Editor’s note: The word limit for this letter has been waived for clarity.

I have a hard time understanding $80 million in cuts and I can tell that most people writing into the Viewpoint section do as well. $80 million is a really big number, but many of the ‘solutions’ I’ve seen here don’t actually get us very far to our goal or attempt to remove topics from the discussion table.

On Monday, the staff editorial complained that upper-level administrators, like the chancellor, make too much money and should take pay cuts to help the University. Top administrators–mostly professors–have a lot of responsibilities, make difficult decisions and likely work far longer and harder than many realize. The fact that their pay has not changed over the years is probably a good indicator that it is fair compensation. Also, a good administrator probably saves multiples of his or her salary by working out deals and bringing in external funding.

Manan Chandra tried to remove the possibility of eliminating courses or changing course frequency from the table. He defended this position from behind a shield of “education quality.” I wish I had space to properly address him: NCSU’s business is education; therefore all cuts will affect education. Quality is not quantity. Class availability changes only require a student to better plan their schedule.

 ”Drastic times [do] indeed call for drastic measures.” Please throw out the whittling tools and get out a saw. Making this work is going to hurt because the low hanging fruit was eliminated last year. Ending or combining degree programs may be preferable to nickel-and-diming all programs out of effectiveness. I don’t intend to discourage those with ideas, but we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want people to realize that this problem is much bigger than we think and that there will be wounds when it’s over.

Matt Johnson

senior, mechanical engineering