And We Wonder Why Public Schools Have Financing Problems

Here's an interesting article about my alma mater, Sonoma State University. Some years back, someone I used to work for who is obscenely rich--and like nearly all obscenely rich people, is very, very liberal and contributes to the Democratic Party--gave SSU $10 million to build a choral hall there. That was a nice little action on his part--I mean, what's $10 million when you are Don Green? It's small potatoes.

But something has happened to the original relatively modest plan:

The Green Music Center at Sonoma State was first proposed as a small choral hall to serve students. But after campus President Ruben Armiñana visited the famed Tanglewood concert hall in Massachusetts in 1996, he was inspired to think big for his small campus in Rohnert Park.

Now, a decade later, the initial $22 million price tag has ballooned to an estimated $100 million and the 105,436-square-foot building is barely a quarter built. With fundraising for the project falling behind the growing need, the university is short of money to even pay for things like the 1,400 concert hall seats and bathroom fixtures. But Armiñana has decided to go ahead with constructing the center while he searches for money to finish the buildings.

The long-range plans for the project include three components -- the concert hall, a hospitality center with meeting rooms and a restaurant, and a music education building that will house the arts programs and accommodate community groups.

So far about $43 million has been raised through private donations. Another $18.1 million has come from state construction bonds and $25 million from the state capital program for the music faculty offices and instructional equipment in the academic building. The campus will use taxpayer funds to cover the approximately $934,054 it will cost each year to operate the center.

The project has stirred up opposition and resentment among many of the campus's 450 professors and lecturers, who think Armiñana's priorities are not in line with the university's academic mission. They recently overwhelmingly passed a resolution of no confidence in Armiñana.

"Things have gotten worse in the classroom. The demand by students for access to professors and classes has increased, and we don't get much money to do things to build our careers," said associate political science Professor David McCuan, who was a student at Sonoma State and has been teaching at the campus for four years.

Art history Professor Susan Moulton said classroom equipment has deteriorated so badly that she had to use duct tape to repair desks. And sociology Professor Noel Byrne said he had to buy his own copy machine to make handouts for students.

This isn't just the money; it's the time and energy that university officials are spending on it:

University managers have worked the equivalent of $2 million in hours on the Green Music Center, according to Susan Kashack, a campus spokeswoman.

...

The hall went from a $10 million idea presented to Green to a $22 million proposal for the larger concert hall in 1998 and just kept growing from there, reaching $100 million by 2006 when construction began.

The costs rose as the project was expanded and the construction industry faced higher prices, campus officials said.

...

Byrne and Moulton, who helped spearhead the no-confidence vote, point to Armiñana's frequent trips to Tanglewood with other university officials as examples of too much energy and too many resources being spent on the music center. Over the years, there have been nine trips.

In 2006, for example, Armiñana went with donors and 10 campus executives. The university paid $20,000 for catering, supplies and concert tickets and $27,000 for hotel and travel expenses for university employees. The donors paid their own travel expenses, and Kashack said that the trips have resulted in about $10 million in donations for the Green Music Center.

The comments from readers about Arminana are also pretty disturbing:

All this while he wants a "Taj Mahal" style monument erected as some sort of legacy. I would definitely give a vote of no confidence as well in support of the professors and students. The $100 million could be better spent on student services, support for the faculty/staff, and funds for items like desks and chairs, which were lacking even when I attended in the early 90's. I would like to know where they plan to find the $1 million to operate the center every year - I hope he's planting a grove of money trees next to the center.

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I recently attended a seminar relating to the changing demographics of the North Bay. I had to sit and listen to this windbag wag his finger at the business community for not "promoting and empowering Latinos" in the white collar world. WTF? This from a top academic official who cannot even speak English!

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My partner and I were prepared to fund a scholarship for art students at SSU with a potential capitalization of $50K. We donated $11,000 in start up money and then waited over six months to hear from the University. When we emailed them, we received three phone calls and a letter assuring us that they would immediately set up the paper work with policies and procedures. When, a year later we'd heard nothing, we decided to fun the scholarship here in Portland OR where we now live. ALL the energy of the Development office was directed to the new music center and if we weren't interested in funding it, they weren't especially interested in our funds. Our scholarship currently gives out $500 a year to needing students.