<br style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><div class="gmail_quote"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Dear Graduates, </span><br style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><br style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Budget cuts impact you, the college and the tuition you pay. You may wish to attend the meeting noted below to discuss these issues. </span><br style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">
<br style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Dr. Franklin</span><br><br>OU community to discuss the university’'s mission and future on January 29<br>
<br>
Dear Colleagues and Students,<br>
<br>
Ohio University anticipates cuts to its annual budget over the next two<br>
years of at least $30M, an amount equivalent to the cumulative annual<br>
budgets of the Departments of English, Math, Chemistry, Physics,<br>
Political Science, History, and Economics; or, if you prefer, cuts<br>
equivalent to the combined annual budgets of the Colleges of Engineering<br>
and Communication. If these cuts are merely distributed across the<br>
board as has been done in the past, they will cripple our already<br>
threadbare academic units and may plunge the university into a spiral of<br>
declining quality and declining enrollment.<br>
<br>
It would be easy for us to cynically assume that there is nothing<br>
faculty can do to defend our core mission, but that is not true.<br>
Students, faculty, administrative personnel, and other staff can unite<br>
to reassert the centrality of the academic mission and insist that the<br>
budget be reframed to protect that mission<br>
<br>
To that end, we invite you to a candid and constructive public<br>
discussion THIS FRIDAY 2:00-4:00 in Walter 135. This event is being<br>
organized by a variety of faculty members and students and formally<br>
sponsored by Faculty Senate, AAUP, Student Senate, and FutureOU. The<br>
discussion will be moderated by Geoff Buckley of Geography and Robert<br>
Leary, Student Senate President. We expect to fill Walter 135 and<br>
perhaps to open a second room in Walter for overflow audience.<br>
<br>
Please clear your schedule and come. Please email your colleagues and<br>
urge them to join you. Please announce the meeting in your classes and<br>
email your students, urging them to attend. It’s that important. If we<br>
don’t very quickly develop consensus support for our core mission, we<br>
will spend the rest of our careers wishing we had.<br>
<br>
For further information about the event and to RSVP, please click the<br>
following link to the event as posted for faculty on<br>
Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=261427801558&index=1" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=261427801558&index=1</a><br>
<<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=261427801558&index=1" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=261427801558&index=1</a>>.<br>
<br>
On the Facebook page, particularly note the following: 1) A ten-minute<br>
video previewing the introduction to the meeting by Steve Hays (Classics<br>
and World Relgions). The video will give you a sense of the tone and<br>
purpose of the meeting. 2) The RSVP section in the right margin. Please<br>
indicate whether or not you plan to attend. Come even if you don’t<br>
RSVP, but we’d like some sense of how many people to expect.<br>
<br>
The Student Senate has set up a separate Facebook page to announce the<br>
event to<br>
students: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=449745845053&index=1" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=449745845053&index=1</a><br>
<<a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=449745845053&index=1" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=449745845053&index=1</a>>.<br>
<br>
Already over 100 students have indicated their intention to<br>
attend. *You can copy this link and include it in an email to your<br>
students*. It contains most of the same information the faculty page does.<br>
<br>
Please don’t surrender to cynicism. Good thinking and principled<br>
resolution have changed things in the past, and they still can. Other<br>
people did it in the past for us. Now it’s up to us. Let’s make future<br>
generations of OU students and faculty proud of us.<br>
<br>
See you Friday at 2:00,<br>
<br>
Steve Hays, Classics and World Religions<br>
<br>
*_Attached to this message_* are the following:<br>
<br>
1) an advertising flyer that you can print out and distribute to friends<br>
and colleagues as you urge them to attend; and 2) a letter to the editor<br>
from Bernhard Debatin (Journalism) that should appear in tomorrow’s<br>
A-News, announcing and explaining the event.<br>
<br>
<br>
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<br><div style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div></div></div>
<br></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><br>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@<br>Dr. Teresa Franklin<br>Associate Professor<br>Instructional Technology<br>Educational Studies Dept.<br>313D McCracken Hall<br>College of Education<br>Ohio University<br>
PH: 740-593-4561<br>Fax: 740-593-0477<br><a href="mailto:franklit@ohio.edu">franklit@ohio.edu</a><br>@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@<br>