Succumbing to the dollar

Since when do Anabaptist values say that we should look like everyone else, compare ourselves to an arbitrary national average, or base our decisions on the law of supply and demand?

One of the reasons for the Prioritization Steering Committee's proposed cuts is to provide a $700,000 increase to faculty salaries. The decision is based on becoming competitive with the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities' (CCCU) national averages, and is promoted by the board despite faculty never asking for such an increase. Throughout the prioritization process, we were made to believe that EMU was headed down the path to extinction unless programs were cut or scaled back.

The last time we checked, EMU is what it is because of its unique community, small size, and sometimes-unpopular values. Large salaries (or the lack thereof) has not been a deterrent to quality faculty who share EMU's values and invest deeply in the community. Cutting programs based on market values and profitability for the sake of hiring professors who follow the dollar undercuts the mission of EMU as an Anabaptist institution.

The Board of Trustees has judged the quality of EMU's faculty by implying that EMU cannot attract excellent professors unless we comply with the financial values of the CCCU.

One of the great things about our faculty is that they are committed to the community and our common values. Raising salaries does not promise to bring in more people with these Christ-like attributes; instead, it will attract those who are looking for the highest salary.

Another revelation of prioritization is that juniors will be required to live on campus. This decision has been made to increase occupancy in residence halls for the purpose of raising revenue. How did we get to the point where we make major community decisions based on revenue? Because of this decision, lower-income students will not be able to afford attending EMU because of the increased expense of living on campus. If EMU's financial bottom line is the driving force in community decisions, why doesn't our mission statement say so?

We do not need to be convinced that changes are necessary. If difficult decisions need to be made, why are they being made by fragmented committees, consultants, arbitrary data, and complex systems of analysis? Is the only way for EMU to operate in this world to succumb to the pressures and demands of market capitalism? We're not sure, but we hope not.