Tax dollars and tuition money should be spent carefully during a recession

With Michigan’s public schools facing an economic crisis because of state funding issues, there are sure to be cuts that will be painful to our communities.
Our tax dollars need to be carefully targeted, but that message is not connecting with Central Michigan University.

The University’s Board of Trustees decided to approve the acquisition of WFUM-TV in Flint for $1 million of CMU’s reserve funds. My understanding is that university reserve funds are made up of appropriated state dollars, leftover tuition and university earnings. The purchase of this station represents poor judgment at a time when Michigan is fighting for its future.

The Flint area is served by 4 public television stations — WDCQ, WFUM, WKAR and WTVS. According to the FCC and Consumer Electronics Association, approximately 85 percent of television viewers in the Flint area get their television by cable and satellite providers such as Comcast, Charter, Direct TV, Echostar and AT&T. Comcast, the largest of these providers in the Flint area, carries three PBS stations: WDCQ, WKAR and WFUM.

The remaining 15 percent of the population watches with home antennas, and can receive PBS programming from the stations mentioned.

As the University of Michigan has learned, there is no community need for a redundant PBS station in Flint.

The initial cost for CMU’s new station is high enough, but there are significant ongoing costs involved with broadcast transmission. Is this use of taxpayer money a wise investment?

Consider that CMU has increased tuition by 21 percent in 2007, 6.6 percent in 2008, and 4.63 percent for 2009. Perhaps with better fiscal control of tuition costs, this university might have seen a freshman enrollment increase this year, as it did for most of the higher education schools in our region.

CMU has stated that one of its purposes for acquiring WFUM is to market CMU in Oakland County, where the university can get access to some of Oakland County’s dollars. Operating a television station is an expensive way to market a university when more traditional marketing tools such as advertising can be used with greater effectiveness and less money.

How does running a redundant public television station in Flint meet the mission of CMU? It doesn’t. Nor is it the mission of Public Broadcasting to act as an advertising outlet for CMU. Keep in mind that the FCC licenses for Public Broadcasting are “non-commercial FCC licenses.”

Tom Garnett
Midland resident