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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
Most Colleges Avoid Risk Management, Report Says
Jill Biden Shines a Global Spotlight on American Community Colleges
Speaking at a Unesco conference in Paris, the vice president’s wife stressed the importance of two-year institutions to the nation’s educational goals.
Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
Administrators are scrambling to plug holes in their course schedules for fall, with most expecting to do so by hiring more adjuncts or increasing class sizes.
U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
Linda P.B. Katehi, the incoming chancellor of the University of California at Davis, has insisted she knew nothing of the admission of politically connected applicants at Illinois.
Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
President Obama's Visit to Notre Dame Carries Barely a Hint of Controversy That Preceded It | 58
Drug Sting Nabs 21 Students at U. of Illinois | 57
Faculty Members and Union Protest Staff Layoffs at Temple U. as 'Cruel' | 57
North Dakota Board's Vote Puts 'Fighting Sioux' Mascot on Thinner Ice | 57
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December 17, 2007
N.Y. Report Recommends Ways to Improve Higher Education
A commission convened by New York’s governor, Eliot Spitzer, issued a preliminary report today, recommending how the state can improve its universities and use both public and private institutions to help fuel the economy.
Governor Spitzer, a Democrat, created the New York State Commission on Higher Education in May, asking its members to identify ways the state could strengthen its two public-university systems, the State University of New York and the City University of New York. He also sought ideas for how public and private colleges could better prepare students to fill high-skill jobs.
The panel, which includes state legislators, college presidents, faculty members, and students, is scheduled to issue its final report by June.
The governor called the report “bold” and “comprehensive,” but noted that its recommendations would be “expensive” to adopt.
Mr. Spitzer said he would review the proposals to determine which of them he will press next year as part of his budget plan and in his State of the State address to lawmakers.
“It is critically important that New York upgrade and invest in its systems of higher education,” he said in a news conference today. Doing so, he emphasized, is especially important for New York’s economic future.
“Where the great universities are, there the jobs have migrated,” the governor said.
Among other things, the report says, New York must refrain from “overregulation” and allow its public universities to raise tuition and charge different prices without legislative approval.
The report also urges the state to reinvigorate its higher-education system by establishing a $3-billion research fund to support economic development; creating a “low cost” student-loan program; and hiring 2,000 more full-time professors, including 250 “eminent scholars,” over the next five years.
The state should agree to multiyear “compacts” with the public universities, which would guarantee them a certain level of funds for basic operating costs, including salaries, the panel recommended. In return the universities would agree to limit the growth of tuition. —Sara Hebel
Posted on Monday December 17, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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This is long overdue, but probably only the first of many steps necessary to restore New York’s public universities to their former stature. I was a long-time professor at one of the SUNY university centers but a decade ago, like many others, I left in despair at the burgeoning mediocrity. An infusion of support, consistency and independence from the legislature might help, but these recommendations are necessary, though not likely sufficient steps toward improving the stature of the system. The long sad decline of SUNY has left a legacy of weakness in all levels of the academic leadership that must be addressed before there is much hope for improvement.
— Sandy Dec 18, 11:55 AM #
Form over function is at the core of our educational malaise. Plain old horse-sense has been replaced by the petty tyranny of interior designers and their high paid sycophants.
— marci Dec 18, 01:36 PM #