Perry's War With Texas Colleges and Universities

[kjackson227]

The Dallas Morning News has been hitting this issue really hard. What do you guys think about Perry and his cronies' strong-arming the heads of Texas A&M and UTA? I think A&M has lost the battle, but I hope UTA will win this fight. I can't believe the things that Perry and his cronies are advocating in the way of change for these institutions. Can anything be done, or is it another "buyers remorse" situation? Here's a good article in Texas Monthly...

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-04-01/btl.php

[MelissaB]

1. My husband is in higher ed here in TX,

and it's brutal.

[kjackson227]

2. I'll bet it is. I'm just wondering exactly how this will work for the...

teachers/professors. Perry is claiming that this will hold teachers accountable by using some kind of merit system measured by student achievement and research recruitment??? This is one BIG mess, and I hate that UTA has to go through this. It seems to me that Texas A&M has been more accepting of Perry's shenanigans, but UTA is fighting this with all their might. What does your husband think, and what does he plan on doing?

[MelissaB]

4. Luckily, he's with a different system,

but these budget cuts have been brutal.

[Ilsa]

14. TAMU staff didn't accept the changes readily. They fired a wonderful

university president (the permanent replacement for Gates) to place a weak one that would accept Perry's agenda. I have friends there and the researchers and professors are disgusted with Perry but they can't do anything about it.

[kjackson227]

16. What a mess Perry has caused. It's too bad that Perry has the...

power to be able to do this. Besides disliking the fact that these are public institutions, there has to be other PERSONAL reasons why he's taking such an interest in these universities- and it's not about "oversight" and/or transparency/financing as he's alluding to.

[sonias]

3. UT is fighting back though

Texas Tribune 5/12/11
Univ. of Texas Regents Support Chancellor's Vision

At a meeting of the University of Texas System Board of Regents in Austin Thursday, UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa delivered a highly anticipated address, laying out his “framework for advancing excellence throughout the university system.”

In a roll call vote, the board of regents, who have been the subject of speculation and suspicion in recent weeks from some members of the higher education community — particularly with regard to their support for academic research — unanimously supported Cigarroa’s vision.

Without directly mentioning them, a number of Cigarroa’s comments alluded to a controversial set of seven “breakthrough solutions” promoted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, and Gov. Rick Perry. The most hotly debated of the seven is a call to separate research and teaching budgets, which some critical students and alumni at the University of Texas at Austin have speculate is a divide and conquer approach.

In his remarks, Cigarroa said, “Teaching and scholarly research go hand in hand in a university of the first class. “ He pledged to protect that relationship. Additionally, he proposed a framework centered around the principles of opportunity, economic prosperity, quality of life, and stewardship.

As part of that framework, he indicated that the system will make documents regarding its activities accessible to the public, easy to find and user-friendly. The system will also develop focused profiles of each university and establish a rigorous peer review process among institutions.

:kick: Paws off our schools. Perry/Powell. Oh how I wish!

[sonias]

5. Perry and regents need to step back. Now.

DMN OpEd 5/12/11
Perry and regents need to step back. Now.

This controversy over Jeff Sandefer's "Seven Breakthrough Solutions" for Texas colleges is now playing out on two levels. There's the educational part of this debate and then there's the political aspect. Both are troubling, but the political one is more alarming.

Look, for example, at today's story in the Dallas Morning News by Christy Hoppe and Holly Hacker about three sources saying that regents aligned with Sandefer and Gov. Rick Perry forced Texas A&M University Chancellor Mike McKinney to resign over the last few days. According to the story, the chairman of the regents, along with a former chairman, told McKinney he had to go. The reason? Because he wasn't pushing Sandefer's "solutions" fast enough.

There's a bit of irony here since McKinney reportedly did the bidding of Perry and some regents when McKinney forced out Elsa Murano as president in 2009. You could say what goes around comes around. But this report is far more important than that bit of irony. It is really damning about what's going on in our colleges, if you worry at all about independent state universities.

Let's assume, for a moment, that some of Sandefer's ideas are worth considering. For example, he has an interesting proposal to create a contract between students and teachers so that each semester students would know what to expect from a course.

But does an idea like that give the governor the right to start ripping apart the leadership of our universities? No. Texas' universities don't belong to him. They belong to the people of Texas. And the people of Texas are best served when governors and regents grant universities enough freedom to do their work.

University of Texas president Bill Powers provided an excellent description of that point in his speech this week responding to the doubts Sandefer casts upon the value of some research that university professors perform at UT and elsewhere. Said Powers:

"Pick any revolutionary area -- computer science, genetics, molecular biology -- and to a one you can trace back through a maze of obscure advances, in which knowledge was built brick by brick into something that we now see as monumental."

:applause:

[kjackson227]

6. Good for UT@Austin!

Hopefully they'll win the battle, but it looks like Perry and his cronies are strong-arming and getting rid of all who oppose them. If Perry's proposals are so good, then why not allow both sides of the argument be heard?

[sonias]

7. We can only hope that our universities can survive Perry

How much longer will that tyrant be our governor aimed at destroying educational institutions?

I was really hoping the guy would run for President and get out of our hair!

:shrug:

[mkz77655]

9. +1

[sonias]

8. Emails reveal unrest at A&M

A&M paper - The Eagle 5/14/11
Emails reveal unrest at A&M

Ten months before Chancellor Mike McKinney unexpectedly announced he was retiring, the father of the author of the "seven breakthrough solutions" wrote that those ideas would be implemented "with ... or without" the A&M System chief, according to an email obtained Friday by The Eagle.

"I think it is time to give Mike a deadline and meet with him either every two weeks or once a month to get a progress report," wrote Jakie Sandefer, the father of Jeff Sandefer, a major donor to Gov. Rick Perry who penned the ideas advocated by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank. "He needs to be told that these things are going to get done either with him or without him."

(snip)
"This email, along with others, confirms that Jeff Sandefer and his father and the Texas Public Policy Foundation are attempting to run higher education in the state, and they have a foothold at Texas A&M," said Zaffirini.

Zaffirini, co-chair of the new Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence and Transparency, said Sandefer's ideas should be considered just like others' ideas, but the process should unfold with open debate.

"No one group should be able to have so much influence," she said.

:kick:

[kjackson227]

10. Higher Education Experts Are Skeptical of Perry's proposals/reforms...

http://washingtonindependent.com/106641/national-higher-ed-experts-skeptical-of-breakthrough-solutions-from-conservative-texas-think-tank

And... Here's the Aggie message forum thread from some of the Aggie students (THIS IS A GREAT READ!). I found out more information regarding these proposals here more than the Texas major newspapers.

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1812619&page=1&forum_id=16

[kjackson227]

17. More, and more information is coming out...

some info is repetitive, but a little bit of new stuff emerges, also.

http://timesoftexas.com/2011/04/29/university-reformers-advancing-with-sandefers-seven/

http://www.americanindependent.com/184274/burka-mckinney-out-because-of-mckinney-not-gov-perry-or-sandefers

[tammywammy]

11. Quite worrisome.

I was contemplating Texas A&M Commerce - Dallas campus for my MBA.

[kjackson227]

12. HEY, TAMMY! Long time, no see...

Sounds like you're working hard on your studies. Good for you, keep up the good work!!!!

I see no reason for you not to enroll at this time. A&M is where my granddaughter wants to go although I'd like for her to attend UT@Austin. But, wherever she goes is fine... as long as she attends AND FINISHES. :hi:

[tammywammy]

13. Oh yea, school keeps me busy

I graduate May 2012 with my bachelor's in business management. Then that next fall I'm hoping to start my MBA. Where I work will reimburse up to $10,500/year towards an MBA, so Texas A&M Commerce - Dallas would be within those limits. I already took out loans for my undergraduate degree, and even after I started working here chose to attend the private school I go to instead of switching schools to one they'd reimburse for. The A&M Dallas is in downtown Dallas, and I need to research the UNT - Dallas campus a bit more, because that's closer.

I'd love to try and get into the TCU MBA program but then I'd be taking out another $30k in loans, in addition to the reimbursement - so no thanks.

[kjackson227]

15. Wow! It's soooo expensive getting a quality education...

Yes, I remember when you were attending the private college. Besides the norm, is there anything new in the way of grants, and/or funding from the federal government side?