Letters: Sen. Girdler’s support for higher-ed cuts

Girdler wrong on higher ed

In reply to Sen. Chris Girdler’s defense of what University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto rightly calls “draconian cuts” to higher education: After a decade of exploding tuition costs that make higher education inaccessible without borrowing tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars — creating a student loan debt that exceeds the national credit card debt — it’s very apparent that this is the direct result of defunding and cuts.

Your taxes might be lower, but if you or your child attend college, you’re paying a premium — a targeted tax — in the form of those higher costs.

Girdler and Republicans, on a mission to apply simplistic Tea Party economics and cuts rather than increase revenue and apply that revenue to worthy projects, are doing for Kentucky’s higher education institutions — indeed, the entire education spectrum, including K-12 — what they did for Kentucky’s retirement system: creating a disaster. Kentucky Republicans are to government and specifically education, what lead is to Flint, Mich.

Professors not the problem

State Sen. Chris Girdler’s Feb. 13 commentary, “Higher ed has room to cut budgets,” cites areas where he questions costs. He references a list of professors’ salaries at the University of Kentucky, many of them more than $200,000 a year. In all probability, these professors teach in hard sciences, engineering and medicine.

We are lucky they have chosen to forgo the big bucks in the private sector to fulfill their passions for teaching and research. Girdler nowhere mentions the median salary for professors. That would be a more accurate reflection of overall salary costs.

Second, I invite him to look at the size of the administration at UK and other Kentucky higher education institutions. At UK, the number of administrators, associate and assistant administrators, and the administrative assistants to support all of the above has increased exponentially in the last several decades. Follow this money trail.

Last, let’s look at what a professor does besides teaching, research and community and university service. Professors are a mature presence in young adults’ lives as they are first venturing away from home and parents. Professors provide a listening ear for students exploring career choices as well as life choices, and model logical thinking, discipline and integrity. For this, there can never be too high a salary.

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Letters: Sen. Girdler’s support for higher-ed cuts."