Kent State President Speaks Out Against Ramaswamy’s Toxic Plan to Shutter Ohio Colleges

Kent State President Speaks Out Against Ramaswamy’s Toxic Plan to Shutter Ohio Colleges

In an open letter posted directly to the university website, Kent State University President Todd Diacon is the latest Ohio leader to speak out against Vivek Ramaswamy’s disastrous plan to shutter public colleges and universities in the state.

Ramaswamy’s latest toxic proposal wouldn’t just make it harder and more expensive for tens of thousands of Ohioans to earn their degree, it would also slash jobs, threaten access to health care, and devastate small businesses and communities across Ohio. The plan has drawn backlash from across the state, with Republican Governor Mike DeWine saying he is “not in favor” of shutting down Ohio schools.

Read more about the response to Ramaswamy’s latest extreme and costly scheme:

Signal Ohio: As Vivek Ramaswamy calls to consolidate Ohio’s public universities, Kent State president invites him to campus 

• A week after Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down on his push to reform the state’s public universities, Kent State University President Todd Diacon delivered a message: “Come visit.” 

• Though Diacon didn’t explicitly mention Ramaswamy by name in an essay on the future of Ohio higher education published April 28, there’s no mistaking who he’s talking about.   

• The piece’s headline and its lead sentence included the phrase “centers of excellence,” the same words Ramaswamy used to describe what he wants the state’s 14 universities to become amid enrollment and financial challenges. His calls to consolidate sparked pushback from his Democratic rival, Dr. Amy Acton, and others across the state.

• Diacon concluded the piece by inviting “anyone raising questions about Ohio’s public universities” to spend time on one of Kent State’s eight campuses across Northeast Ohio – or even that of another public peer – to better understand these schools.

• If elected governor, Ramaswamy would require the Ohio Department of Higher Education to conduct a thorough review that would identify “where missions overlap, where enrollment collapse has made independence untenable, and where administrative functions can be unified without harming students,” he wrote.

Cleveland.com: Kent State president pushes back on Ramaswamy’s university consolidation plan

• The president of Kent State University, one of four schools that GOP gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy singled out in an op-ed about potential university consolidation, published an online response Tuesday, noting state investment in higher education has plummeted over last 50 years and that KSU is making the necessary reductions.

• The piece is a rare public questioning by a public university president of a politician’s policy position…

• Kent State President Todd Diacon also questioned Ramaswamy’s idea to create “centers for excellence” at Ohio’s universities, pointing out numerous programs Kent State already excels in.

• Ramaswamy, the Ohio GOP-endorsed candidate for governor, said during a campaign stop in Wapakoneta in Western Ohio, that he loves Ohio’s schools, but “we have too many” and they need to be consolidated. After public outrage, Ramaswamy wrote the op-ed, which the Columbus Dispatch published March 27, explaining that he’d restructure schools to get rid of administrative inefficiencies. He noted KSU, Cleveland State, the University of Akron, and Central State have announced cuts or are on fiscal watch. He argued that Ohio’s university system was too fragmented.

• And while today’s enrollment cliff is real, the state cuts have been more severe, [Diacon] wrote.

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