“Fat City: Thank you, Illinois taxpayers, for my cushy life” is an article in The Weekly Standard by David Rubinstein. The article provides a peek inside a university professor’s life and lifestyle. It begins like this:

“After 34 years of teaching sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I recently retired at age 64 at 80 percent of my pay for life. This calculation was based on a salary spiked by summer teaching, and since I no longer pay into the retirement fund, I now receive significantly more than when I “worked”… I haven’t done the math but I suspect that, given a normal life span, these benefits nearly doubled my salary. And in Illinois these benefits are constitutionally guaranteed,

The writer then details his cushy life…thanks to the taxpayer’s generosity and ignorance. Whether it is Texas, Illionois, California or any other state -- university salaries, perks and lifestyles are about the same -- university professors are living large on taxpayers' dime.

The fact is this: most taxpayers are oblivious of how much we are spending at universities – and how much we are wasting.

Were universities a business, they would be out of business within the first quarter. (But university spokesmen are quick to say you can't make a comparison...particularly if you don't have a PhD...you just "don't understand"...shut up and pay the bills.)

Now, don’t get me wrong. Some university professors teach heavy loads and are dedicated to teaching. But it is obvious that Rubenstein’s story is likely typical.

Also, just in case you are getting all mushy on us thinking about your college days, try to be open-minded in reading this. Most of us love our colleges, have fond memories from those days, and cheer them on during football season.

But most of us also graduated years ago and didn’t walk across the stage with student debt. Today, student debt nationally exceeds credit card debt and as it totals almost $1 TRILLION, it may well be the next financial crisis.

So are we getting what we are paying dearly for?

No one tells it better than a retired professor who paints for us a vivid picture of his “working” days and the joys of retiring at taxpayer expense with a lifestyle most taxpayers can’t afford for themselves.

This hits home to me. I graduated from college – well, let’s say long enough ago to have a recent college graduate daughter who has student loans. As a single mom, I thought I was prepared for her college years. I have recent college sticker shock.

And as a taxpayer advocate in Texas for almost 20 years, I – like this college professor – can’t and won’t be silent.

Should we think Texas is the epicenter of a raging debate over higher education reform, this writer set the record straight:
“John Kasich, Republican governor of Ohio, has proposed that the teaching load of college professors be increased by one course every two years.

“Such efforts at restraint are routinely met with Wisconsin-like howls of outrage.”

Sound familiar?

The professor puts it all in perspective writing that those howling professors “are squeezing taxpayers—for whom the professors purport to advocate—whose lives are in most cases far harsher than their own.”

You can read the full article hear – and I do recommend you read it sitting down: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/fat-city_567621.html?page=1

But we don’t need to take it lying down. It’s time we push reforms that increase accountability and transparency, enhance accessibility and affordability in our universities. Governor Perry has asked universities to consider such reforms.

They are long overdue. Taxpayers, parents, and students are not going to accept the status quo – so university professors, let the howling begin. We can – and will -- howl louder.

UPDATE: It appears the edu-crats were not any too happy with the retired Prof Rubenstein who dared to openly expose how he and other professors “have it made” with big salaries, bigger retirements, and other ways students and taxpayer are being taken advantage of by the status-quo university system. Three professors wrote a lengthy letter to the Weekly Standard explaining how Rubenstein was an anomaly and that other professors would never take advantage of their position at the expense of the taxpayer.

In the letter from Professors Risman, Bridges and Orum, they wrote: "As three department heads who successively supervised Rubinstein during the last two decades of his career"...then the writers proceed to trash Rubenstein. It appears these writers were slackers themselves, as clearly they outline how they failed to supervise him. Let's get real. Risman, Bridges and Orum are upset that Rubenstein exposed what goes on in those ivory towers. With the prospect of higher ed reform, these status quo profs are simply circling the wagons to protect their gravy train. And in doing so they expose their own incompetency.

The Weekly Standard printed the three “supervisors” letter here: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/crossfire-fat-city_573227.html?page=...