our brains are in our hands

This is part of a Shakespeare themed sculpture outside the Maroney Theatre on the U of A campus. Seeing this, I couldn't help but think of the catastrophic state budget cuts being considered for the state's higher education system.

The loss of Governor Janet Napolitano to Obama's Homeland Security position comes at a particularly bad time -- she recognized the importance of our state's educational system more than many of our elected officials. Every state agency is going to have to make sacrifices, including universities. But we need to be wary of those among us that would have us sacrifice the future to live more comfortably today. To be or not to be... indeed.

I'm reminded of the importance of seed corn for the Anasazi -- we may be hungry now, but if we eat our stored seed corn [for next year's crop], then the future is going to be much, much worse...

• University of Arizona statement on proposed budget cuts
• Arizona State University statement on proposed budget cuts
• Northern Arizona University statement on proposed budget cuts

[Links: Kim over at the Spadefoot Toad has a post on this subject worth reading: So this is what we stand for]