A University Town

There’s excitement in the air on Saturdays as nearly 5000 people stream into Jack Miller Stadium for Ashland University football games. That same electric atmosphere is felt at the women’s basketball games, as Sue Ramsey will coach her players to victory one last season before retirement.

Visits to the Coburn Gallery engage our artistic senses, and community conversations with the Center for Civic Life are invigorating. The Center for Non-Violence raises an important voice as well, extending the gift of mediation as it seeks reconciliation in matters small and large. The “town and gown” music ensembles, the theater productions, and the annual Madrigal Feaste all add to the ambiance of a college town in mid-Ohio.  

Yes, Ashland University and Ashland Theological Seminary were two of the main reasons Larry and I remained in Ashland after we completed our service at the Salvation Army Kroc Center. Sure, Ashland is someplace special and also the self-described world headquarters of nice people, but I’m not sure that would have been enough to sway our decision towards Ashland had the buildings on Claremont and College Avenue or 910 Center Street (the seminary) been vacant. Our lives are enriched because we live in a college town.

It’s easy to take these many benefits for granted, including the economic impact of its hundreds of students and staff members. So when headlines report financial concerns at AU, we have to pay attention, for the health of the university directly impacts the Ashland community.

Like other educational institutions, businesses, and not-for-profit organizations, Ashland University must pay attention to the financial bottom line in its decision-making. As interim university president, Dr. William Crothers has been tasked with developing a fiscally and academically strong university for the future. To do so, an overall academic prioritization of departments is in process.

But before that was completed, cuts were made in the name of fiscal responsibility. Those current cuts, reported in the Times Gazette on September 26, were operational decisions, for Crothers noted that over time, the university had hired too many people. Crothers explains: “It’s all strategic. We are not cutting the budget when we do the prioritization, we are simply reallocating money . . . whereas I am cutting the budget [now] and getting us back to a solid financial state.”

The university’s actions have led to a fair share of finger-pointing, and have raised questions about the decision-making process as well as the university’s ability to maintain its distinctive academic degrees, smaller classes and personal attention to students, all valid concerns. How much extraordinary can happen on ordinary days (current branding) if faculty are terminated and open positions left vacant? Tough questions.

Those cuts mean that fifteen faculty members will be without employment at the end of the school year. They are not the first to lose their jobs at AU, as other employees have walked that difficult road over the past few years, but this is the first large cut to faculty. The frustrating irony is that the goal of long-term sustainability for the university causes good people to suffer. We are personally connected to these good people. They live among us, worship among us, and teach our children. One in particular has been a tremendous influence on the life of my son. Thanks, Tim, for who you are and what you do, words that can be spoken to other departing faculty members as well.

As disheartening as the lay-offs seem, I am glad the university gave advance notice, allowing these good people to begin their next job search with adequate time to find other employment. As HR departments often advise, university leadership could have sent security guards to the classroom on the last day of the semester with personalized pink slips and cardboard boxes, but they didn’t, a small grace.

It’s time for the people of Ashland to stand in the gap for our brothers and sisters of the university community. “Live United” is more than a United Way slogan – it is the way we live. Here’s to speedy job offers for our friends, thoughtful dialogue among stakeholders, full enrollment and fiscal responsibility for the university, and a gridiron win over Malone. AU strong, Ashland strong.