Your View: Professor Angry With More Than Building Name Policies, Rules

Editor, The Auburn Plainsman

With the coming of fall and the welcome return of alums to campus come the sea of complaints about the nameless Student Center.

Well, it would be great if it were named after Dean Foy- last year's letters made the case eloquently. But I'm tired of the complaints.

How about some action?

How much would each person who thinks the center should be named for Dean Foy have to give to make it happen? And when will they start raising the money?

Why am I tired of the complaints? Well, students pay a lot of tuition to "use" the campus.

Why shouldn't football fans pay to tailgate if they want prime spaces? They are using the campus. There's massive clean-up, extra staff and security to make everything go smoothly, and other costs.

And are these people out of touch with the economic impact of the recession on AU?

Class size is creeping up. Faculty who leave or retire are often not replaced leaving more work for fewer faculty and, for instance, longer waits in hallways as students come to meet with faculty advisers. Without specific experts, some courses cannot be offered.

Faculty haven't had raises in two years, and some of the young faculty are struggling to pay off the loans that made their educations possible. Travel money has disappeared or been drastically cut, and we stay in touch with cutting-edge research by going to conferences and specialized research sites.

Provost Mazey and the deans have done a wonderful, creative job in protecting academics at AU, and all of us have to think about the future. For example, gaps in periodical holdings testify to past recessions and hard times, and this year's smaller library budget may impact what students and faculty can find in the library for decades. The AU family needs to think of the students of the future.

Yes, right now, "it's all about the money" is often a major consideration. It would be great if alums and others took pride in helping protect academics and our students' pocketbooks every time they pay for something on campus. Dean Foy was famous for having his priorities straight. In hard times, it would be a very special gesture if people accepted the challenge and raised the money to name the center for him.

Paula R. Backscheider

Philpott-Stevens Eminent Scholar