EDITORIAL: Elimination of paychecks justified; bigger cuts still necessary
Eliminating paychecks completely from the university payroll system is a cost-effective move, but additional cuts can still be extended to other areas of the university's operations.
When only 1 percent of faculty and staff employees and 15 percent of student employees use the traditional method, it is about time to do away with the system. Direct deposit is not only an efficient way for employees to be paid, but it also eliminates the expensive process of printing paper checks.
Regardless, cutting paychecks to an insignificant number of students, faculty and staff will likely result in insignificant savings.
Other on-campus departments, such as the Athletics Department and its $16 million budget, could deal with substantial cuts and still operate effectively on a day-to-day basis.
CMU administrators could afford a slight hit to their salaries as well, including the College of Medicine deans whose salaries add up to $1.17 million — a number that does not include Nehad El-Sawi’s partial salary and severance pay totaling $238,691.76.
The medical school is the biggest drain on this university financially. It was pushed back a year and has not raised nearly the money in donations the administration expected.
CMU is excellent at making itself appear fiscally conservative by enacting policies such as this elimination of paychecks, but if the administration was so concerned with saving money it would have thought twice about building a hugely expensive medical school.
Taking on a project of that magnitude in the current economic climate was unwise at best, and it is only going to benefit a fraction of CMU students while the rest foot the bill.
College of Medicine aside, the university is spending funds just as frivolously in other ways. The Bovee University Center is undergoing renovations at the cost of $5 million that are not imperative to a better experience at CMU.
Moving all the main offices into a building on the north side of campus is not benefiting students. What made the UC useful for students was how nearly every service they could need was in one central location.
The new biosciences building, while beneficial for some students, is also going drain cash from the university with a $35 million price tag after state allocations.
The university needs to get its financial priorities in line and save money where it matters.
