Members of the UToledo branch of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and their supporters picketed outside of University Hall on Sept. 27 to express their concerns with financial decisions being made at UT.
In the budget approved this summer, more than $16 million was cut from the budgets of the University’s various colleges. The group claims the cuts have endangered the academic mission of the University and warned of the impact of future cuts.
“We are making the community, first off, aware of what’s going on at their university,” Tim Brakel, AAUP President, said. “There have been so many cuts over the years that literally colleges and departments are bare bones right now. There is no place to cut other than people.”
The informational picket was approved by 90 percent of AAUP members present at a meeting earlier in September. Members cite simultaneous cuts to programs and faculty and increases to administration as one of the University’s transgressions. Organizers said the event was an informational picket, not a strike or demonstration.
UT officials have said more than 80 percent of the academic budget is for employee compensation.
In an e-mail to its members, the UT-AAUP Executive Board indicated “This picketing is to save the UT academic mission for our students.”
“It’s not just professors that are being affected by this,” said Go Holsinger, who says he feels the effects of budget cuts both in the Religious Studies minor and in their layoff from the University over the summer.
“There’s definitely not enough people out here, I feel like students don’t realize how important it is,” Go said. “There would be nothing here without us ... we should have the experience and the education that we deserve, and we need to fight for it.”
The AAUP is concerned how future cuts to the colleges would impact program and degree offerings. Officials have indicated they have not yet set a budget reduction target for next year.
