Comments on: “Why don’t colleges cut costs?”

By: Alum

Alum — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:59:25 +0000

How about eliminating toilet paper. BYOTP! Just think how much we would save.

By: Math Geek

Math Geek — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:07:01 +0000

Brad, I’m with you on not cutting the grass. I think we should stop sprinkling it too. I suggest free range goats. We already have sea gulls, geese and squirrels on campus, why not a goat?

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:47:05 +0000

Not to mention the new grass seeding being done today. Weeds and dirt look fine to me..don’t know why we need to waste money on grass seed……why even mow the grass? Imagine how much money we could save..

By: Math Geek

Math Geek — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:28:34 +0000

Jeff, you forgot to mention in your tirade the “luxury” new police station being built and the “luxury” new windows on the West side of Bowen Field House. I think the new police station is “necessary” and the new windows were paid through a donation the athletics (I could be wrong on that one). Just thought I’d put them on your rant radar.

By: Math Geek

Math Geek — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:56:51 +0000

Jeff,
Long time, no see. You talk about “luxury” expenses compared to “necessary” expenses and say that the money spent on renovations to the dorms (I’d prefer to call them residence halls) was “necessary”. Was it necessary? Do you know what they did? All of the renovations were aesthetic. Included were things such as: new carpet, paint, furniture, beds, lounge furniture, plasma screen televisions, etc. I find it contradictory that in one sentence you are saying that “students don’t care what campus looks like” (ie new student center) but the renovations to the RESIDENCE HALLS (to use your style of CAPITALIZATION) were “necessary”.

You said, “Cause it is against the law to move Students into an Unsafe, Unsanitary Living Conditions.” Nothing about the RESIDENCE HALLS, was unsafe or unsanitary or against the law. They just needed to be updated……because that’s what students want……and they PAY THE BILLS!

In addition, we don’t have two presidential residences anymore. The previous presidential residence is operated by the Housing Department and is actually rented out, generating income.

Sitedad, you can’t drop Jeff. It’s quite entertaining to read his posts and try to make sense of what he’s trying to say. Bravo, Jeff.

By: anotheralum

anotheralum — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:39:46 +0000

President Martin had nothing to do with university house. She may not have even wanted to move into the house. I do know that she holds many, many university-sponsored events there. As a person holding a Ph.D. in accounting, I believe she is acutely aware of every penny coming into and going out of the university. Again, we cannot change those things that have happened in the past. She (and the current administration) had nothing to do with building the student center, had nothing to do with building university house. That stuff is old news…one can either continue moaning and groaning over old stuff or work for the good stuff in our future. Pray-Harrold is on the docket, Mark Jefferson, Hoyt becoming the new DPS facility, the dorms, the list of positive things goes on and on.

By: sitedad

sitedad — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:50:14 +0000

Now Jeff, I don’t want to have to bounce you from the site, but….

By: Jeff MacMillan

Jeff MacMillan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:42:23 +0000

And as I will say… quite eloquently….

Them’s the Facts. Don’t like the facts?
Quit Bitching at the messenger.

However, I am mistaken about one thing.

http://www.govspot.com/know/presidentsalary.htm

That shows that $400,000 is what the President of the United States makes per year. The Vice President makes $221,000.

So the President of EMU falls in-between the Vice President and President of the United States.

Ultimately, no matter how eloquent or professorial you wish to sound like… attacking the messenger rather than dealing with the facts of EMU’s budget over this decade… I mean putting it into some real perspective…

It’s your choice ultimately… Your choice.. I don’t know what EMU’s enrollment figures have been lately but if they aren’t good… They were on the decline a short time ago…. If those numbers aren’t good… Then people like me should get more respect. If I don’t speak up then the comment string was set to be a complete attack against the News Article with NO ONE defending it. I just wanted to make sure that a DEFENSE of the news article would be made available to your readers.

By: anotheralum

anotheralum — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:30:04 +0000

Jeff – as someone put it last week, very eloquently, I might add. Quit your bitching.

By: Jeff MacMillan

Jeff MacMillan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:26:11 +0000

Alum wrote,
“MacMillen: So you are saying that the Presidents house and the new union should be torn down? You also forgot the several million dollars being spent to fix dorms, etc.?”

The money spent to FIX DORMS is necessary spending. That falls into the category of “NECESSARY” versus “LUXURY.”

The reason the Presidential Palace falls into “LUXURY” is several reasons.. Let’s start with the fact that EMU actually has 2…not 1…..2 Presidential Houses.

Why in the heck do you think that getting rid of a 2nd Presidential House is the same thing as getting rid of money meant to Fix the Dorms?

I’m not saying get rid of BOTH presidential houses…. I’m saying the Newest Presidential House (never should have been built) should be removed…. By doing so we eliminate a large amount of annual expenses to sustain that house and we free up all of that City Block Wide space for future Educational Purposes.

The NEW UNION is really EMU’s 2nd UNION cause EMU Never torn down McKenny Union. So… Tearing down the NEW UNION is not the same thing as spending money to fix dorms….

It is simply living within your means that I advocate. You already have a union… Why build another?

If you want to cease spending money on fixing dorms ALUM.. if that’s YOUR CHOICE then I would hope you are saying that to mean that you don’t think EMU should have Dorms? Cause it is against the law to move Students into an Unsafe, Unsanitary Living Conditions.

While.. It is certainly not against the law to have 1 Presidential House and 1 Union instead of 2 of Each.

Of course…. Having ZERO Presidential Houses… ZERO is fine with me of course… We do pay the President $285,000 a year… If She can’t afford to buy a house with that kind of cash when Home Prices have dropped more than 50% so far….Then that’s laughable..

The President of EMU can afford to buy her own HOME with her insanely high Salary. She makes more than the President of the United States if I am not mistaken?