We can think of several government agencies that could take a lesson from the way Clemson University has handled the fiscal crisis brought on by the current recession.

For that matter, a lot of homeowners could take a similar lesson and apply it to their household spending.

The Board of Trustees, President James Barker and the faculty and staff of the university are to be commended for refusing to settle for “getting by.” Too many agencies and organizations that rely heavily on public tax dollars have done just that, making short-term moves to weather the storm but refusing to look at structural deficiencies that gave rise to fiscal susceptibility to begin with.

It’s no secret that smart managers of sound private businesses have seized upon the recession to make structural changes that will outlive this recession. That is what Clemson has done as well.

Sure, many businesses have had to downsize and, honestly, despite reports to the contrary, some of that is still going on. It’s also a fact that some businesses probably cut deeper than they really had to in order to keep the lights on. However, one would be wise not to jump to the conclusion that business is just taking advantage of a bad situation. Rather, it behooves us to factor in the possibility that the future good health of some of these firms has meant making structural changes to individual business paradigms. Sometimes, that process simply hurts much like a workout that is required to get back into shape.

That’s what Clemson University has done. They furloughed workers — a short-term fiscal maneuver — but they also made more lasting changes that position the university to not only move forward when the economy improves, but also to avoid the kind of fiscal crisis this recession brought painfully home. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t without pain, but we believe in the long run the university will be the better for it.