toledoblade.com --

Show us the money.

That's the message the boards of the University of Toledo and Medical University of Ohio will be sending soon to the General Assembly.

The two boards met together yesterday as they continue on the road to a merger that becomes official July 1.

One nagging concern board members have is how they'll pay for so-called "frictional" costs of the merger. Those costs have been estimated to be at least $20 million. Everyone on the boards supports the merger, and so does the legislature, which approved the merger unanimously.

But several board members said yesterday they've done their part; now it's time for legislators to pony up and do their part.

"It's incumbent on us to make it very clear ... that the legislature provides the funding. ... We did this with the assurance that they'd support us," said MUO board member Carroll Ashley.

George Chapman, MUO board chairman, agreed.

"We need something concrete sooner rather than later," he said. "For us to go forward with a merger without funding is the height of folly." Mr. Chapman said the two boards, soon to become a combined board, must quickly lay out specific costs that will need to be funded so a figure can be presented to the General Assembly. He hopes legislators then will quickly provide financial help.

He said it's no secret that funding is tight, but he's hopeful that the widespread support for the merger is a sign legislators are willing to put money where their votes are.

In other MUO/UT action yesterday:

●The name for the combined institutions, as previously reported, will be the University of Toledo. However, yesterday official names for the individual parts of the new merged university were announced.

The name of the campus roughly bounded by Secor Road, Bancroft Street, Douglas Road, and Dorr Street will be "the University of Toledo Main Campus."

The name of the campus roughly bounded by Byrne Road, Arlington Avenue, Detroit Avenue, and Glendale Avenue will be "the University of Toledo Health Science Campus."

Finally, the parts of the health science campus housing clinical functions, such as the hospital, will be called "the University Medical Center."

●The boards unanimously approved a compensation package for Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, who's now MUO president, but will become president of the combined institution on July 1.

As previously reported, he'll receive an annual salary of $385,000, plus bonuses.

Contact Luke Shockman at:
lshockman@theblade.com
or 419-724-6084.

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