Welcome To George Bush's America

Typically, when the economy tanks, things go gangbusters at colleges and universities. George Bush's legacy will be an economy that sucks so bad that even people cannot afford to invest in improving their own education. The theoretical causal relationship between downturns in the economy spurring a corresponding upswing in enrollments may completely be obliterated by the atrocities perpetrated by the W, Rove and Co over the last 8 years.

Welcome to George Bush's America. This just in from the CSU Chancellor's office:

For the past several months, the CSU has been taking actions to reduce costs while doing everything we can to protect our students, faculty and staff and to preserve the quality of our universities. These actions have included steps to limit the number of new students admitted in fall 2009 based on the state’s inability to fully fund enrollment growth and CSU’s operational needs. Today I am announcing additional mandatory measures for the Chancellor’s Office and all campuses including: travel restrictions for employees; the cancellation of all non-critical equipment and supply purchases; and a hiring freeze on all positions except those essential to the operation of the university.

In addition, we are implementing a salary freeze for all vice president level positions and above including presidents’ and vice chancellors’ salaries and my salary, effective immediately through the 2009-10 budget year.

We have also been forced to suspend and shut down state-funded design and construction projects on all of our campuses in response to the state’s freezing of $600 million in general-obligation and lease revenue bonds used to finance these projects. Unfortunately, hundreds of projects will be affected including libraries, performing arts centers, classrooms, administration buildings, seismic upgrades, laboratories and more.

When do the educational institutions that train America's workforce get their "bail out?" Certainly, if you want to remain competitive with a skilled workforce, you might want a viable educational system, no?