Is this the summer of discontent at YSU?

Anonymous letters usually don't get more than a cursory glance, and they certainly aren't given much credence in this space. But when a letter opens with, "Three years ago, I was one of the very few individuals on the YSU campus to support the hiring of David Sweet," it not only warrants a close reading, but special attention -- given the writer's obvious passionate feelings about a recent eyebrow-raising move by Sweet, president of Youngstown State University.
While chock-full of information about the goings-on at the university (and some caustic personal observations), the following paragraph sums up the reason for the writer's distress:
"What has brought me to finally write this letter? Well, I came to YSU 21 years ago with my family. I came to YSU to make a career. No intentions of applying elsewhere when things didn't go my way. As a faculty member, I believe that I am and have been valuable to many students; I receive well above average student evaluations and have enjoyed my job since day one. For 21 years, I believed in Youngstown State University. Then I read an article in The Vindicator regarding Paul McFadden's salary. Return on investment, says our president. How does our president judge my return on investment when I have taught for 21 years; taught literally thousands of students? Is Mr. McFadden worth more than faculty, staff, and other administrators? Yes, he is a YSU graduate. However, unless I am mistaken, there are many YSU graduates, successful YSU graduates, working at YSU, as faculty, as staff, and as administrators. They must be worth less. And what is this nonsense about being offered another job? What a joke. It is no secret McFadden and Vern Snyder were very close friends when Vern was employed here. What a setup job. And frankly, if Mr. McFadden wants to work elsewhere, let him go. Make no mistake about this, we can all be replaced."
Morale
And then the writer offers this observation: "I have never seen morale as low at Youngstown State University as it currently is."
For those of you who missed the story about McFadden's hitting the motherlode, a front page story in the July 31 editions of The Vindicator revealed the details. The headline provided a poignant summary: "Sweet defends chief's raise."
Here's the bottom line: McFadden received two salary increases totaling 40 percent since February, which took his $63,654 annual salary in January to $90,000 on July 1. In addition, he has a new country club membership paid for by the university and has a new title, "chief of development."
And the justification for all this largess in the midst of a fiscal crisis at YSU?
"I believe it's very important for the university to retain outstanding faculty or staff when an alternative offer is made to recruit them from the university," the president said. " ... I told Paul I didn't want to see him leave because he is essential to the university."
There is no doubt that McFadden is a very talented, effective fund-raiser. And anyone who has kept tabs on him since his football playing days at YSU would know that he is dedicated to the university. So the question arises: Did Sweet appeal to McFadden's sense of loyalty and ask him to stay without a sizable pay raise, given the university's budgetary problems?
If he didn't, shame on him. If he did, he certainly couldn't have made the argument with any kind of credibility, given the fact that he and the board of trustees rolled over for the employee unions on campus. But of course, with last year's indefensible compensation package the trustees gave the president, they were hard-pressed to tell the faculty, classified employees and staff to accept a freeze or make concessions.
Gold standard
Sweet's $203,520 a year salary, $50,000 housing allowance and $7,200 car allowance were the gold standard that the labor unions referred to in making their demands. Thus, when it became clear that YSU could not afford the three-year contracts entered into with the unions representing the faculty, classified employees and staff, the president and trustees picked the pockets of the students.
Tuition for this fall semester is up 9 percent, after being raised 8 percent in the fall 2002, 5.5 percent in spring 2002 and 5.1 percent in fall 2001.
As for freezing the salaries of senior administrators, including the president, vice presidents, deans and executive directors, and nonunion employees making more than $90,000, some of them had already received not-too-shabby sweeteners over the years. It isn't as though they have borne the burden of Youngstown State's fiscal crisis.