DeWine compares YSU presidential hire to Tressel

Gov. Mike DeWine compared the controversial decision by the Youngstown State University's Board of Trustees to hire Bill Johnson, a conservative Republican congressman, as its next president to the move in 2014 to select Jim Tressel for the same job. "There are people who object to the selection of the new president," DeWine, a Republican, said about Johnson during a Thursday interview with a group of editors from Ogden Ohio Newspapers. "Look, there were people who objected to Jim Tressel when he came in and the allegation was that he did not have the academic credentials. Jim Tressel was, I would say, a great president at Youngstown State. He understood that the future of the Mahoning Valley depended to a great extent on how well Youngstown State was doing." Tressel, DeWine said, turned out to be "an excellent president even though people said he did not have the academic credentials. Anytime you get a president who does not fit the norm, and the norm would be kind of moving up through different ranks in the academic community, there are going to be people who object to that because they don't think that person is going to be qualified." Johnson, who will leave Congress on Sunday after 13 years to become YSU president the next day, has no higher education experience. Tressel was a longtime football coach at YSU and Ohio State University and then was the University of Akron's vice president of strategic engagement before he was hired as Youngstown State's president. He retired Feb. 1, 2023, after nine years on the job. "You can make distinctions," DeWine said. "But if you actually look into the complaints that were made about Tressel, it was that he was not a Ph. D. and did not fit the coming up through the ranks of academics." DeWine said: "That's the same criticism of Congressman Johnson. Is there a difference between the two? Sure, everybody's got different backgrounds." DeWine said Johnson "is going to do a very good job. I think he understands the community. He understands the importance of Youngstown State, and what role it plays in the community." DeWine said he doesn't have the authority to remove trustees for their decision — and even if he did, he wouldn't take action. The governor said the most important job a university's board of trustees has is to hire a president. There is a large list of those who have objected to the decision to hire Johnson on Nov. 21, including alumni, faculty, students, former YSU trustees, two former YSU presidents, donors and retired staff. Also, the YSU Academic Senate issued "no confidence" votes Dec. 16 against the trustees for the hiring and against Johnson. The objections have been to Johnson's politics, including his votes objecting to the 2020 presidential election — which Republican Donald Trump, who Johnson supports, falsely claims was stolen — as well as his positions opposing gay marriage and abortions, and what he says is "indoctrination" at some universities. Opponents have raised concerns about the confidential search process used by the trustees that includes the university's refusal to release the names of the other candidates for the job and there not being an opportunity for public meetings with Johnson and the supposed two other finalists. DeWine said the search "raises some issues" in "people's minds about whether the law is being followed. "I asked our legal counsel to be in direct contact with the legal counsel at Youngstown State to kind of go over some of the things that were done. The legal counsel at Youngstown State does not feel that there's a legal problem connected with what they did. I have no knowledge of any legal problem or a violation of Ohio law that took place in the selection of the new president." As for quickly calling for a special primary to be held March 19, the same day as the regular primary, for Johnson's unexpired term, DeWine said initially he was told by the Ohio Secretary of State's Office that it couldn't be done on the same date. But then that office came back and said it could be done, DeWine said. "Ideally, we wanted to avoid the cost of two special elections," DeWine said. "If we could run one of those elections simultaneously with an election that was already scheduled, obviously you save millions of dollars. So we jumped at the chance to do that. We thought it made sense. It just seemed to work. But we had to have the secretary of state tell us that." The filing deadline for the special primary for Johnson's unexpired term is today. DeWine called a special general election for June 11, when elections aren't normally held. "What you want to do is do this as quickly as you can," DeWine said. "We do not want a situation where that congressional district is unrepresented. Sometimes you've got some period of time (of the seat being vacant). What you want to do is keep that period of time as short as possible. So that was one of the criteria."