Save Ohio Higher Ed
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Formed in May 2020, Save Ohio Higher Ed (SOHE) is a coalition of faculty, staff, students, and policy advocates across Ohio who have come together to protect higher education as a public, equitable, and fair-labor good. Our forum events educate on key issues and bring community members into conversation. The founding members of SOHE are local chapters of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at Ohio State, Miami University, and Ohio University.
We hold regular online forums that are open to all educators, students, policymakers, and the Ohio community at large. Find descriptions of past and upcoming events below. Want to stay informed? Sign up here! |
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What We Do
- combat non-transparency by sharing information
- share strategy for changing the narrative around higher education in Ohio
- build alliances and support initiatives among coalition partners
- serve as a place for testimony on the effects of current higher ed practices on lives and education
See our Solidarity Pledge and sign on.
Our Coalition PartnersIn addition to AAUP-Ohio State, AAUP-Miami University, AAUP-Ohio University, and AAUP-Ohio Conference, our partners include:
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Past Events
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November 1, 2022: "Organize! Empowering Precarious Workers in Ohio" This forum was motivated by several questions: Given Ohio's limits on part-time academic workers' ability to participate in a union, how can these workers be empowered, even without the formal right to organize? What other strategies exist for building collective strength? What are the possibilities for changing limiting state labor laws? Our speakers included experts on part-time and contingent faculty and staff rights from across the nation: Helen Worthen and Joe Berry, coauthors of Power Despite Precarity; Trent McDonald, co-founder of Higher Ed Labor United, or HELU; Tracy Berger, HELU Outreach Operations Coordinator; and Jill Penn, co-president of United Campus Workers of Georgia. See the video recording of the forum here (password: z7t*vWu3). ................................................................................................................................................... September 1, 2022: "Unionization and the Future of Higher Education in Ohio" This event drew on the expertise and experience of many people involved in unionization and collective organizing. Our goal was to demystify unions and to show how they work together with other forms of academic solidarity. We heard from faculty and staff currently in the process of unionization efforts at Miami University of Ohio and at the Ohio State University. We also heard about recent successful unionization efforts in other states. Speakers from AAUP at the national and state levels and from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) described the powerful resources that the recently formalized AAUP/AFT partnership can bring to organizing drives. As our speakers also discussed, unionization is not the only way to protect academic work and build worker power: AAUP advocacy chapters can also be powerful instruments toward these aims. Finally, in the forum Q&A, there was a lively discussion of the need for organizing for precarious academics. We were grateful for this conversation, which led directly to plans for our next forum! ................................................................................................................................................... November 18, 2021: "Who Rules the University? How Boards of Trustees Shape Higher Ed" Our panelists discussed university boards of trustees--often politically appointed CEOs and business leaders lacking any academic experience--as major drivers of higher education. Cathy Wagner (Faculty, Miami University; President, Miami-AAUP chapter) and John McNay (Faculty, University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash; former President of the Ohio Conference AAUP) explained the constitution of these fiduciary boards, which are charged with financial and other oversight of universities. Members are usually highly wealthy and non-diverse, and their corporate priorities, uninformed by faculty and student voices, fuel a growth model out of step with academic missions. Brian Boyd (Faculty Council President, Wright State University; Ohio Faculty Council representative) discussed the importance of building faculty relations with boards of trustees, and John Martin (Faculty, Wright State) offered a case study of board impact on university wellbeing. Jannie Kamara (alumna and past student body president, Miami University) emphasized the need for boards' commitment to student and community concerns. speaker video presentation slides informational documents:
................................................................................................................................................... September 2, 2021: "Honesty in Education: The Truth about Ohio's 'Divisive Concepts' Bills" Two bills currently being considered in the Ohio legislature would ban accurate educational (K-12 and college) accounts of culture and history as “divisive.” These bills, HB 322 and HB 327, are themselves divisive, eroding trust in our teachers and in our communities, and they stand in the way of preparing our students for a complex world. In addition to explaining the content of the bills, this forum's speakers gave insight into their potential impact on students' learning, mental health, and workforce preparedness and on educators' job safety. Forum participants: Pranav Jani (Faculty, Ohio State University); Gary Daniels (Chief Lobbyist, ACLU-Ohio); Elliott Vahey (Honesty for Ohio Education Youth Coalition); Holly Paden (Ohio Students Association); Mary Kreitz (Behavioral Health Specialist, Dismantling Racism Coalition of Stark County); Lisa Vahey (Cofounder, Honesty for Ohio Education); Scott DiMauro (President, Ohio Education Association); Anne Flamm (Faculty, Case Western Reserve University School of Law).
speaker video ( use password: +ZJjc88e ) presentation slides
................................................................................................................................................... April 16, 2021: "The Debt Trap: Students, Equity, and the Ohio Economy" This forum highlighted the massive financial burden many Ohio graduates face as a result of state and institutional policies. Student Jake Kravitz, recent graduate Akii Butler, and Ohio Student Association organizer Kalesha Scott spoke about shouldering many thousands of dollars in debt (with substantially accumulating interest) and the obstacles this creates for building a home and career in Ohio: "Are there places where I can raise a family that are cheaper, where I can succeed?" Black borrowers face particular obstacles, as University of Pennsylvania postdoctoral scholar Jalil Mustaffa Bishop discussed; debt practices are an extension of discriminatory loan practices like sharecropping and mortgage redlining, creating a "life sentence." Piet van Lier, educational researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, noted that Ohio is one of only five states in which colleges and universities are required to turn over student debt to the Attorney General. Transcripts are withheld until debt is paid, which hinders educational and career opportunities. Ohio ranks 45th in higher education affordability. Lastly, Cathy Wagner of Miami University discussed how the debt for capital investments at colleges and universities is passed on to students, increasing their ultimate financial burden. (speaker video) (presentation slides) ................................................................................................................................................... February 12, 2021: "The Economic Importance of Higher Ed" Higher education in Ohio is crucial to the state's future. It's not only key to informed citizenship; it's a powerful economic engine for broad-based prosperity. But our institutions of higher education are in grave trouble after decades of declines in funding. In this forum, we heard about how the state's starving of higher education strains university budgets, eliminates jobs in local communities, and drives up tuition for students. Speakers included:
................................................................................................................................................... October 22, 2020: "Shared Governance for the Current Crisis and Beyond: A Primer" The presentation was aimed at helping faculty senators and other faculty involved in shared governance to understand their shared governance rights. It explained why shared governance matters and proposed pathways for making a difference. (presentation slides) ................................................................................................................................................... September 4, 2020: "Where Does Tuition Go?: Students Speak Out" COVID-19 is not the main culprit in today's higher education crisis. In reality, the crisis stems from years of state defunding and financial mismanagement based on private-sector principles. Together, students and faculty are taking action to address systemic failures at both state and institutional levels. At this forum, two student activists - Abby Stidham, University of Cincinnati undergraduate and cofounder of BoldlyBankrupt.com, and Angela Glotfelter, graduate student at Miami University - analyzed the misplaced budget priorities that have led to the current crisis in Ohio higher education. Hope Jennings, professor at Wright State University, described the importance of student/faculty solidarity in the success of the 2019 Wright State strike. Past Ohio AAUP president John McNay discussed the firings and other mission-eroding cuts at Akron University and elsewhere, along with with proposals to the Ohio legislature to give voting rights to students and faculty on Boards of Trustees. (video; list of video contents) (presentation slides) ................................................................................................................................................... June 19, 2020: "Overcoming Inequities" This event took place during the mass protests against the police killing of George Floyd. Our forum asked: what are the austerity effects of the public defunding of higher education, and how are these related to the inequities of well-funded public services? Chris Newfield, professor at University of California, Santa Barbara and an expert in critical university studies, showed that state disinvestment in universities is historically parallel to the increased admission of students of color. Speakers also included Sarah Szilagy, editor of OSU's student newspaper, the Lantern, who recounted being teargassed while covering the Columbus Black Lives Matter protests; Roaya Higazi, president of OSU's Undergraduate Student Government, who discussed her group's joint effort to cut OSU's ties to the Columbus police; and Genesis Vaughan, organizer against the 2015 killing of Sam Dubose by a University of Cincinnati police officer. ................................................................................................................................................... May 13, 2020: "Academic Workers Speak Out" This was our inaugural meeting, and it drew people from across Ohio. Cathy Wagner, president, Miami University AAUP, laid out the political economy of higher education. Her presentation traced links between the state legislature, Boards of Trustees, and university administrations. We also heard from Ohio University faculty speakers recently laid off despite longstanding employment and work in crucial programs, and about other threats to academic mission in university responses to the pandemic. |
Get in Touch
If you would like to learn more about Save Ohio Higher Ed or if you're interested in being a coalition partner, contact us at saveohiohighered@gmail.com.
We're also on Facebook and Twitter.