The president and trustees at the state medical school, who last week fought to keep excessive bonuses for the university's managers, apparently live in a world apart.

They seem unaware of the level of public disgust over waste and mismanagement at the school and in denial that this university is partially taxpayer-supported - and certainly not a private business venture that can do as it likes.

They also seem clueless about the serious conflicts of interest posed by board members working for organizations that do business with the university.

But, then again, maybe the problem isn't a lack of understanding, just bald arrogance.

The trustees of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey last week voted 5-4 against a common-sense proposal to suspend more than $3.2 million in executive bonuses at the troubled school.

They did agree to reconsider the issue after a consultant reviews the bonuses. But why can't the trustees figure out on their own that getting rid of these wasteful bonuses is a small but essential step toward rebuilding public trust in the school?

More than 200 senior administrators are slated to receive the bonuses, some of which are unbelievably generous. University President John Petillo, for example, is supposed to get $187,000, which would be on top of his $600,000 salary and school-supplied $58,000 Lincoln Navigator with driver.

Mr. Petillo has offered to donate his bonus to the university's non-profit foundation. But he argues it would be unethical for the university to cancel bonuses that administrators are depending on.

Too bad that Mr. Petillo seems oblivious to his ethical responsibility to taxpayers and students paying tuition.

New Jersey is facing a long-term budget crisis and state residents are coping with skyrocketing property taxes. But the biggest outrage is that the bonuses come in a year that has been filled with revelations about the school's free-spending ways, including the awarding of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts. Both state and federal investigators are probing the university's finances.

Acting Governor Codey, frustrated by the slow pace of reform at the school, said last week he will fill two vacancies on the board with trustees who will push for change.

But don't expect the governor's appointments to solve the bigger, underlying problem with this board - its numerous conflicts of interest.

Board Chairwoman Sonia Delgado, for example, a close ally of Mr. Codey's, works as a lobbyist for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, which is part of UMDNJ. Another trustee is actually on the staff payroll of UMDNJ. And four others either work for organizations that do business with the university or are affiliated with it.

With so many glaring conflicts among trustees, how could the public ever feel assured these board members are acting in the interests of the university and not of themselves?

UMDNJ needs a new ethics code that will bar people who make money off the university from sitting on its governing board.