DID THE FOOTBALL COACH GET A RAISE? Professor Adams (via Betsy's Page) catalogs the expense-preference behavior at UNC-Wilmington.

In the midst of recent criticism that a) the university has been spending too much money on speakers, and b) the speakers always seem to be Democrats; the university hired George Mitchell (D-Maine) to speak for about an hour for the sum of $40,000. Mitchell’s fee shows that he really cares about hire education. I mean, higher education. It also serves as a reminder that the Democrats are the party of the people.

Given the billion-dollar state budget deficit, many are questioning the wisdom of funding such a ceremony, which will cost around $100,000, after all is said and done. Instead of all of the pomp and circumstance, many believe that our budget crisis calls for an administration that is less pompous and more circumspect in its use of public funds.

Yup. The pomp and circumstance is an indicator of the low esteem in which these administrators hold themselves. (We wouldn't have responsibility for the undergraduate library at Wisconsin, and the Union Pacific wouldn't trust us with a switch engine, but we can sure make a big splash in this pond.)

The students are particularly angry because news of the expense of the installation came shortly after news that their tuition will be increasing several hundred dollars per semester, effective next year. Several students have come by my office recently to borrow paper because the computer labs are out. Some of the labs are also out of toner. And, sadly, other labs have reduced their hours of operation because the university can no longer pay the salaries of those who run them.

All the while the university continues to spend money on forums centered on “diversity” issues. Of course, these “forums” feature university-funded speakers who just happen to share the political perspective of the liberal administrators. The speakers are paid to parrot the political views of these administrators while students’ basic educational needs are being neglected. Some students would like to write a letter to complain but they can’t because the university is running out of paper.

There's a bit more to the story, isn't there? On the one hand, the state-located universities continue to be a subsidy to the upper-middle class, and some increases in tuitions and some tightening of the admission standards would bring budgets in balance. On the other hand, the Diversity Boondoggle would have to find real jobs, but the French diplomatic corps does a better job of sugarcoating reality.

Many faculty members are upset about the administration’s fiscal irresponsibility, although most lack the courage to complain publicly. While the professors haven’t had raises in four years, the salary for the chancellor continues to skyrocket in the midst of the state’s deep budget crisis. In 1993, the chancellor of UNCW made less than $100,000. Ten years later, DePaolo was given a starting salary of $205,000. Thus, the position has seen a pay increase of over 100% in just a decade.

The preceding says something about the mindset of many tenure-seeking people: not willing to take risks, despite having great protection against the consequences of taking risks. But the dirty little secret of tenure is that taking risks in one's research is a hazardous way to earn it in the first place, and continuing safe research projects afterward continues to earn rewards.

There is potential for things to change in Wilmington, however. Professor Adams contrasts deferred maintenance in the classrooms with administrative nest-feathering.

I didn’t bother calling a maintenance man because I know that those guys are overworked. In fact, last summer one of them had to make a house call to the chancellor’s home in the gated community I mentioned earlier. But before he did, he placed a magnetic cover over the UNCW logo on the side of the maintenance van he was driving. Someone understood that the taxpayers wouldn’t like the idea of such a house call in the midst of a severe budget crisis. Fortunately, a reporter caught wind of the incident and wrote it up in the local newspaper.

Here is an opportunity to make some noise. A president at Northern Illinois University was hounded from office over a similarly small misappropriation of state property.