It was with one eyebrow raised that I read your page one article "Board discusses how to deal with funding problem" (SN 8/11). I was struck by the irony of the trustees mulling over MSU's financial bind while on "retreat" at an exclusive resort in Bay Harbor.

Before my drive through northern Michigan this weekend, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but my first-hand glimpses of the area's yacht club, equestrian club, and golf courses made me wonder just how much this meeting cost the university.

The schedule on the board's Web site lists three "Work Sessions" and a "Media Briefing." Did anyone at this briefing ask the trustees how much it costs to put up nine-plus people at a four-star resort for three days, plus meals, transportation, entertainment, etc.?

In the grand scheme of a $21 million decrease in funding, a three-day retreat may not seem like much, but could another grad student have been supported, another undergraduate given a scholarship and another staff member kept his or her job if they had met at the Holiday Inn instead, or - gasp - here on campus.

How many of these working vacations (and other frills), not just by trustees, but by all administration, faculty, etc., are borne by the university budget? In the article, Interim President Lou Anna Simon was quoted as saying, "We want to find a way to be strong advocates of MSU." Here's a suggestion: How about some fiscal responsibility from our leaders?

Liz Graffy
graduate student