Editorial: Poor timing
The beginning of a legislative session probably isn’t the best time for Kansas University to announce the acquisition of a new private jet.
Talk about poor timing.
Kansas University officials could not have picked a more inappropriate time to announce the acquisition and delivery of a new jet. This at a time when KU officials are using every means possible to increase state funding for the university.
KU Endowment Association officials have announced donations surpassing $1 billion in their current capital campaign, and private funds from Endowment are paying for the new seven-passenger jet.
In the eyes of some in Topeka — particularly legislators who question the fiscal needs of the university — it is difficult to take seriously the pleas of KU being hard up when there is money to buy a new jet.
This is an ongoing, somewhat historical, problem facing the university and KUEA. Money given to the KUEA is spent for programs, faculty enrichment, student scholarships, art acquisitions, equipment, buildings and other projects and programs that state funds alone cannot provide.
As the late KU Chancellor Franklin Murphy used to say, KUEA funding represents the frosting on the cake, the frosting that allows KU to excel.
It is understandable that state legislators would look at the more than $1 billion that has been raised over the past several years as money that would and should be used to pay for many KU needs. However, KUEA funds are not to be used to relieve the state from providing the funding that is essential for the sound operation of the school.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult for many legislators, as well as the general public, to think KU is facing fiscally hard times when the university finds money to buy a fancy jet. (Maybe there would be some justification in the minds of some lawmakers when they learn the plane will be used to help KU coaches in their recruiting efforts. Still others might be swayed when they learn the KU School of Medicine and KU Hospital doctors will use the plane in their medical outreach program.)
Private jet travel is quick and comfortable and, in many cases — perhaps most cases — saves time. But Kansas is not so big that turbo prop planes couldn’t provide excellent and timely service. In other cases, an automobile can, and should, be used — although arriving by jet is more impressive and someone else is doing the “driving.”