(05-16-2020 09:38 AM)eroc Wrote: (05-16-2020 09:13 AM)Bearcat 1985 Wrote: (05-16-2020 06:35 AM)Ohio Poly Wrote: (05-15-2020 10:02 AM)BearcatMan Wrote: NEOMED kind of built that footprint, and I've been on the bandwagon for all of the secondary regional schools to do something similar for years as you know.
None of them will agree to be merged into another. It will only happen if some form of new independent name-neutral umbrella university is formed for them to join. Which would be an instant AAC school.
Than let Akron go bankrupt. No state bailout whatsoever. Let nature take its course and correct the mistake of absorbing it into the state system in the first place. UT and Wright State too. Let it force OU and BGSE and Cleveland State into their proper roles in a rationale state system. No more empire building.
In a perfect world, the Univesity System of Ohio would have been given the mandate and political support to enact and manage such changes. That's not Ohio politics, however, so perhaps it will need to be done with the harsher and more abrupt hand of economics.
it wouldn't be the university system of ohio. it would be the ohio state university system and my alma mater would be rebranded as ohio state university at Cincinnati (osuC) Bearcats. UC ain't exempt from slippery slopes.
I disagree. OSU has never shown any inclination that they want to take over other campuses. Club a few out of existence perhaps, but not absorb them. And why would they? Things are going pretty well for them right now. Why would they take on a bunch of fiscal basket cases (not UC, but UT, OU, Akron, WSU)? All headache with no benefit.
What they have wanted is a rational, California style system. No empire building. End redundant Ph.D programs that can't crack the top 100 in the NRC rankings. Acknowledgement of their flagship role (c'mon people, let's just admit to both the reality and the history). Probably a separate funding bill for themselves.
Now, if UC was a partner in this, it could fundamentally change UC's standing in the system in a good way. I've posted all the NRC doctoral program rankings for Ohio publics +Case. In most cases, UC is much closer to the highest ranked MAC school than it is to OSU or Case. That's because OSU isn't the one holding us back. It's all the other Ohio publics who feel they need doctoral programs in everything from History to Astrophysics and subsequently spreading state funding far too thin. Ono's dream (delusion) of co-flagship is never going to happen, but in a sane, rational, structured system, UC is the only choice to be the secondary comprehensive research university to OSU. The Texas A&M to their Austin. Establish that role, and we become much more attractive as an undergraduate college (and statewide, not just in SWO). Perhaps get a separate funding appropriation a'la OSU. We become more attractive from an academic perception standpoint to a P5 conference. And maybe we do more to move towards AAU membership than anything Ono's hollow boasting ever did.
The big bully in Columbus is not who's limiting UC. It's the pack of little wanna-be's nipping at our heals. Outside of the Cincinnati metro area, the Ohio system is essentially viewed as OSU and Miami and everybody else in one similar group. We know that's not the case, but that is the perception, and often perception means as much or more than reality. Get outside of Ohio, and nobody makes any differentiation academically between UC and BG. Wouldn't being the Texas A&M to OSU's UT be a preferable situation for rankings, student recruitment, faculty recruitment, P5 positioning, research competitiveness and so on and so on.