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E-Mails Show Texas Governor Pushed Universities to Adopt Businessman’s Ideas

April 17, 2011, 1:40 pm

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has insisted that he leaves higher-education policy decisions to the governing boards of the state’s public universities. E-mails obtained by the Houston Chronicle, however, show that the Republican governor’s office has been closely involved in pushing universities to adopt ideas championed by Jeff Sandefer, a business educator and major campaign contributor to Mr. Perry. Those ideas include ranking faculty members by productivity and putting more focus on teaching instead of research. University regents and chancellors heard Mr. Sandefer explain his proposals at Mr. Perry’s request in May 2008, the newspaper reports, and over the next two years the governor’s office sent follow-up messages setting a time line for putting Mr. Sandefer’s ideas in place, requesting regular updates from university leaders on their progress, and instructing regents not to be influenced by university staff members. Peter T. Flawn, a former president of the University of Texas at Austin, called Mr. Perry’s actions “absolutely a new and unique situation” and criticized Mr. Sandefer’s proposals as a blueprint for stepping backward “from a first-class research university to a second-class undergraduate degree mill.”

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  • archman

    Despicable. I am glad this made it to the Houston Chronicle, hopefully it will stir up a reaction in Austin and at all the major universities.

  • opentosuggestion

    Perry’s duplicity is hardly news, nor does it seem to matter to the Texas public. But I am impressed by the comments of Peter Flawn, once famous for his war on mediocrity. No shrinking violent he, his was once the bluntest voice in higher education administration. I hope his cred persists in some quarters in Austin.

  • nyhist

    Every time I see anything about someone urging universities to focus more on teaching than research, it makes me wonder: what do those people think will be taught in classes, if no university research is completed? Do they think we now know everything we need to know? Does Mr Sandefer never draw on research (except that done by for-profit businesses) in his own business, whatever that might be? Such thinking is short-sighted in the extreme.

  • gbpreuss

    Before the Chronicle of Higher Education gets too up in arms about this, part of these recommendations are based on the writings of Richard Vedder, an economist who has long questioned whether a college education was worth the investment, and who regularly appears in the Chronicle of Higher Education. See http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2011_4962661

  • peggy13

    While the ideas are not new and certainly deserve consideration among all other ideas for improving higher education, this Texan does take issue with the Governor pushing his agenda on universities in the state. It’s one thing for him to say he favors the ideas and encourage institutions to adopt the policies. He’s entitled to a political opinion. However, it is an entirely different matter when he is using his political position to enforce the policies. There are many Texans who are not supportive of his micro-management of higher education, especially at his alma mater. He has other important issues to address but seems to spend more time promoting his friends’ ideas on higher education (and it doesn’t stop with Mr. Sandefer – that’s just today’s promotional item). It’s a frustrating place to be.

  • bfrank1

    Thanks to Peter T. for calling out the gov, but I am puzzling over the “absolutely new and unique situation” phrasing, since it seems Texas governors have a long and distinguished tradition of meddling in higher ed for political ends. My question is what are the gov’s objectives? Clearly this is some kind of stalking horse for his broader ambitions, but what could that be? Senator? President? I think it will be a long time before another Texas governor sits in the White House, so I am guessing he wants Kay Bailey’s Senate seat as a launching pad for an eventual run on the big ticket – say 2020 or 2024? Surely he would not play second fiddle to Sarah P?

  • fdup2

    What a unique idea, that we teach and not research, what about a balance of both. Where the researcher is in the classroom not his “assistant” . My tax dollars help to fund the University and the students who go there and I would like to see more knowledge and less agenda in both arenas. The governor, faculty, students, and tax payers need to understand results for dollars spent (ROI) and a balance has to be made between these groups . Does the governor have an agenda “yes”, do faculty have an agenda “yes” why can’t they work together to make this happen. I teach at the community college level and I understand making the tax dollar go as far as possible with the best student outcome for those dollars, do the universities?

  • sand6432

    I’m another Texas who thinks the governor is way off base here. His proposal, if implemented, would have the effect of driving away most of the top researchers in the UT system and leaving the faculty consisting of untenured, low-paid, adjunct faculty who teach courses with large numbers of students. But of course this is the same governor who has proposed a plan for a four-year college education costing only $10,000, which could only happen if the system gets rid of its highest paid faculty. The sure result would be for the state’s flagship universities to plummet in national rankings and be increasingly unable to attract research grants from government and private industry. This hardly seems consistent with the governor’s touting Texas as a business friendly state. Top companies are attracted by a top educational system turning out top students, which would cease to be the case in Texas. But Perry never has been very good at thinking beyond the next election.—Sandy Thatcher

  • manoflamancha

    Back in the “old” days of the sixties, in my first teaching/research job, I taught four complete courses (12 credit hours) plus a Saturday morning lab (one credit hour) in the FIRST semester. I also won a coveted national grant for reaserch that first year. By the time I finished my career, my collegues and I were teaching 9 credit hours per year, TWO SEMESTERS worth. The notion put forth by Mr. Flawn, i.e. “…become a second class degree mill”, is such exaggerated nonsense that it reenforces my low opinion of people in the Administration Business. We need lots of reforms in academe, and requiring highly paid Researchers AND Administrators to do a bit more, or even some, teaching is a good start. Press on Governor. This is the work he should be doing, namely, solving problems.He could also take a careful look at the need for big time, money wasting athletics, The money paid coaches must be slashed, and by fiat should never exceed the highest paid professor. Remind your coaches that in the beginning, coaches also taught courses, e.g. Knute Rockne taught Chemistry!

  • orwellsdisciple

    Probably I’d have to be tortured before I said anything that might be interpreted as supporting the prevailing American business philosophies, or their chief agent of propaganda, the GOP. But the notion that our universities are in desperate need of performance-driven reform is so obvious that we ought to be embarrassed when others beat us to the suggestion. I sympathize with some of the commenters here about the obnoxious political interference. At the same time, I will not defend the incompetence and laziness of too many of my colleagues. I can only assume that they are only assuming that tenure is a kind of very early retirement, but with full pay and benefits.

  • philosophy

    In the abstract, more focus on teaching instead of research sounds good. (Contra Nyhist, Perry did not say that no research should be completed! ) A good bit of research is little more than publication for the sake of publication and vita-expansion. HOWEVER I see a problem with relating productivity to focus on teaching; what would “teaching productivity” be? Probably things that could be measured by bean-counters, such as # of students in classes, average grades in the classes, and student evaluations. Which would lead to bigger and more boring classes plus more grade inflation!

  • philosophy

    In the abstract, more focus on teaching instead of research sounds good. (Contra Nyhist, Perry did not say that no research should be completed! ) A good bit of research is little more than publication for the sake of publication and vita-expansion. HOWEVER I see a problem with relating productivity to focus on teaching; what would “teaching productivity” be? Probably things that could be measured by bean-counters, such as # of students in classes, average grades in the classes, and student evaluations. Which would lead to bigger and more boring classes plus more grade inflation!

  • commentarius

    Governors and their appointed regents have been micromanaging and meddling in TX university affairs since the universities were founded, sometimes for overtly political ends. It brings to mind the infamous chairman Frank Erwin, who made his career running roughshod over UT presidents and abusing students during the 60s and early 70s. See: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/kenneth-ashworth-the-tt-interview/

    Erwin was definitely a “do it my way or I’ll run you over with a tank” kind of guy, and he is more remembered for his tactics of obliteration than for any actual accomplishments, but as this interview points out he always wanted to do right by the University, as he saw it, and never tried to tear it down as Perry wants to do. And Erwin was no friend of governors either, but a force of nature on his own.

    Perry’s approach is purely ideological. Education in general, and higher education in particular, are now seen as cost centers rather than assets in the worldview of reactionary conservatives, and the sooner they can be dismantled or offloaded the sooner their funds can be diverted to well connected private sector types who want to cash in on the state’s dime. The fact that universities tend to be slightly more liberal than their surroundings only makes them relish the task more.

  • commentarius

    Governors and their appointed regents have been micromanaging and meddling in TX university affairs since the universities were founded, sometimes for overtly political ends. It brings to mind the infamous chairman Frank Erwin, who made his career running roughshod over UT presidents and abusing students during the 60s and early 70s. See: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/higher-education/kenneth-ashworth-the-tt-interview/

    Erwin was definitely a “do it my way or I’ll run you over with a tank” kind of guy, and he is more remembered for his tactics of obliteration than for any actual accomplishments, but as this interview points out he always wanted to do right by the University, as he saw it, and never tried to tear it down as Perry wants to do. And Erwin was no friend of governors either, but a force of nature on his own.

    Perry’s approach is purely ideological. Education in general, and higher education in particular, are now seen as cost centers rather than assets in the worldview of reactionary conservatives, and the sooner they can be dismantled or offloaded the sooner their funds can be diverted to well connected private sector types who want to cash in on the state’s dime. The fact that universities tend to be slightly more liberal than their surroundings only makes them relish the task more.

  • 22079340

    Another Ayatollah of the American Right, trying to enforce an orthodoxy on educational institutions, all the while moaning about a “political correctness” straw man on the left…

  • 22079340

    Another Ayatollah of the American Right, trying to enforce an orthodoxy on educational institutions, all the while moaning about a “political correctness” straw man on the left…

  • manoflamancha

    You mean straw women, eh?

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