given OU the great reputation that it deserves.

Last on this topic is that there have been very few cuts to the athletics budget aside from two coaches taking voluntary pay cuts. As they receive $19.8 million in institutional support annually, it's hard to imagine that reducing their budget in any way would impact them negatively. Yet, the university has not stated how much they are exactly cutting from them. As every academic college was asked to cut about $30 million through anticipated layoffs of around 300 faculty with departments merging together, programs are getting cut completely. As professors who have held up their departments singlehandedly are being disregarded, it makes perfect sense to reduce spending on non-essential parts of the university instead of getting rid of several majors entirely. Once again, I'm not here to say "Cut the sports!" I'm just saying that right now, keeping our professors who are the reasons why we receive our degrees, is more important. They're the ones who teach us what we need to know so we can have successful careers after graduation. I was an athlete myself for 5 years until college, I know how important a sport can be in someone's life. But academics come first. It doesn't make sense that every news outlet has stated that the athletics program is somehow minimally affected, while so many departments are suffering.

What does all this mean?

Because of all this, current students have had it up to their heads as our favorite professors lose their jobs, several programs lose their integrity, and the university's academics, in general, lose value. It doesn't look good to have a president who carelessly cuts our esteemed professors with no explanation other than "Sorry, you're just a casualty of our financial crisis." What makes one chemistry professor important enough to stay, and the other one isn't? No one tells them "Hey you have poor student reviews and your department head has expressed discontent with your teaching skills. You're cut." It's unfair that so many of the professors I loved and admired are the ones that are going to suffer the most from all this.

These vast budget cuts have had a personal impact on me with two entire departments being eliminated after the 2020-2021 school year: Russian and the English Language Improvement Program. As someone who is ethnically Russian and a Russian major, this news upsets me. This program holds a very special place in my heart. I have found my closest friends in college through my involvement in the Russian club. The Russian program has some of the best people I know and now one of my classmates is living with me this year. The Russian department has always been a home away from home and my safe haven for the past 3 years. If it wasn't for this major, I wouldn't have stayed at OU. Not only that, but Ohio University's students have consistently claimed the top 3 spots when we've competed in OSU's annual Undergraduate Russian Olympiad. We may be a small program, but we've accomplished so much and have formed unbreakable friendships. And let's not forget the amazing professors I've had too. I've never been so close to teachers as I have in my majors. I feel like they actually know me on a personal basis, instead of just another grade in their grade book. They're always willing to write recommendations for me, offer more information on the classes they offer, and just teach some of my all-time favorite classes in general. This is why professors are important. They're mentors, teachers and role models. So, overall, it breaks my heart to find out that this is our last year together when I think of how much it gave me, or how other Russians who come to OU won't have this kind of support and students won't learn the language that is so important to today's world.

Additionally, cutting the English Language Improvement Program is utterly ridiculous. This has been the backbone and foundation of so many international students' education here. They have relied on it to learn English from scratch and use it as a stepping stone to begin their education at OU. Without it, plenty of those students couldn't have received their degrees. I personally know a couple of international students who came to OU not knowing any amount of English and through ELIP, were able to learn the language through a 1 or 2-year intensive program. They were then able to take classes easily because they had a good grasp on it. Professors and students alike from almost every language offered have volunteered their time here to help others, and in turn, received valuable volunteer hours and practice in the language. This is a tremendous asset for those wanting to work in multilingual environments in their careers. The ELIP bridges the gap between the American student population and their international counterparts. That is how our community has grown and how we've received attention from countries all over the world, giving ourselves a reputable name. Eliminating it cuts off our relations with universities abroad, making study abroad options more limited, decreasing enrollment from outside America, and losing current students who cannot continue without a place to learn or develop proper skills to study in English.

Do yOU hear us?

To wrap this up, I write this to express the frustrations of the majority of OU students who fear to return in the fall to find their favorite professors' time is up. I love my college. I've had four different majors and will add a certificate too. I chose this university for the vast academic opportunities I was offered here. The flexibility to change my major, to get involved in so many extracurriculars, and so much more has been an amazing experience for me. So, as much as I love this school, and I'm lucky that my CSD professors and major are still going strong, you're ruining our education, President Nellis. This is the university's quality of academics, its value, its students, and faculty that's being robbed. Every employee, renewed or not renewed, has a right to protest and demand better treatment in a time where the entire world is struggling with this unprecedented pandemic. It is my sincere hope, even if it's a slim shot, that Ohio University's administrators readjust their priorities and help the people who have served it. We can do better than this.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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