Sunday, March 16, 2014

LETTER ABOUT budget cuts to schools. NOT PUBLISHED


I read with interest the article “Jindal Has Trained College President Well” by Robert Mann in the Jan26, 2014 Times-Picayune.  Mr. Mann, in my opinion correctly, compares “system presidents and other education leaders” to obediently trained dogs.  After 6 straight years of disastrous budget cuts to higher education, Louisiana colleges and universities have sunk to a low level, with massive faculty layoffs, virtually no pay raises (even with promotions), cuts in programs and professional development, reductions in student services, technology and extremely low morale. Perhaps these leaders fear for their jobs if they protest, since the price of crossing Louisiana governors is legendary.

 

I wish to make three points: 1. Losing a $200,000+ job is quite different than losing a $35,000 job.  2. There is power in numbers. I think that all these leaders should have and should still TOGETHER openly and publicly protest this long term budgetary debacle.    (The current proposed increases are small, symbolic and based on tuition increases, and may NOT signal the end of the cuts.)  These leaders are prestigious, nationally ranked higher education administrators. Their unified voice would send a strong message. Even if there was no immediate, tangible result, the message would be recognized by the public. Moreover, if they speak in a strong, unified manner, it is unlikely that all would lose their jobs.  3. Louisiana needs to constitutionally protect the higher education budget.

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