Put Genshaft’s pay raise in perspective

I am writing in response to Cristabel Rodriguez’s letter printed in the Jan. 8 Oracle, concerning President Judy Genshaft’s pay increase.

In her letter, Ms. Rodriguez compares the salary of Vice President Dick Cheney to the increase given to President Genshaft. I will simply pose a few questions to anyone who has a serious concern with the amount of money the president will earn.Why hasn’t anyone said anything about coach Jim Leavitt’s pay increase? This question isn’t to attack the coach, but he’s a football coach who just became a millionaire.

Why do professional athletes and actors/actresses earn more than Dick Cheney?

The answer to both of these questions is that all of these people are paid in accordance to what their profession allows. Division I football coaches earn salaries comparable to those of our coaches. Furthermore, a young actor is not going to get paid more money than Denzel Washington. This ideal would not change for a doctor or the cable guy. So why rip the level of the president’s salary? She is making what a university president is expected to make.

No one wants to know that one person is being paid a huge sum of money to do a job that we may think is not important, even though coaches get paid to coach, pro-athletes to play games and actors to make movies.

I’m not opposed to giving the staff salary increases, receiving a little more financial aid or an inexpensive parking decal, but it’s not going to happen, whether President Genshaft had gotten a raise or not.

When you get your degree(s) and move to the level of experience in the field that President Genshaft has worked to attain, you’ll have a different perspective on my final question: How much should you make for what you do?

Darius Taylor is a graduate student in public health.