President Aschkenazy

I want to congratulate you on your stellar performance before the legislators. Herb, do it again, and again, and again. Both in the classroom and in advertising, reasonable repetition seems to drive the message home.

Like the three legged milking stool, a balanced approach to higher education funding needs all three legs of funding proposed by the governor: the general salary increase as well as the fighting fund and support of specialized programs such as engineering.
• Without the fighting fund we lose our flexibility to keep and recruit the stars.

• Without the investment fund we lag behind in programs requiring high technology.

• But perhaps even more important, without the broader salary increase we jeapardize the broad and strong base in such diverse programs as, for example, english, chemistry, foreign languages, social sciences, journalism, the arts, business, education and agriculture. These are essential to producing graduates with the ability to respond to the rapidly changing economy of the present and future and an ability to communicate beyond their specialized peers to other groups and other cultures in this world wide economy. In addition, these broader areas of education enhance the quality of life, not only for the graduate, but others influenced by their contributions to the community.

We urge continued emphasis on all three parts of the governor’s proposal for higher education. Keep that three-legged support in balance.