LETTER: Support for Pres. Hall

Editor,

I am responding to the article in which the students of USU seem to disagree with what President Hall is doing. Disagreement is healthy and it allows us to see both sides of the game. But, let us draw a comparison betwixt Hall and former President Emert just so you can see how good you have it.

Emert locked himself in an Ivory Tower and never went to bat for the students. He treated most of us like we did not exist, whereas we were the reason that his university was there.

Did Emert listen to ASUSU? No, I believe they were treated as his puppets. New professors in your college? Emert fired/dismissed a whole horde of people during his tenure. That was part of the reason they brought him in. Emert also had no budget worries. The money kept rolling in from everywhere. Students kept coming, expenses were at a low. Tuition only increased three or four percent a year.

Emert leaves — we get Kermit. Not only do you get a president who has a nifty name — but you get a president who actually cares about the students. The tuition hike came not as the first option, but as the last resort. The money that keeps your lights on and the parking department in business comes mostly from the state Legislature. 200 million of those support dollars were axed last year.

If the money well dries up you have to find a new way to get it. Kermit is dealing with double-digit increases in tuition, but is also dealing with a bad economy — and the students keep coming and filling the classes. Kermit is by all rights the one that is going to lead you out of this ‘valley of the shadow of high tuition’ and actually plan for the future of USU.

Get behind your president — give him the support he needs so that he can help you as the student body. You may hate his guts because he makes you pay for your schooling. I do not begrudge the leader for leading. Kermit has a vision for the future — and it might be advantageous to ask him what it is.

Yeah — make an appointment with him, I bet you a Marv ‘n’ Joe he would actually take the time to sit down with you and tell you what it is.

David LambAlumnus 2001