Policy

Audit: Too Many Administrators With No One to Administer at Syracuse U.

Too many cooks in the kitchen.

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Administrator
Dreamstime

Syracuse University is scrambling to offer retirement buyouts after an audit discovered that the university employs hundreds of administrators who only oversee one or two employees.

According to The College Fix:

The report states 211 managers, or 30 percent, have only 1 "direct report," and another 134 managers have just two people reporting to them. Ninety-three managers have three people reporting to them, it adds, noting the private university employs "too many decision makers."

"Syracuse has a higher ratio of staff to faculty, and senior administrative staff to line-level administrative staff, than peer averages," states the report, which advises an organizational redesign to reduce administrative bloat.

The College Fix also noted—with an appreciable hint of sarcasm—that Syracuse was labeled a "Best Value" school by U.S. News & World Report in 2015.

Tuition is scheduled to increase again at Syracuse next year—to $41,974 per student—as is room and board. At least now students know why their education is so expensive: they are quite literally paying for edu-crats to sit around doing nothing.

When these stories arise, I usually point out that a bevy of bored administrators is an existential threat to students' free speech rights. This time, I will simply redirect to the Bias-Free Language Guide, a project born of idle bureaucracy if ever there was one.