Caputo Gets a Raise, We Get the Shoulder

Receiving a pay increase is a well-known and documented fact of any salaried employee's life. If you're doing a good job, you'll get your three to five percent increase; if you're not doing a good job, you'll get fired. Generally, the annual pay raise reflects the overall performance based upon pre-set goals and how efficiently they are reached. For example, doctors get bonuses and raises based on whether they see a target number of patients per quarter. Thus, it is no surprise that our president received a pay raise for fiscal year 2005 - 06; however, the jarring part is that no one in the University's higher administration or board of trustees is willing to impart the categories on which President David A. Caputo, whose contract expires in 2008, is judged.

The president and board of trustees' chairman Anneilo Bianco said the increase is based on how well Caputo has reached goals set by the University, no doubt included in the University's Strategic Plan 2003 - 2008. However, students have no idea which are of the highest priority and what exactly each means to a student's experience at the University. All we see are the increases in student service costs such as housing and meal plan rates coupled with understaffed departments from the Office of Student Assistance down to how many registers are open in Café101 during peak hours. The high prices can be justified by the desire to stay competitive in a tough New York City market.

But how can the University expect students to accept that an increase in the president's salary is a viable move when the University is in debt; it has incurred an enrollment shortfall; and its student service offices are understaffed? On top of that, the University has instituted a hiring freeze across the board, except for a new OSA director. Too many chefs, not enough servers. Yes, we need educated and experienced directors to guide staffers but that can only happen if there are enough staffers in the first place. Some how, one of the main goals of the Strategic Plan - the one about the University's dedication to student-centeredness - got lost in the shuffle.

The fact that the president received an increase is even more troubling when the president's office and the board of trustees refuse to discuss the grounds on which the increase was awarded. If the members of the board of trustees and the president openly discussed the goals on which this reward is based, students would better understand why it was deserved. Why a reporter from a student newspaper could more easily score an interview with the chairman of the board of trustees than the University president is question that needs to be answered. This fear of talking to student reporters pervades the University from the administrators down to residence hall assistants and computer lab consultants.

The Pace Press is a student newspaper serving the University community. We appreciate that we are treated like any other non-student publication would be; the University community as a whole makes us work for the stories we publish each week. We interview top administrators and students alike. We write on deadline. We spend 24 hours of the 48-hour weekend in our Park Row office laying out, copy-editing and finalizing the stories for publication. We work hard for you.

Consider this: when you tell us what is on your mind, whether good or bad, you are building a community based on communication, a major shortfall of the University . What if the press secretary of the White House refused to hold press conferences? What if government officials refused interviews to The Washington Post or The New York Times? In refusing to tell us, you are only perpetuating that there is something awry. Even if you tell us bad news, all parties involved - the students, faculty and staff - will appreciate the honesty. It may not be the most positive information but it will always be the most accurate because it will be more than rumor or speculation.

Capitalize on that.