The First Day Of Classes At The University Of Denver

Today is the first day of classes at The University of Denver. I worked there for 28 years as Finance Manager for the University of Denver Bookstore, until the administration outsourced the store to Follett Higher Education Group in 2012.  Unlike other universities - to DU 's shame - alternate employment at the school was not offered to bookstore employees, and so after a guarantee of one year's work with Follett, I was laid off.  In any case, today was the busiest sales day of the year for the store, and every employee there worked hard to make sure things went as smoothly as possible (i.e.- all the textbooks on the shelves, enough staff to answer everyone's questions, enough cashiers to get students through the lines quickly, etc. etc.). And yet the university outsourced us to a company that cares nothing about any of that, all in order to get a guaranteed income for 7 years and be able to tell the Board of Trustees that 28 positions had been eliminated and personal costs reduced.  Is this a typical thing now?  Do all organizations only focus on the short-term and ignore the long term view?  Sadly, for the most part, I think the answer is yes.  And by the way, the above photograph was the title page for The Book on the DU Bookstore, a "Blurb Book" I made for a photography class.  Amazingly enough, it is still out there for all to see.  Feel free to check it out at https://www.blurb.com/b/1230340-the-book-on-the-du-bookstore.