The fiscal crisis that has engulfed city, state, and federal governments has caught up higher education at every level as well. As a government-relations officer at my university, I am the only administrator whose title actually includes the word "government." So just how responsible am I, and other government-relations officers, for what has happened to public funding of higher education? What were we doing while governors, legislators, Tea Partiers, and agency bureaucrats were all lighting the fires that got Rome burning?
It's a legitimate question. It's especially important for my profession to answer carefully because, when institutions start using a meat ax to trim budgets, government-relations officers may be the first to go. People will say, "They won't be missed anyway, and it might have been their fault."
On my campus, it has been a shock recently for many faculty and staff members to learn just how much government money supports the university. Everybody knows that we're a state institution. We're even part of a state system. But a surprising number of people think that all that means is that we play in the same athletic conference as other state institutions. That's true, but there's much, much more. Here's an overly simple breakdown of what we get:
- The federal government delivers scholarship money, such as Pell grants, as well as major research funds.
- The state government contributes State Share of Instruction money (student subsidies) and economic-development dollars.
- The city/county governments provide infrastructure funds and control over utility rates.
Of course, the financial picture is more complicated and dire if, for example, your institution has a medical school and hospital that depends on residency dollars or Medicaid and Medicare payments. Or, perhaps your university has a high number of international students paid for by foreign governments.
Add to all of that—wait for it—federal stimulus funds. My state's new governor, in his recent State of the State speech, warned that everyone in our state who accepted stimulus dollars in the last state budget would now have to pay the piper. Higher education received a lot of stimulus revenue. The governor said we should have known better than to accept the federal bailout. Really? Well, as they say, hindsight is always 100-percent accurate.
But seriously, should I have known better?
I was a hero (among a small group of people) when I brought home the stimulus dollars in the last state budget. Wouldn't I have looked like a goat if I had argued against my institution taking stimulus money when our sister schools in the system were accepting it? I probably would have become an unemployed goat.
Notwithstanding stimulus funds, the question remains: What have we been doing for the past 12 months or more? The nation's economic downturn has been in all the newspapers, and we knew about it, because government-relations officers are inveterate newspaper readers. Knowledge, however, is useless unless you use it. But did we really know what was going on and what would happen to us?
Social-networking media has pretty much done away with the concept of the university as an ivory tower. Nevertheless, government-relations officers often slip into the same fantasy world that affects other university personnel. Many people in universities still believe that their states really won't cut the education budget all that much because "higher education is so important." Many government-relations officers have found it easier to be vaguely optimistic about "economic recovery" than to play the role of Cassandra.
In addition, the continuing problem of government-relations officers not having direct access to the highest levels of university administration may have prevented the transmission of appropriate dire warnings. I understand why a university auditor needs to be able to see the president one-on-one. But I've never understood why that same privilege is not afforded to a government-relations officer. Maybe it will be, if any of us survive.
In this whole mess, even the most connected or insightful government-relations officer has been blindsided by one or more events—some of which haven't completely played out yet. For example, why, exactly, would anyone want to cut federal scholarships for students? We all knew that earmarks were an endangered species. But why cut direct-scholarship funds like the Pell Grants that are the financial edge that allows millions of students to pay for college?
While it is difficult to talk with members of Congress, it is pretty easy to speak with state elected officials if you know what you're doing. In the past, government-relations officers have found the politicians who represent our university in the statehouse to be generally amenable. But for many of us, that has changed. And that, perhaps more than anything else, has caused us real problems in influencing legislation like state budgets that seriously affect our institutions' bottom lines.
Quite frankly, there are not many options if lowly legislative aides don't even take your phone calls. In fact, about the only strategy that works is to get your president to reach out. Most legislators will still take a call from the university president, although it might not do much good.
So, here's the scorecard if you're keeping track of why government-relations officers should be blamed for everything:
- We were asleep at the switch, lulled by past successes.
- We underestimated just how bad the situation was and would become.
- We weren't aggressive enough in keeping up our contacts with elected officials and government bureaucrats.
And here's why we should be exonerated from fault:
- University administrators ignored our warnings.
- No one could have predicted the magnitude of the economic problems.
- We are still the best hope for good relations with government officials in the future.
The profession of government relations teeters on the brink, just like so much else at our institutions. If it survives, what is a strategy for us to get back to being effective advocates for higher education?
First, we should widen our audience. Speak to the faculty senate, the student senate, the alumni. Formally address the governing board if the president will allow it. Get the message out there about the importance of managing the political world and advocating for our campuses.
Second, use the political insights of the higher-education associations in Washington. What association does your institution belong to? Participate in forums, conference calls, and other such activities. If the associations advise your university to write a letter in support of a particular bill or against it, then write the letter, and have your president sign and send it.
Third, keep the pressure on politicians. Too often higher education has just accepted its fate. We might have lost this latest budget battle, but there's always another fight and another election on the horizon.
