Budget Bust
Part 7: Twenty Years Later
Tyler Will
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: News
"It's drifted away from the notion of service to the community," Carothers said. "It's been more of a 'me' orientation."
He said the philosophical change started during the Ronald Reagan administration, with "trickle down" economics, where wealthy individuals were expected to spend money, creating jobs for their less-wealthy counterparts.
"Instead of focusing on lifting people up, the paradigm focused on people catching the crumbs," Carothers said. "We call that the 'me' generation. And then we saw in the [second] Bush administration, there was such a focus on making money … that everybody wanted to be a hedge-fund manager, everybody wanted to work on Wall Street."
And in the face of economic turmoil, Carothers said state governments feel able to exercise some discretion in higher education, and while many other state universities are also facing cuts, it's more pronounced in Rhode Island because of the loss of industry and blue-collar jobs.
But budget tightening isn't restricted to state universities.
According to the Boston Globe, Harvard University - the most affluent university in the United States - Dartmouth College and Boston and Brown universities are also considering hiring freezes or spending assessments of some kind.
And because small states have smaller budgets, Carothers pointed out that after social services and the practice of wealthy getting tax breaks, not enough of the budget is left for higher education.
"We just don't make as compelling a case on the humanities level," Carothers said.
With tuition rising and funding receding, Carothers said relief will not likely come in the short-term, and if it does come, it will require changes to how Rhode Island spends its money.
URI Economics Department Chairman Glen Ramsay said if the state falls short on expected revenue or expenditures are higher than expectations, budget cuts become necessary. However, government support would be resistant to state economic behavior if revenue and expenditures met these expectations, Ramsay said.
"This governor has been extremely reluctant to raise taxes, which means the only thing he can do is cut expenses," he said.
Higher Education Commissioner Jack Warner could not be reached by press time for comment.
He said the philosophical change started during the Ronald Reagan administration, with "trickle down" economics, where wealthy individuals were expected to spend money, creating jobs for their less-wealthy counterparts.
"Instead of focusing on lifting people up, the paradigm focused on people catching the crumbs," Carothers said. "We call that the 'me' generation. And then we saw in the [second] Bush administration, there was such a focus on making money … that everybody wanted to be a hedge-fund manager, everybody wanted to work on Wall Street."
And in the face of economic turmoil, Carothers said state governments feel able to exercise some discretion in higher education, and while many other state universities are also facing cuts, it's more pronounced in Rhode Island because of the loss of industry and blue-collar jobs.
But budget tightening isn't restricted to state universities.
According to the Boston Globe, Harvard University - the most affluent university in the United States - Dartmouth College and Boston and Brown universities are also considering hiring freezes or spending assessments of some kind.
And because small states have smaller budgets, Carothers pointed out that after social services and the practice of wealthy getting tax breaks, not enough of the budget is left for higher education.
"We just don't make as compelling a case on the humanities level," Carothers said.
With tuition rising and funding receding, Carothers said relief will not likely come in the short-term, and if it does come, it will require changes to how Rhode Island spends its money.
URI Economics Department Chairman Glen Ramsay said if the state falls short on expected revenue or expenditures are higher than expectations, budget cuts become necessary. However, government support would be resistant to state economic behavior if revenue and expenditures met these expectations, Ramsay said.
"This governor has been extremely reluctant to raise taxes, which means the only thing he can do is cut expenses," he said.
Higher Education Commissioner Jack Warner could not be reached by press time for comment.
