The following has been reprinted with the permission of the Toledo Blade.
We offer this to you with no comment and as published on September 17, 2009 in the Letters to the Editor section of the Blade.
UT-AAUP
Jacobs' arrogance is astonishing
Recently, President Lloyd Jacobs of the University of Toledo stated that bonuses were justified because his administrators "took all the risks." As a professor at UT, I am outraged that President Jacobs claims that administrators take all of the risks. What risks do they take that the other faculty and staffs on campus do not? Administrators are protected by state and federal employment laws and by their contracts. When ex-President Vik Kapoor was terminated, he remained a professor with a salary near what he was paid as president. As president emeritus, Dan Johnson retained a salary greater than his pay as president. In the recent layoffs, exceptionally few administrators were terminated. It seems to me that low-level personnel at UT have far more risks because the greater proportion of the layoffs have come from their ranks. And they did not have continuing salaries. President Jacobs' answer to questions on two occasions regarding relinquishing part of his bonus was to the effect that he earned his bonuses and what he did with them was his business. Administrators do not risk their personal money in their duties: they use taxpayer money and funds collected through donations and grants to the university. Administrators take home salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and then add bonuses for longevity and whatever else the president decides is fitting for their contracts. However, the lower-level personnel have much lower salaries and no such bonuses. Where is the risk? It seems to me that these bonuses are convoluted: The lower-level personnel are taking the greater risks with no bonuses while the administrators with very rewarding jobs with little risk receive large bonuses. Am I missing something here?
WALTER W. OLSON, Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Toledo
It's the same old, same old at UT
I could hardly believe the arrogance of Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of the University of Toledo, when a reporter asked if he would be willing to forgo his bonus in light of the layoffs, raise in tuition, etc. His comment was that he worked for it. Is that to say that the ones being laid off did not work for their pay? All I can say is, business as usual at UT. Some things never change.
SANDY FLICK Rose Acres Drive
UT also has checks, balances
In response to letter titled "Professors must focus on teaching," I would like to point out that the University of Toledo operates on the basis of shared governance. This means that faculty members participate in the administration of the university. A focus on teaching requires faculty to address administrative issues such as policies, procedures, and yes, finances, because these all affect classroom outcomes. A university with solid and equitable finances benefits everyone, including and especially the students. Just as the U.S. government is constituted to have checks and balances, so is our university government. The UT-AAUP is one of those checks against UT administrators who most recently have displayed more concern for their own profit rather than a concern for the common good.
LINDA M. ROUILLARD, Associate Professor of French, University of Toledo
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