Budget cuts could impair research at Cleveland State's Levin College
By SHANNON MORTLAND
4:30 am, July 1, 2009
Much of the research that has put Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs on the higher education map is likely to disappear as state legislators are expected to stop financing such research projects in the two-year budget that begins July 1. Hanging in the balance is Ohio’s Urban University Program, which has supported economic development research in areas such as foreclosures and financed training programs and community forums. Under the 30-year-old program, Ohio’s public urban institutions — including CSU, Kent State University and the University of Akron — have been paid by the state to conduct research and host the various programs. But lower income tax and sales tax receipts have state lawmakers looking for ways they can to cut the budget, which is expected to be approximately $54 billion, and line items such as the Urban University Program likely will hit the cutting room floor, said Mike Cheney, a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents. “Chances for a lot of programs are slim,” he said. “Anything that is not part of a core funding program is pretty unlikely to get funded at this point.” As a result, Cleveland State’s Levin College will lose $1.2 million in annual support from the state to conduct research and to head up the Urban University Program, meaning seven people will be laid off today, July 1, said Edward “Ned” Hill, dean of the Levin College. The layoffs come on the heels of a 16-month period during which the college laid off another 22 people who worked under the Urban University Program, he said.
The staff, he said, will be down to about 30 people from a high of 75 in October 2007. In addition to the layoffs, the Levin College has not filled positions as they were vacated by employees or students because “we saw the writing on the wall,” Dr. Hill said.
Students to miss research opportunities
A joint program with the Center for Community Solutions to study the health industry’s impact on the city and the region will be canceled, he said.
However, what will be most damaging to the Levin College is the loss of many of the detailed research programs for which it is known, Dr. Hill said. For example, the college has provided research on understanding the impact of foreclosures on the state’s economy since 2000, but that work will be shelved, he said.
Such work allowed the Levin College and the state government to “get ahead of the issues” and enabled students earning degrees through the college to gain real-world experience, Dr. Hill said. Canceling such research will not only slow the economic development of the state, but it will hinder the Levin College’s ability to live up to its mission, he said.
“We are going to be less visible and more dependent on client-driven research and less dependent on independent research,” which often produces the best results because it has fewer boundaries, he said.
Dr. Hill said he doesn’t believe undergraduate enrollment in the Levin College will be affected much because it has been offering better programming in recent years, but students will miss the research opportunities.
A crucial mistake
Government entities across Ohio will be affected if training programs now conducted by Kent State under the Urban University Program are canceled due to a lack of money, said John Hoornbeek, director of Kent State’s Center for Public Administration and Public Policy.
For instance, Kent State now trains all the municipal clerks in Ohio and provides training for local officials and elected officials on topics such as adhering to state laws, he said.
Dr. Hoornbeek said he’s unsure whether the university could underwrite these programs or if other sources of money could be found to keep these programs running. If the university can’t provide the programs, he doesn’t know who could pick up the slack.
Dr. Hill isn’t optimistic that other backers can be found for many of the programs Cleveland State now provides with money from the Urban University Program, but he hopes that a few programs will continue to live on — if only for a little while — through the “sweat equity” of the remaining faculty.
Cleveland State will continue to hold its popular forums that discuss economic development issues in Cleveland, but the forums in Columbus will cease, he said.
A small glimmer of hope appeared Monday when the Cleveland Foundation stepped up with a two-year, $181,500 grant to fund an executive leadership training program for Cleveland city employees, Dr. Hill said. Three employees who were set to be laid off by the Levin College on July 1 will provide that training, he said.
In some ways, the institutions involved in the Urban University Program have themselves to blame for its loss of dollars, he said.
“We did a very bad job of branding the Urban University Program. We let the clients take all the credit for our work,” Dr. Hill said. “That’s a 15-year mistake that we have to live with.”
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