UA-Can't Merger

[LosAngelesZipFan]

A couple of posts here and the Buchtelite interview with Fingerhut have touched on something I have been thinking since I graduated from UA in '89: Merging UA and Can't would be a total homerun. In fact, I wrote an op-ed piece in the PD about it in 1991 and even proposed a name-- Ohio Northestern or ONE U. If Fingerhut is serious about re-alignment, then I would argue that this is the best chance for Akron to maintain it major institution.Now, hear me out on this. The core offerings are highly complimentary-- UA has engineering, Can't has architecture. UA's polymer program and Can't's liquid crystal program are highly synergistic. NEOUCOM would move to a new campus in Akron between UA and Akron City, creating a huge development that would re-shape the city.Fingerhut says he wants world-class-- the combined institution would have and enrollment pressing 60,000, putting it easily in the top 10 and essentially equal to Ohio State in enrollment. The endowment would near $500 million. Combined research would put it in the upper tier of learning institutions. It would be an institution with a commanding presence throughout all of NEO, and its size and scope would make it a real contender for world-class status. Ohio would have 3 top-tier public research institutions in ONE, Cincy, and Ohio State.Through sheer size and scale, ONE would instantly become an obvious candidate for membership in the Big East and, quite frankly, could make a very good argument for to become the 12th team in the Big Ten (OSU would fight this tooth and nail, of course, but maybe the rest of the Big Ten would enjoy the demise of OSU's monopoly on the abundance of Ohio talent enough to over-rule their objections). And I think all those Suckeye fans in NEO with no connection to Columbus will entirely flip over to ONE fans once the thing gets going and is competing at a BCS-level. The proximity of these 2 huge public institutions is just silly-- it's time to acknowledge it. Ohio just doesn't have the tax base of affording this. Akron and NEO does have the desperate need for a world-class institution to act as an economic pump for the region. Logistically, it wouldn't be that difficult to manage-- Can't becomes the primary 'underclass' campus (freshman and sophomores), Akron the upper and most of the graduate schools. An expanded bus network runs shuttles every 5 minutes so you are almost always able to get to the other campus within 30 minutes. While I think this merger has HUGE upside potential, it also is a smart defensive maneuver. For all of UA's success and momentum since it became a state school- and the record is impressive when you look at enrollment or endowment or what has been done with the campus-- I will bet you a combined UA-CSU will be based in Cleveland, and UA will be the branch campus-- the Cleveland business community and political constituency is just too powerful to miss the opportunity to finally fix CSU and get a medical school in the middle of Cleveland. The only safe path for Akron is to merge with Can't, and after the successful merger and establishment of the new U, CSU could become essentially a branch campus.

[blueandgold]

That would be a hard pill to swallow. I can't imagine merging with the enemy, but you make very good points. I think this would be a much better situation for Akron than the CSU mess.

[zen]

and the reason it wont happen is.......................

politics!

Cleveland would be left with a small university and no one good to merge with.... and of course, we can't leave Cleveland high-and-dry by closing down CSU, because they have too much media and would stir up a stink.

Nothing good can come out of political meddling.

[g-mann17]

I still say the ideal situation is that CSU is dismantled as a University. Tri-C takes over the campus. The CSU students wanting a 4 year degree would then take base classes at Tri-C and then move on to the University of Akron or Can't State depending on the major. The Universityof Akron and Can't State would serve as larger Universities for the state. The population density of NEO does reflect the need of two University campuses but the schools themselves differ greatly in the areas of study. As a retaining point any student would be able to freely choose between the two campuses for undergraduate studies and credit transfer would be no problem.

Now here is where my idea get's weird:

NEOUCOM in general is moved to Akron. (Summa wants a medical school and Cleveland already has UH in conjunction with CWRU). The buildings that exist on the NEOUCOM Campus become the Northeast Ohio Technilogical Advancement Campus (NEOTAC). The facility would be a joint use facility for the University of Akron, Can't State, and Youngstown State (if they do any research I don't really know). It would work as an Economic Accelerator impacting industry in both Cleveland and Akron.

[ZachTheZip]

I suggest that you e-mail this to Fingerhut, Strickland, and everyone in between. At least change their minds or get them thinking.

Unless, of course, their goal is to screw every other state university and run them in to the ground so that the only good one left is OSU so that they can get even more money than they get now...

[ziptrumpet87]

I still say the ideal situation is that CSU is dismantled as a University. Tri-C takes over the campus. The CSU students wanting a 4 year degree would then take base classes at Tri-C and then move on to the University of Akron or Can't State depending on the major. The Universityof Akron and Can't State would serve as larger Universities for the state. The population density of NEO does reflect the need of two University campuses but the schools themselves differ greatly in the areas of study. As a retaining point any student would be able to freely choose between the two campuses for undergraduate studies and credit transfer would be no problem.

Now here is where my idea get's weird:

NEOUCOM in general is moved to Akron. (Summa wants a medical school and Cleveland already has UH in conjunction with CWRU). The buildings that exist on the NEOUCOM Campus become the Northeast Ohio Technilogical Advancement Campus (NEOTAC). The facility would be a joint use facility for the University of Akron, Can't State, and Youngstown State (if they do any research I don't really know). It would work as an Economic Accelerator impacting industry in both Cleveland and Akron.

NEOUCOM/P does do some research (~$8 mil?), but not as much as it could. They have added to the facilities there recently. I'm sure, as I believe Dr. P has mentioned, Summa and AGMC would benefit more if they were in Akron, as would Plusquellic's recently announced "medical corridor".

I can't imagine how long it would take to recoup the cost of moving one facility to another city. The savings would have to be really good to make it worthwile. The capital costs also would be tremendous.

[ZipAlumn]

The University of Akron merging with CSU! The University of Akron merging with Can't State! What is all the buzz about merging two universities 40-50 miles apart or two universities that currently have over 20,000 students each. There should be a very real reason to merge any two entities and I fail to see any good reason to merge any of these educational institutes. I've been through several mergers both nationally and locally and it has never been fun. Even when you come out on top (and I have been fortunate in this regards) there is alway pain, inefficiencies, stupidity, and confusion for some time before, during, and after the process.The thing about these talks of a merger is that I think the University of Akron will lose it's name and identity. And I don't see any reason for the change except for the sake of change. :nono: :nono:

[zen]

There is obviously something deeper. Much deeper. They always say "follow the money". I think there is something very political about this, and it's not lack of funds available from the state. That's just an excuse.All this talk makes no sense. There is something very core missing in all this.

[LosAngelesZipFan]

Follow the money is EXACTLY right... the business and political establishment in Cleveland is now viewing CSU as a real asset in injecting life into a moribund part of downtown Cleveland. In fact, they are focused on using CSU as a development tool to a degree well-beyond what Akron's political leadership has done for UA (exhibit one: the mayor of Akron couldn't bring himself to show up for the press conference announcing the stadium project because he was irritated that UA hadn't received his blessing for the Quaker Square purchase). I guess my point in this discussion is twofold-- first, Akron will get screwed in this transaction-- the U, the city, the region. Akron cannot outmuscle Cleveland. That being the case, it might be smart to be proactive and find a solution that would actually have real positives and at least a mitigated set of negatives.The second point is that it is time for the political and business community of the region to WAKE THE F UP and start falling over themselves to support UA. It was great to see the frickin Kalamazoo paper is submitting videos to YouTube. Wow. That's what local media support is like? I have often said that the region's leadership should get fully behind UA because it is the only development asset that can't pick up and leave-- well, guess what, the State of Ohio is telling you that it very well might walk... and can you imagine what would happen to Akron is UA ends up as a community college/branch campus. Things have to change-- the status quo is neither affordable nor ideal. NEO desperately needs a world-class university, something to be a real economic pump. UA needs to shape, drive and own that change, view it as an opportunity, or it will be victimized by it. Pretty plain and simple equation.