Behind the Lines
Old College Try
Rick Perry is waging a quiet war against our current system of higher education, which makes him a lot like some previous governors. He may win, but we’ll lose.
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14 comments
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011, 6:19 pm
Larry says:
I am not a big Perry fan, but if the Texas Monthly is deriding him, he must have done one thing right.
Monday, June 20th, 2011, 8:37 pm
Jacob says:
What about the community colleges? They are becoming more and more useful and non-the less effected! The system tells you to have the same core classes for a cheaper price while, a student taking the same classes pays a ridiculous amount of money at a major University!
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011, 11:58 pm
Research says:
Perhaps the chairman of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Dr. Wendy Lee Gramm, could best tell us how to run a college like a business. She did a stellar job on Enron’s board of directors, after all. She pushed through exemptions for energy futures contracts as chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, & then immediately took a seat at Enron, where she turned a blind eye to their accounting practices. Who better to teach us how to run a fiscally responsible university?
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011, 10:28 pm
PKH says:
The saddest part about Perry and the Texas Public Policy Foundation succeeding is that such success will usher in a severed crippling of the Texas economy, particularly in the largest metro areas where international business have located in part due to a steady stream of highly skilled graduates from Texas’s research institutions. By the time Dell decides to relocated to Raleigh-Durham or Boston, it will be too late.
As an example of how the business community views University research, and its commitment thereto, see www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24bbc7b8-58b0-11e0-9b8a-00144feab49a.html#axzz1Ii4zmX5M
Saturday, March 26th, 2011, 9:20 pm
tom says:
"I value X so highly that I want it to be priced much less than what it costs?" This is a conservative thought?
Honda could sell cars for 10K. But they would have to give up research and development, as well as safety and environmental features. They would also need to start charging 50K for trucks in order to make the money back. But the idea of a 10K car is just plain attractive, no?
Friday, March 25th, 2011, 10:20 pm
Travis W. McKee says:
If Texas Monthly will kindly publish this comment, I’d like to accuse Mr. Burka of a convenient lie by omission. The omission is in misrepresenting Governor Perry’s stated motives.
I was actually upset after reading the print edition this morning. I was confident, because I don’t know Mr. Burka to be completely dishonest, that Perry’s goal would be buried somewhere in the column, but it wasn’t there.
To the knowledgeable, I am of course referring to Perry’s vision of creating the ten thousand-dollar degree. Perry’s goal wasn’t prompted by a think tank clinging to a crackpot ideology, but instead that mostly apolitical founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates.
That’s the goal, folks. Mr. Burka couldn’t tell you the truth, I assume, because he secretly believes too many readers would find Perry’s vision of a 10k degree entirely reasonable.
Thursday, March 24th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Mike, Houston says:
Texans are getting just what the voted for! When will they learn?
Friday, March 18th, 2011, 7:51 pm
Sadie says:
Here we are in the country that created a higher education system envied around the world and for some reason there are Texas politicians who think that the economy and educational structure will survive their dismantling of universities. I’m wondering where exactly they were educated. Well, maybe in Texas where intelligence and rationality is loathed.
Friday, March 18th, 2011, 8:36 am
jdub says:
Please simply "trim the FAT!" FAT is Faculty Appropriate Terminus ad quem (TAQ). TAQ is a "final limiting point in time." So many faculty (and staff) remain on University payroll past/after retirement and useful/productive employment that it sickens the entire institution. This should be done first (by University Presidents), and then a simple 7-10% salary cut across the board would save jobs. Next, "wake-up call" to Governor Perry. This is a "rainy day."
QED
Friday, March 18th, 2011, 8:23 am
Matt says:
I think Perry is in for a heap of trouble with these reforms, I think it will be very difficult for him to explain to the public (let alone a court of constitutional law) how these reforms remotely fit into THIS state’s constitutional MANDATE to provide a "university of the FIRST CLASS".
As for Robert’s comment, resisted reform? care to give an example? Most of the people who have tried to reform education at any level in this state have failed because, in the end, they haven’t really understood much of anything about education as it operates in the real world. It’s all well and good to make generalizations but you have to provide at least one example.
Furthermore the idea that the University of Texas System is anywhere near state-supported is ridiculous at this point, approximately 20% of the University of Texas at Austin’s budget is taxpayer’s money. If you want your state institutions of higher learning to provide good, accessible education, then you have to pay for it!
Thursday, March 17th, 2011, 7:35 pm
RationalTexan says:
Mr. Sandefer, by representing that "research consumes 2/3 of every dollar spent in American universities" clearly reveals his complete unfamiliarity with funding mechanisms supporting research. I’d like to see Mr. Sandefer substantiate that assertion with financial statements from an actual institution of higher education.
Had Mr. Sandefer actually consulted the UT System financial statements, which are a public document available online, he would have found that for fiscal 2010 the system spent $1.49 on instruction for every dollar spent on research. He would have also discovered that sponsored program revenue accounted for 29.1% of the system’s operating revenues. Sponsored program revenues support, in large part, the research function including salaries, fringe benefits and overhead recovery.
I find it very frightening that Mr. Sandefer actually taught business classes as an adjunct faculty member at UT and that he now runs a for profit MBA program. Surely, as a "qualified" faculty member, Mr. Sandefer would know to consult the financial statements to obtain an understanding of the sources and uses of resources in an institution of higher education before making that assertion. Or would he?
Texans should review the higher education recommendations issued by the Tx Public Policy Foundation very critically and ask themselves what the board members have to gain from those recommendations. Mr. Sandefer wants an alternative accrediting agency because SACS will never accredit the Acton MBA program without credentialed faculty.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011, 9:05 pm
U.T. & A & M says:
Robert needs to read some history before he makes outrageous comments.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011, 4:34 pm
Ender says:
Sure, them elitist academics don’t know nuthin about higher education. We need more business in higher ed. Just look at how successful Enron, BP, and the Wall Street boys have been and how good they’ve been for the economy. On the other hand the universities have been awful--haven’t produced any engineers, doctors, scientists, philosophers, or economists. They should be ashamed of themselves. And taxes are evil; they should be zero. We don’t need no stinkin state supported education. If you can’t afford school, work for minimum wage.
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011, 2:28 pm
Robert says:
No Paul, Perry’s working to reform a bloated, centuries old system that has fought reform and efficiency at every turn. Incestuous rankings from other university people is hardly a sign that the schools are efficient and supplying a good return on investment of student and taxpayer money.
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