UT needs direction

Being a graduate of the University of Tennessee, and having a daughter enrolled there now, I am very concerned about its future. During this time of lean budgets in the state, I am appalled by the outrageous salary given John Shoemaker, the new president. No school president is worth that kind of money. The university could have just promoted someone already on staff. He or she would have certainly been a better choice than the last hire, Wade Gilley. His follies were an embarrassment to the university. Paying a consulting firm $90,000 to find a candidate was another waste of taxpayers’ money. As many are aware, UT has recently spent $80,000 to determine what kind of national image the school presents. That would have paid a professor’s salary for a year. In its infinite wisdom UT chose to pay that amount to find out what was already known: it is a football and party school. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be enough concern for academics, or for the students. Cuts in higher education funds over the past years have led to teacher layoffs and a drop in classes being offered. In-state tuition has increased a whopping 22.5% the last two years alone. Students have been unfairly forced to carry the load in the wake of budget woes and irresponsible spending. It appears the only way out of the financial mess UT endures is to combine the academic and athletic budgets. Athletes are members of the student body like others enrolled there. Any money generated by the university in the form of fees, concessions, ticket sales, donations, parking fines, etc., should be included in one pot of money for dispersal. Members of the administration, the Board of Regents, and state legislators are responsible for this dilemma, and it should be their duty to fix the problem. If enough people care about the image of the university, and also its future, the necessary changes can occur.