Malloy wants to vet non-faculty hires by colleges and universities

Once again, it seems that the community colleges are being painted with the same broad brush as that used on the CSUs and UConn when, in reality, they are doing a perfectly fine job of managing their budgets, balancing their workforce, and providing a quality education to an ever-increasing student population. It is naive to think that only faculty contribute to this education - teaching and learning occur outside the classroom as well. And when there are 5 counselors for 1000 times that many students, can you really argue that a faculty hire is the only choice? It's insulting to imply that the choice to refill a position, transform an existing one, or reallocate resources is ever made lightly and without great thought. And for Mr. Barnes to think his office can provide value electronically and in no more than a day shows a decided lack of understanding of the colleges' processes and procedures. I still support the Governor's commitment to change, but suggest that some of his people spend some time with the community colleges before denigrating the work that's done there.

Has the existing system worked well? Far from it. Change is good and more accountability is required. Let's Give Governor Malloy the benefit of the doubt on these issues.

The hiring of some non-faculty is essential as the universities expand their facilities and bring on more students. But the hiring of friends and the politically connected to fill positions at the central offices is a waste of tax dollars. It will be interesting to keep track of the hacks flushed out of CSU, for example, to see what new state jobs they land. If the governor is truly serious, he will see that this form of job swapping does not occur.

OPM should talk. They have more high paying managers than any other department in the state. They should look in the mirror first and clean their own house of watse.
UConn already has to be approved by DAS to hire anybody, so why add another layer of FAT! Get rid of 1/3 of the cost in OPM and our budget will be half way to being in the balck.

I have to challenge realkooks assertion that "counseling is needed simply because most of the community college students can not do one or more of these functions or cope with other aspects of life and education." Counselors at community colleges assist students with choosing a course of study, examining career opportunities, preparing to transfer to baccalaureate institutions and, when needed, balance work, family and school demands. To imply that community college student are somehow sub-par because of the range of student services available to them is simply insulting.

Oh, that makes perfect sense! Add a layer of bureaucracy to hiring. Isn't that one of the reasons we ended up in this situation? Maybe there can be a new 'system office' full of empty suits getting paid 100k plus bennies (oh wait, the 100k salaries are for the chauffers - I hear Denise Nappier is looking for a new one!). Way to go Dannel.

I wonder, WHO does Gov Malloy think does most of the work outside the classroom? Faculty work 3-5 hours per week, they're gone early May - late August, and mid-December - late January. STAFF support the academic programs, if you relied on Faculty, you'd be very sorry. Half of them can't do the basics, like remember a password or type a letter. Perhaps you should expect more for your money, faculty in prof. schools are making just shy of 200k, before you look to reduce staff.

Ceecee13: after 30 years teaching, I earn $70k a year, while useless administrators earn over $300k just to multiply their empires at faculty expense. What private company can compete if it spends over 60% of its revenue on administrative overheads?
As for work hours, I teach 16 hours of classes each week, plus preparation and marking, and research. For several years my contact hours reached 30-40 hours a week, three semesters a year (summer included), without any benefit to me other than the satisfaction of seeing many hundreds of students from across the campus learning what they never imagined they could.
No, the non-faculty staff do NOT "support" the academic programs. At my university, academics give the course advice, write the lecture and lab notes and assignments, and mark the students' work. When a student has a personal problem, they come to their teachers first. Until recently, it was the academics who provided the IT services and who enrolled the students.
My department has two secretaries, one who is very efficient but is being made redundant by the university just to "save" money, and one junior who is shared with another department.
The central administration exists to multiply for its own sake, by heavily taxing the faculty, while providing no actual service for the students, unless you count heavy parking fees and fines as a "service".
My own office has not had any air-conditioning - heck, it doesn't even have air flow! I guess suffocation is supposed to be good for my productivity? - since the admin decided to centralise the control of all the university's ventilation systems.
Don't anyone DARE defend administrators. They are the worst parasites this planet has ever evolved. They will blithely kill the host institution, because they always have some new victim in sight.