UWF Inc ?

I am really looking for some constructive feedback on this issue.

Our local university, University of West Florida, has set up a non-profit corporation. This is the brainchild of a new Vice President who apparently has done this at other universities. The story goes that colleges and universities are suffering financially, due to cutbacks in government funding. These corporations are being set up to allow the college to operate businesses in the private sector that will bring revenue into the university iteself. In the case of UWF there are two primary ventures causing angst among many people; one is the purchase of a nearby "country club" which is really just a golf course with a pro shop, bar and banquet facilities, the other is a piece of beach property that seems to have been entrusted to the university by the State of Florida (or some other government entity) for the purposes of preservation and archaeology.

The VP @ UWF says the naysayers will be staunch supporters about a year after things get going. I'd like to be one of the supporters if this is good and a right thing to do. However, I have the following issues with this;

1. Basic Business Principles. If the university cannot survive on the money it receives from tuition, fees and other charges, shouldn't the university be questioning its very business plan (if it has one)? If you or I set up a business and couldn't fund the operations with the revenue we receive, our business would have to close up. These educational institutions have been able to pay top dollar for faculty, the grounds are always meticulously manicured. They have added sports complexes, recreational facilities and all this has been subsidized by the taxpayers.

2. Effect on Private Sector. The university says acquiring the golf course will allow them to use the club as a training ground for their business students. They say it will allow them to offer "real world experience." My question is; are you fabricating the "real world experience?" This club doesn't employ a lot of people (likely less than 50). In the real world, those people will lose their jobs. In the real world, the majority of what this club offers is golf and the occasional wedding reception. Since the university's newly formed corporation isn't required to disclose records to the general public, the current revenue and profitability of the country club is unknown. Out here in the real world, it is hard to believe the golf course would even be interested in selling if it was doing significant revenue with a good profit margin.

The university is also planning a hotel and convention center. Currently there are numerous hotels within 3 miles of the university. Many of these are either new or newly renovated. These hotels derive a significant amount of business from the various sporting events and conferences held at the university. So again, out here in the real world, which the UWF VP wants the students to experience, these hotels will see their business decline in direct proportion to the amount of business taken on at a new UWF hotel.

One question nobody has asked is whether or not prices at the operations run by the university's corporation will undercut the competition unfairly.

3. Beach development? Yep. It seems that the beach property that was entrusted to the university is now going to be opened up for development. This from the same university that has opposed a bike path at the beach previously. And if the property was entrusted by the government, shouldn't the taxpayers have the final say on what gets done with that property?

4. Who is on the hook if there are any losses? So far, we're told that the money to purchase the golf course will come from a bank loan. However, I've never heard of a bank making a 100% loan to a business with no prior year tax returns or historical profit/loss information. Remember; the university can't currently make it on the money they're generating already. What if the additional purchases through the non-profit corporation don't pan out? Are there sufficient protections for the taxpayers?

5. Who actually gets paid? The UWF VP is the President of the newly formed corporation. How much money will the executives of this new corporation be paid? Will they have "golden parachute" plans in place? Will they benefit financially regardless of profits passed through to the university? Because this is a private corporation, we the taxpayers don't get the opportunity to scrutinize those details.

In the end, I find it ironic that so often it is academia bad-mouthing the big corporate giants as greedy, yet here is academia going into the private sector to generate money they so desperately need. Maybe profit isn't the demon so many people believe it to be.

This situation appears to be a perfect opportunity to educate the general public. Instead of telling us skeptics to just believe, how about giving us an objective education on this venture.

Tell me what you think.