There is a myopia epidemic at the University of the District of Columbia. That’s the only way to explain the reaction of some students, faculty and administrators to the proposal to increase tuition and enhance academic programs at the troubled institution. They can’t see the direct connection between UDC’s deplorable physical plant, its antiquated course offerings, its abysmal ranking in the academic community, and its lack of resources — financial and human.
As dozens of students, meeting last week in UDC’s auditorium, displayed their inability to engage in an open, respectful dialogue about the future of the District’s only “public” university, other individuals rang my telephone incessantly. They urged me to help in the fight against the increase. (Tuition would rise from $3,800 to $7,000 per year for students in baccalaureate or graduate degree programs.)
I won’t join the fray.
UDC’s trustees, who are expected to meet tomorrow, should approve President Allen Sessoms’ proposals — tuition increase, new academic programs and creation of a community college. They should insist the president move expeditiously with implementation.
They also should start their own aggressive fundraising campaign. That tuition increase won’t satisfy all of the school’s needs.
I understand students’ anger. The university has been sorely and measurably mismanaged for decades. I know that history more intimately than most in the media. I have reported about illogical, detrimental, costly decisions of incompetent presidents and ill-suited trustees since 1986.
But Sessoms, who arrived last fall, cannot be held responsible for the madness and mismanagement that occurred before his arrival. He will, no doubt, make his own mistakes. When he does, he will and should be called to account for them. Proposing this tuition increase isn’t one of them, however.
UDC is struggling. If it’s ever to become a first-rate university, it needs additional resources — now.
The District’s nearly $63 million subsidy in fiscal 2008 accounted for more than half the revenues collected by UDC to cover its $110 million budget. That is dangerous. Business experts repeatedly warn companies against heavy reliance on any one source of income. Diversification is critical (just ask those people who placed all their money in Bernard Madoff’s hands.)
When the city experiences a downturn in its own revenues, officials are likely to reduce that subsidy. UDC’s leaders must balance the school’s revenue mix to blunt such action.
Students, particularly those struggling with their own financial issues, may find that reality unacceptable. But, if they want physical plant improvements, if they want better lab equipment, if they want classrooms installed with 21st century instructional technology, and if they want a world-class faculty, then there has to be an increase in tuition. All the protesting and profanity won’t change that.
The unhappy have a choice: Enroll elsewhere. But I’m guessing they won’t find another university as inexpensive as UDC.
