Fingerhut visits Miami; Discusses newly created University System

By Charlie Turner

Following the recent visit to Miami University by Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio board of regents, Miami administrators expressed varying levels of confidence in the newly created University System of Ohio.

The system works to allow the public universities and colleges of Ohio to work as a more unified entity, Fingerhut said. Instead of competing with other schools, the chancellor urged Miami to work together with them to accomplish more as a state education system.

“If Ohio State (University) and Miami, instead of competing with each other for support from the General Assembly for a program here or a program here, go together, they will get more for everybody,” Fingerhut said. “We’re competing against the world. Miami and Ohio State are not in competition. At least they shouldn’t be.”

Director of institutional relations, Randi Thomas, disagreed with Fingerhut and said that although the schools do and will continue to work together, competition will not end.

“The chancellor may have overstated when he said Miami doesn’t compete with OSU,” Thomas said. “We are competitors. It’s like a sports rivalry, you want to beat them on the field, but maybe go have a drink with them after the game.”

In past statements, Fingerhut said that each university should not offer a full spectrum of majors, but instead host “centers of excellence” at each school. The chancellor rebuffed his earlier remarks during his visit to Miami and said that while he hopes to create a system with these centers, he wants to see a full range of studies offered at each school.

“Pick some things you’re really good at and invest your money in those disciplines and make them world class,” Fingerhut said. “University of Akron has a great polymer chemistry program and to keep that up, they have to keep hiring new people and keep investing in it. I don’t want to spend the money for Miami to beat the University of Akron in polymer chemistry because I’ve got a great polymer chemistry program in Ohio.”

Citing Miami as one of the top universities in the state, the chancellor said that students attending the school would likely see few differences as members of the new system.

“To be completely candid, Miami students are going to see less effect than students in other schools. (Miami) is clearly a model we want to emulate across the system, but not tinker with,” Fingerhut said.

Jens Sutmoller, president of Miami’s associated student government, said that Miami’s position among the top Universities should act as an example for other schools.

“I truly think Miami is leading the change,” Sutmoller said.

Though Thomas said he was enthusiastic about the new revamped system, he said there are potential pitfalls, specifically regarding the potential unification of certain systems within the Universities.

Thomas said that the system might try to save money by creating one payroll department for the entire university system, a move that would save around $100,000 per year. However, according to Thomas switching Miami from the Banner system to People Soft, a system used commonly in other state schools, would cost the University close to $3 million.

The chancellor said he envisioned less homogenization. He emphasized scholastic programming among the institutions that would allow students to transfer more easily between schools without losing class credits.

Fingerhut said his main concern is keeping Ohio in competition with the world economy.

“This state, it’s economy has to deal with the world… and Ohio’s having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the global economy… our university is the most adapted part of the state… So we need to help the rest of the state adjust to globalization,” Fingerhut said.