Protesting and complaining without knowledge of an issue has become all the rage.
University of Tennessee Board of Trustees Finance and Administration Committee members heard from individuals doing exactly that Wednesday as they considered a plan to outsource facilities management work at college campuses.
Although whatever plan is finalized allows the individual campuses to opt in and even allows negotiations on the plan specific to the campuses, one student spoke of rallying to protest the plan and another declared the plan to be a "bad deal" for her university.
How would they know whether the plan is good or bad for a specific school? No plan has been finalized. No college has said whether it would opt in or not. No figures other than vague projections have been released about exactly how much might be saved at a specific campus. No one has said anything specific about employee layoffs or how many workers might get to reapply for their jobs under a facilities management plan.
After all, the facilities management company was just announced Tuesday.
But never let facts get in the way of working up a good head full of angst.
Tennessee taxpayers and parents of University of Tennessee system students ought to expect the state to do what it can to cut costs, reduce bloat and run a tight ship at public education institutes and state-related facilities. Gov. Haslam's proposal to outsource facilities management is a step in that direction.
They also should expect individual campus administrators to examine the proposal for themselves to determine if it makes sense, how it will affect their bottom line, how it will affect their employees and how it will affect their students.
Students have every right to make their voices heard, but their expensive university educations should be teaching them to think strategically, analyze carefully and comment intelligently instead of simply reacting.
Unfortunately, they have role models in the media and in the halls of government.
The recent Donald Trump budget is just one example. The president's proposed budget takes a knife to many bureaucracies that have been allowed to fatten themselves at taxpayer expense through the years. But it's a mere budget blueprint, a document that annually bears little resemblance to a budget that will be passed eight months from now.
But to listen to Democrats and their Beltway media cohorts, the release of budget has signaled people will die, pollution will become rampant, streets will flood and Big Bird will die.
Those promoting the false narratives know better, and the University of Tennessee students should, too.
A facilities management plan for a UT system school may or may not be a good idea. But it's difficult to take someone or a group seriously if they're against something without knowing what it is.