rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/bobcats-stand-together-to-save-our-profs?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-bobcats-stand-together-to-save-our-profs' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> OU AAUP https://actionnetwork.org/users/9d973ddb74143665c16e0a70d47297897376d63e/profile https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/164/419/normal/Petition_Cover.jpg As Ohio University shuts down its operations and moves classes online to safeguard the health of students, faculty, and staff, it must take steps to ensure the long-term wellbeing of the university and its employees. Currently, the teaching faculty at Ohio University are facing mass layoffs—and in the middle of a severe public health crisis produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. These faculty, who are important front-line instructors in every college at the university, teach seminars and lectures, run labs and clinicals, head up internship programs and productions, and serve as academic advisors for innumerable students. In the fall of 2019 alone, 315 Instructional Faculty taught 985 lectures and seminars with an additive enrollment of more than 30,000 students. Now, their jobs are at risk at a time when access to health insurance is more important than ever. Ohio University has long been an engine of social mobility in Southeast Ohio. The loss of these jobs will diminish the university’s capacity to fulfill that role, and more immediately, it will harm the economic health of the region. Responsible fiscal governance at a public university demands that cuts to balance the budget must first come from non-academic units. In this time of crisis, Ohio University should put the health of the university and its employees first, and halt the layoffs. If you are representing an organization and would like to sign the petition, please contact us at ou.aaup@gmail.com. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/bobcats-stand-together-to-save-our-profs