And a Merry Christmas to you, too

The Grinch stole Christmas from Youngstown State University's students, but that isn't the worst of it. He then turned around and gave Christmas to 25 executive and administrative officers.
And so this year, there will be lumps of coal for many and stockings stuffed with baubles for a chosen few.
All together now: " Ho, ho, ho!"
On Wednesday, YSU's board of trustees approved an 8 percent tuition increase, effective in fall 2004, and granted 3 percent pay raises to the 25 administrators.
University President Dr. David Sweet did a little holiday tap dance around the pay increases by announcing that most of the nonunion employees would begin paying 10 percent of their health care insurance premiums starting Jan. 1.
What does that mean? Take the case of Dr. Tony Atwater, provost and vice president of academic affairs. His salary is $144,200. The raise will boost it to $148,526. The insurance copayment will cost between $384 and $996 a year depending on the coverage.
In other words, Atwater and his colleagues certainly won't be on the losing end of the deal.
Therein lies the problem. The word sacrifice just doesn't fit.
Goodwill
While it is true that six months ago the board of trustees, on the recommendation of the president, froze the salaries of the executive and administrative staff and other nonunion employees making more than $90,000, the raises that will go into effect in January have negated any goodwill from the action.
Why? For two reasons.
One, YSU's students are being hit with another tuition increase. Sweet's contention that the university remains one of the best deals of all Ohio's public colleges and universities prompts this reaction: "So what?"
Two, John L. Habat, vice president for administration -- his salary is going from $129,500 to $133,385 -- told a Vindicator reporter that YSU's revenue had come in $4.5 million higher than expected because of increased state funding and increased enrollment and tuition.
The message, therefore, is clear: When there's money to be had, we're going to be first in line.
If Habit's financial analysis is accurate, why did the trustees impose an 8 percent tuition increase? If, on the other hand, the tuition hike is an indication that come next fall revenues will be lagging expenditures, why didn't Sweet and the trustees keep the salary freeze in place and require copayment of health insurance premiums for all nonunion employees?
They could have then invited the unions representing faculty, classified employees and professional staff to reopen the third year of the labor contracts and agree to a freeze of the wage increase and an insurance copayment plan. Such a move certainly would have won enthusiastic applause in this space.
It's a matter of fairness. Why should the customers -- that's what the students are, dear trustees -- and the taxpayers -- tax dollars for education, remember? -- bear the financial burden of the university's operation, while faculty, staff and administrators continue their money grab?
Misdirected priority
At a time when university presidents -- Sweet has been one of the most vocal -- are lashing out at the General Assembly for not funding higher education to the extent they deem necessary, pay raises certainly seem to be a misdirected priority.
Indeed, this space has been dedicated to the propostion that it's time for the president of YSU and all the other employees to bite the bullet and to recognize that their refusal to agree to salary freezes and concessions have made them the subjects of public derision.
And forcing students to pay more and more in tuition gives the impression that all the employees care about are their own self-interests.
Think of the Christmas message that would have been sent this year had the president, trustees and union leaders joined in announcing that rather than make students dip deeper into their pockets, sacrifices were going to be made by those who have done quite well over the years.
That would have been a Christmas tale to warm the coldest of hearts. But it's not to be this year.
So here's a holiday greeting from the 25 executive and administrative officers who will be ringing in the new year with great expectations: It is better to receive than to give.
And a merry Christmas to you, too.