Worthy research

The economy shouldn’t force the state to cut funding for fine arts programs.

One defamatory news report.

One letter of reparation.

Six University professors.

Two news stories.

… and still no apology.

A Monday Red & Black news story discussed Atlanta-based WSB-TV’s report on professors allegedly using state funds for so-called frivolous trips abroad.

Even if the University had allocated funds, which it didn’t, for the trips – notably, to perform in Italy and study film in France – we still think they are worthy of receiving state funding.

In its report, WSB-TV neglected to discuss professors from Georgia Tech and Georgia State, most likely because the reasons for travel were related to the sciences.

Which poses a question of macrocosmic proportions – in an economic downturn, should we cut funding to fine arts programs? And what justifies that these programs are less worthy of tax dollars than others?

“It is not unusual that the arts are targeted during an economic downtown, but it is essential as a research institution that we support arts as well as sciences,” Franklin College Dean Garnett Stokes wrote in an e-mail to Franklin faculty.

The editorial board could not agree more.

Maybe WSB-TV did not realize its report was inaccurate. But that is not a legitimate reason for not issuing an apology for making the University look irresponsible and belittling programs and professions that are just as valuable as ones founded in science.

This economic climate has fostered a witch hunt mentality in which news organizations are seeking out ways to show how capricious the government and those in policy-making positions act with taxpayer money.

We all should be concerned with how our money is being spent, but we support any traveling that advances our professors’ careers and the University’s profile, regardless of the field of study in question.

- Chelsea Cook and Shannon Otto for the editorial board