OSU Considering Privatizing Campus Utility System

Ohio State University is considering a proposal to privatize its campus utility system. OSU would become the largest public institution in the country to do so if the plan is approved. The university is expected to invite six of 10 semi-finalist vendors to submit detailed bids in the fall. The proposal comes four years after trustees struck a 50-year deal to lease 35 thousand on-campus parking spaces to an outside vendor for 483 million dollars. Robert Burns, a retired research specialist who analyzed the project for the union representing OSU utility workers, says the proposal shifts the risk to future generations.