Some OU officials are voicing concerns for Student Senate’s dramatic demands including a $15 minimum wage.
Student Senate has big plans, but some university officials say they just aren’t realistic.
Nonetheless, some members passionately stood by their goals at Wednesday night’s meeting, demanding a $15 minimum wage, tuition freeze, elimination of administrators’ pay raises, more transparency about university endowment and divestment from fossil fuels.
“As a student body that believes in fighting for things, we can make this happen,” said Jacob Chaffin, an at-large senator. “How do we shift dynamics? Looking at history, when making these demands, it takes organizing people.”
A $15 minimum wage
OU economics professor Richard Vedder stated his sympathy for senate’s goals, but ultimately voiced strong disagreement on their agenda by describing senate’s “antics” as “marginalizing.”
“Even though Athens is a progressive community, and many people would favor a higher minimum wage, making these huge demands comes across as sort of a radical move, and these people are clueless about economic reality,” Vedder said.
He called senate’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 — which almost doubles Ohio’s current minimum wage of $7.95 — a “horrendously bad idea.”
Vice President for Finance and Administration Stephen Golding also expressed concerns about senate’s demands, saying “wages drive budgets which impact tuition.”
“If student wages were to increase by 20 percent to 25 percent, this could have a budgetary impact and require a tuition increase to cover the cost of the wage increase,” Golding said in an email.
Vedder added that significantly increasing the minimum wage would likely lead to increased unemployment and less hours for student workers.
No tuition hikes
Golding stated similar reservations for senate’s demands to stop increasing tuition.
“Simply freezing tuition without alternative sources of revenue would only repeat the last 20 years of insufficient investments that has led to the current condition of our facilities, our faculty wages in the bottom half of all IUC schools and insufficient administrative support personnel to support our faculty and effectively manage a number of our administrative offices,” Golding said.
Currently, in-state tuition at OU is $10,536 — more than 20 percent of the average income of an Ohio resident.
“The burden of going to OU, even for allowing for economic growth, rising prosperity and inflation, has more than doubled,” Vedder said.
However, Vedder added that there are several “unnecessary” administrators’ positions that should be “done away with,” which he said may result in lowered tuition.
“I think the school would work at least as well as it does now, without any qualitative loss whatsoever,” Vedder said.
No pay raises for administrators with salaries exceeding $200,000.
Vedder said he believes there’s some correlation between the acceleration of OU administrators’ pay and rising tuition costs. Nonetheless, he doesn’t agree with senate’s proposal to eliminate administrative pay raises.
“In time, this would negatively affect our ability to attract good people,” Vedder said. “However, I do think that administrative salaries have probably gotten a little out of hand.”
Golding defended the pay raises, saying that recognizing the “countless hours” spent by administrators is “essential to attracting the type of leadership required to keep the university academically and fiscally strong.”
“Corrupted” intercollegiate athletics have also contributed to the rising cost of higher education, Vedder said.
“But I will say this, that you can’t get a good football coach or basketball coach if you say their pay never can rise,” he added.
The two highest paid administrators at OU are both coaches.
Head mens’ basketball coach Saul Phillips earns a salary of $550,000 annually, and head football coach Frank Solich makes $488,880 a year. Solich saw a 29 percent salary increase this year.
Vedder added that the elimination of pay raises for such administrators would only be a “symbolic gesture” and not a true remedy for student debt. He said that there is not a significant number of administrators with salaries of more than $200,000.
Transparency of OU’s endowment
The university’s endowment is managed by the OU Foundation, which has retained an outside firm to act as its chief investment officer, Golding said.
The firm utilizes mutual funds and does not directly own companies, he added.
Nobody has yet asked Golding to list the funds that are part of OU’s endowment which, he said, can change on a daily basis.
An internal change in operations
Some senate members also said they would like to suspend Robert’s Rules of Order, which govern when members can speak, introduce motions or resolutions, thus maintaining the flow of meetings.
As of now, there is no clear alternative that would replace the current rules.
Further discussion of the resolution was postponed until the next meeting, as several members wished to see the draft of such rules before voting to suspend the current rules.
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