From My SA:
Controversial ‘solutions' to shake up universities pressed hard in emails.
By Patricia Kilday Hart
patti.hart@chron.com
Updated 12:40 a.m., Saturday, April 16, 2011
AUSTIN — Contrary to his public statements distancing himself from a brewing controversy in higher education, Gov. Rick Perry continually pressed his appointees to university boards of regents to promptly adopt “reforms” that critics say are simplistic and harmful to research institutions, according to emails obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
In May 2008, Perry summoned all Texas university regents and chancellors to a higher education summit to hear Austin businessman Jeff Sandefer, a major Perry campaign contributor, explain “Seven Break-through Solutions” to shake up higher education.
Many of the ideas — measuring a professor's “productivity” based on numbers of students and linking compensation to positive student evaluations — received a chilly reception, but the emails, obtained from the University of Texas and Texas A&M University, show Perry's office continued to demand strict implementation of Sandefer's ideas. The emails covered July 2008 through April 2009.
In a Dec. 5, 2008, email, Perry aide Marisha Negovetich invited regents and chancellors to a “Seven Break-through Solutions Follow-up Meeting.”
“The Governor is anxious to put together a cohesive plan of action ... and also learn from you what progress you have made to move these reforms forward,” she wrote.
In an interview last week, Perry said he introduced his regents to Sandefer's strategy at the 2008 higher education summit simply to generate ideas about reform.
“I made it abundantly clear in my remarks that I thought these were some good ideas that were worth having an open and intellectually engaged conversation about,” Perry said.
The governor insisted he left policy decisions to his appointees: “I appoint people to the board of regents. They are in charge of setting policy ... that's their call. It's not the governor's call. It's never been the governor's call and I don't get confused about what my role is.”
Push from Perry
Emails, however, show Perry's office constructed a timeline for implementation and pressed university administrators for regular updates.
Among the questions Negovetich sent the university representatives: “Have you measured and ranked faculty productivity, exactly as described in Breakthrough Reform #1?”
A follow-up email said, “As Governor Perry stated during the meeting, it is imperative that you ensure your university systems' faculty evaluation ratings and course syllabi are available to students, online and in campus buildings, no later than the 2009 Spring Semester. In an effort to assist your system with implementing this, as well as the other reforms discussed, we are attaching a list of the next steps to be taken along with a correlating timeline.”
That “reform” led to Texas A&M posting an online spreadsheet ranking professors based on how much money they earned the university by teaching the most students, an evaluation system critics say puts senior faculty involved in research and graduate level education at a disadvantage. The American Association of Universities, a national organization of the major research institutions in the U.S., sent A&M a letter calling the document “counterproductive” and criticizing it for “undermining the linkage between research and teaching.”
Sandefer's “Seven Break-through Solutions” have been promoted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative Austin think tank. A storm of protest by UT and A&M academic and boosters broke out last month when the new chairman of the UT board of Regents, San Antonio developer Gene Powell, hired “special adviser” Rick O'Donnell, who promoted the ideas as a foundation fellow. A key research paper by O'Donnell was found by the Express-News to have two dozen errors in citations, quotes or ambiguous data. The policy foundation said the mistakes happened during the merging of various drafts.
Perry communications director Mark Miner said Friday he saw nothing inconsistent with the emails and Perry's public advocacy of “accountability and transparency.”
Flawn weighs in
In February 2009, Perry's staff again informed university representatives they would be holding conference calls in March and April “to discuss your progress on the remaining initiatives. ... The Governor is anxious to learn what progress you have made to move these reforms ahead.”Another email advised regents not to be influenced by university staff: “The Governor's intent is that this be a regent driven project. We asked that senior system and/or institutional staff be assigned to listen in on these calls as resources to their respective board members by providing information and research only. Staff should ... not try to influence the regents as to the policy or direction of the proposals.”
Former UT President Peter Flawn called Perry's actions “absolutely a new and unique situation” and said he did not “know of any governor who has ever tried to direct regental policy” to the extent of Perry's involvement.
He also said Sandefer's “Solutions” will lead to a reduction in the number of tenured faculty.
“To me, that would be a backward step from a first-class research university to a second-class undergraduate degree mill,” he said.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Perry-pushed-policy-like-board-of-regents-1339739.php#ixzz1KG7Pf2go
