As a long-term faculty member at the University of Cincinnati, I am troubled by a historical comment about the academic quality of the university made by Coach Urban Meyer of Ohio State University in the sports column authored by Bill Koch ("
" Sept. 24). Coach Meyer was quoted as saying that while the university is currently viewed as a strong academic institution, that was not the case when he was a UC student in the 1980s.
By way of example, he pointed to a unit known as University College which had open enrollment. That element of the university had an open enrollment policy because it was specifically designed to aid students who were disadvantaged for many different reasons or were unsure of what they wanted to study to eventually pursue a college education.
The remainder of the university however, had high admission standards and renowned academic programs. The Colleges of Medicine and Law and the Schools of Music, Engineering, and Business were leaders in their fields and the McMicken College of Arts and Science featured many very strong departments including those in biology, chemistry, physics, archeology, history, and classics.
The Department of Psychology, in which Coach Meyer was a student and in which I was a faculty member, had nationally-rated programs in clinical and experimental psychology. Among its graduates during coach Meyer's era were a future President of the American Psychological Association, future faculty members at major universities in our country and abroad, three future university deans, at least five future editors of major journals, and leaders at several mental health facilities and government research laboratories including the Air Force Research Laboratory, The Sandia National Laboratory, and the National Institute for occupational Safety and Health.
It is true that UC is an outstanding academic institution today - but that is not new. It was outstanding in coach Meyer's era as well.
Joel S. Warm,Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Cincinnati