[Ysu-academic-senate] Fw: STILL URGENT! ACTION NEEDED! Federal Stimulus Update!

[Bob Hogue]

YSU Academic Senate Chairperson Chet Cooper has asked that these correspondences from the Ohio Faculty Council and Chancellor Eric Fingerhut be forwarded to all members of the Academic Senate:




------ Forwarded Message
From: "Cuppoletti, John (cuppolj)" <CUPPOLJ at UCMAIL.UC.EDU>
Date: Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:32:09 -0500
To: Jessica Colombi <jcolombi at regents.state.oh.us>
Cc: 'David Ingram' <ingram at ohio.edu>, "'Fenwick,Rudy'" <fenwick at uakron.edu>,
"'Keith E. Bernhard'" <bernhard at bgnet.bgsu.edu>, 'Bob Hogue'
<bobhogue at cis.ysu.edu>, 'Sheldon Gelman' <sheldon.gelman at law.csuohio.edu>,
"'amilburn at centralstate.edu'" <amilburn at centralstate.edu>, 'Dwayne Daniel'
<ddaniel at centralstate.edu>, "LAUX, TRACY" <tlaux at kent.edu>,
"'hwolff at math.utoledo.edu'" <hwolff at math.utoledo.edu>, "'kd at neoucom.edu'"
<kd at neoucom.edu>, "'wright at ohio.edu'" <wright at ohio.edu>, 'Ginny Hamilton'
<ghamilton at shawnee.edu>, "'william.gunning at utoledo.edu'"
<william.gunning at utoledo.edu>, 'Tammy King' <taking at ysu.edu>, "Welsh, Martha
(welshma)" <welshma at UCMAIL.UC.EDU>, 'William McKenna' <mckennwr at muohio.edu>,
"'bmuego at bgsu.edu'" <bmuego at bgsu.edu>, "'lopez at ohio.edu'" <lopez at ohio.edu>,
'bloemer' <bloemer at ohio.edu>, "'brian.ray at law.csuohio.edu'"
<brian.ray at law.csuohio.edu>, "'rousmak at muohio.edu'" <rousmak at muohio.edu>,
"'hsterns at uakron.edu'" <hsterns at uakron.edu>, "'Jeffrey K. McKee'"
<mckee.95 at osu.edu>, "'billman.1 at osu.edu'" <billman.1 at osu.edu>,
"'Kris.Brickman at utoledo.edu'" <kris.brickman at utoledo.edu>,
"'pam.zambenini at wright.edu'" <pam.zambenini at wright.edu>,
"'thomas.sudkamp at wright.edu'" <thomas.sudkamp at wright.edu>,
"'Zacher.1 at osu.edu'" <zacher.1 at osu.edu>, 'Clifford Chip Poirot'
<cpoirot at shawnee.edu>, Chet Cooper <crcooper01 at ysu.edu>,
"'mcudnik at neoucom.edu'" <mcudnik at neoucom.edu>, "'rshield at bgsu.edu'"
<rshield at bgsu.edu>, 'barb garay' <bgaray at bgsu.edu>, 'Joshua Gillespie'
<gillespie.85 at osu.edu>, "Hall, Marla (halmi)" <halmi at ucmail.uc.edu>, 'Eileen
Schulz' <delehant at ohio.edu>, "'ewillia at bgsu.edu'" <ewillia at bgsu.edu>,
"Cuppoletti, John (cuppolj)" <CUPPOLJ at UCMAIL.UC.EDU>, "ROXBURGH, SUSAN"
<sroxburg at kent.edu>, "'j.sawicki at csuohio.edu'" <j.sawicki at csuohio.edu>,
"'lopez at math.ohiou.edu'" <lopez at math.ohiou.edu>
Subject: RE: STILL URGENT! ACTION NEEDED! Federal Stimulus Update!

Dear Members of the Ohio Faculty Council,
I would like to make an unprecedented request that you forward the below
request from the Chancellor to each of your constituents at your University.
I realize that this is an unusual request, but in theory we can contact each
of the four year public universities and medical school faculty through such
a mechanism, and this is a very important matter that must be done before
the Senate vote. Sincerely, John Cuppoletti

-----Original Message-----
From: Jessica Colombi [mailto:jcolombi at regents.state.oh.us]
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 4:16 PM
To: Jessica Colombi
Subject: STILL URGENT! ACTION NEEDED! Federal Stimulus Update!

To:  University System of Ohio Presidents, Trustees, Regents and Friends:
From:  Chancellor Eric Fingerhut
Re:  Federal Stimulus
Date:  February 7, 2009

You have undoubtedly heard this morning about the "compromise" reached in
the United States Senate last night on the federal stimulus package.  While
the idea of a compromise is receiving positive press, the contents of the
compromise represent a significant step backwards from the bill passed by
the House of Representative with respect to the challenges facing the State
of Ohio and higher education.

The Senate "compromise"  (1) reduced from $79 billion to $39 billion the
size of the "education block grant" that was designed to help the states
avoid cuts in K-12 and higher education, and (2) completely eliminated the
$3.5 billion targeted by the House of Representatives for investments in
"shovel ready" higher education infrastructure projects.  The block grant is
the fund that Governor Strickland is counting on to extend the tuition
freeze and avoid other, more draconian cuts in higher education and the rest
of the state budget (by replacing some state funds in the higher education
budget with federal funds, the governor can use precious state funds to keep
the state's social safety net from being shredded).  The infrastructure fund
would address our significant backlog of renovation projects across the
state and put our local tradespeople back to work through expediting dozens
of campus projects that have been on hold.

The Senate "compromise" is scheduled for a vote on Monday.  Even if it
passes, there is still time to correct this situation in a House-Senate
Conference Committee.  **But it will not happen if the higher education
community in Ohio does not speak up loudly and quickly.**

It is critical that you take the time THIS WEEKEND to contact Senator Brown
and Senator Voinovich and ask them to work to restore the Education Block
Grant to the full amount passed by the House of Representatives and to
reinstate the Higher Education Infrastructure Fund.   Please also contact
your member of the United States House of Representatives to ask them to
seek the restoration of these elements of the bill in the Conference
Committee.

I urge you to be positive in your message.  Please emphasize the tremendous
momentum that has been created on higher education in Ohio, and the strong
bi-partisan support we have received from the Governor and the General
Assembly to allow us to educate more people, help people losing their jobs
get additional training in order to re-enter the workforce, and invest in
research and development to create new jobs.  We are helping to build cities
with the growth of our campuses, and to spur economic development in rural
and suburban areas across Ohio.  Tell our senators that the leaders and
citizens of our state have decided that higher education is the key to our
future economic prosperity, and that higher education and your particular
institution have stepped up to meet the current challenges.  A similar
commitment from the federal government would help the momentum continue in
this difficult economic time.

Please forward this message along to your constituencies and any additional
interested parties.

You will find the proper contact information below.  Thank you in advance
for your help.  Please send me copies of your communications, so I can keep
the governor's office informed of our efforts.

Eric D. Fingerhut
Chancellor
Ohio Board of Regents
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTACT INFORMATION:

Senator Sherrod Brown's Washington, D.C. office:
email: william_jawondo at brown.senate.gov
phone: (202) 224-2315

Senator George Voinovich's Washington, D.C. office:
email: dana_smullen at voinovich.senate.gov
phone: (202) 224-3353

Find your Congressman/woman:
www.house.gov
- in upper left hand corner, enter your zip code








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