COMMENTARY

Students should not have to fill funding void

Sarah Newell

Why is it that every time the University of North Carolina system has a shortage of funds the powers-that-be turn to the students as the solution to the problem?

The tuition increases have been gradual throughout the years, averaging roughly 3 percent per year since the 1997-98 school year. However, the change in tuition from last year to this year is an enormous 24 percent.

That’s unacceptable.

And what’s just as bad as having the students be the scapegoats in the whole situation is that the school system often proposes tuition hikes mid-semester, so students never know exactly how much they’ll actually end up paying for a semester at Appalachian State University.

This year is an excellent example. With the tremendous budget cut for the university, Appalachian State University has turned to the students to fill in the gaps when they were strapped for cash.

The proposed hike currently being discussed—an additional $150 per student, bringing in a rough total of $2 million—is for a cause I’m willing to support. The money would be used to increase Appalachian’s lowest-paid employees’ salaries, those of State Personnel Act (SPA) employees, said Dr. Greg Blimling, vice chancellor for Student Development, at the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate’s meeting one week ago.

An additional $150 increase in next year’s tuition rates has already been approved by the UNC system Board of Governors for faculty salary improvements.

Many of these SPA employees are just above poverty line, and some are working two jobs and still having difficulty making ends meet.

This is due in large part to the fact the price of the health care policy the university provides for its employees increased by approximately $300 per month this year, and the fact housing costs in Boone are the third highest in North Carolina, following Charlotte and Raleigh, respectively.

I am fully amenable to paying more tuition if it means that the faculty and employees of Appalachian State get a salary increase. However, it is very sad, as one SGA senator so shrewdly pointed out, that the state is willing to pay millions of dollars to have another recreational center built on our campus before they are willing to pay the staff of Appalachian what they deserve. It’s not as though we need a new recreational center right now. The one we currently use is still functioning quite well.

What some of the higher-ups at Appalachian State, as well as the Board of Governors, seem to have difficulty comprehending is if the excellent employees of this fine university aren’t paid what they deserve, then they’ll go someplace else. And if they leave, this school will slowly deteriorate.

Appalachian needs to realize the faculty and other employees must be well taken care of. They are the foundation on which this school is built, and without them, this will no longer be the school we know and love.

While they deserve the salary increase they will finally be receiving this year if the tuition increase proposal is approved, Appalachian and the state need to stop constantly turning to the students as a means to provide additional funding.

COMMENTARY

Thoughts from an overworked sports writer

Andy Morris

When you watch and read about as much sports as I do, things start to run together and writing a column about a single subject can become a difficult task. So I decided to take the easy way out and write what I call “short subjects.”

First, let me address my thoughts about Appalachian sports in general.
• The 4,000-strong crowd in the Holmes Convocation Center at the Appalachian State-Davidson men’s basketball game on Saturday afternoon created a beautiful atmosphere for a college basketball game.
The intensity and involvement of the crowd, especially in the final eight minutes, helped make a good game even better.

• I really hate to use such an old cliche, but will the real Appalachian men’s basketball team please stand up? One minute, the Mountaineers play like conference leaders and then turn around and play like cellar dwellers the next minute.

A team should not be struggling to find its focus and identity this far into the season. Unless the Mountaineers suddenly find themselves, expect a quick exit from the Southern Conference Tournament.

• A tip of my hat goes to Appalachian women’s basketball coach
Barbie Breedlove for making the decision to resign at the end of the season.

Her 48-84 overall record since she took over as Appalachian head coach in 1996 showed the team was not moving in a successful direction. Breedlove made a smart and unselfish decision to step down.

• I know that it’s too early to make predictions for college football, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Mountaineers will win the Southern Conference crown in 2002.

Of course, Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday and no post-Super Bowl column would be complete without some remarks about Sunday’s events.

• Adam Vinatieri. What a clutch kick to win the game. Two game-winning kicks to end the game in the postseason. Amazing.

• The Patriots were a team of destiny. They fought through snow, the
Oakland Raiders, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the St. Louis Rams. I don’t think a freight train would’ve stopped them.

• Bill Belichick’s and Tom Brady’s gutsy decision to drive down the field against the Rams instead of running the clock and playing for overtime could have been costly. But as they have proven time and time again this season, the Patriots got it done with the odds against them.

• As weird as it may have looked, New England’s decision to be introduced as a team, instead of individuals, may have set the tone for the game. The Patriots lack any real superstars. They are a team in the truest sense of the word. Their intensity and teamwork makes the presence of superstars unnecessary.

When Kurt Warner or Marshall Faulk has a bad game, the Rams suffer. But the Patriots are just a bunch of guys battling for the win. Any person on their team can step up and make the big play.

• Terry Bradshaw’s duet with Paul McCartney singing “Hard Day’s Night” was great. Terry should forget about his broadcasting career and go on tour.

• U2’s inspiring tribute to the fallen on Sept. 11 during the halftime show was quite a moment.

• Drew Bledsoe still has plenty of good years as a starting quarterback left in him. He’ll be a starter anywhere he goes next season.

• I’m glad Pat Summerall will no longer be covering games. His lack of focus and his constant mistakes show he is way too old. If only John Madden would retire, too.

Our Perspective ...

Appalachian State University administrators announced their intentions last week to ask the University of North Carolina Board of Governors (BOG) to increase student tuition for the 2002-2003 academic session by $150.

If approved by the Appalachian Board of Trustees and the BOG, the increase would join the second $150 installment of a $300 campus-based tuition increase for faculty salary improvements and an expected 4.8 percent BOG-initiated statewide tuition hike on students’ bills next year.

A majority of the dollars from this proposed $150 increase would be used to offset funds lost due to the current state budget crisis, a situation that has already seen Appalachian’s operating budget sliced some 6 percent. A third round of cuts are expected in the near future.

To compensate for the lost state-allocated dollars, university officials have frozen all unessential spending measures in an attempt to avoid terminating employees.

But such efforts are effective for only so long before the price of meeting payroll becomes too hefty. The university is approaching that point.

Dr. Gregory Blimling, vice chancellor for Student Development, told the Student Government Association Senate without the proposed tuition increase, the institution would not be able to continue paying its lowest-paid employees.

Appalachian’s 15 sister institutions are in a similar monetary bind, with each school expected to petition the BOG for a tuition increase at the board’s March meeting.

We recognize Appalachian State’s current budget squeeze was spawned in Raleigh, not Boone, and was created by the state government’s irresponsible fiscal mismanagement.

But students should not be expected to shoulder the financial burden, especially when one examines the flaws of the current proposal.

Under the plan, the monies generated by the hike would be placed in a single account with department supervisors deciding which university employees would receive a portion of the funds.

This aspect of the proposal leaves too much room for fiscal irresponsibility and falls well short of establishing guidelines that will guarantee those employees most at need receive any funds.

Blimling further revealed the shortcomings of this unacceptable proposal when he told The Appalachian university officials could not guarantee the increase would be rescinded if and when the lost funds are reallocated by the General Assembly. The idea of continuing to take the $150 from each student after the university’s operating budget has been restored to its pre-October level is simply absurd and alarming.

Given these facts we are adamant in our stance that increasing student tuition simply because the state government has failed the residents of North Carolina is an unjust—and unconstitutional—move.

We stand firm by the state constitution’s mandate of an inexpensive higher education and condemn this flawed and unjust tuition increase proposal.

The administration claims to be concerned about those employees at risk of being terminated, yet these academic power brokers draw up a proposal that places the financial burden on the shoulders of students and their families. If this concern is genuine, why are university officials not proposing diverting a portion of their six-figure incomes to help pay the salaries of these individuals?

We call on the entire student body to unite in opposition of this increase proposal. We must see that the constitutionally mandated right to an affordable college education for future generations is upheld.