I’ll do the usual links page later today, but I wanted to get this column from today’s West Chester Daily Local News out as soon as possible.
It’s an opinion piece contributed by WCU faculty member Dr. Ed Lordan. Dr. Lordan reminds legislators that cutting the WCU/PASSHE budget as a short-term economic fix has serious and dire long-term consequences, while not proving especially helpful in the short-term either.
Some highlights:
Current and future students of the Pennsylvania state schools like West Chester University — those that are part of the PASSHE system — will be particularly hard hit given the sheer amount of funding being cut. There is a direct connection between the health of the university and the health of the local economy — fewer students means fewer dollars for local businesses…
For instance, WCU has been rated a top 100 best value in American public higher education by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance four years in a row. WCU students contributed a record 233,513 hours of volunteer service in the community for the 2009-2010 school year. Cutting funding for them is a short-sighted decision that will ultimately cost more than it saves and have a direct negative impact of current and future students…
Nice work, Dr. Lordan. And thanks for taking the time to write it.
APSCUF-WCU 