YSU Students protest increases in tuition, president's salary

A university administrator said the demonstration illustrates changing times in American higher education.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Debbie Debozy, a single mom, struggles to raise her children and meet the costs of her tuition at Youngstown State University.
That's why she joined YSPAN students in a protest this morning to question tuition raises and a salary increase given to Dr. David C. Sweet, university president.
"He's the president of a university in a deprived city while everybody is struggling to eat good every day. It was way overboard," said Debozy, of Youngstown, a third-year sophomore studying criminal justice. "I've talked to other single moms and we're ... trying to create something for ourselves and our children.
"I think it's just so sad to get so far and just find out one day I can't afford it anymore, not because I'm not working but because tuition went up again."
Last month, university trustees voted to increase Sweet's salary from $192,000 to $203,520. His housing budget was increased from $36,000 to $50,000 and he receives a $7,200 car allowance.
Tuition went up 8.9 percent this fall, the biggest one-time increase in a decade.
Demands
Members of YSPAN -- the Youngstown Student Peace Action Network -- addressed student passers-by; about 20 gathered to listen. The group made several demands including:
Higher wages for student workers.
Fees that reflect financial realities of students.
Redirection of state funding from prison construction to education and of federal defense funding to education.
A commitment to diversity by government representatives.
Health-care coverage for domestic partners of university workers.
Student representatives who are voting members of the university's board of trustees.
Other trustees elected by students, staff and faculty.
YSPAN member Jewelia Rodabaugh said the group surveyed 75 students and 66 said they were "not at all" being represented on campus. One said students are "strongly" represented.
"We should be making decisions that directly affect us," said Rodabaugh, a first-year anthropology major from Canfield. "It should be more of a democracy."
Response
The protest is a reflection of changing times in American education, said Walt Ulbricht, YSU's executive director of marketing and communication.
"It all goes back to the level of state funding, he said. "A significant reversal has occurred that has forced institutions to raise tuitions."
Thirty years ago, the state provided more than 70 percent of the cost of educating a student, he said; today that percentage is less than 40.
Ulbricht said the university is working to streamline operations across campus with the formation of an operations improvement task force.
Sweet's raise made him the second-lowest paid president among the state's universities, Ulbricht said. Annual tuition of $4,496 per year also ranks among the lowest in the state, he added.
As for faculty, a contract approved in August gives them raises of 3.5 percent each year for three years, plus $1,000 per-year salary increases.
"Faculty members are part of a state and national work force," Ulbricht said. "If we're concerned about quality education, we should be concerned about resources that will attract the best qualified teachers."
Regarding the demand to change the way trustees are chosen, Ulbricht said it would take a change in state law.
One student onlooker said she thinks the president and staff should donate their wages back to the struggling university.
Others said they wanted to learn more before making a decision on the issue.
Telecommunications major Nicole Merolillo of Sharon, Pa., said she supported the YSPAN perspective but was disappointed in the low student turnout.