Put a pause on pay raises by Viviana Aldous (The Daily Texan)

             After the 82^nd legislative session announced $92-million reduction in funding for UT, in this article from The Daily Texan, Viviana Aldous argues that the importance of pay raises for faculty and staff should not exceed that of the services and supports for students. According to her opinion, pay raises may help universities maintain their quality by retaining talented faculty and staff. It is definitely true that good faculty and staff members are essential for keeping the level of higher education. She continues that it is just not the right time to give them a pay raise. Maintaining the top faculty is only one of the many aspects needed to maintain the value of universities. In this difficult time with long recession, budget cuts are inevitable in almost everywhere not in just Texas. Everyone is suffering and all the states are cutting their budgets. Support and services for students are all decreasing. She strongly argues that it is not right to leave all the burdens to students while benefiting only the faculty and staff.

            

            Throughout her article, she is very persuasive and logical. She doesn’t lean forward one view and mentions every aspect of possibilities. I agree with her point of view that benefiting faculty and staff while ignoring sufferings of students does not sound right at all. Government has had to cut funding for several years and students are already suffering enough from it. Even the president William Powers Jr. announced that students would confront reduced student services, course offerings and financial aid. These areas stand more in need of help. With limited budget, everyone has to deal with it equally and share the burden. Therefore, Government and university should consider more balanced use of budgets.