UI spends 14 grand to say goodbye to White - Dnews.com
Okay, so here's the deal...read to the end of this post for my solemn promise. But before you get there you need to understand that earlier this year we were told by the University administration that we were in dire financial straits and that each department and college needed to give back 5% of their budget to make up for the budget shortfall. In the case of the CDHD where I work, the University decided to take back all of our returned indirect costs that we use to support administrative staff and functions. In the end, this was a much larger chunk than 5% for the CDHD and will have a significant impact on our overall ability to function. So, if the university is in such tough financial straits why do we have $14,000 to spend on sending off President White? Even if it was "unrestricted" dollars it seems that they could have been more wisely spent elsewhere. I could make $14,000 go a real long ways here at the CDHD; in fact the research project I've been working on for the past year has a budget of about $14,000 and in the end the project will have a positive social contribution. What was the positive social contribution of White's farewell party?
I know that the folks quoted in the article don't seem to be worried about the amount spent, but I can tell you for a fact that I can make a video of people saying goodbye for less than $5000...yeah the production values may not be as great as the one the UI had made of Gov. Otter and other state leaders, but it would be close.
And another thing: $3900 to plant a tree! WTF! I'm going to go home tonight and have dinner and then I'm going to plant a tree in the backyard and that will cost me about $15.50 for the food, tree, setup, and everything. So, why does it cost $3900 to plant a tree? That must be some special tree or maybe it was a gold-plated shovel.
Finally, what are you going to do with a $500 vase anyway? I put flowers and dirty things in my vases at home and I think that an old Mason jar really sets off a nice bunch of roses or lily's from the garden...I wouldn't know what to do with a $500 vase. I'd probably sell it and take the cash to buy something useful like clothes for my kids or maybe a new set of wheels for my commuter bike, and a few books with the leftover cash.
I know that I may be stepping on some toes here, but it seems to me that if the UI is in a financial crisis...a crisis that White has done little to alleviate...we should be making every effort to conserve resources and spend them in areas that are truly in need, like building maintenance, technology upgrades, accessibility repairs, student recruitment, faculty incentives, HEALTH BENEFITS (hint, hint) etc.
So finally, here's my solemn promise to all you UI alumni, faculty, students, and staff: If I'm ever a president of UI I will make sure that my send-off costs less than $200. You can get me a t-shirt, take me out to Patty's Kitchen for a burrito, and then have some balloons and beer with the leftover cash. That's all I'd need and that's my solemn promise to all you UI faculty, staff, and students out there. So , how about it? We could even plant a tree if there was some extra money. We could head to PCEI and get a local cultivar and I'd bring my shovel from home and we could plant it somewhere in the arboretum. It would be a BYOF/BYOB affair for all those who really wanted to watch me plant a tree. Sound like a deal?
California knows how to party
ReplyDeleteWritten by Holly Bowen - Summer Arg
Tuesday, 08 July 2008
The University of Idaho parties harder than you, me or any other college student in town.
But it can’t match Riverside.
UI recently spent $14,000 to throw a goodbye party for former President Tim White, who left UI June 30 to become chancellor at the University of California, Riverside.
Lloyd Mues, UI’s vice president of Finance and Administration, told The Moscow-Pullman Daily News that the amount was “prudent.” Faculty Council Chairman Don Crowley said, “The people who were upset about it probably just didn’t go.”
With most students out of town for the summer, there were probably a lot of people who didn’t go or who didn’t even know about the party.
To be fair, students weren’t forced to pay for this. The $14,000 came from “unrestricted dollars,” which are donations made to the university that do not specify how the funds should be used.
Still, one wonders whether these donors would have been so generous if they knew $416 of those dollars went toward buying gifts for White and his family, including a crystal vase. The two largest individual expenses were $3,700 for catering and $5,000 for media production. Mues said most of this money was spent within the university, with less than $6,000 spent out of town. Some of this outgoing money went to produce a video featuring tributes to White from Gov. Butch Otter and other state officials. The remaining funds went toward decorations, set up and invitations.
The university spent nearly $3,900 earlier in the week for the catering and set up of White’s tree-planting ceremony.
Students are living in a different world. My car cost less than White’s party, and it’s not a beater. That amount could pay tuition and fees at UI for three in-state students. To most of us, $14,000 is a life-changing amount of money.
Spending money to say goodbye to White is a given. An outgoing university president deserves a formal farewell from the campus and community. But is a party for one individual worth as much — or more — as some full-time workers make in a year?
Again, we are living in a different world. White was president of UI for four years, less time than it takes many students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. His first-year salary at Riverside, $325,000, will be about $39,000 more than he was paid at UI last year. Riverside is also giving him $25,000 to relocate, an $8,916 annual vehicle stipend and a university-provided home. To him, a man of no mortgage, $14,000 is probably not a big deal.
If it were not a tacky and selfish move, making White pay for his own party would make a lot of sense. He can afford it.
This is the same guy who asked donors to give $35 million to make luxury renovations to the Kibbie Dome.
I can see it now — Tim White and Dennis Erickson, living it up in one of those $1.25-million box suites.
Couldn’t the $3,900 tree planting ceremony held earlier in the week have been part of the same evening of festivities? Those attending both functions would have saved travel time and fuel costs. Combining catering and media services might have saved some money.
Money that, in an economic recession, might not be replenished at the rate that UI has become accustomed to.
Just thought I'd toss in this for an update. :)
ReplyDeleteCalifornia knows how to party
Written by Holly Bowen - Summer Arg
Tuesday, 08 July 2008
The University of Idaho parties harder than you, me or any other college student in town.
But it can’t match Riverside.
UI recently spent $14,000 to throw a goodbye party for former President Tim White, who left UI June 30 to become chancellor at the University of California, Riverside.
Lloyd Mues, UI’s vice president of Finance and Administration, told The Moscow-Pullman Daily News that the amount was “prudent.” Faculty Council Chairman Don Crowley said, “The people who were upset about it probably just didn’t go.”
With most students out of town for the summer, there were probably a lot of people who didn’t go or who didn’t even know about the party.
To be fair, students weren’t forced to pay for this. The $14,000 came from “unrestricted dollars,” which are donations made to the university that do not specify how the funds should be used.
Still, one wonders whether these donors would have been so generous if they knew $416 of those dollars went toward buying gifts for White and his family, including a crystal vase. The two largest individual expenses were $3,700 for catering and $5,000 for media production. Mues said most of this money was spent within the university, with less than $6,000 spent out of town. Some of this outgoing money went to produce a video featuring tributes to White from Gov. Butch Otter and other state officials. The remaining funds went toward decorations, set up and invitations.
The university spent nearly $3,900 earlier in the week for the catering and set up of White’s tree-planting ceremony.
Students are living in a different world. My car cost less than White’s party, and it’s not a beater. That amount could pay tuition and fees at UI for three in-state students. To most of us, $14,000 is a life-changing amount of money.
Spending money to say goodbye to White is a given. An outgoing university president deserves a formal farewell from the campus and community. But is a party for one individual worth as much — or more — as some full-time workers make in a year?
Again, we are living in a different world. White was president of UI for four years, less time than it takes many students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. His first-year salary at Riverside, $325,000, will be about $39,000 more than he was paid at UI last year. Riverside is also giving him $25,000 to relocate, an $8,916 annual vehicle stipend and a university-provided home. To him, a man of no mortgage, $14,000 is probably not a big deal.
If it were not a tacky and selfish move, making White pay for his own party would make a lot of sense. He can afford it.
This is the same guy who asked donors to give $35 million to make luxury renovations to the Kibbie Dome.
I can see it now — Tim White and Dennis Erickson, living it up in one of those $1.25-million box suites.
Couldn’t the $3,900 tree planting ceremony held earlier in the week have been part of the same evening of festivities? Those attending both functions would have saved travel time and fuel costs. Combining catering and media services might have saved some money.
Money that, in an economic recession, might not be replenished at the rate that UI has become accustomed to.
I'd vote for you Matt. But I don't think that 200 dollars would cut it for ya. Maybe 400. That way we can hit all bars in the Palouse for a real farewell party. Tim White got a tree? We’ll get you a few rounds.
ReplyDelete