EDITORIAL: Talking out of two sides of your mouth
Last year, University President George Ross and Provost Gary Shapiro fought a pivotal battle against the Faculty Association and some of the raises the group was asking for.
Now, a little more than a year after the FA had a strike on the first day of school, Shapiro announced he is retiring and taking a year off before returning to CMU — and will receive his full salary while he's gone.
While technically the university is following the senior officer handbook of rules and regulation, the irony of him receiving full pay is incredulous.
This is a man who has been a part of an administration that has moaned about the lack of funding for years. On Tuesday, Central Michigan Life reporters made an effort to contact Shapiro, and while he did not return calls, it's the hope of this Editorial Board that he is at least doing something for this university other than taking a year off to prepare to teach again.
At a salary of about $250,000, an adviser role would be almost called for next year. Or, how about Shapiro realizing that during the past three years of being provost, the administration has said there are big financial issues and passing on the payment until he becomes a faculty member again (where he assuredly while be making more than $100,000 a year).
Obviously, the issue here isn't about the way this is being handled, but rather this is an issue of morals.
Adding to the irony of Shapiro receiving this money is the announcement that CMU is receiving $1.8 million from the state of Michigan after qualifying for a tuition restraint incentive appropriation. You can basically kiss nearly 14 percent of that money goodbye, as it will go straight to Shapiro's pocket next year, with no announcement of what he will be doing, or rather if he will be doing anything other than preparing to go back to teaching.
To go one step further, maybe the senior officer handbook needs to be changed to not allow this during a time when CMU is trying to stay financially secure.
This is another example of the two-headed monster CMU has become. In some cases, complaining about the lack of money it receives from the state.
The job is about the students, isn't it?
It would be superb if anyone in the administration could act like that is more than a hollow statement said during every board of trustees meeting and before every speech.
