University is still behind the times

$75K is surely a lot of money for a speaker. On the other hand, this one happens to be one of the most sought after in the country at this time. If the $200K net figure is true, then they earned more than 200% on their investment, a very good return. Your contention that they could have gotten just as much without that investment is really quite presumptuous.
To your points about programs, the simple fact is that some programs deserve to be terminated. This is true at MSU and it is true at every level of government, and most every business. If you don’t regularly refocus you become less productive and less competitive. It is particularly vital in Michigan that taxpayer dollars be spent efficiently,, the taxpayers deserve no less.

First off, if you are going to throw athletics under the bus, make sure that you realize that it has a self funding, and doesn’t rely for one penny from the University. So, that shiny new Duffy Daugherty Football Complex was actually paid for by private donations. Hence the name Skandalaris outside of the new building. Get it straight before bashing them. THANKS!!!

Take it easy there slugger….. and also check your grammar on that first sentence. Maybe they should invest that money into education…. not on athletics. THANKS!!!

Good comments regarding the fiaso at CUS Stanislaus

500k is not that large of a salary. If her salary was only 250k, you would probably say, “ oh my, 250k is a lot of money. She could get by on 150k.” When will it end. You sound worse than Obama, which is quite an difficult accomplishment. As soon as someone becomes succesfully, he or she does not deserve the money and needs to give it all back in taxes and cuts.

I would take your concern over how your tuition dollars are spent more seriously if you actually did the research to figure out what you are and aren’t paying for. The Athletic Department and Residential and Hospitality Services Division, for example, which funded the football building and new cafeterias, are financially independent from the university and do not, in fact, receive tuition dollars.

Those expenses are investments that will help those offices remain profitable in the future, and benefit the university as a whole. I’m glad somebody with a better perspective is making the long-term decisions at the university, because cutting all new projects for the sake of fiscal responsibility is a recipe for a decaying university that nobody wants to attend.

Everyone should make 500K annual and get 75K for reading a Sarah Palin Speech. Ideally money would mean nothing and we can all just go about our lives, progressing toward enlightenment and self-actualization in a state of freedom.

That’s the ideal, but here’s a feasible reality.

The money is there for everyone to make $20 an hour. That’s right, $20 hour minimum wage, subsidized housing and education, and nationalized public utilities. It’s just, you can’t be fighting two wars, running prison-pharmaceutical-military-hospital-gasoline industrial complexes, or funding Wall Street investment banking fuckery at the same time. There, I said it, fuckery. Stephen King coins the best profanity, bless his heart.

Speaking of fuckery, Octavia Nasr was fired from CNN for a personal twitter tweet. And CNN officials came right out and said it, yes, a twitter tweet was a good enough reason to fire her.

Real quick I want to show appreciation for CNN, for all that government-compliant entertainment helping to distract and intimidate the public for this past decade into accepting cash and carry government, helping to perpetuate more fuckery. Thanks, CNN, thanks for all the fuckery.

500K is a lot of money.
But the economy of higher education is structured to rationalize such a practice, where university presidents are compensated in the hundred K’s while adjuncts walk the poverty line, and dining and maintenance service workers provide temporary or subcontract labor at the minimum wage.

I think the author is right on the money calling for the reclaiming of the university as an institution of public service, not corporatized wealth concentration.

How are we going to do that? What does public wealth look like? How do you get bankers, politicians, administrators, and generals to share, take turns, and cooperate? Do they understand why it’s better to empower weaker entitities rather than to bully, destroy, eat, or colonize them?

The explanations for putting those programs on moratoria are all pretty silly and empty, as was the announcement and explanation for Dubai.

Maybe the goal is to transform MSU into a corporatizing corporation to crank out little global capitalists. And I’d be the first to cheer that if it weren’t for the devastating consequences of global capitalism—more fuckery.

One day I was sitting in the lounge of one of those upscale refurbished living/dining facilities and I saw a Vietnam Veteran-generation homeless man get thrown out for fear he might beg food or money from me or other loungers. And I went on enjoying my soft serve ice cream and forgot about it until later that night when he was overheard yelling in pain on the trail out back, and had to go to the ER.

We the people can be so wretched to one another so long as there is a policies that rationalizes it, and a belief system that makes apathy ok.

Good luck to the roommate! What happened with the moratoria completely sucks. I wonder, is it the comfortable times and upscale remodeled living/dining facilities that keeps us learning, growing, and human, or the hardship and fuckery? As the former are no longer options, well I’m just going to have to go with the hardship and fuckery.

Sig, that’s pretty hilarious.
This recession is really something else, but hey at least the humor is still free, and priceless.

Thank you drew for stating that. I hate when people complain and are so ignorant.

Matt, obviously you don’t know anything about accounting, finance and return on investment.

So, I will make this simple.

If I hired Sara Palin, a former Veep, to bring a $300,000 to you at MSU next week…..however, out of the $300,000, you have to takeout $75,000 for her showing up….would you like to take a check made out to Matt down to
Fifth Third Bank or any bank in East Lansing for deposit of $225,000 in your personal checking account???

Or, Matthew:

I could have John Edwards bring you a check for $40,000 but out of that amount, you will takeout $20,000 for his appearance.

Thus, you will only be able to take a check for $20,000 down to the bank.

Do you and the other liberals understand???? Sara Palin is like a rockstar or a sports star, she attracts big crowds and lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Why do you think LeBron James was so sought after????? Because he fills arenas to standing room only which is good for the home team, the local restaurants, clothing, gifts, souvenirs, local economy, etc. Why do you think he means big $$$$$$ to Miami’s economy and less $$$$ to Cleveland’s economy.

As long as Sara Palin can make huge profits for groups and organizations, she is a good hire. But, she’s going to command top $$$$$.

I hope I have explained this well.

I hope you will be reeling against MSU groups when they bring in some leftist to speak this fall or next spring for $20,000, $30,000 like during MLK Week or Earth Day or before the election to get the Democrat vote going….and only about 500 people show up.

I meant to say, Palin, a former Veep candidate…..as was Edwards.

Matt, I’ll be watching the State News this upcoming school year when MSU brings a steady stream of liberals and socialists and marxists to speak and make a nice pay day!!! I highly doubt you’d be whining if Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Algore, Kanye West and others on the Left.

No group of responsible college donors will sit there and listen to Bill Maher rip apart traditional values and religious beliefs.

“I highly doubt you’d be whining if Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Algore, Kanye West and others on the Left.”

Yes.
I was wondering whether Sarah Palin was supposed to be an educational experience to give insight into the American political process and people’s role, if any, in it. But I’m reassured knowing that it was primarily just to get dollars, and that a university will bring in educational speakers primarily as fundraisers.

It’s excellent that at least somebody will be watching for the deluge of marxist celebrity speakers this fall. Fuckery is everywhere, and we must all do our due diligence when moral values are at stake.

What’s wrong with profit?

And, besides, what’s wrong with Sarah Palin to discuss the American political process.

She was much more successful as a Governor than Jennifer Granholm who has thrown hundreds of thousands of workers out of work over the past eight years…..and we’re near bankruptcy.

Or, Nancy Pelosi who inherited a 200-billion dollar deficit and through her wreckless spending in Washington has caused our deficit to well over one trillion dollars a year.

Palin is not only a cash cow but knows the American political process, as well.

All of the political sniping aside, there is a real problem with appropriations across the university. Yes, athletics is largely self-supporting, but a university is first and foremost intended to be a place where students of all political persuasions come to learn and engage with new ideas. Having all the lovely athletic facilities and dining halls is truly great, but college students are getting shafted — tuition rates are spiking while class sizes are increasing, majors are getting cut, and students are learning in dilapidated classrooms.

And @mvt: who are you to say that it’s appropriate to cut programs? Who are you to say that there should be limits to the kinds of knowledge available to students?

Hey Lucasta, maybe the PHD’s and the academic departments should examine athletics and figure out how they’re making a profit. MSU, Ohio State and Michigan are making a lot of $$$$ in athletics. I wonder how many midnight and 2 a.m. evenings Tom Izzo, Dantonio, their coaches and staff they’re working. They put in a lot of hours. You’re a lucky to find a professor who teaches more than six hours a week. Academic people don’t know how to make a profit, let alone break-even.

As far as tuition, etc., you students keep voting for the Democrats who are running up the biggest deficits in history, keep growing government, etc.

There is so much waste and duplication in higher education in this state that it’s not even funny. Why don’t you students take the lead. I’ll give you three ideas you can start with:

1. Why do most Michigan universities offer an advertising major in both the business/advertising school and the journalism school. Consolidate it and you can eliminate offices, utilities, professors, secretaries, printing, website and so many other costs.

2. Why is the state allowing all these other universities to get into the medical school business. It’s a waste of money. MSU, Michigan and Wayne State should be the three medical schools.

3. Why does WMU, Grand Valley, Central, MSU and some of the other schools all have PBS radio and/or television stations? With the advent of satellite, you could have one PBS radio and one PBS TV station throughout Michigan. Do you realize the millions and millions and millions of dollars of savings in personnel, program costs, etc.

I’d bet I could find 50 million dollar or more expenditures at MSU and other universities.

So, why don’t you students quit whining about tuition hikes, crowded classrooms and do something about it.

Let me give you one more. Textbooks. Someone has to explain to me how Bill Clinton, George Bush, George Bush II, Jimmy Carter or Barack Obama can write a book about the presidency and sell it at Borders, Barnes & Noble or on Amazon for about $25…..yet some college professor PHD, who has never been to the White House and doesn’t have a clue about being president, writes a textbook that retails at $175 at the college bookstore.

Why doesn’t MSU and the other universities force authors to put their books on line for a nominal and I mean, nominal fee.

Just some ideas.

You’re absolutely right, michmediaperson. It is completely the students’ fault that universities are experiencing financial crises. They aren’t proactive enough in demanding things of their universities, and are now just reaping the benefits of having voted for those wasteful Democrats. Because tuition hikes only happen under Democratic government.

I could respond to you point by point, but since I don’t believe in grandstanding about things of which I know nothing, let me say this: we both agree that the funding for academics needs to change. I disagree that academics can learn something about profit-making from athletics. They are totally different in both their economic structures and in the types of funding available to them. Although some academic units have outside funding (engineering received some money from Dow Chemical), most don’t. Just because most academic units aren’t able to land an athletic-type deal with Nike doesn’t mean they should go under. The university’s first function is to provide a quality education, and it thus has a responsibility to keep academic departments afloat. A “real-world” business model simply isn’t applicable to university budgets.

And lastly: I know many professors who put in “midnight and 2 a.m. evenings.” You might see them lecturing for only 6 hours a week, but they are doing much more than that. Why do you think that textbook is $175? Because it represents years of intensive research, which is not something you get from a $25 presidential biography. That research is conducted while the professor is teaching, presenting his/her work at conferences so that he/she stays current in the field of research, attending departmental committee meetings to ensure that the administration of the department runs smoothly, mentoring students, and trying to raise families. It is an insult to say that a professor’s published work should retail for a nominal fee. Yes, the work is expensive, but that’s why there are libraries that give you free access to it.

You’ve mentioned budget cuts here. The other side of the coin is charging for services that used to be free, so that those services can remain in existence. It’ll be a small fee, much less than going to a private company for the same service. I’d bet anyone that you’ll see some of that beginning in Fall 2010.

Textbooks are $175 because textbook-publishers are profit-driven companies and education (and its components such as textbooks) have inelastic demand due to the necessity of a higher education to be in demand in the very competitive job market. If Bill Clinton’s book or George Bush’s upcoming book cost $175, fuck that — I’m not paying to read those guys’ biography/opinion; I got to see them for free on TV for eight years each.

However, if I want to have a sweet-paying gig and not be stuck waiting tables at the local diner until I die, I need to have an education. To do well in my education I (arguably) need to read textbooks no matter what they cost.

You can please someof the people some of the time…..and so on. If you were put in charge of spending and other decisions at MSU someone else would pullup in front of a keyboard and tell you how wrong you are. I hope they would also say that you certainly have a right to speak your mind, and I thank you for doing so.

The people’s right to speak their minds is being compromised (Nasr’s twitter tweet is a case in point).

And even with somebody appointed as the in-charge person, the people are supposed to have a say in what happens with spending and such at a public institution. But shared governance is not actually happening (MSU Dubai’s rise and abrupt close is a case in point).

I think these two conditions are the source of much discontent.
But these two conditions are also foundational for the economy of higher ed at state schools today, with extreme income disparities, homogenization of curricula, student-consumers picking up the tab, and so on.

I don’t think this is quite the can’t please everyone all the time scenario. This is about most of the people being dispossessed to please and empower a very few, and most people being denied the rights to participate in or even respond freely to the decision making that affects everyone.

Ok, its good that sports are not funded by the univeristy. However, WITHOUT the university there will be no college sports team. Not that MSU is going anything. Just saying, maybe the sports programs should give some money to scholarships (not for stupid jocks) to people actually doing something good?

@michmediaperson: your conservative is showing. Hopefully you are just trolling. If not, I fear for the future of humanity to know that people think Sarah Palin knows real American politics. Lemme tell you: I am an American and Palin doesn’t represent my politics. She represents the e.coli in my stool. There is a difference between American politics and ‘Merican politics. The former just happens to be about 100 years more intellectually advanced than the latter.

Everything you have said has been instantly discredited once you showed your obvious support for Sarah Palin. Epic fail.