When prospective students visit the University on Presidents Day, they’ll be greeted by people other than typical campus volunteers.
The Faculty Association is greeting students and their families at the Wolfe Center and the Union while handing out brochures with information about the recent faculty cuts and random University facts. The Faculty Association has been planning some sort of demonstration for Presidents Day since its March on McFall protest earlier this month.
“We want to share information about the cuts in a face-to-face manner, it will be a little more formal than the march,” said David Jackson, president of the Faculty Association.
While the Faculty Association is planning to approach potential students, the administration is not planning anything in response, said Dave Kielmeyer, University spokesperson.
Despite this, Jackson expects the University will be almost as open about the cuts as the association plans to be throughout the preview day.
“I think they’ll be very engaging with everyone on the issue,” Jackson said. “This has been statewide news for a few weeks so it’s not like students don’t know about it.”
Along with a greeting to potential students around 8 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. at the Union, the Faculty Association will be taking questions from potential students and their families during lunchtime in the Union, Jackson said.
Sophomore Michael Hart, who was involved with the March on McFall, plans to attend the lunch question and answer session on Presidents Day.
“I have a lot of questions for them, so why not go,” Hart said. “The decision that was made affects their lives, so I think they’re the ones we want to ask about it.”
Although both Hart and Jackson are unsure of how prospective students and their families will react, they hope their actions will help to educate them rather than harm recruitment for the University. The association decided to nix putting on another march in an effort to avoid scaring away prospective students during their visit to the University.
“We considered that option but we didn’t want to do something that would be disruptive to potential students,” Jackson said. “We didn’t want to overwhelm them.”
Along with the Presidents Day demonstration, the Faculty Association is also planning an upcoming town hall-style meeting in another effort to spread the group’s message about the 100 faculty cuts to take place for the fall 2013 semester.
Since the March on McFall Feb. 6, the Faculty Association and University administration have both filed Unfair Labor Practice complaints against each other after the University requested a membership list from the Faculty Association. The association refused to provide the information and the complaints have been directed to the Ohio State Employment Relations Board this past week, according to a Faculty Association press release.
On the day of the March on McFall, the University announced it would not make any further comments on the 100 cuts or the ongoing negotiations between the administration and the Faculty Association. The statement was part of an effort to avoid negotiating in the media, according to a University press release.
The March on McFall brought together nearly 300 protesters to rally in front of McFall Center. While today’s demonstration may not be similar in nature it does mark the second demonstration organized by the Faculty Association since the 100 cuts were announced in January.
