American universities are looking for more ways to cut services. In addition to increased cost-saving “online” instruction, the adjunct crisis, the death of tenure and ever-rising tuition, apparently Ohio University is considering cutting more basic services in its quest for profit.
To the Editor,
Slumlords get fined when they fail to maintain their tenants’ heating. In Ohio, when a landlord fails to maintain basic services like heat and hot water, tenants are able to take legal action to reduce or withhold their rent payments. Yet university slumlords will soon be collecting tuition at full price from art students who have been working in an unheated building all year.
Today my students in their coats, scarves, hats and gloves worked diligently for three hours in Room 505. By the end of the period, I couldn’t feel my toes. The story has been the same in every classroom and studio in Seigfred Hall since cold weather arrived. The art offices, professors and grad students have been submitting and resubmitting work orders. Yet, as of today, Facilities Management was unable to provide a timeline or estimate of when the building will become habitable.
American universities are looking for more ways to cut services. In addition to increased cost-saving “online” instruction, the adjunct crisis, the death of tenure and ever-rising tuition, apparently Ohio University is considering cutting more basic services in its quest for profit. Yet somehow I doubt Saul Phillips or Frank Solich are shivering in their offices while they count out their six figures. I used to teach at a village school in Eastern Europe with no electricity. But we had a woodstove and a stack of logs. And it was free.
Let’s give it another week — then strike.
Barry O’Keefe is an MFA Candidate at Ohio University studying printmaking.
