Dear Editor:

I’d like to ask the provost if he has considered the actual “cost” of saving $500,000 by canceling 60 sabbaticals (professional improvement leaves) for 2009-10.

Rightfully disgruntled, talented faculty will soon be leaving Kent State for institutions that support faculty development. And when the hiring freeze ends, Kent State’s reputation will deter talented replacements from applying for open

teaching positions.

This decision also seems to run counter to President Lefton’s goal of making Kent State a premier research institution.

Maybe, instead of quashing faculty research, the Kent State VP receiving a private university education at the expense of Ohio taxpayers could pay his own way, or he could get it for free at Kent State.

Maybe there should be a hiring freeze at the upper levels of the administration. When the vice provost leaves, someone at the top should fill his role rather than hiring another ridiculously high-paid

administrator.

Maybe they shouldn’t replace the dean who’s moving into a newly created position in the provost’s office.

Maybe, because most of the high-level administrators have faculty status, they could teach a class or two until the economy turns around.

I mean, times are tough, right? We all have to tighten our belts.

Lisa A. Vargas,

Graduate student, teaching

English as a second language