2008 Woodie Awards
UConn's Presidential Fee Bill: The Cost Of Hogan's Inauguration? $170,000
Tom Crosby
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: News
|
So what is the tab for three days of fun, food and fireworks? $170,000, according to Karen Grava, UConn's director of media communications.
"It's important for us as a university to let the public know about what we're doing and how we're doing it," said Grava. "Our goal for the inauguration was to include both the students and the community."
Because UConn is a publicly-funded university, there are two main sources of income that make up what is called the general operating budget. This is a combination of state tax dollars and tuition money that is used to bring you events such as the inauguration festivities.
Saturday night's fireworks show over Mirror Lake cost the university $5,000. For the full 15-minute show, that comes out to $333.33 per minute, or $5.56 per second.
What about the invitations to this grand party? According to Grava, the invitations, which cost the university a total of $29,000, ended up being so expensive because the planning committee "felt that the invitations represented the university, so they had to be of top quality."
Then there was Sunday's post-inauguration ceremony festival. With enough food to feed 4,000 people in a tent that fits 700, the campus-wide event wound up costing UConn $70,000 dollars after booking fees and the like.
But those numbers are only part of the party expenses. The entire cost for the weekend - when all the other events and ancillary fees are added up came to the full $170,000.
Contact Tom Crosby at
Tom.Crosby@UConn.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 9
Phil Gilberto
posted 4/15/08 @ 10:36 AM EST
So this story accounts for $104,000 of the $170,000. What was the other $66,000 spent on? And what is the point of the story? Is the author saying there is something wrong with the inauguration or are they questioning the cost? I guess it was just meant to be informative with no real opinion. (Continued…)
Will
posted 4/15/08 @ 10:52 AM EST
An absurd waste of money.
Bryan Ohlund
posted 4/15/08 @ 11:28 AM EST
This story seems quite critical of a practice that does not take place every year. It is good thing that the University was trying to include the students in a ceremony that was traditionally a very boring affair. (Continued…)
RIDIC
posted 4/15/08 @ 11:30 AM EST
That is an absurd amount of money.
K
posted 4/15/08 @ 12:32 PM EST
People constantly complain that there are not enough fun things to do on campus besides drink. Well, when something fun does happen, that celebrates the university and drums up school spirit, people complain how much it costs? I'm sorry, it is that catch-22 that is ridiculous, not the measly $170,000 (doesn't USG have something like a $1 million budget??) that created a great weekend for the campus and the community. (Continued…)
Calm down
posted 4/15/08 @ 1:30 PM EST
That sum of money isn't much considering all of the stuff that went on over the weekend. I thought it was funny, how the reporter said how much the fireworks cost per second. (Continued…)
Debbie Z
posted 4/15/08 @ 1:40 PM EST
Not knowing how much previous inaugurations cost the University, $170,000 does sound like a lot to spend. However, how often does this happen? The inauguration of President Hogan was a three-day event honoring a man who seems to be good for UConn, truly seems to enjoy his job, the people, students, sports and the environment as a whole. (Continued…)
G-Man
posted 4/15/08 @ 4:10 PM EST
The whole point is how much could have had saved?
I received an invitation card about Hogan's celebration. I was amazed by how nicely it was designed and considering it given to every grad student, that's a lot of money. (Continued…)
Post a Comment