YSU OEA 'disappointed' in trustee decisions for university future
YSU's faculty union is responding negatively to a program review presentation made by the university's trustees.
The union said in a statement Friday that they were disappointed in the trustee's dismissal to conduct a full assessment of non-academic programs before making any changes, and deciding to proceed with assessing academic programs.
YSU-OEA President Suz Clutter said she is concerned that YSU does not appear to have a clear plan on how to guide program changes beyond the review process.
"Faculty want clear and appropriate direction on how we move forward, yet there is no guidance on how we make improvements or positive changes to our programs," Clutter said. "We also have no timeline for making these alterations, no benchmarks with which to monitor improvement, and no concept of what resources, if any, the administration is willing to provide us to take these steps."
This week, the board assessed each academic program under the guidance of faculty and using a consulting firm focused on higher education.
Clutter believes that YSU does not appear to have a clear direction on how to make improvements or positive changes to programs.
"We will make sure that as the Administration and the board proceed with actions based on a narrow-minded assessment process that does not accurately represent the current financial state of the university, that the public is made aware of how these actions will negatively affect the YSU community and the broader Mahoning Valley," said Clutter.