We are writing in response to Wesley Lowery’s April 20 editor’s note, “With OU athletic raises, tuition hike concerning.” We agree wholeheartedly with Lowery’s insightful argument, and were outraged to see the Board of Trustees vote unanimously in favor of the tuition hike.
They cast their votes despite broad dissent as manifested in multiple demonstrations, a petition with thousands of signatures, a unanimous Student Senate resolution and a Post editorial.
Just minutes before voting in favor of the full tuition hike, trustee member Janetta King said she was encouraged that “hard work is being done to come up with a more comprehensive, long-term solution.”
But if King and her colleagues had taken Lowery’s and other students’ advice seriously, they would have found that alternative solutions were present all along. The tuition hike was unnecessary, unfair and undemocratic.
Inspired by Lowery’s and King’s calls for creative solutions, we paid a visit to the Alden Library archives to access a list of administrators’ salaries.
In the most recent data available, from November 2011, more than 90 administrators made six-figure salaries. We calculated that the imposition of a $100,000 maximum wage for Athens campus administrators alone would save the university $4,412,084 every year — likely more, given that some administrators have received massive raises since November 2011. And that’s not counting bonuses, other income sources or First Lady Deborah McDavis’s salary.
In Athens, $100,000 is more than sufficient to live comfortably. We could still attract quality administrators who genuinely care about making OU the best it can be.
The tuition hike will generate an estimated $5.8 million for the university next year. Cutting top administrators’ salaries alone could have decreased the tuition hike from 3.5 percent to 0.84 percent while generating the same amount of revenue.
This begs the question: In the midst of a national student loan debt crisis, why didn’t administrators or the Board of Trustees consider shared sacrifice?
With the hike behind us, trustees have won the battle but they’ve started a war. Students will not rest until the university is affordable, just and democratic.
To join us, come to General Assembly meetings every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the old Oasis site at the top of Morton Hill. You can also follow @OHStudentPower on Twitter and like “Ohio University #OHStudentPower” on Facebook.
Megan Marzec is a freshman studying studio art. Henry Kessler is a freshman studying art history. Ellie Hamrick is a junior studying anthropology. Tyler Barton is a senior studying chemistry.
