Youngstown State’s new boss should have say in labor talks; budgetary challenges abound

Jim Tressel officially becomes Youngstown State University’s ninth president July 1, which means he will have ultimate responsibility for implementing the new labor contracts with the faculty and classified employees.

In light of that reality, Tressel, currently executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron, should be involved in the formulation of the new agreements.

After all, Tressel, who coached football teams at Ohio State University and YSU to national championships, will want to make sure that whatever is agreed upon with the unions won’t blow up the budget.

It’s no secret that YSU, like most other public universities and colleges in Ohio, is facing major financial challenges. State funding has been slashed in the last two biennium budgets, while the decline in enrollment has meant a reduction in operating revenue.

Youngstown State’s board of trustees has raised tuition six years in a row, while the number of full-time students has been dropping since 2011. There is nothing to suggest that the fall 2014 semester will bring a significant uptick in enrollment.

Another increase in tuition is ill-advised given the stern warning from Trustee Harry Meshel that YSU is pricing itself out of the market it serves. Many students are first-time college-goers in their families and have to work to earn money for tuition.

Just as significantly, the expansion of Eastern Gateway Community College in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties has given Valley residents a cheaper option they did not have several years ago.

Tressel, who was named president by the trustees — with the support of the leadership of the labor unions on campus — is well aware of the budgetary hurdles he’ll face when he takes over in a month.

He should not be hamstrung by labor contracts that are costly and ultimately unaffordable.

Cuts in programs

It is instructive that the University of Akron, which is also getting a new president, is cutting 55 degree programs, about 10 percent of the university’s offerings. Approximately 600 students will be affected.

Here’s how Dr. Chand Midha, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, explained the cuts:

“These are hard times, and everything cannot be sustained.”

YSU’s short-term president, Dr. Randy Dunn — he left after just eight months on the job to become president of Southern Illinois University — also acknowledged the hard times roiling higher education in Ohio.

Dunn was brutally honest in his assessment of the university’s financial health — it’s going from bad to worse, he said — and sought to win over skeptics on campus by agreeing to the unions’ suggestion to form a task force to review the institution’s fiscal condition with an eye to avoiding layoffs.

But his sudden departure has put the task force on hold.

Tressel should be given the chance to sit down with the trustees, the management team and representatives of the special-interest groups on campus to analyze the short- and long-term implications of a shrinking budget.

He should not be weighed down by labor contracts that would force him to adopt spending priorities that may not reflect his vision for YSU.

“Our new president is inheriting a mess,” Dr. Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez wrote in a memo after the faculty union recently walked out of contract negotiations.

The negotiating committee believes the administration, led by acting President Dr. Ikram Khawaja, is attempting to drive the process to fact-finding.

The breakdown of contract talks is not necessarily a bad thing given the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the appointment of a new president.

Dunn’s departure came as a shock to the university community and has forced the trustees to adopt new time lines for many of the initiatives the former president had been pursuing.

One-year freeze

While the unions representing the faculty and classified employees undoubtedly want new contracts before the fall semester begins, it would not be unreasonable to ask them for a freeze of the current labor pacts for at least a year so the new administration led by Tressel has the time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of YSU’s operation.

Here’s the bitter truth about Youngstown State: Not much has changed since 2011 when then President Cynthia Anderson, a long-time member of the university community, persuaded the unions to accept pay freezes for the first two years of their contracts and a 2 percent raise for the 2013-14 academic year.

It will be recalled that Anderson, who was vice president for student affairs when she applied for the presidency, received the endorsement of the unions’ leadership and was widely embraced on campus.

Thus the question: Shouldn’t Tressel, who has the strong support of prominent business, community and political leaders in the Mahoning Valley and the leadership of the unions, be given the same opportunity as Anderson to put YSU’s house in order?

The answer is obvious. The new president deserves all the help he can get.