I became a licensed tree expert by examination in Illinois in 1975, and a certified arborist in California in 1999. My experience is vast, beginning in Atlanta, Ga., in 1973 and working in 20 states and five Canadian provinces, retiring last year.

The arborist examination offered by the International Society of Arboriculture is an entry level exam which students who have a good instructor at a college that teaches the subject can usually pass.

I am disturbed with Sul Ross State University President Pete Gallego’s recent decision to pause the tree removals during a major landscaping project to consult with a certified arborist. A person with his or her masters in landscape architecture should be far more qualified to determine which trees fit the xeriscape design, especially on his own project. According to “Skyline” reporter Nora Hillery, Blue Water Natural Foods Company provided an online voice for “more than 20 respondents – alumni, residents and tourists – [who] sharply criticized the removal of trees from campus.”

That decision was not made locally. The Texas state legislature contributes a little less than half of the annual SRSU budget, and all of it is spent on infrastructure, hence the landscaping. The federal government contributes a little less than 20%, and the rest is made up from tuition and fees, bonds, private donations through 503(c)(3) organizations like the SRSU Foundation, endowments, and so on.

Mr. Gallego, once and maybe always a politician, has a new constituency – students who pay tuition and those who pay tuition for them. Unless the 20 alumni, residents, and tourists contribute to student education or campus life, their voices are not the voices he should be listening to.

Less than a third of the total budget is spent on teaching and research, the primary functions of any university. During the current controversy over whether to leave the TSU System and join the TAMU System, the real question is which system will emphasize teaching and research? Which system will raise the $65,000 salary of a professor with a doctorate in mathematics above that of a truck driver or the national average for an elementary teacher?

The minor question is, do President Gallego’s strengths outweigh his penchant for halting work because of offcampus, online opinion? Have we come to that?

Rex Redden

South Brewster County