[Vision2020] Getting Laid by the University of Idaho

[Saundra Lund]

Visionaries:

There are some things I know about, but there are a heck of a lot of things
I don't know about.

And, this decision by the UI is one of the latter.

What I'm hoping is that someone can share the UI's rationale for this
expenditure during a financial crisis?

My initial reaction is incredulity and even disgust for the reasons others
have already mentioned.

But, what I'd like to know is the other side of the story, so to speak.
Does anyone know what factors went into the decision to spend this money
*now*, particularly without the support/endorsement of the students?

If times were flush, a decision like this might have gone unnoticed, but
when student fees are continuing to increase, when families are losing jobs,
when health care benefits are being further eroded, when retirees are
getting the shaft, when work load for many current faculty & staff is
already over the top, when academic programs are suffering, when
administrative bloat continues, etc., I cannot fathom the rationale at work.

Please -- can anyone present another side of this picture?

As a quasi-related aside, although I hope I'm wrong, I guess I'm not too
optimistic about getting the other side of the story.  With respect to the
pending employee health care benefits changes, the UI distributed the
following last Friday:
"Please do not ask for further information regarding plan changes at this
time. <snip> They do not have all of the plan details at this point and are
not staffed to handle communication about the new plans and implement them
at the same time."

It seems to me like the UI isn't big on communication these days . . . weeks
. . . months.  <sigh>

But, of course, that's part of the cause of the financial difficulties.
It's too bad they've apparently failed to learn some important lessons.


Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
Edmund Burke


-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of DonaldH675 at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, 29 March 2005 4:37 PM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Getting Laid by the University of Idaho

Visionaries,
 
This is a difficult day for many people at the University of Idaho.  Many
loyal employees who have endured years without pay raises, decreasing
medical benefits. and increased work loads are receiving pink slips.  I am
outraged that these people are being made to pay the price for the greedy
senior administrative architects of an self-aggrandizing scheme to expand
the University's power base.  The villains in this piece remain free and
apparently will not be held accountable for their crimes - a literally
nauseating example of the Old Boys Network protecting its own.   But that's
not the worst of it.  In last night's Daily News in the public news section
I noted the following request for bid: (edited for brevity)
 
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Page 2 of 2
<snip>
ESTIMATED COST: $640,000.00.
<snip>
 
What kind of priorities have been established at the University of Idaho
that endorse saving money by laying off employees and cutting academic
programs while concurrently spending $640,000 on two outdoor practice fields
with wrought iron fencing and gates.  Something is sadly awry at UI - where
turf gets laid and employees get screwed.  
Rose Huskey
 
 
 
"One cannot level one's moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are
just too many of them. But you can do something, and the difference between
doing something and doing nothing is everything." Daniel Berrigan