Rebalancing should not be spurned without information
If you’ve been reading this page during the past few days, you’re probably wondering what rebalancing the General Fee entails. Well, so have we.
During its meeting last week, Student Senate unanimously opposed rebalancing in a resolution. Then, in a letter Friday, Faculty Senate Chair Joe McLaughlin expressed disappoint in the student senators’ action.
But senate’s resolution is meaningless without knowing specifics about how the rebalancing would be done. Rather than explore rebalancing as an option to help fill Ohio University’s budget gap next year, Student Senate rejected it without any idea of what it would entail.
There has been no projected breakdown of how much would be cut and which General Fee units would face cuts. Without that information, no one can make an informed decision for or against rebalancing.
The Division of Student Affairs, Intercollegiate Athletics, the Graduate College and the Marching 110 are the four units funded by the General Fee. Student Senate’s decision should be contingent on how the units would be rebalanced.
Next year, OU is facing a projected $32.6 million gap in its budget. According to McLaughlin’s letter, the academic colleges will face cuts of 10 percent to 14 percent, while academic support units will face 8 percent to 9 percent cuts. General Fee units will face no cuts.
If a small cut to the Marching 110 means it cannot attend a few away games, then that would be a lot more reasonable than cutting School of Music instructors and classes. But such a cut would have to be fair proportionally.
Each General Fee unit would have to receive a proportionate cut. Student Affairs, the Graduate College and the Marching 110 cannot all receive large cuts while Athletics escapes unscathed.
“(Student Senate’s) primary responsibility is to protect the student experience,” Senator Emeritus Chauncey Jackson said. Yes, the General Fee units are important to the “student experience,” but they should not be immune to reasonable cuts.
We understand that education is not entirely based in the classroom. The General Fee units add to a quality education. But when that quality education is being threatened by substantial cuts, the supplemental units should also be liable. Otherwise, those units will have nothing to supplement.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
