Whereas the Republican nominee for governor initially said his plan would result in a “more competitive, increasingly affordable, and rightsized higher education system for taxpayers and students,” he backed away from the idea during a recent town hall meeting, the newspaper and other news outlets reported, saying he meant consolidate programs, not institutions.
“We have too many duplicative programs in our universities,” Ramaswamy said during a town hall meeting, according to News5 Cleveland.
The wannabe governor’s wishy-washy stance on streamlining Ohio’s public universities follows criticism from economists who stated consolidation would reduce graduation and economic output.
“Closing any local public university will reduce some local commuters from attending college and thus will reduce valuable workers to the economy in the long-term,” Kevin Egan, a professor of environmental economics at the University of Toledo, wrote in the comments section of a survey of economists on the matter, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
Ramaswamy’s reversal – which comes after he doubled and even “tripled down” on the plan at a recent Turning Point USA event – reveals a certain sensibility regarding the uncertainty of his gubernatorial bid. Polls indicate the race between Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, and Amy Acton, a physician and former state director of Ohio’s Department of Health during COVID who is the Democratic candidate, is close, according to The New York Times.
What’s more, Ohio already has legislation in place to eliminate programs that are in low-demand and – as reported by The EDU Ledger – eliminated nearly 90 such programs in April.
