COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Typically, establishing a new Ohio State University center would require approval from the University Senate, but the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society will open to students next fall despite the Senate voting against it.
The Chase Center drew criticism from University Senate members, who voiced concerns about its long-term costs and unorthodox establishment. Senate voted on a measure to establish the Chase Center as a permanent university center with tenure-track professors. The measure failed 64-57 at a Jan. 23 meeting, with four abstaining.
University Senate is the governing body for Ohio State, and is composed of students, faculty and staff. Jared Gardner, Ohio State professor and secretary for University Senate, said the center posed an unprecedented challenge from the start.
How Ohio State’s Ryan Day earned every penny of his annual $12.6 million“As a rule (and always in my 25 years at the university), new programs are developed by faculty and academic leaders within the university,” Gardner said. “The Chase Center, on the other hand, had been established by a legislative requirement imposed on the university.”
The center was established in 2023 under Senate Bill 117, which was folded into the biennial budget bill. This legally required the university to establish the Salmon P. Chase Center to teach about historical ideas, traditions and texts that have shaped the U.S. in order to further campus "intellectual diversity."
The bill established similar centers at Miami University, Cleveland State University, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Toledo, and legislators said the goal was to combat "groupthink" on college campuses. See previous coverage of the bill in the video player above.
"University Senate is an important part of Ohio State’s shared governance model, and while we respect the voice of the senate, we are disappointed in the vote," OSU chief spokesperson Benjamin Johnson said. "The Chase Center was established in 2023 by the state of Ohio via statute, and Ohio State must develop and operate the center in line with those legal requirements. Ohio State will move forward and structure the center in accordance with the enabling legislation to serve its statutory mission of educating for citizenship."
Bill would restrict minors' use of tanning bedsGardner said the law that established the center did not require any of the traditional senate processes to approve it and said he was grateful the appointed director of the center, Lee Strang, was willing to work with the Senate despite not being obligated to. Now that it was voted down, he said, he could not imagine Strang will be interested in subjecting the center to further Senate approval.
The center received $5 million per year from the state for this year and last and will also be supported by student tuition and donor support. According to a recording of the Jan. 23 Senate meeting, senate body members said they must act to make sure the center doesn’t divert resources from other campus priorities, especially as it only has two years of confirmed funding from the state.
A primary concern is the center's statute-mandated hiring of at least 15 tenure track professors, who will be faculty from varying departments and seniority levels and will be hired over the course of two years. Tenure professors essentially have guaranteed employment through retirement, and senators said they worried these salaries would have to be supplemented by increasing tuition costs or diverting funds from other programs.
Some senators worried about a lack of oversight and accountability within the center proposal. Strang, along with future directors, hold full control over the curriculum, courses, degrees and employment within the center, according to the proposal.
People protest President Donald Trump, Project 2025 at Ohio StatehouseAccording to university bylaws, academic center directors should report to the dean, vice president(s) or deans of their relevant colleges. However, the Chase Center director reports directly to the university president and provost. Although the center's proposal includes an oversight committee, the proposal establishes the committee as an advisory board, not an entity to hold the center accountable.
“I believe the state legislature’s mandate will harm our campus, and set a dangerous precedent of government overreach in higher education by circumventing the governing structures already in place,” alternate senator Christopher K. said at the Jan. 23 meeting, to applause.
"Here I am taking off my 'Secretary of the Senate' hat and putting on my Professor of early American literature hat," Gardner said. "Much will be determined of course by the faculty hired in the next couple of years and the kinds of courses and programs the Chase Center offers."
On Jan. 9, OSU's chapter of the American Association of University Professors also voted against establishing the center. Still, Gardner said, the Board of Trustees' Academic Affairs and Student Life Committee met on Jan. 29 and moved the center forward, and Strang has begun hiring faculty. The center is set to open in fall 2025.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Ohio State's University Senate rejects state-mandated 'intellectual diversity' center )
Also on site :
- India-Pakistan deadly fighting forces airlines to re-route, cancel flights
- Kremlin comments on ceasefire plans after Ukrainian drone strikes
- '90s Singer Makes Powerful Career Move After 5 Years Without New Music