Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!emory!athena.cs.uga.edu!mcovingt
From: mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington)
Newsgroups: comp.admin.policy
Subject: Re: harassing mail
Message-ID: <1991May22.123607.3430@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Date: 22 May 91 12:36:07 GMT
References: <1991May21.232534.17880@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> <1991May22.004900.21797@athena.cs.uga.edu> <1991May22.042638.18885@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Lines: 55

In article <1991May22.042638.18885@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> jasonrey@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Jason Phillips) writes:
>In article <1991May22.004900.21797@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
>>
>>Now if you want to set up your own computer and your own network, you can
>>say anything you want. But if we're providing you the computer access
>>for free, and the network access for free, you have no right to embarrass
>>us.              
>
>Only one question: do students pay to attend your university?  If so, where
>does the 'free' part originate from?
>
>    --- jason
>
  (smile)  You obviously have no idea how a university is financed.
  If each student had to pay his share of running the university,
  tuition would be $100,000 to $200,000 per year, or more.

  Some very small private universities do manage to collect nearly
  all their operating expenses from tuition. They are noted for high
  tuition and not having very much to offer.  (Small, mediocre schools
  for the rich.)

  The rest of us have many funding sources:
    -- Tuition (this is a small to negligibly small part of it);
    -- Grants and research contracts (this pays for a whopping large
	 part of the computer facilities at most institutions);
    -- The endowment (in the case of most good private universities,
	 this consists of a large collection of investments that produce
	 large income every year);
    -- Subsidy by state legislature (in the case of most state universities,
	 this covers a LARGE part of the operating expenses, IN ADDITION
	 to income from the endowment [=land grant]).

  My personal opinion is that in-state tuition should be zero. As it is,
  tuition is a very small part of the University's income, and it gives 
  students the unfortunate illusion that they are paying for the
  University's services. In reality, everyone that we admit is thereby
  receiving a large scholarship -- we educate people without making them
  pay anything like the real cost of the education.

  By "for free" I also meant another thing. Computers are generally set
  up by specific units within the University (departments, the computer
  center, etc.) for specific purposes, and users (or users' departments)
  very often do not have to pay the department that owns the computer
  in order to be allowed to use it.
    
  Finally, by "embarrass" I was referring specifically to email intended
  to libel or harrass -- NOT to the ideas expressed in the mail, but rather
  to the intent of carrying out a destructive personal attack.

-- 
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Michael A. Covington | Artificial Intelligence Programs
The University of Georgia  |  Athens, GA 30602   U.S.A.
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