Task force fuels campus controversy

Hamilton, Middletown Diversity Councils draft petition, refute MU divide

The Regional Task Force submitted its proposal to President David Hodge Friday, Nov. 21, regarding their recommendations for the differentiation of Miami University's Oxford campus and its regionals campuses.

The future of the regionals has been the source of controversy and question since the issue was presented to the Board of Trustees Sept. 19, before the task force was named.

Although the task force includes faculty and students from both the Hamilton and Middletown campuses, many Miamians from the regional campus community feared their voices would not be represented in the final decision.

"I think that our opinions, at this point, don't matter," Miami-Hamilton junior Kym Oatis said. "I think, at the end of the day, they are going to do what they want to do, regardless if tens of thousands of us step up."

To express their concern about the regional campus differentiation, the Miami Middletown and Hamilton Diversity Councils drafted a petition to Hodge, the trustees and the Regional Task Force. The petition has over 30 pages of signatures to-date.

In its 12 pages, the petition refutes the university's point that brand differentiation must occur to help raise enrollment in the regionals.

"College enrollments and graduation rates naturally fluctuate with current economic and social conditions," the petition says. "Hamilton's stated increase in enrollment of 0.1 percent and Middletown's decrease of 7.8 percent does not make Miami's regional campuses any worse off than other Ohio schools."

The petition also explains the regional faculty and students' frustrations with the regionals' separation.

"Miami culture has demonstrated little concern for local diversity and no concern for socioeconomic diversity," it says. "Instead, support for an emerging monoculture that is elitist and divisive seems to have developed on the Oxford campus."

The petition also warns the university to tread carefully when differentiating the campuses.

"Perceived discrimination is resulting in bad press and could put Miami at risk for class action discrimination law suits."

Some regional students have also begun to question their worth to the university.

"I'd rather take my money and the value I bring to this university to other institutions, such as Cincinnati Sate or The University of Cincinnati or another neighboring institution that appreciates me," senior Paul Jewett said.

For many in the regional community, the task force's proposal confirmed their worst fears.

The recommendations were based on findings from the 11 different university models the task force analyzed over the last few months.

Nine of the 11 campuses they evaluated were not separately accredited, but on its diplomas, all models bear the name of the university and specify the campus branch attended.

For instance, under those models, a regional campus graduate's diploma would say "Miami University" at the top but would say "awarded at Hamilton" (or Middletown) further down.

However, this does not mean the regional campuses would be separately accredited.

"[We] recommend against separate accreditation for the regional campuses at this time," task force members said in the proposal.

The task force also said they understand that changing the diploma is controversial, and thus, could not come to an agreement on how it might affect Miami regional graduates in the future.

Due to limited available data, the task force said they can't guarantee this will solve problems like retention, graduation rates and financial sustainability.

They do, however, recommend the regionals be granted freedom to create their own degrees and offer ones similar to those available at the Oxford campus.

In this case, the regionals could create their own courses, which would count the same as corresponding Oxford courses. They would be equal, and therefore, transferrable. The example the task force used is ENG 111r for regional campuses and ENG 111 for the Oxford campus.

The task force said they realize the possibility of a perceived academic weakness associated with the regional campuses. However, they believe the potential long-term benefits will prove worthwhile. With this freedom, the regionals would be able to create their own individualized Miami Plan courses based on the needs of the regionally located students.

Relocating to the Oxford campus will remain an option for regional students, but the path will be more clearly defined to prevent students from "swirling" (when a full-time regional student takes Oxford classes). In the future, the number of Oxford classes regional students can take each year will be limited.

"Implementation of this type of policy would also likely require current students to be 'grandfathered' in some fashion," members of the task force said, "since we currently have students that have been taking classes part-time for several semesters."

In the proposal, the task force also explained that a student who wants to begin at a regional campus could do so, but after completing two years must either fully relocate to Oxford to pursue that degree or stay regionally located and pursue the generic version of that degree.

The members also suggested the regional campuses should no longer have open admission, and the students who are denied admission to the main Oxford branch be deferred to the regional campuses.

Rebranding the regional campuses is another issue the task force suggested. They are considering branding the regional campuses together, so rather than Miami Hamilton and Miami Middletown, they would be called, collectively, "Miami Regional Campus."

For a more permanent name, the task force suggested a more compelling term for the regional system, one that captures the sense that we are "one Miami" with a variety of locations, spaces and purposes.

Hodge and the Board of Trustees will discuss these recommendations Friday, Dec. 5, at a regularly scheduled board meeting.