LETTER: Ross' 2.25 percent bribe
Central Michigan University cannot possibly afford to pay its faculty a wage increase.
Times are rough. Our budget is stretched thing.
We're barely scrapping by.
That $280 million dollars that haven't been allocated to anything must remain untouched. And it certainly will not be used for any building projects or the medical school.
That's what we were told.
And I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out in the last few weeks that portions of those funds would be going to building projects and possibly to the medical school.
Also, apparently we can afford to pay our faculty a wage increase. As long as they aren't unionized faculty anyhow. This 2.25 percent bribe - because it is nothing short of that - is a slap in the fact to every student, parent, faculty member (union and non-union), administrator, office employee, custodial worker, food service worker, and Michigan tax payer.
To those who have received this bonus: it is your bribe.
I have seen how hard people work on this campus, how diligently you go about your business, trying to make this campus a better place for students.
But if University President George Ross was really rewarding you for the work you do, you'd be getting a bigger raise, and you'd be getting it every year.
To those faculty not getting this bonus, I.E. unionized faculty, once again the dye has been cast.
Try to collectivize and fight for a better contract? Ross will find a way to punish you.
To students, parents and tax payers: Your money will be mismanaged.
You will be lied to. Your tuition dollars will go to pet projects after being told it won't. Your tuition will go up.
You'll be told it's because Lansing is giving less, and CMU will continue to sit on a trash heap of cash.
You will be saddled with debt so Ross' legacy can shine bright.
This is the new CMU promise.
Well, I offer this challenge to every person who has received Ross' bribe.
Reinvest it. Not in a 401k. Not a new pair of shoes.
But in the students. Find a department somewhere on campus that could use a little help.
Find an RSO that could use some support. Find an academic organization that is short for an important event or fundraiser.
Find a student centered cause somewhere on campus, and put that 2.25% to good use.
And tell President Ross where your priorities are, and where his priorities should be.
Michael Lonsberry,
CMU Alumni Representative of the Students for Faculty RSO
2010 alumnus
