[Vision2020] University dollars

[Don Kaag]

Bill:

WHAT "new faculty"?  New PhD's cruising into town and being put off by 
high property taxes is the least of our problems in higher education.  
Drive around and look at all of the homes on the market in Moscow and 
Pullman right now.

Both UI and WSU are reeling from legislatively-mandated, draconian, 
funding cuts, and additionally, in UI's case, financial scandal.

Both universities, driven by lack of dollars, are cutting budgets and 
programs, staff and faculty.  (With the ludicrous exception of WSU's 
ill-timed attempt to expand their golf course... that is the wrong 
battle at the wrong time, given aquifer and budget constraints, for the 
wrong reasons.)  Salaries and benefits have been, and will be for the 
immediate future, stagnant, if not reduced, which is a net income loss 
for all of the people employed by either university that still have 
reasonably-secure jobs, and that impacts every business in the Palouse 
region.

Both universities are hemorhaging faculty that they didn't lay off, as 
highly-qualified individuals with marketable skills and experience see 
the handwriting on the wall and leave for better-paying jobs at other, 
out-of-state, institutions of higher learning, where their prospects 
are much brighter than if they tightened their belts and stayed on the 
Palouse.   Replacing them is going to be very difficult, given what the 
universities can offer prospective out-of-state hires.

High property taxes, while certainly a problem, are infinitesimal 
compared to the other problems faced by our  two universities, which 
are virtually self-destructing under our eyes. Ask around... the morale 
at both institutions is pitiful.  If and when the money crisis is 
solved by an improving economy, it will take years to rebuild both 
institutions back to where they were prior to the national and state 
financial crises we currently face, let along for them to improve.

I have suggested to my friends that we have "Washington State Normal 
School and Agricultural Experiment Station" T-shirts commissioned to 
indicate WSU's new, diminished, status.  For UI, I propose a line 
sketch of the vacant lot in Boise, superimposed on an outline of Old 
Main, with the caption, "UI:  Good Dreams Gone Bad".

Regards,

Don Kaag


On Thursday, July 31, 2003, at 12:20 PM, Bill Strand wrote:

> Tim,
>
> We started our business here because of the universities (I am a
> graduate of both U of I and WSU). I serve on advisory boards at both
> universities and my wife is employed at U of I. We hire predominately
> from the engineering departments here.
>
> Having said that, I don't agree with all university decisions and how
> they interact with the community. For example - this month the U of I
> decided to encourage all their employees to mail order their 
> medications
> from Oregon rather than purchase via local pharmacies (up to 40%
> discount on their co-pay). Don't you think that affected our local
> pharmacies? That is our local taxes going out-of-state.
>
> Recently, the U of I attempted to put through a plan to have contract
> dentists come into town to handle all U of I business. You can imagine
> the stink that raised among the local dentists. And how about local
> contractors for campus construction?
>
> What is necessary is a thriving business community AND a healthy
> university. If property taxes continue to rise, potential faculty will
> take one look at that, and look other places for employment.
>
> Businesses need to consider what is best for the universities and
> universities need to consider what is best for the local businesses. If
> we get into a situation of everybody grabbing all they can carry, we 
> all
> lose.
>
> Bill Strand
>
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