Students returning to Ohio State University will see a lot of changes to the state's largest public university this upcoming academic year while the incoming freshman class will be experiencing the institution for the first time.
Ohio State President Ted Carter spoke on these changes on Thursday's All Sides with Amy Juravich. He said the university is expecting more than 8,000 new students in the Class of 2029, which is a drop from the record OSU set last year when they accepted more than 9,000 students.
Carter said OSU did receive a record number of applicants this year with about 88,000 applications.
As students make their way to campus, OSU will be different than last year. The university will start to train students to become fluent in using generative artificial intelligence. Tuition is also being raised by nearly $400 per academic year.
Criticisms of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, college affordability and perceived liberal bias drove Ohio lawmakers and President Trump to try and crack down on all three.
Ohio's higher education overhaul law and Trump's executive orders forced the closure of OSU's diversity and inclusion offices. The new laws also force OSU and other Ohio universities to add an "intellectual diversity center" and mandate new civics courses.
Carter says he thinks OSU has done a good job addressing criticism of higher education and adapting to the changing landscape. He said other universities have been slow to address criticisms from the American public, especially on affordability and how much universities spend on research.
"I'm one of those leaders that said we ought to be paying attention to that. And maybe higher education needs to pivot and change. So we've been leading in that change. And we've also been dealing with the changes that are coming out of the federal government and the state," Carter said.
Carter said ultimately the changes OSU has to implement could cost the university upwards of $6 million to carry out.
Ohio State and Carter have faced criticism from protestors and the Ohio State chapter of the American Association of University Professors for complying early with these laws.
Carter pushed back on the AAUP's criticism and said he is trying to protect academic freedom.
"I know a fair bit about the First Amendment, freedom of the speech. I've protected that. I bring that apolitical nature to the job that I have here," Carter said.
Carter said the university did push back on some parts of the law, like a provision that requires faculty to post the syllabi for their courses online. He said OSU also didn't think the required American government course was necessary.
"This will not have that big of a huge impact for the curricula that the students are already getting. So again, we're gonna follow the intent of the law," Carter said.
Carter also commented on the laws requiring the school's diversity programs to shutter. Carter said he thinks the university will still work to take care of its students.
"We've replaced the Center for Belonging and Social Change with a new place called Buckeye Commons. And the students and our faculty and staff helped develop Buckeye Commons in the aftermath of this change. And it's now something that will support students with things like resumes (and) helping with interns (and) internships, (and) just helping them be successful in the classroom, giving them resources for where to go to get help," Carter said.
Carter also said he thinks Ohio State will remain well known for welcoming students from all backgrounds.
Carter defended the university's new goal to make every student AI fluent. A recent MIT study showed some concerning findings about AI usage when writing essays.
Carter said once these students graduate, 95% of businesses will be using AI and many expect new hires to have exposure and experience with the technology.
"I know there's gonna be some skeptics that think that we're just gonna dumb down students. That's not what the intent here is. We wanna make sure that our students, when they go out into the workforce, that they're ready on day one," Carter said.
Carter said OSU has 300 faculty that are AI experts and will hire 100 new faculty. There will also be an uptick in AI research at Ohio State.
Carter was also asked by Juravich about public media funding. Ohio State owns WOSU's license, but has no involvement in radio and TV programming. WOSU is also editorially independent from the university.
Carter said the university is taking a hard look at ways to address the $2 million a year WOSU Public Media lost when Congress completely cut federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting last month.
"WOSU and what they do, the service they do for our university, the streaming services, the news that they produce is incredibly valuable to everybody, to Ohioans, particularly your reach in the rural communities. We are aware of what's going on. We're taking a very hard look at it," Carter said.
Carter told Juravich during the Thursday morning broadcast that he doesn't have an announcement yet, but Ohio State will do what it can.
