Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you, Chair Fujita, for your ongoing partnership and support.
Before I begin my formal report today, I want to recognize some very special Buckeyes.
First and foremost, these include the more than 12,500 graduates who became “Buckeyes for Life” on May 5. It was an honor to mark not only my first commencement but, more importantly, their commencement at this university with such a remarkable class: the Class of 2024.
Commencement was a time of celebration for many, but I want to acknowledge here publicly — and I have done so previously, but I want to say this again — the real tragedy that occurred that day at the stadium. I extend my condolences to the family and the many friends who were in attendance and those who were impacted. I hope the Ohio State community can be a source of comfort for them during this unimaginable time.
The Buckeye community is a source of strength for many of us during difficult times — and that’s a credit to the work and support of this Board of Trustees.
Unfortunately, as the chairman mentioned, we have to bid farewell to three of its members. And although I know we just had a chance to recognize and hear from our departing Board of Trustees, I want to publicly thank Chair Hiro Fujita, now-Doctor Taylor Schwein and Mr. Jim Klingbeil for everything they’ve done and everything they will continue to do — even as they step off as Board of Trustees members — as they conclude their terms. Each of them has done an incredible job guiding this institution. And I’m personally grateful for the partnership and wisdom they’ve provided to me over the first five months of my tenure.
Can I please ask everyone to give them one more round of applause?
I also have the privilege and want to recognize three individuals who are pillars of campus life here at Ohio State.
Athletics Director Gene Smith will be retiring soon after 19 years at Ohio State. Our student-athletes have achieved incredible success during that time in terms of athletics, academic achievement and preparation for life. We know we can’t replace Gene but, as I have said before, we’re really excited to welcome Ross Bjork to fill that role and glad he has had a few months to get a sense of things before taking over for Gene full time.
Mr. Jay Kasey will also be retiring soon after spending 17 years with the university. Jay has played a huge role shaping our campuses, enhancing safety and building relationships in the community. Jay, you will certainly be missed.
Finally, I want to recognize Dr. Ben Givens, who’s here in the audience today, as he retires from the faculty after 32 years in our Department of Psychology. For the past seven of those years, he’s served as Senate secretary — a critical post in our shared governance system. He’s been a steady hand through the pandemic and presidential transitions, and I’m personally thankful to Ben, as well as all of our faculty members who so faithfully serve our very unique university Senate, which is unique in this country because it’s not just faculty, it’s staff and all of our student government. But Ben, you’ve been a real light for me and just want to say thank you, personally.
Can I get a great round of applause for Gene, Jay and Ben?
One final item I’d like to address before I get down to it is the demonstrations we saw on our Columbus campus at the close of spring semester and the university’s response to them.
I know a lot has been written. I’ve seen a lot of editorials and a lot of discussion on this.
I want to be very clear, not only to our board but for those that might be listening: The arrests that took place three weeks ago were not about limiting speech or the content of that speech. None of us want to see that type of action and we tried to do everything we could to prevent that.
These were about encampments, which violate university space rules and can create significant safety issues and disruption. We don’t need to look too far across our nation to see what other campuses have done with those type of encampments and the type of violence and other friction it’s created.
Information about these space rules was broadly communicated to the university community over the past few months. It was also directly and repeatedly communicated to demonstrators before arrests occurred.
These actions are not ones that I or any member of the administration took lightly. But Ohio State has a duty to uniformly enforce the law and university policy — and by the way, these policies were here a long time before I got here — and they’re there to promote safety and to ensure the important work of our students, faculty, researchers and staff so that everyone can contribute and execute our mission.
I want to commend all those on our campuses and throughout our communities who have been committed to teaching, learning, listening to and supporting one another during this period — and all those who exercise their First Amendment rights. These are things Buckeyes do every day.
As we exercise those First Amendment rights, I would encourage all of us to do so — as many have — in a way that promotes dialogue rather than deepens division. Respect, civility, and compassion should and must continue to be at the forefront.
All of us chose to be Buckeyes, and the more we center our conversations on that commonality, the more likely it is that we will be able to address the challenges we face.
As many of you heard during my first State of the University address last month, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the things that bring us together — and bind us together — as Buckeyes. And I believe firmly that our ability to collaborate with one another will remain centerpiece of this university going forward.
Now, if you tuned into the State of the University, you’ll also know that I’ve been learning a great deal since joining you in January.
I visited all four of our regional campuses, and it’s really exciting to see what’s going on there. The quality of the students there is amazing. The faculty are outstanding. And the research being done is incredibly meaningful.
I’ve been to almost all of the colleges on our Columbus campus as well as the facilities in Carmenton and our medical center. And of course I’m meeting students, faculty and staff along the way to learn about their work and experiences, and how that fits into all that we do here at Ohio State.
This work is done in partnership with industries and institutions around the state and across the country. Let me give you a couple examples of who and where I’ve engaged with personally over the past few months:
I’ve had the chance to go out to Santa Clara, California, to meet with Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of Intel — and he was here just the day before yesterday — and to see the site where they’re building the future of semiconductor production here in the great state of Ohio.
I’ve been to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and met with Dr. Tim Robinson and members of his leadership team. We have a number of important relationships with them when it comes to research and patient care.
And I’ve met with my counterpart at Columbus State Community College, Dr. David Harrison, to talk about how we can make higher education more accessible and affordable to everyone.
Learning even more about the relationships this institution has locally and all over Ohio will be a significant focus of mine over the next couple of months — and I’m excited to get to it.
I’m also looking forward to seeing the results of the university faculty and staff survey we released on May 1. That closes tomorrow. And I’m really thankful to everyone who has and will respond to that.
We’re going to combine this data with information we already have from the medical center to give us a baseline, across the entire university, about our culture. And then we’re going to work on it from there.
Through tools like this, through talking to thousands of Buckeyes, and through extensive learning about this institution, what I’m seeing is that Ohio State is a university for all Ohioans. And it’s a university of extraordinarily high quality.
Through our regional campuses, Ohio State Online and agreements with other schools, we have affordable pathways for every student.
Now, during this board meeting today, we’re going to be talking about tuition. And some will report that our tuition is going up for first-time Ohioans by 3%. But that really shouldn’t be the headline. This university, for the last eight years, has had a tuition-rate guarantee. The headline should be, in fact, that we’re not changing tuition for 75% of our undergraduate students. And although it will be a 3% rate increase at the tuition level, equating to about $380 a year, it’s really about 0.75% per year for those undergraduates because their tuition rate will be guaranteed over the next four years. And also for those who may not be able to afford an additional $380 a year — those that are Pell eligible or through other need-based financing — they will not be affected by that tuition-rate increase.
And if you look at where we are today — and especially compared to where we were just even five years ago — more than half of our undergraduates — 58% — leave Ohio State with zero debt.
Compared to just five years ago, that’s 10% higher. Forty-eight percent were leaving debt free in the year 2018-19.
And for the 42% who do leave with some amount debt, that average — and that’s just the average of those that are leaving with any debt, not to include the other 58% — is less than that of an average used car: about $25,000.
Both of those statistics — 58%, zero debt, and those who do leave with debt, about less than $25,000 — that’s 20% below the national average.
We all should be very proud about what we’re doing about affordability here at Ohio State.
We’re also an engine for Ohio’s workforce. Today, about two-thirds — or more, depending on which category — of our graduates entering the workforce plan to start their careers right here in the state.
And based on the enthusiasm we saw on campus during all of our celebrations for Dr. Pierre Agostini’s Nobel Prize, this community understands the incredible potential of scientific innovation to change the future of our world.
Now, as great as it’s been to take all of this in, it’s been even more exciting to begin telling our story to some of our most important stakeholders.
Last month, I had the chance to attend my first ever Scarlet and Gray Congressional Breakfast in our nation’s capital. We not only raised funds to support our students, we engaged with many of our elected leaders and alumni in the area. I want to note just how outstanding it was to have so many members of this board with us on that trip.
And just last week, I joined the Ohio Senate’s Workforce and Higher Education Committee to discuss the important investments the state makes in our university and the higher education landscape — and what we’re doing to make good on those investments.
We also recently published our new Statewide Impact Report. It’s a remarkable document that gathers the story of our impact across Ohio along with the data to back it up into a single resource. I encourage everyone to take a look.
This university is already operating at a high level. And we are primed to grow our excellence even more in the future.
As I’ve said previously, everything I’m experiencing and learning — from talking to people and from things like our faculty and staff survey — will inform a strategy we are going to articulate later this year.
And to execute that plan, we have to have great leadership at all levels of this organization.
As many of you know, we’ve been in a nationwide search for many leadership positions. These nationwide searches continue for a new provost, leaders of our regional campuses, and deans for several of our colleges here on the Columbus campus. We are getting close on many of these, and I will be excited to announce more of those very soon.
In closing, this is an incredible university with incredible people doing meaningful, impactful work.
I look forward to working closely with this board, the Ohio State community and our partners to ensure we’re aligned on our values and vision, and to continue instilling a culture of excellence in every single thing that we do.
Thank you for your time today. This concludes my report.