By Troy Torres
We oppose the tuition increase University of Guam president Thomas Krise would like to see in August. Either he's so out of touch, he doesn't consider the obvious financial implications to students and their families at a time our unemployment rate is the highest it ever will be; or he and his UOG elites just don't care.
But what if you found out that the tuition he wants to raise will pay for the pay increases he secretly gave to some UOG employees?
Krise testified at a recent legislative budgetary hearing that 100 percent of this tuition increase will be allocated to pay for personnel costs. While the rest of our community is trying to make ends meet by making cuts, including the lowering of salaries and the lay off of employees, and while our tourism industry is still at least a year from some recovery, I have to ask myself does Krise live on the same island we all live in? We certainly can't afford the home he lives in. And aside from some doctors at Guam Memorial Hospital, no one in the government is paid more than he is.
His disconnection from reality, therefore, comes as no surprise.
I am including in this editorial for your review, another Freedom of Information Act request we sent to the university Thursday. In our continuing investigation into the behind-the-scenes decisions related to the tuition increase, we are also wanting to know if university personnel received pay adjustments during the pandemic. We will continue our efforts to provide our community with answers to many questions about this tuition increase. If we find that Krise quietly ordered pay adjustments during a pandemic, it not only justifies wiping out all further discussions about the tuition increase, but would support initiating steps for a tuition decrease. And an audit. And the Board of Regents firing him.
That's our two cents about his $210,000.
As the quality of a college education goes down, the tuition goes up!UOG really needs to reassess its course offerings to determine if it is meeting the needs of our island infrastructure (not the Biden definition of it), our government ( health, education, and welfare) and private sectors ( tourism, military presence).