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Letter to President Jacobs
Linda Rouillard, UT-AAUP Executive Board
Monday, May 23, 2011
Dear Dr. Jacobs:
I am responding to your latest edition of Presidential Perspectives of May 20, 2011 regarding questions about administrator expenses. First, let me point out that the UT-AAUP requested receipts for all the items in question (to which you recently referred) on April 12 and 14, 2011. We then received transaction details with account codes and notes for the Ypsilanti apartments, but no further information about this charge. I continue to be puzzled about the need for UT to pay for this monthly expense of $3400 per month or $40,000 per year. You have indicated that this is for special medical rotations in Ann Arbor. (You also mentioned graduate medical rotations: if these apartments are used by residents who earn a salary, then there is even less justification for this expense.) In fact, I understand that some of the past medical students have indeed commuted from Ann Arbor to Toledo for their month-long rotation, a forty-five minute commute each way. Many of our faculty members make this commute on a regular basis. Arranging for housing for medical students who do rotations in Lima, Bryan, Sandusky and Columbus is understandable and reasonable. Given the economic times, surely other "just-in-time" arrangements can be made for students who occasionally feel unable to make the drive back to Toledo from Ann Arbor.
Medical students receive housing subsidies for rotations in Ypsilanti, while other students can look forward to higher fees simply for taking a 4000-level course. At a time when we are laying off workers who earn much less than $40,000, people are justifiably concerned about the cost of these apartments. One cannot help but question the disparity in the allocation of resources on this campus. I recall that on several occasions, you affirmed that the three new colleges reorganized from the former College of Arts and Sciences would receive all the resources needed to be successful. And yet when the remaining operating budget for FY2011 was divided among the three colleges, CVPA with three departments received the same amount of money as LLSS with nearly four times the number of departments, hardly equitable and hardly ensuring success. Since the FY2012 budget is prepared on the basis of the previous year's budget, LLSS is severely financially disadvantaged.
Regarding Mr. Burns' P-Card, we received most of the requested receipts with explanations, but we never received the requested documentation for Jos. A Bank for $539 on Jan. 24, 2011. (Nor did we receive a receipt for a $558.30 charge to the Beirut on 1/6/2011). Mr. Burns indicated that this Jos. A Bank charge was for a second purchase of ties related to a cancer-fundraiser, in addition to what I see as an initial Jan. 5, 2011 purchase from Hanauer for $653.24, and that this was reimbursed through proceeds of the fundraiser resulting in a donation of $4,000. No indication of this refund was provided to us. Many of our previous requests have included notes indicating when certain expenses have been reimbursed and indeed information about the nature of the purchase. No such information was provided here. Whatever the number of ties, the fact is that this $1000-plus expense then needed to be recovered from the proceeds, diminishing the amount of an already small donation. Perhaps the next fund raiser can simply invite people to make a donation and wear their own bowtie to signify that they are donors, thereby assuring that all proceeds go to charity. In fact, since this is not a direct UT expense, perhaps Mr. Burns could charge such purchases against his own credit card and apply for a refund from the proceeds. Additionally, what possible justification could Mr. Burns have to charge a subscription to a golf magazine (11/23/09) along with other magazines? Why must he charge movie tickets (10/29/09) to his P-card to take Mr. Zerbey to see a film? You believe that these questions are petty. I believe that it is petty on the part of Mr. Burns to charge cinema tickets, magazine subscriptions, even a few dollars on a parking meter in Ann Arbor and a cup of coffee at Starbucks to his P-card. I am at least heartened to know that you have called for an internal audit to review the P-card charges of administrators.
You did not address in your Presidential Perspectives the restaurant charges. I assume that these charges are for administrators who are having lunch or dinner meetings. Must they be at JAlexander's or Mancy's? In these economic times, perhaps we should all have our meetings in our offices, or if we choose to discuss business over a meal, we can pay for our own meals out of our own pockets.
Neither did you or Mr. Burns address the issue of sporting events tickets. Curiously, while the restaurant charges (with the exception of the Beirut charge) were accompanied by names of those who dined with Mr. Burns, the sporting event ticket receipts were not accompanied by names of those who received tickets, even though we requested this information.
Finally, let me return to the general issue of our open records requests for receipts, contracts, and even curriculum vitae and résumés. Many of these UT-AAUP requests remain unanswered, even after repeated requests. Please recall the difficulty the faculty have had in obtaining something that resembles a "Blue Book". Perusal of administrator P-cards makes it very clear that the difficult economic times are not shared by all. Some people continue to receive bonuses, longevity payments, extra compensation, leased cars and generous expense accounts. That may be accepted practice in for-profit corporations, but I believe we have a higher mission than that. Your mandate that budget cuts be paid for by salaries and not simply by trimming expenses also demonstrates that the administration is not willing to share the pain. It is therefore difficult to believe in benign intent.
Sincerely,
Dr. Linda Marie Rouillard
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