Senseless statue

Spending $60,000 on a statue is not wise with the economy this bad.

The Red & Black editorial board is thrilled to learn that, in a time when professors are being furloughed and students are delaying graduation in hopes that the job market will bounce back, steps are being taken to keep campus pretty.

In a little over a year, North Campus will be graced with a statue of Abraham Baldwin – the first president of the University. Its $60,000 price tag will be paid by the Alumni Association (it will not detract from the other donations they make).

Loch Johnson – the Regents Professor of Political Science here at the University – has spearheaded the campaign because he knows that furloughs are temporary, but a statue lasts forever.

One University professor will no longer need to worry about pay cuts and furloughs. Kinzey Branham, a faculty member from the art department, will receive $30,000 for sculpting Baldwin.

Thursday’s editorial “Grant money woes” talked about how a state grant of $836,470 to the University can only be used in prescribed ways. Both that federal money and this donation from the Alumni Association are prime examples of a reason the economy is in such dismal shape: people handing out money to be used in manners that are not needed.

One of Johnson’s main supporters in this venture is Senior Vice President for External Affairs Tom Landrum. He stated that the money that is not used on the statue will be put toward academic purposes. This seems backwards to the editorial board.

As a school, our primary goal should be education. The aesthetic of our campus needs to be secondary.

Johnson and Landrum stress that this statue of Baldwin will add to the history of campus and connect present generations to the past.

We are worried that in addition to needless spending, they’re ignoring the realities of today. In a “bold” move, Baldwin will face away from the depravity students can find in the 89 bars downtown and toward an idyllic college campus – a campus where students can find underage drinking in the dorms, tons of tailgating trash following home football games and years of sexual harassment still being addressed.

If Abraham Baldwin were here to see what has become of the university he founded, we wonder if he would agree that this statue takes precedence over the myriad of other problems facing the University today.

Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe Baldwin would see the wisdom behind this venture and agree that it’s as necessary as sustainable trees.

- Megan Otto for the editorial board.