In the late afternoon on Thursday, September 24, between 80 and 100 faculty and students at Miami University attended a presentation by CBC Chair Howard Bunsis on the university’s finances. The event was hosted by the relatively new but quickly growing AAUP advocacy chapter at the university.

The presentation received fairly detailed coverage in the regional media, including an article by Amanda Seitz that appeared in the Dayton Daily News, from which the following paragraphs are taken:

“Miami University officials are saving too much money, hiring fewer tenure professors and funneling a large chunk of student fees to subsidize athletics . . .

“’The way the classes are being delivered to the students has changed drastically,’ said Bunsis, who works at Eastern Michigan University and analyzed Miami’s finances for the advocacy chapter for free. . . .

“Miami’s ratio of reserves and net income is the highest in the state, according to analysis provided by the Ohio Board of Regents.

“Bunsis argues that money should, instead, be directed to hiring more tenure-track faculty.

“Data compiled by the college shows the number of tenure-track or tenured faculty on the Oxford campus declined from 676 professors in 2009 to 592 professors last year. Non-tenured professors teaching at the college have doubled during that time.

“’Non-tenure track people are dedicated, hard-working (and) care about the students, but they’re being asked to teach more, they get paid a lot less and what they don’t have is job security,’ Bunsis said. . . .”

In addition to Howard, the AAUP leadership was represented by Rudy Fichtenbaum, AAUP national president, John McNay, Ohio Conference president, and myself, Ohio Conference vice-president and president of the Wright State chapter. Josh Lenes, an AAUP organizer now based in Ohio, helped to organize the event, took the photos of the meeting that are included with this post.

Amanda Seitz’s complete article is available at: http://m.daytondailynews.com/news/news/professors-question-spending-at-miami-university/nnrXJ/