It seems like every week, we open The Signal to find yet another program cut, funding scaled back or scholarship revoked due to budget cuts.
This week's edition was no exception as the front page article outlined College President R. Barbara Gitenstein's recommendation for the cancellation of six master's programs in the School of Education.
In my fourth year as a student at the College, I've become pretty accustomed to paying more and receiving less each year, so this week's article was no big shock. However this week, after being told our educational opportunities were being slighted once again, I almost puked at the article on the very next page outlining the 6 percent increase in Gitenstein's salary.
Yes, the same Gitenstein who made the "extremely difficult" decision to recommend cutting master's programs, in education of all places.
I know that puke is a strong and seemingly infantile term, but to be honest, the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach. I'm no political science major, but I'm pretty sure that the job of a president is to govern the College and do what is in the best interest of the students who attend.
I know the almost $16,000 raise that President Gitenstein received can't fund even one of these programs, but maybe it could increase funding for campus activities, or go toward sport teams such as cheerleading and golf who, after years of being at the varsity level, were stripped of their funding and turned into club sports.
Or maybe the money could be used to purchase better equipment for the TV station in Kendall Hall, the laboratories in the Science Complex, or, dare I say, prevent the roofs in Norsworthy Hall from falling in every year.
Call me an idealist, but I think the College's president should be doing everything in her power to further the education of the students, rather than cry poverty and cut programs while a larger check is cut to her each week.
Maybe I'm wrong though; you never know.
