Faculty Senate Passes Resolution Against SB-5, McDavis’ Position on Bill

Faculty Senate passed a resolution Monday against Ohio Senate Bill 5 (SB-5) after suspending a rule that requires all resolutions to be discussed at three meetings before a vote occurs.

In addition to denouncing SB-5, the resolution calls on Ohio University President Roderick McDavis, Ohio Inter-University Council (IUC) Chair Bruce Johnson and other presidents of Ohio colleges to publically retract their support for the bill, which would severely limit collective bargaining for many public workers including university professors.

OU President Roderick McDavis

McDavis’ chief of staff, Becky Watts, said last Wednesday that the president, who is a part of IUC, supported the original version of SB-5 that completely eliminated collective bargaining rights, and “does not oppose” the amended version that passed the Ohio Senate March 2.

Johnson recommended to Republican state senators on behalf of the IUC, which represents 13 of Ohio’s public universities, that SB-5 be amended to reclassify university professors as “management-level employees” who are not allowed to participate in collective bargaining.

The two revelations prompted Joseph McLaughlin, chair of Faculty Senate, to draft the resolution that was passed.

The resolution stated three main reasons for denouncing SB-5: it prevents faculty from forming unions, it “restricts the autonomy which large public universities need to effectively manage their operations” and forces universities to raise employee health benefits contributions, thereby decreasing faculty compensation.

McLaughlin said he could not think of another time that Faculty Senate had passed a resolution directed toward an Ohio University president. Other faculty senates throughout Ohio have passed similar resolutions.

Joseph McLaughlin, chair of Faculty Senate, presents at the Faculty Senate meeting in Walter hall on Monday, March 14 | PHOTO Kate Irby

The Ohio Faculty Council (OFC), an organization that represents faculty at four-year colleges, also wrote up a draft resolution to be voted on by the IUC Friday. The draft criticizes Johnson for his “breach of trust” with faculty by advocating to the Ohio Senate that language be added to SB-5 that strips faculty of collective bargaining rights.

The draft also highlights studies that show that rising costs in higher education are not due to increases in faculty salaries, but due to the increasing share of university budgets devoted to administrative salaries.

McLaughlin said he is unsure how McDavis will react to the resolution passed in Senate.

“He’ll probably do something collectively. He’ll probably have a conversation with the other presidents and with Bruce Johnson about this,” he said. “I’ve heard not from President McDavis or about President McDavis, but some of the other university presidents were actually very angry about what Bruce Johnson did, and his impact on the bill. So, I’m hoping that some conversations that we will never know about have taken place.”

Norma Pecora, a professor in the school of Media Arts and Studies and the president of the OU chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), came to the Faculty Senate meeting to show her support for the resolution.

“I support the fact that Faculty Senate has taken on the action, because they represent us all. They need to sanction the president for his actions,” she said. “The faculty AAUP executive community has come out with a statement that we strongly condemn his actions supporting State Bill 5. It’s a bill that works against all faculty and faculty governance, contrary to what he says.”

Pecora said she was angry and frustrated when she learned that McDavis was “not opposed” to SB-5.

“The person who is supposed to lead our academic mission thought so little of it to support something like SB-5 that takes away all kinds of faculty governance,” she explained.

Despite its passage, the vote for Faculty Senate’s resolution was not unanimous.

Charlene Kalenkoski, Faculty Senate Rep. from the College of Arts and Sciences, was among those who did not support approving the resolution after the first reading.

The Senate added to the original resolution, “Be it further resolved that the Ohio University Faculty Senate supports the resolution proposed for vote on SB-5 by the OFC,” during the meeting, which caused Kalenkoski’s hesitance.

Faculty Senate had just received a copy of the resolution at the beginning of the meeting; she voiced her desire to look over the resolution before deciding whether or not to support it.

President McDavis was not present at the meeting. McLaughlin said when it began that McDavis would be out for the next two weeks due to a medical condition.

Executive Editor Andrew Zucker contributed reporting.