Our View-CSU administration getting too top heavy to sustain

We forget sometimes that the California State University system is a big business. It’s sad that financial gain seems to be the priority for many state college leaders, but that’s the reality. The old saying “knowledge is power” should be changed to “knowledge, if you can afford it, is almost as powerful as money.”

Nothing is more vital to a society’s ultimate success than education. How can we expect things to improve tomorrow if the youth aren’t properly educated today? Yet some CSU leaders, people who know better than anyone the importance of acquired knowledge, continue axing educational programs like timber in a rainforest.

It isn’t entirely Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fault — although he is certainly a major contributor to education’s financial struggles.

Any CSU student can attest that they’ve felt the squeeze of Chancellor Charles Reed’s budget maladjustments. We are expected to pay more money in a dying economy to receive an education, yet the classes are overcrowded and understaffed.

If we are to view the CSU system as a business plan, this is not a reasonable return for its investors, Mr. Reed.

Taking it a step further, how can the chancellor justify cutting back on students and faculty while increasing management? These same managers only “manage” to pay themselves skyrocketing salaries at the expense of brilliant teachers and young people yearning for educations. How is this beneficial to anyone but Chancellor Reed and his team?

Many of us don’t call him “Chucky Greed” for nothing.

According to the California Faculty Association, Reed and his crew of overpaid know-it-alls increased the number of management positions by 3 percent in 2007-2008. He eliminated 184 full-time faculty positions systemwide, for a decrease of 1 percent over the same period.

And, with the increased demand for spots in the university, the number of students enrolled increased by 2 percent, in spite of administrative efforts to prevent enrollment growth.

Well played, Mr. Greed. Why don’t you hire some more managers to help clean up this mess you’ve helped create?

Corporate managers — the old fat cats who sit in oversized leather chairs puffing on contraband stogies — sign away jobs that really matter, and somehow continue finding ways to get paid for doing more harm than good. It’s the same upside-down bureaucracy the CSU practices.

It appears that Chucky Greed has no problem stealing from the poor and giving to the rich, all under the guise of “competing priorities.” He and former NASDAQ chairman Bernard Madoff should get together for some hot cocoa and discuss inverted pyramids.

Nothing good has come from Chucky’s mismanagement of management. Teachers are out of work, students can’t get into classes needed to graduate and fees continues to skyrocket. Campuses are ill equipped for incoming students.

“It is disturbing that during this time of economic crisis, the chancellor sees fit to hire more managers while students are forced to compete for time with fewer teachers,” said John Travis, Chair of CFA’s Bargaining Team.

When does somebody intervene and put an end to this madness? If Reed insists on running CSU finances like Starbucks, students and faculty will look elsewhere for educational and employment opportunities.

The best way to keep this from happening is through action. CSU students must insist that our money be used for classroom and faculty needs. We live in a time where we have no room to be financially wasteful and we must make our voices heard by not supporting unjustified expenses.

Let’s show Chucky Greed that his practices are illogical and unethical. Maybe he would learn a thing or two if he started attending classes instead of cutting them.