Michigan has some interesting priorities. According to an article by David Jesse in the Detroit Free Press:
Michigan universities increased their spending on administrative positions by nearly 30% on average in the last five years, even as university leaders say they’ve slashed expenses to keep college affordable for families.
The number of administrative jobs grew 19% over that period at the state’s public universities, according to data submitted by the schools to the state budget office.
The state’s universities spent an additional 260 million on administrators between 2005 and 2010. During the same period state funding and student enrollment remained about the same.
Now the governor, Republican Rick Snyder, is proposing to cut Michigan’s funding for the state universities by 15 percent.
Despite the fact that Snyder’s predecessor recommended changing the state’s tax structure in order to appropriately fund its universities, Snyder thinks the tax structure is just fine. Michigan’s $1.58 billion deficit, however, “will require shared sacrifice from all of us.”
So who thinks those cuts are going to come out of academic administration? [Image via]
