Board of Trustees not helping fiscal crisis

With a $6.7 million budget cut, it is only fair that university divisions feel
the crunch.

Students were slapped with a 12.5-percent increase in tuition and fees, attributed
to one of the lowest increases in state appropriations. With such a lack of funds,
we applaud the administration for trying to cut university spending on all levels.

More than $1.8 million was cut from the university’s four divisions, including
academic, faculty and staff, presidential and alumni. The administration is taking
a step in the right direction in decreasing spending.

However, the problem stems from the Board of Trustees planning the budget with
a 3.1-percent increase in mind. All children learn not to count their chickens
before they hatch, but obviously the Board is above all rules.

Since the Board has made decisions in secret, sidestepped the press and freed
themselves from public scrutiny, earmarking funds that aren’t there is only
the next logical step in an array of misguided management.

The Board needs to take a long, hard look at the job it is doing and realize that
change is needed.

In a time of university cuts and tuition increases, everyone should feel the crunch.

So where’s the Board’s contribution?