Sifting and Winnowing

From the Chronicle of Higher Education (June 19):
Its Leader Under Fire, UMass Flagship Has No Clear Route to Elite Status

Excerpt:

When chancellors appear to work back channels without buy-in from a system, they often undermine their own causes, says Aims C. McGuinness Jr., a senior analyst at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, a nonprofit consulting group. He equated Mr. Holub’s medical-school move with recent efforts to gain autonomy by Carolyn A. (Biddy) Martin, the departing chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who was criticized by system officials when they learned of her quiet pursuit of a plan to break away from the system.

“That is exactly Biddy Martin behavior, going around the system, ignoring the need to work and play effectively with others,” Mr. McGuinness says. “Playing politics is prescription No. 1 for creating major governance problems,” and can mean the failure of a chancellorship or a presidency.

Between the new state budget, the end of collective bargaining rights for public workers, the implementation of painful new policies on fringe benefits, and the imminent departure of Chancellor Biddy Martin, the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds itself in the midst of a “perfect storm” of political, economic, and administrative challenges. As tempting as it might be to continue focusing exclusively on one’s own teaching, research, and/or support responsibilities and assume that the future of this great university is in good hands,  icebergs abound, and they demand our full attention and active participation. Read the rest of this entry »

At the American Law Institute Annual Meeting in San Francisco last Tuesday (May 17), the keynote speech was given by Mark G. Yudof,  President of the University of California.

In his speech, he addresses changing perceptions of the role of the University as a “public good” and the consequences of those changes for higher education.  Among his closing remarks, he says

…state governments should rededicate themselves to supporting these universities’ core functions, not least because core functions will probably never get enough from private sources. In so doing, state governments demonstrate a public commitment to, and understanding of, the universities’ societal value.

Here in Wisconsin, we have heard disappointingly little from our leaders in higher education and in government on “universities’ societal value.”   It is the opposite of  leadership to point helplessly at political and cultural trends and to argue for meek acceptance of “inevitable” cuts in State support.

Dr. Yudof’s entire speech may be viewed here (jump to minute 5:30 if you wish to skip the introduction by his host).

A DRAFT of his prepared remarks is reproduced below for reference (the actual speech differed in minor details but not in substance): Read the rest of this entry »