The presidents of Oklahoma’s two largest universities last week asked proponents of a constitutional amendment that would boost state aid to K-12 public education to stop using the schools’ logos in a television advertisement.
David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, and Burns Hagis, president of Oklahoma State University, said supporters of State Question 744 used the logos without authorization from the two higher education institutions.
The two presidents issued a joint statement that said voters might get the wrong impression that the universities backed the plan to increase per-pupil funding to the average of the six surrounding states. The proposal is one of 11 state questions on the November ballot.
“In fact, passage of State Question 744 is likely to lead to multimillion-dollar cuts in higher education and could force tuition and cost increases for our students and their families ranging from 15% to 20% per year for up to three years in a row,” the statement said.
Boren and Hagis said devoting more money to public K-12 education without a mechanism to bring in additional revenue would cause “destructive cuts” in higher education and vocational-technical education.
Michael Kolenc, campaign manager for the pro-amendment Yes on 744 group, said the use of the university logos in the advertisement does not imply endorsement by the schools.
