Letter to the Editor

Bond sale is like maxing out credit card

To the editor:

Regarding Southeast Missouri State University's bond sale to finance the River Campus: Thank you, House Speaker Rod Jetton. The underlying question: Was the project prudent and necessary in light of so many other pressing needs like books and journals in the library, higher salaries to attract better-qualified professors and balanced voices in symposiums?

Just because Paducah, Ky., has a fine arts center doesn't mean the university needs or we want one. And isn't the university supposed to exemplify and instruct the rule of law? Maybe state colleges can issue bonds, but I can sign up for every unsolicited credit card and max it out. Who pays? And when? It seems current and past regents have some basic economic principles confused. I don't spend until I have. They spend and hope to have. Public office is still a public trust, in my mind. The administration of this institution continues to embarrass and underperform.

GEORGE MILLER, Oak Ridge