EDITORIAL: "Robert Casey, Scholar"

In a lecture accompanying the state budget announcement February 5, Governor Robert Casey explained, "There's no way to sugarcoat it: New York doesn't pay to operate Columbia. New Jersey doesn't pay for Princeton. Massachusetts doesn't pay for Harvard. So with this budget Pennsylvania is getting out of the business of paying for private colleges and institutions." Alas, Princeton University and Columbia University do receive funding. Apparently Pennsylvania is now so poor that it can't afford to do its homework or adequately research its presentations. Casey, incidentally, recommends that schools trim internally, rather than increase revenue through tuition hikes. Perhaps here he has learned the lessons of experience. Last year, the governor played a part in Pennsylvania's precedent-setting $2.9 billion tax increase -- quite a "tuition increase," of sorts. This year, he has proposed a budget that, although it would end an 89-year tradition of state funding, will nevertheless increase spending $190 million. An excellent demonstration of internal trimming. So the governor continues to pass the buck to the University, even as he proposes not passing any more bucks. Governor Casey: scholar, teacher, example for us all.

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