At YSU: Let the good times roll

It isn't about violating the law or behaving in an unethical manner. Indeed, when the special audit is completed, Dr. David Sweet, president of Youngstown State University, will be shown to have closely adhered to regulations governing the spending of public dollars on entertainment, travel and the like.
It is, however, about judgment -- or the lack thereof. The image of Sweet and his wife, Pat, and a high-ranking member of the administration, Dr. George McCloud, spending gobs of money on pricey meals, drinks, hotel rooms and travel becomes a Tyco moment.
What's a Tyco moment? Here's an excerpt from a Newsweek story last November: "His trial isn't even close to over, but L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive of Tyco, was convicted last week -- of bad taste. The verdict was rendered by the viewing public when prosecutors in Kozlowski's criminal trial showed about 20 minutes of what has to be the cheesiest corporate video ever, shot at the $2 million birthday party Kozlowski threw for his wife on the Italian island of Sardinia. The Roman-themed party featured scantily clad men cavorting lubriciously with women in diaphanous gowns, an oiled male model gyrating on a pedestal, enough flaming torches to burn entire cities and Jimmy Buffett singing "Brown-Eyed Girl" and other favorites for a one-night fee of $250,000."
Matter of taste
This is not to suggest that Youngstown State is on the verge of financial collapse and that the Sweets and McCloud have cavorted. But the kind of spending by the president and a member of his inner circle certainly falls under the definition of bad taste.
The spending was detailed recently by The Jambar, the student newspaper, and prompts this question: What could the president and the dean of the college of arts and sciences have been thinking?
At a time of tight budgets, warnings from state government that future funding for higher education is uncertain, ever-increasing tuition, fees and the price of textbooks, and unreasonable demands by faculty and other employees for ever larger compensation packages, common sense would dictate frugality.
Sweet's and McCloud's defense of their spending habits will not ameliorate the damage to their reputations and the damage to the university.
That is why the taxpayers of the Mahoning Valley are taking notice.
Faculty members and employees in the classified service can be excused for walking around campus with ear-to-ear grins on their faces. The Jambar series assures them of lucrative new contracts next year.
Any suggestion by the administration of a pay freeze will be met with hearty laughter -- and jokes about McCloud's spending $250 on lunch at the five-star Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills and a $2,396 trip to China and Hawaii.
As for these public employees' agreeing to a copayment on the health insurance premium, the idea will be taken as seriously as Sweet's contention that the wining and dining are a necessary part of university's development effort, especially fund raising.
Avarice has long been the governing principle of YSU's faculty, and it will be on display in all its glory during the contract talks. It would come as no surprise if there is a demand for an increase in the travel, hotel and meal allowances that employees now receive.
Then there is the matter of the cost of attending YSU. Although Sweet continues to insist that tuition is still lower than most other state public universities and colleges in Ohio, the fact remains that many students are working two jobs and still racking up debt with hopes of getting a college degree. Chateaubriand and Beefeater gin cocktails certainly aren't on their menus.
Tuition increase
Indeed, students are facing an 8 percent tuition increase in the fall semester. And the end is not in sight.
If the state's economy continues to backfire and the governor imposes additional cuts in spending, higher education will take a hit -- again.
Thus, to pay for the raises the faculty and other employees will undoubtedly receive, the board of trustees will have to increase tuition -- again. And when they do, the spending habits of the Sweets and McCloud will become the clarion call for student revolt.
On the other hand, the president of the university may have shot himself in the wallet.
The trustees will be hung in effigy if they even consider a request from Sweet for a pay raise. His current compensation package is $261,223 a year.
Sweet should lie low -- at home.