Perhaps because I live out of state, I had not heard of the $17,000 table, but I have certainly heard of the $1 million scoreboard purchased from the $4 million bequest of Robert Morin. The story made national news.
Certainly colleges and universities need to compete for students the way they did not when I attended UNH in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I do understand that. However, although much of the gift was nonrestricted, the university nevertheless has a responsibility to spend the money wisely. If the scoreboard was that important, the cost should have been included in the recent $25 million renovation of the athletic facilities. Or the university could have mounted a campaign to fund it.
UNH’s “primary purpose is learning” (per its webpage). How much good – and good will – could have come from better use of those funds? Reduced tuition (from the exorbitant $17,000 in-state), scholarships, paid internships. More support for at-risk students, veterans, nontraditional students, commuters. The arts. Music. Science labs. Study abroad.
And, of course, library resources.
So many possibilities, if funded by that million, could have been transformative for the students. And they could have been choices that UNH (and we all) could have been proud of.
As an alumna, I am sad to say this, but I hope the people of New Hampshire will call for increased accountability from President Huddleston and UNH.
(Sandra Engel lives in Utica, N.Y.)