Mea Culpa

In an earlier post, I said that UCF administrators did the right thing by declining administrative bonuses. When I wrote this, I wondered if I was being naïve, but I decided to not think the worst of them. In a letter to his colleagues, Jim Gilkeson set me straight:

Last week, President Hitt and Provost Hickey visited the faculty in some of our colleges and told them to expect unpaid "furloughs" (aka leave without pay or salary cuts) because of UCF's dire financial condition.

All the while, 300 palm trees are planted in front of the President's gated residence. The university announces that it is going to proceed with $82,000 worth of excellence awards and $500,000 in TIP, RIA, and SoTL salary increases, both actions being in violation of state labor law. Dozens of administrators retire, replacements are hired, and then the retired administrators are hired back on new contracts, covertly swelling the ranks of UCF's administration, while the number of classroom faculty dwindles. Through it all, President Hitt's 5-figure car allowance, gold-plated health care plan, and deferred compensation package remain intact.

The final straw? That secret bonus plan for UCF's top 11 administrators? President Hitt and his VPs didn't turn down the bonuses (as they claimed in a press release that was circulated one day before a television report about them was going to air), they merely deferred the bonuses to a later date. Our senior administrators still think they deserve over $450,000 in bonuses. Outrageous. They say there’s no money for raises. They make threats of pay cuts. Yet our senior administration still plans to pay itself half a million in bonuses – as soon as it won’t be a public relations nightmare to do so. It’s bad enough when this sort of behavior drives multi-billion dollar financial institutions into bankruptcy; it’s unbelievable that it would happen at a tax-payer supported, public university.

UCF administrators think only of themselves. I’m sorry I suggested otherwise. To my loyal readers, I will do better in the future.