There is a great deal of protesting that has been taking place on this campus
lately. This does not come as a huge surprise to most of us since we as a society
have systematically desensitized ourselves to the problems which we face on
a daily basis. It has become apparent to me that the administration, the Board
of Trustees and sadly even the president himself, desire to handle the current
faculty contract situation in a way that will ease tensions rapidly and temporarily.

I admit that I am nothing more than an undergraduate studying information
technology here at CMU, and I don’t have a Ph.D. in administration or
business, nor do I have a degree in public relations, and I don’t make
more than $200,000 each year to run this higher education institution. I suppose
that is why I have an ability to see the importance of a good education. Not
only good education, but good educators.

I find it appalling that this university is more concerned with increasing
its profit margin than it is with educating the future leaders of our world.
I am sure that when Michael Rao wrote his speech prior to his State of the
University address he thought it would be intelligent to recognize the “outstanding
work of the faculty members” at CMU, no doubt hoping that it would ease
the rising tensions over contract negotiations.

Well done Mr. President, I applaud you for once again telling us all exactly
what we liked to hear. But I think I speak for many people on this when I say:
Why don’t skip the foreplay and just do it? We sick and tired of being
strung along with rumors of improvement.

Think back to the time when you were in school from pre-school right up through
your graduate studies. If you can tell me that you would be where you are today
without the caring, through, passionate work of your teachers then I will retract
my entire statement. I am not a teacher as I stated earlier, I am a student,
and I think that I can speak for the majority of the student population when
I say that this has gone on long enough. Instead of pushing for more computers
and more research, push for fair wages for your faculty.

You cannot become No. 1 over night, and you will never be No. 1 if you have
no students or faculty. Sure, freshman enrollment continues to rise, and the
tuition continues to go up, and all the while, you sit in your nice suburban
home with your family and your combined income of well more than $200,000 and
never have to pay for a car, or for food, or for education, or for a maid,
or for even cutting your lawn. You have made sure that the administration is
paid before making sure that you pay the faculty.

I have seen the budget for the last five years, and I know the salaries of
the administrators. I am not trying to remind you of the people who work day
in and day out trying to equip us with the tools to make in the real world,
and in return, they are barely equipped to put food on the table.

The time has come for you, Mr. President, to take a stand for what you say
you believe. If not for people like me and my peers, then do it for your own
son. Unless you take the education of your student population seriously, Mr.
President, I fear that we are only going to struggle harder to achieve our
goals.

E-mail the author: Guest ColumnBy Brad Sterkenburg