March 2024 University Updates Q&A

Following the June Supreme Court decision in the Harvard case, Ohio University began a process to review selection criteria for admissions and scholarships as well as language in our gift agreements to ensure our processes and agreements continue to follow the law. This review is ongoing, and the University will work with impacted donors to ensure we can continue to honor their support.

It is important to note that scholarships already awarded to current students are not impacted by this review, and current students will continue to receive renewable scholarships provided they meet the renewal criteria.

While this review process is one we must undertake as a University, OHIO remains committed to supporting students and ensuring accessibility to higher education. We will continue to ensure that our scholarship award programs and processes honor our students, and the donors who support them, while also considering the unique contributions that students from a variety of backgrounds bring to OHIO.

I assume you are referring to Senate Bill 83, also known as “The Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act.”

Since the introduction of this bill, the University has been working with the Inter-University Council of Ohio (IUC), which represents all of Ohio’s four-year public universities, to provide critical feedback regarding the proposed legislation.

Throughout the process, we have advocated for Ohio University’s core values, including academic freedom, shared governance, diversity of thought and acceptance of all. We will continue to actively monitor the proposed bill and will respond as appropriate as it moves through the legislative process.

Offers to new faculty are determined at the college level, and compression issues created by hiring a new faculty member at a higher salary than an existing faculty member at the same rank and in the same department, should be a consideration for the college and department. It is important to note that faculty salaries do vary by discipline, not just here at OHIO but across higher education, so the compression issue is typically considered within the same department and not necessarily across all departments in a college.

There are certainly times when the recruitment of a key new hire – faculty or staff – requires us to be flexible within our salary guidelines. When that results in compression within a department or unit, the hiring manager has several options to attempt to address equity issues. First, the department may request an equity adjustment due to compression for an existing employee. Second, the Dean has some flexibility within the annual raise pool to address exceptional merit and/or compression.

In addition to the normal raise process, the Faculty Compensation Plan is designed to add an additional infusion of salary dollars into the colleges. This plan compares our faculty salaries at the discipline and rank level to peers.  In past iterations of this plan, colleges have specifically been given discretion to use those funds to address issues like market comparisons and compression within a discipline/rank combination. This investment will need to occur over several years and we are currently working on fitting it into the annual budget process in future years.

Since the creation of the leave donation program , OHIO has solicited donated leave on an annual basis. We have many employees who do not anticipate using their vacation leave, for example, in a given year and may be expecting to have more than the 240 allowable carryover hours at the end of the fiscal year. The leave donation program allows employees to contribute that additional leave to employees who have exhausted their available leave and need more time due to illness or to care for a family member.

This program provides the university with a way to do just what you are suggesting – support employees who have a life event that requires more leave than they have accrued. The leave donation program was modeled after similar programs at other universities. 

As I am new to the University, I was not familiar with “Five 4’s” program but will bring it to the leadership team for discussion. 

For administrative staff who are exempt from overtime, workload really must be evaluated at the division and unit level. For employees who have expressed workload issues to their supervisor and feel as though no solution has been offered, I would encourage employees to reapproach their supervisors with proactive solutions first. If that is ineffective, consider requesting a meeting with your division leader for discussion. HR is happy to work with units to develop solutions to workload challenges.  

The Faculty Compensation Plan is designed to add an additional infusion of salary dollars into the colleges. This plan compares our faculty salaries at the discipline and rank level to peers.  In past iterations of this plan, colleges have specifically been given discretion to use those funds to address issues like market comparisons and compression within a discipline/rank combination. With this plan being recently finalized, it is not part of the FY25 budget development process where we have prioritized our compensation investment towards absorbing health care cost inflation so that we can keep employee premiums flat. The compensation plan investment will be considered as part of the FY26 budget development process and will need to be spread over several years.

Thank you! Our team appreciates your kind words! 

First and foremost, I want to reiterate that hazing is not tolerated at Ohio University – not within our sororities and fraternities, our athletic teams, sports clubs, registered student organizations, the band or anywhere else.

We take our responsibility to fully investigate all allegations of hazing very seriously, and any organization and/or individuals within an organization found responsible of hazing may face disciplinary action up to and/or including expulsion from the University and criminal charges.

We also work hard to foster a campus environment that is aware of, and responsive to, the reality that reporting hazing is the requirement of every member of the University community as outlined within OHIO’s policy against hazing.

OHIO is consistently working to expand and refine our overall approach to our ongoing hazing awareness and prevention efforts, many of which begin before a student sets foot on campus. You can learn more about our ongoing hazing education, training, prevention and reporting efforts online.

A few of the University leaders who presented during the March 21 University Updates event were wearing a commemorative pin that was made available to the campus community during various events that celebrated the Investiture of President Lori Stewart Gonzalez last fall. If your department would like to explore ordering some additional pins, please submit a request to University Communications and Marketing.