A letter to the editor of The Daily Oklahoman caught my attention this week. Donald W. Rominger Jr., of Tecumseh, wrote in response to an article about a hiring freeze at the University of Oklahoma.

Rominger said the article discusses problems with Oklahoma higher education that a hiring freeze won’t help. "State higher education isn’t in existence to 'save jobs' but to achieve efficiently and effectively the mission it’s given," Rominger wrote. "OU’s professed employment of 17,000 people amounts to fewer than two students for each employee. As a 46-year educator with 23 years in administrative budgeting experience, I find these figures reckless and irresponsible.

"Reading that OU President David Boren attributes his budget problems to a 'recession' relates more to Democratic campaign rhetoric than reality. The country is not in recession by any reasonable economic calculation; certainly Oklahoma isn’t.

"When you raise tuition by nearly 10 percent, it’s not the time to be arguing for saving jobs. Rather, it’s time to go down to doing your job."

This letter got me wondering: How is it that OU has brought in new professors and facilities and increased tuition with reckless abandon for many years? Is there consideration for efficiency in conveying knowledge? Maybe Boren instead of protecting jobs for the already employed should be ferreting out the non essential for student education and reducing expense even when there is no shortage of funds. -- Harold Powell