The University of Idaho parties harder than you, me or any other college student in town.

But it can’t match Riverside.

UI recently spent $14,000 to throw a goodbye party for former President Tim White, who left UI June 30 to become chancellor at the University of California, Riverside.

Lloyd Mues, UI’s vice president of Finance and Administration, told The Moscow-Pullman Daily News that the amount was “prudent.” Faculty Council Chairman Don Crowley said, “The people who were upset about it probably just didn’t go.”

With most students out of town for the summer, there were probably a lot of people who didn’t go or who didn’t even know about the party.

To be fair, students weren’t forced to pay for this. The $14,000 came from “unrestricted dollars,” which are donations made to the university that do not specify how the funds should be used.

Still, one wonders whether these donors would have been so generous if they knew $416 of those dollars went toward buying gifts for White and his family, including a crystal vase. The two largest individual expenses were $3,700 for catering and $5,000 for media production. Mues said most of this money was spent within the university, with less than $6,000 spent out of town. Some of this outgoing money went to produce a video featuring tributes to White from Gov. Butch Otter and other state officials. The remaining funds went toward decorations, set up and invitations.

The university spent nearly $3,900 earlier in the week for the catering and set up of White’s tree-planting ceremony.

Students are living in a different world. My car cost less than White’s party, and it’s not a beater. That amount could pay tuition and fees at UI for three in-state students. To most of us, $14,000 is a life-changing amount of money.

Spending money to say goodbye to White is a given. An outgoing university president deserves a formal farewell from the campus and community. But is a party for one individual worth as much — or more — as some full-time workers make in a year?

Again, we are living in a different world. White was president of UI for four years, less time than it takes many students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. His first-year salary at Riverside, $325,000, will be about $39,000 more than he was paid at UI last year. Riverside is also giving him $25,000 to relocate, an $8,916 annual vehicle stipend and a university-provided home. To him, a man of no mortgage, $14,000 is probably not a big deal.

If it were not a tacky and selfish move, making White pay for his own party would make a lot of sense. He can afford it.

This is the same guy who asked donors to give $35 million to make luxury renovations to the Kibbie Dome.

I can see it now — Tim White and Dennis Erickson, living it up in one of those $1.25-million box suites.

Couldn’t the $3,900 tree planting ceremony held earlier in the week have been part of the same evening of festivities? Those attending both functions would have saved travel time and fuel costs. Combining catering and media services might have saved some money.

Money that, in an economic recession, might not be replenished at the rate that UI has become accustomed to.

	1. 22-07-2008 01:03
	Hold the phone Comparing Tim White to Dennis Erickson is the most ignorant thing I have ever seen grace the pages of the Argonaut. The two are not in the same class and should not be compared to one another. Tim White has done tremendous things for Idaho and is leaving on good terms to allow another school to benefit from his leadership abilities. Dennis Erickson on the other hand abandoned Idaho in a sneaky and selfish way and would be stupid to ever show his face in Moscow again. It seems that if the students did not pay for the cost of the going-away party, then this article becomes nothing more than an unfounded complaint. As an alumnus I have nothing but the utmost of respect for Tim White and the things he did while president. I do not have respect however for this unjustified slander of his good name. It is a good thing the article's title has little to do with its content or someone might take the whole thing seriously. Registered

lueyboston

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.