ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 12, 1994                   TAG: 9412140023
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COLLEGES

YOU'D THINK a self-proclaimed conservative like Gov. George Allen would try to cut unnecessary bureaucracy in government.

Oh well. In the matter of college and university hiring, anyway, he and his administration are insistent: More red tape, please.

The trouble begins with Allen's Dec. 1 freeze on hiring new state employees. Under the gubernatorial order, any exemptions must be approved, case by case, by the administration in Richmond.

Or, taking it back a step, the trouble begins with Allen's pandering passion for tax-cutting - in a state with an uncommonly low tax burden, yet facing extraordinary future spending claims due in some measure to the governor's own policies.

Employment freezes sometimes are necessary, as a quick-and-dirty response to fiscal crisis. But there's no fiscal crisis in Virginia government other than the one Allen is attempting to manufacture.

Wise leaders prune, but they do so selectively. Moreover, they rely on the expertise of managers closer to the actual operations to make the decisions.

The state's colleges and universities are scattered across the commonwealth, fund many of their personnel from sources other than state taxes, and make heavy use of temporary faculty and a student labor force that changes constantly. Allen's education secretary, former Virginia Tech official Beverly Sgro, appeared to understand this when she issued a memorandum seemingly exempting many types of jobs: grant-funded faculty appointments, for instance, or student cafeteria workers paid from enterprise revenues.

But no, said the governor's office last week. Each replacement employee must be approved, one by one, from Richmond.

Why the micromanagement? Why can't budget guidelines be set for each institution, and then let the institutions determine the best way to meet them? Why, in the name of reducing state employment, force colleges and universities to pay people to do the paperwork for winning permission from Richmond every time a student worker is hired for the dining hall? This is ridiculous. 


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