Opinion
 

Universities: Let them eat cake

by Hermina Frederick

How does the state university rise to solvency from the doldrums of this economic climate of hardship and shrunken budgets?

The university must follow Naaman. It must shed hubris and usury and dip seven times in the Jordan. It must refuse the many changes of infected corporate garments and shake its hands from the gain of tarnished silver. Then, it will be cleansed. Its eyes will open and it will find the paths to economic revival.

State colleges have looked upon the largesse of Ivy League schools and coveted. Therefore, the first dip must be for the shedding of high-blown pride. The greatest difference between Harvard or Yale and a state university is hubris; fickle strivings of men who kneel at the golden feet of Mammon to discover that toilet tissue does the same thing for all men, and there is no bargain with death.

There is no premium on acquiring knowledge, wisdom and understanding save that levied by the imaginations of vile men in high places of the earth. The content of mathematics, languages, science and art are the same everywhere. They issue out of lowly classrooms of third world nations at advanced levels that best the bloated chest of Ivy League scholarship. Ask the little Indian boy where in India he learned so much calculus. Ask the Nigerian girl where in Nigeria she picked up all that Malthusian theory. Ask them, too: How much did they spend to know all that? They will all say, "Only the cost of the big picture" -- a piece of pencil, a square of slate and the dedication of scions who understood great things about the patient building of a strong nation.

So, by what standards does the state university measure the academic excellence of this nation?

If it is aristocracy and avarice, then we see the pus-filled scabs that mar its body; feverish strivings to build expansive monuments to vanity in the midst of this blitzkrieg of an economic crisis in the houses of low- and middle-class people. Then we no longer wonder at this Pharaoh-like increase in the cost of tuition and fees; neither do we ask anymore about this Marie Antoinette-like scorn of the zeal of poor peons to aspire to the ranks of the elite.

Even after the corporate thieves have robbed the children of their college education, the overseers do not blush at jacking up the cost of tuition in rapid succession and with impunity. But we want the money by any means necessary. Be it a little bit of grants, a lot of loans or credit card barbed wire sponsorship; let us make the shekel great and the ephah very small, and let them eat cake.

So we stare aghast at the resurgence of the twin horrors of apartheid and Jim Crowism in the governance of the grandsons of perdition. Never again! This nation had sworn never again to allow the poisons of bigotry to staunch the genius of the mixed multitude found here. But the sons have come and are fully set to make their little fingers bigger than their fathers' loins. Demolish affirmative action, double the cost of tuition at state universities attended by the mixed multitude and the Putsche ascends. Heaven help us all, rich and poor, for Naaman and his arrogance scorns the "reber."

If the measure of academic excellence is taken with humility, truth, justice, judgement and equity, then we begin to see the rebuilding of the strong walls of a nation rising from a fall. We will see it first in the laying of the cornerstone of true academics by the state university.

Today, millions of middle class Americans are broke. Enron, WorldCom and all the damnable ills of greed in high places of the earth have depleted their substance. The golden goose of the "filthy rich" 1990s lies dead in their houses; what college funds parents held in 401(k) accounts or stocks is gone. People are holding on to the 50 cents left and are skittish about spending. Credit card debts, taxes, fees, food, furniture, college tuition, books and a paycheck that often pays for two bills and a loaf of bread -- this is the inside of the homes of state university patrons.

The American consumer has counted his losses and reconfigured his plan for surviving this assault on economic mobility. He is now forced to exercise fiscal responsibility and cut spending. Forget the sport utility vehicle and buy a 1970 K-Mart buggy instead; it'll get you where you're going. Forget four years of inflated college tuition, and take the first two years at some local community college. If this still can't cut it, go and work in fast food, and wait for the madness to cease.

This is where the state university must join the consumer. Humility will guide it to its base. It will remember that its main purpose is to deliver to the nation an educated citizenry, to encourage men to seek knowledge, wisdom and understanding like monks. For it is in humility that the scholar perceives the connection between education and the national well being. This is where he or she gets a clear perspective of peace and good citizenship, and is equipped to serve his or her brethren.

When the house is so stressed, all must give for the rejuvenation of its walls. What can be done to lower the cost of books and tuition? How can excessive fees be mitigated? What can be found to remove the credit card foxes from chewing the roots from the future of today's college students?

A wise woman, it is said, builds up her house, but a foolish woman plucks it down with her hands. The academic house of this nation has lost many of its shutters, and the porch is half demolished. Instead of repairing the breaches, state universities find themselves putting the furniture out for sale and taking the banisters for firewood.

The American student now cries for water while standing in a flood. Money is floating all around him, money for war, money for mending what war has broken, money exacted from students for those who already have lots of money. Only the American student can barely find the money to quench the worm eating at the academic walls of this nation.

So, as Marie Antoinette said, let them eat cake.

Frederick, a guest columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at dccampus@mail.uh.edu.