Rachel Radina is a Miami U graduate student and an activist fighting against the privatization Ohio's state universities

Rachel Radina is a graduate student working w/ Miami University Defend Ohio

“We’re concerned about the push to privatize our public universities in Ohio. Chancellor (Jim ) Petro put out a report last week or a plan to create charter or what they’re calling ‘enterprise universities’ now,” said Radina.

Here is what that plan would do, according to Radina.

“In exchange for less state funding, they would get less state regulations, which we know is not good for vulnerable populations such as students and workers. So they’d have the ability to increase tuition and increase class size. That means less quality education, but it’s going to cost more money. So it’s kind of like a backdoor tax on Ohio families.”

Radina said the report also calls for the ability to partner w/ corporate entities.
“That could create a situation where professors have to do research for corporate interests instead of for the public good. So, we’re concerned about all of these issues and we don’t really know what the final plan will look like. But we want to be included in the conversation. That’s why we here today to let the public know that these talks are going on behind closed doors, and that if we don’t do something about it, our universities will be private and less accessible to working families.”

Radina said legislators are going to be forming committees to change Petro’s plan and then create legislation. <<>>>

“It’s in the process. He (Petro) has created a plan. Now it’s in legislators’ hands. Legislators will make changes and that will be sent out to be made into legislation. We’re not really sure what it will look like. At this point, we just have Petro’s plan which you can access online.”

Ohiohighered.org Once there, go to ‘Enterprise University Plan’