All universities today have bloat, but in contrast to what Prez Brown would have you believe, it is not in the staff or the faculty that this bloat lies. It is in the incessant number of administrative positions, assistant VPs, associate VPs, special advisors to the Prez, and so on. Much of the work of these administrators could be taken up by the deans or done by staff who would not suck up the ridiculous salaries that these positions are given. Why not get rid of them? Instead, the president puts the hit on staff positions and any new faculty positions -- positions that DIRECTLY impact the students for whom the university exists. Whenever these crises happen, staff and faculty are asked to do more with less, take a hit on merit pay (and for faculty, there is no cost-of-living increases in salary, only merit based increases exist), and is some cases, faculty in schools like MET or CGS who live on one year contracts (so that they can be dismissed rapidly if the need arises) are targeted to bring down costs. Basically, universities have become as immoral as Wall Street--the administrators are like the CEOs of the banks and financial institutions we see in crisis today. They want their hefty salaries and bonuses (or golden parachutes) and to hell with everyone else. Eventually this lassez faire attitude will come back to haunt universities who fail to reign in administrative bloat and salaries and instead cut back on staff and faculty while keeping tuition and fees high. Want to keep the university safe in these uncertain times?--make it affordable to go here and then hire enough staff and faculty to efficiently and effectively deal with the students and cut back on administrators. Cut back on "pretty" projects that cost millions (and you sit there and wonder, how did that cost millions when you see the end product) and just provide the necessary things needed to teach. Get rid of the plethora of unnecessary administrators and ask those who are left to work harder for their hefty paychecks. It would be nice to see those folks work as hard as the staff do ...