Going Overboard

The staff and faculty of all CSUs are rightly pissed off about having to take unpaid furlough days and a pay cut this semester. But they're still taking it and coming to work everyday. They, like the rest of the American public, know that we have some major economic problems right now. Homeowners, students, state employees, elderly folks who are waiting for some sort of decision on the health care woes - all are hopeful things will get better in the near future.

University of Southern California Professor Tierney apparently isn't so optimistic. In fact, he thinks that things are going to get so bad - a for-profit university such as University of Phoenix will one day own all the CSU campuses in the state. Although the idea isn't far-fetched, it seems to be an over-corrective measure for the budget problems the state is having.

His theory is that selling the CSU system to the University of Phoenix will generate billions of dollars that would permanently stabilize the state's financial future. Unfortunately, Prof. Tierney only sees the green. He casually mentions in the article that student debt will increase greatly, diversity in programs will not be available and professors will have the most difficult time of all. He emphasizes how Phoenix's programs will specifically cater to the needs of the majority of students - not all students.

This means that if a student wants to major in World Religions, specifically Buddhism, that course may not be offered unless tons of other students are also interested. This narrows the scope for students who would be interested in non-mainstream majors such as Business, Engineering or Medicine.

The proposal is bogus. There will always be other financial problems the state has. Taking such a large step to save the state some money is not a well thought out solution - its the easy way out. The upsetting thing about his article is that because of his status and knowledge - he may be taken seriously by some lazy legislators that are just tired of the back and forth of the financial crisis issues.

If Prof. Tierney thinks that he's only giving the public and government a hint of where the money can be saved - he should stop right there. They are thinking about it - that's why student fees are up 33% this semester.

Instead of making such an outlandish proposal, he should have introduced a hybrid of some sort. There's nothing wrong with for-profit universities taking over the CSU system. For that to happen, however, clear negotiations need to happen that would not sacrifice the positives of the current CSU system. Some of the positives that need to be kept are the diversity of programs, the affordable tuition costs, and the four-to-five day a week in-class sessions.

Even then, I think it is way too early to discuss any drastic changes to the CSU system. Funding can be found other places, like the two new casinos that are going up in California, cutting some of the extra non-profit organizations that seem to be redundant, and maybe even taxing the "green movement" their share to help with the State's economic issues. If this country can survive The Great Depression, so can it the most recent wave of economic woes.