Restoring lavish university salaries with Alaskans’ PFDs?

By
Suzanne Downing
-
105

The House of Representatives appears to be on the verge of restoring $110 million to the University of Alaska system, adding back most of the cuts made by Gov. Michael Dunleavy as he sought to correct the fiscal imbalance that has brought Alaska’s Legislature to a standstill.

[Read: Up next, another $330 million in spending, $1,600 PFD]

At the same time, it appears the House may vote for a $1,600 Permanent Fund dividend, far less than the $3,000 that Alaska Statute calls for.

That news, plus a recently circulated white paper from the Office of Management and Budget, has raised the ire of conservatives, who see lavish salaries, duplicative programs, and far too many administrators for the university.

They say the cuts are long overdue and that the university system needs restructuring. Among the key points in the OMB white paper:

  • The Dunleavy Administration cut 41 percent of the state’s contribution to the University of Alaska, but the reduction is less than 17 percent of the system’s entire budget, which has access to other funds. The reductions, according to the OMB, bring the state contribution from more than double the average U.S. state contribution to about 35-40% higher than U.S. average.
  • The primary cost-driver issue for the University was developing two separately accredited full-service universities in the state — Anchorage and Fairbanks, the OMB report says. The university has lost 19 percent of its student body since 2012, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently closed a third dormitory due to lack of students.
  • Add to that the duplicate programs at Fairbanks and Anchorage, such as engineering, business management, arts and sciences, and education. OMB posits that UAF and UAA are competing for the same students, but UAF is increasingly unable to attract students because of its high cost. UAF only has 3,616 full time equivalent students (about the size of Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, where acceptance rate is 97 percent and graduation rate is 30 percent).

7.11.19 White Paper – University – Final

ADMINISTRATION HEAVY

The University system’s payroll shows that more than 50 percent of employees are administrative or campus support staff. Many staff positions are duplicative because the same programs are offered at two or more campuses.

The University of Alaska has 100 executive management staff, including dozens of chancellors, provosts, deans, and directors, whose average salary and benefit packages are higher than $175,000 per year. From the white paper linked above, Must Read Alaska clipped these salaries:

105 COMMENTS

  2. Bravo Sierra ! UAA can’t maintain accreditation so why are we pouring more good money into a bottomless pit, they UAA is not giving the quality education they are getting paid to provide.

    • UAA did not lose accreditation; however the Department of Education (Anchorage) lost accreditation in 3 of their programs due to 1 (yes, 1 person) not doing their job. Sad but true. Otherwise all 3 college campuses have worked hard and have successfully attained and maintained their accreditations.

      • “In the end, the unit didn’t do enough work. So who was involved in the accreditation effort? That would be faculty– the faculty, the dean, the person, the assessment and accreditation director. It was a group. Accreditation isn’t ever something that’s done by one person.” Dr. Claudia Dybdahl, the acting dean of the College of Education, UAA. KTUU Feb 18 2019
        L Shearer, are you lying?

        • That quote sounds, to me, like someone, who may be responsible, defending themselves. It sounds believable but the average citizen wouldn’t know what sort of checks and balances are in place there (UAA).
          That loss of accreditation was very specific and for some reason the person(s) responsible haven’t been punished/exposed. The cause is certainly known, by now, and it’s unacceptable that we don’t know the cause IMO.

      • Who cares!!! The fact is we don’t have the money for professors to live fat on the hog and have duplicate programs. If you want to go to college pay for it yourself. Stealing $20,000 from my family is disgusting and from the rest of us Alaskans. We don’t want to pay for it!!! That’s why we voted for Dunlevy!!!

    • Oh John! I like those very supportive words. I’m hoping we are talking about the same budget, the only true budget, the one voted and accepted by the legislator in June, but that was vetoes by Dunleavy. Yes, I agree one should not change the approved budget.

      • Marc ———Vetoed by Dunleavy as he is the governor and retains the power to do so, and vetoed because our state government is bloated, we are spending more than we have, and we need to spend less. He ran on a campaign of reining in state spending. There technically was no approved budget yet.

        • Elizabeth, yes and the legislator have the power to restore the vetoes with bill.

          And yes, you are right Alaska is spending more than it has because Alaska does not have any income, besides oil royalties – which allow the government to give a generous handout. Maybe Alaska should raise an income tax, lower the oil tax credit.
          Dunleavy ran on a campaign not to cut Education, to take care of the Elder, and to maintain a stable economic climate, and promise to pay back the whole PFD.
          On all of those 4 points, Dunleavy failed the State of Alaska.

  4. I knew the top salaries were obscene but this just proves it. The president should have been fired at the least for mismanagement and the loss of accreditation of the education program. If he and the other top salaries each voluntarily took a 10-15% reduction in their salaries it would really help. Instead, they got raises this year! They have raised tuition each year (and a couple of times each semester) for several years. Was that to justify the high salaries?

  5. This does not list the $600,000 salary for the hockey coach that is on the SOA website…tax payers should not be paying for the hockey program. In my opinion.

    • I’m with you. Although we should know what the coach will say — that he (or she) brings in more money in donations than he (I’m guessing) costs.
      .
      I don’t know if that’s true but it is worth subtracting the donation amount from the cost of the program.

    • @Lara Madden, you may be unaware of it, but the Hockey Coach is gone since the cut a couple of years back. The list of the SOA website isn’t anymore up to date.

    • Where did you see 600k? Everything I read says 165k plus bonuses up to about 275 if uaa wins everything. Please post whe you get your information else others will repeat it without facts. I am all for the cuts so that uaa starts budgeting.

      • Wayne Stevens —— Given we forfeited the subsurface rights to our property in exchange for resource revenues, and taxes from developers of those revenues, going to help fund state operations, and the pfd which allows for us to actually pocket dividends from our shared investment in state resources – we are indirectly paying taxes and our elected officials are supposed to be using them responsibly, which they have not been.
        Here is a good info site as my explanation is very very simplistically generalized.
        http://www.alaskabudget.com/revenue/

      • What difference does it make? It’s public money. Your attitude is the reason we’re in this mess.

    • You mean that despite the higher cost of living the salaries are actually lower?
      .
      Stop this. You are confusing me while I’m trying to get my rage on. I came here to get angry at snooty, elitist university sorts.
      .
      Oh look, a red cape. I’ll chase that.

      • I can see your sarcasm. I hear your cheeky irreverence. I’ll bet you read things and come to independent conclusions. I’ll bet you listen to ProPublica. And I’m almost positive you don’t tithe to Jerry Falwell. Libtard. Commie. ANTIFA!

      • Yeah, it’s weird how the CEO of Ford makes waaay more than the CEO of CIRI, despite the cost of living here. So confusing.

      • Weird how the CEO of Ford makes waaay more than the CEO of CIRI, despite the higher cost of living here. So confusing.

    • You mean the campus that had 59,000 + enrolled students in 2018? That school? Well they have many accredited classes and more students….. oh and a $7.84 Billion (with a B) dollar budget……so may be they can afford that kind of salary

    • She (President of UW) is also under attack for her high salary and the school’s financial position. https://outline.com/5fLu7T

      She also donate’s a portion of her salary back to the students in the form of scholarships.

      Let’s ignore the fact that you’re implying the UA system holds a level of prestige equal to UW. Their rankings are not comparable.
      “The University of Washington is ranked No. 14 in the world — No. 3 among U.S. public universities — on the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released this month”
      https://outline.com/Yy9Cwr

    • Why compare apples to oranges ? Even though UW is run by socialists, they actually have programs that generate revenue.

      • Mr. Constanza —— Aha! What a concept! Which is what UA should be doing – seeking to generate more revenue through programs, and seeking more research funding and presence. Possibly they are a tad resting on stare picking up the tab just a tad too much….

        Soup for you!

    • The University of Washington is a University,……unlike the “pretending to be a University” that we have.

  8. 1) There are two laws. The law passed second supersedes the first.
    .
    2) “Duplicate programs” means students in North Pole will need to travel to Anchorage for school. I hope Tammie Wilson understands this.
    .
    3) Fairbanks is a research institution and the world leader in arctic research
    .
    4) How, exactly, are you going to ensure that these cuts are only impact the top paid admins? AL tells us that eliminating them all gets us to 13.2 million. Only 122 million to go!
    .
    Don’t fool yourself. Eliminate everyone on the list and you still have 122 million to go.
    .
    How are you going to make these cuts without hurting students? Hint: trick question, it’s impossible to do so.

      • Loraine — If they could they would. They don’t have it, UA has one of the smallest land grants of the land grant unis. What they do have can compete with the sell offs that the state is undertaking.
        .
        Kevin — an honest answer, from someone who understands the implications of the cuts.
        .
        So cripple we the economies of Fairbanks and Juneau. Kill a thriving fisheries program, give up Alaska’s title to be being the world leader in Arctic research, end a number of successful internship programs . . . for what, exactly? What good comes of this?

        • Saying UA is one of the smallest land grant colleges is incorrect. Saying UA received one of the smallest portions of their land grant is correct. UA is still owed land, just like the State of Alaska is. Deals were cut before the statehood compact that reduced tye amount of land UA would receive but there is still land owed. If UA spent any time trying to get the land owed instead of simply trying to suckle from the public teat they could have weaned themselves off decades ago, but why would they when free money from other people is so much easier?

          • part 2 — not all “spending” is the same. Some spending is lost, some spending is investment.

          • What’s so impressive about acknowledging the facts? I do it all the time. I sure wish more people would do the same, if that were the case we wouldn’t be in the problems we are in.

      • The University should support the students, the state’s population and transportation hub is in Anchorage. It should have the flagship campus, not Fairbanks.

    • Those in the positions to cut, rarely to never cut their own salaries or compensation packages. They almost always cut the areas that hurt the public the most so that the public whines and writes letterers to the “cutters’ and the newspapers decrying the cuts.

    • Not! ???. Consolidating programs under shared admin does not negate a presence at a campus. A friend of mine just finished her masters, from a highly respected east coast college, entirely through distance education. Never set foot on the campus. We are in an age of serious technology and a program of study completion can be achieved through a combination of brick and mortar, blackboard, live lectures, distance Ed, etc etc. One campus can hold the primary administration but there could be professors present at the other campuses and they can also travel. Our daughter graduated from UAF recently and half her classes where distance education, a couple classes were based at UAA.

  9. For once Suzanne cites her source, which I’m very happy she did, as I like to double check the source.

    She should have clipped the whole executive position, and you will have seen that an Associate Dean/Faculty can also earn a much lower salary $102.723 (-80000$ from Suzanne’s preferred number), or a director admin could be at $143,074, (-100000$ from Suzanne’s preferred number).

    • Could be, but are they? Doesn’t appear so does it.

      Just because something can happen doesn’t mean it is happening. I could be a millionaire but I’m not. I could be an astronaut but I’m not. I could be a lot of things that I’m not.

      Cue Bill Yankee…

      • O! Steve-O,
        I like it, then following your beloved reasoning “Just because something can happen doesn’t mean it is happening.” I’m just going to apply this directly at what you think about UA. UA could be bloated but it’s not. Admin could be overpaid, but it’s not.
        Cheers Steve-O, you could be, but you’re not

    • It’s also worth noting that this list is total compensation (total cost to employer), not salary. Total compensation includes things like leave liability and health benefits and is often 30% more than salary. For context, a position making 200,000 on this list is likely bring home $154,000 before taxes; probably netting $107,000 after taxes. They also are likely to have a PhD or at least a masters, which means a substantial up front investment in education, which also means they have the choice the work quite a few places to UA has to pay competitive wages to attract them. Basic job market economics.

      • If they have the choice to work at quite a few places then I expect we won’t see out of work professors in the soup line living on the street the way some (most) of the doomsayer’s are claiming.

      • Wow, these poor people who can barely make it on a quarter million a year, should go elsewhere then.

  10. Question/civics lesson, please: Will Dunleavy just veto the replacement appropriations? Seems he would, if he as authority to do so.

    • Of course he will and Alaska will fall into deep disrepair. We are already the talk of the Nation for the dysfunction, and draconian cuts that the spoiled brat has to have. He and his socialist comrades have to have their full PFD at the cost of a once great state.

      • Let me get this straight Tim: So you are implying that The guy who wants to give the Alaska Citizens the money owed to them instead of allowing the AK Government to grab it to pay for bloated Government is a “socialist”????? Man……..read a Civics book.

  11. As to eliminating duplicate salary, south dakota has been doing it for years — it’s called ddn campus worked great when I was in school 10 years ago.

  12. Just as I suspected, the UA system is top heavy with administrative personnel and the idiots in the house want to restore funding to keep status quo. Yep, let’s just pretend that we don’t have a budget deficit, let’s not give the citizens their full PFD and let’s give that can one more good, swift, kick down the road.

    I hope Dunleavy sees through the BS and vetos this absurd bill.

  13. The #3 Largest Budget Item:
    REMEMBER, this is only the list of Executives from the Univ of AK. In this day and age, one might start thinking about ‘streamlining’ UA Programs, Eliminating – Consolidating Campuses, Implementing a totally restructured university system based on efficiency and lower cost of operation. Obviously, there’s some very high paid individuals that might have a workable solution, but all that we’ve heard from the University crowd is doom-and-gloom, cries of Armageddon.
    …
    The #2 Largest Budget Item:
    What kind of salaries are we paying for within the Dept of Education (K-12), what types of Bloated Bureaucracy and In-Efficiency dollars are being expended in relation to producing what performance metric?
    …
    The #1 Largest Budget Item:
    FINALLY, what ‘specifically’ and ‘exactly’ do we get for the dollars expended within the Dept of Health & Social Services … something like $3-BILLION???
    …
    As a final thought, that list is emblematic of a much larger problem in that a majority of these State Agencies have morphed into such large and expensive Bureaucracies, with very rich salaries and benefits as well as expensive infrastructures, no doubt producing ‘nice’ heartfelt – warm things BUT, these are really nothing of ‘essential services’ that SOA should be funding at this level of expenditure.

  14. Approximately 35,000 students attend the Univ of Alaska statewide. These salaries for that many students is outrageous. Liberals protecting liberals.

      • WOW!
        …
        Based on the Univ of AK 2019 Budget of $888,548,000
        …
        With only 17,000 students within the Univ of AK
        …
        Results in the SOA subsidy of $52,000 per student per year.
        …
        Let that ‘simple math’ factoid set in.

        • To think that is only double what we pay for K-12 public school kids!

          Now imagine the education that anybody could provide privately with that kind of dough!!!

        • Stop putting out false numbers. The state does not “subsidize” 888 million. That’s is UA overall budget. That includes all money taken in by the U like grants and tuition. Much of that money is restricted. You can’t spend research money on anything except the research you got the grant for. For every one dollar the U spends on research it brings in six. That’s a good return on investment for the state. The states contribution last year was 327 million. The governors vetoes cut 41% of of the states contribution. That level of cut will gut our research programs and lose students. If we want research done on Alaska it should be done by Alaskans in Alaska. The UA is one of the best job training programs in the state. Do we want other states to educate (and keep) many of our best students? Do we want to to rely on other states for our teachers, nurses, engineers, etc.or do we want to train Alaskans for those jobs?

          • Maybe(?) …. It’s more beneficial economically / efficiently to have other states educate and train teachers, nurses, engineers, etc. ???
            Maybe(?), we should have an honest and pragmatic discussion so that we understand the “claimed” ROI of the UofA System?
            Maybe(?), one or many of those highly paid administrators can articulate clearly the value – benefit of those high salaries and $888MM budget and why we should continue to fund / subsidize this institution at these levels and, if we do so what is the intended outcome (something that is measurable that folks can be held accountable for)?

  15. Suzanne, this was the article I’ve been waiting for. These overpaid leaches are raping our state. Most of them have their bags packed, and can’t wait to leave Alaska after they collect their last check. Please publish names to go with titles so we can see who us raping us.

  16. People,

    Nobody is raising the fact that the University is a land grant entity. This designation requires that they find a way to meet their own budget needs. by selli g off assets.Gee, maybe they just forgot……

    • The UA system has around 145,000 acres, which is pretty low in comparison with other land grant universities. They have been jerked around on land ownership for decades, perhaps as long as a century.

      None of this excuses their cluelessness at the loss of Ed School accreditation or the removal of the UAA & UAF hockey teams from their conferences, their 17 campuses, or anything else they are wasting money on. Their future is in distance / online education. The sooner they make that transition, the better.

      One thing that the Delegation can do is transfer perhaps a million acres of federal lands – Tongass, the mining district south of the Brooks Range would be a good start – to UA and let them manage / use the proceeds of those lands to fund their operations not unlike what the Mental Health Trust has been doing for years.

      Cheers –

  17. Taxing the middle class 200-400% of the current burden, and kids and elderly 400-500% their current tax burden (PFD’s) to save a bloated and inefficient UA and an endomorphic education budget seems to me to be not just irresponsible but immoral. I mean we still have at least ten school districts that have only one school. Each having their own admin top to bottom. Four of those monolithic districts are on one island. Until those issues are resolved, I say they should get a 5% reduction each year until their performance and efficiencies meet fiduciary expectations.

  18. Abolish higher education in this state Now. The only education any should receive is from the good book, tithe 7%-10% of your wages and FULL PFD to the Church on Every other corner. We need to abolish the state constitution and implement the Ten Commandments as the only rules to follow. Break the state government and pay no taxes, we need to abolish any former of government so that the corporations and do no gooders can carry on..and leave us ripe for conquest.

  19. It’s interesting that they invoke the “Alaska is unique and costs more” narrative when the people expose their porky budget and overpaid execs while simultaneously citing other ” L48 Universities pay more” narrative when it is convenient. That is basically what Jim Johnsen said four different ways in his rebuttal to the OMB report. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f229bd2aeba5312c87df44/t/5d30bc67e852150001dc3876/1563475050645/2019.07.14+UA+Information+for+OMB+response+to+Regents.pdf

  20. Now I have a better idea of who lives in the $700k houses up on the Hillside. It ain’t all of ‘em but is probably a few of them.

  23. I dare say if the salaries in the education systems in Alaska were based on performance we would have a completely different picture. We have some of the highest per student expenses but some of the lowest grades and graduation rates in the nation.

    • You’re getting off track to the whole pre-K – Post graduate thing – but it is worth a look.

      The 64,000 dollar question is WHY? We need to fix that and I seriously doubt cutting funding to the bone is the solution.

      Possible factors in no particular order:
      Expectations and standards in the schools are WAY TOO LOW?
      Parental expectations and standards are WAY TOO LOW?
      District School Board mandated curricula and lesson plans stifle teacher initiative?
      Unions?
      Drug/alcohol/substance abuse in the student body?
      Drug/alcohol/substance abuse in the home?
      Parental abuse of students at home?
      Broken homes?
      Dysfunctional families?
      LOTS of dollars wasted on competitive sports programs?
      Alaskan students are just plain dumb – unable to learn – bad genetics?

      Feel free to add to the list

      • Jere —- All worthwhile variables to navigate but you caught me at ‘cutting to the bone’, which has not been done. Reduction of 17% is not cutting to the bone and would be easily offset by putting duplicate programs under shared administration and reducing number of satellite campuses.

        • Come on Elizabeth, cutting 41% of the statue support is cutting to the bone.

          Stop throwing this 17% number, it’s irrelevant to the question of interest, as we know the budget of Alaska.

  24. The author of this article needs to do a better job at clarifying what is net take home versus combined pay and cost of benefits. I’m all for reorganization to create efficiency but if you publish a list of numbers calling them salary, with no clarification you’re just feeding the fire like most fake news. You’re job is to educate the public, not bias them.

    • @Melissa, I do agree. But have you seen any article written by Suzann trying to clarify any of the numbers she throws in?

      One of my favorite examples is no matter how you present the problem, Dunleavy cut 41% of the state support to UA.

  25. My daughter attended U of A, Fairbanks for two years- twenty years ago. She is now attending U of A, SE. to finish her degree. We are a small state with lots of competition from on-line universities – hundreds of them. So, if the Southeast campuses don’t have a class that will work in her degree program, she has to wait- because a student has to have so many credits from the SE campus to graduate. She has had to pay thousands for classes that don’t feel valuable to her, but it’s either take those, or wait for another semester or two to find something applicable to her degree. There are, however all kinds of classes on line from the Anchorage or Fairbanks campuses that would allow her to finish faster and are of more value to her. How is it that the U of A can be so territorial by each campus that students can’t complete his/her education? It’s on-line! The competition out there will bury this system- and rightly so. This is a state university which should provide an education to the students of Alaska—-it is not being run to benefit the students– it’s being maintained to grow the university system—just like Juneau and most government
    systems. Gov Dunleavy is right to make us all pause and evaluate the benefit of each program to the residents of the State of Alaska.

  26. I usually like reading your work, but I’m shocked at the level of distortion in this piece. Could you please report the salaries accurately? You’re absolutely distorting the data by including “benefits” and contributing to a sea of misinformation and lies at a time when impressionable Alaskans need the truth.

  27. You Alaskans need an intervention. You’ve become addicted to getting unearned government handouts ( PFD) Meanwhile, your roads are a mess and would be considered a disaster area in any other state or province. Your crime rate is a national crisis and you’re destroying your natural resources like King Salmon and Halibut. Unearned government handouts never work, just ask the communists who’ve tried it.

    • MikeCD, you look familiar. Aren’t you the guy that stands on Northern Lights Blvd. with a sign looking for handouts as customers are leaving Fred Meyer? “Need money to return to San Francisco. Disabled vet. Wife has cancer. Dog lost front leg. Need gas. Please help. God Bless.”

    • Greg, stop with this. You and I both know that the PFD is an handout by the government, and note any royalties from the natural resources. It isn’t written anywhere in the constitution that Alaskan should have money given by the government.

    • Greg, you know it is a government handout. There isn’t an article in the Constitution of Alaska that obligates the state to pay royalties. The only correct point you have is that the state owns the underground natural resources.

      As far as your example of picking tomatoes growing in your garden, it’s the worst comparison ever. As far as I know, I need to grow tomato plants, take care of them, pick the ripe tomatoes: this requires a (little) effort on my side and some time investment I’m not paid for. Are you telling me that you’ve been putting some effort in the oil extraction in Prudhoe Bay, maybe even working for free?

      Also, I can tell you that tomatoes in your garden are a renewable resource, oil is not.

  29. It is not the salaries that bother me so much as the duplicate programs requiring separate administrations hence administrative top heavy for a small university system. Add in also satellite campuses we do not need, also staffed with some administration and requiring facilities maintenance. My repeat statement – lots of room for streamlining, which would easily off set that 17% reduction in budget.

    • Let me correct you once again, it’s a 41% reduction of the state support in the budget.

      However, I do agree the duplicate programs are a problem, I’ve seen this as soon as I arrived in Alaska. I will vouch for 1 Univerisity System with 3 campuses. If you want to remove the community college, then you will need to have the State of Alaska chipping in to maintain education in those community.

  30. I have not read everything but are the dollars brought into the university counted in the above discussion? As i understand it, the researchers at UAF bring in many millions of dollars, six dollars for every one dollar spent i often hear quoted. That also contributes to a research university always costing more than a community college…but also generating more income.

  31. Mary…..the problem is….most of that research money goes to research for climate change studies……more political propoganda being advanced at UAF. Aren’t you a bit tired of hearing about man-caused climate change? I know you, and you are a woman of sound reason. Don’t tell me that you are drinking the Kool-Aid?

    • TC says “most of that research money goes to research for climate change studies”

      You’re blowing smoke there TC. The research at UAF spans a quite wide spectrum of subjects. Please give a reference to authoritative data to support your claim.

      A person of “sound reason” would have some real facts available to support a position such as Climate-Change denial. Have you studied the facts? I’d suggest these videos for a starter:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=S3KB4U_TJEY
      https://www.sumologic.com/podcast/climate-science-data-richard-muller/

      Besides, whether man is causing it or not, the climate is changing. Northern latitude climate is changing more markedly than lower and at an accelerating rate. What are the consequences for Alaska? Which are adverse and which are beneficial? Might we want to be ahead of the “power curve” in our response – or behind? Are there actions we can take to maximize benefits and ameliorate detriments?

      Maybe there isn’t enough “climate-change” research going on in Alaska? Pursuing answers to questions such as those is what research is about.

      BTW – A six to one benefit to cost ratio is an excellent return on investment.

  32. Jere, you sound like a UAF kool-aid consumer. Hook, line and sinker. Of course a warmer global temperature shows up more definitively in a northern latitude! Duh……UAF taught you well.
    But you have offered no proof that man caused the temperature to rise. NONE! NADA! NINE! ZIP! Political propoganda designed to steer more wasted research money to climate change studies and out of work scientists who weren’t taught to use any sound reasoning skills. Try a different flavor of Kool-aid and get back to us when the palm trees start growing on the Arctic coastline.

    • Kemo, I can tell you did not watch the materials I referenced or don’t have the science background or intellectual capacity to overcome such a deficit to understand them. If you did you’d have something substantive to say about them rather than emitting trollish garbage..

      Don’t know about palm trees on the Arctic coast in my lifetime but there may well be trees normally found south of the Brooks range growing abundantly there in the lifetime of my grandchildren.

      FWIW, I have never attended UAF.

  33. What? Never attended the UAF? Then, no expert are you.
    Oh, and let me genoflex before you great Jere, the humble scientist. You sound like another idiot who is guided by mass hysteria and the “coolness” of being an anthropogenic climate scientist. Or, are you a Hollywood actor looking for a cause? Your kind is easy to pick apart because all of you so-called climate experts sound alike, as though you read off a tailored script. Take a hike, pal, and go read a book on originalism.

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