Guest Column: The Case for Higher Ed Accountability
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has urged transparency and accountability in higher education, especially in the areas of research and teaching. The presidents of the University of Texas and Texas A&M University have countered by citing excellent examples of research. We have no quarrel with that.
Rather, it’s rather what they don’t say that's also critical. Let’s hear, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story.
Our universities have shifted priorities to research first, students second. “The ultimate source of this cultural shift,” writes Harry Lewis, a former dean at Harvard University ...
Comments (15)
Thomas Omer
Well its pretty clear that research does not occur at Lone Star College and it is sad that an academic (apparently now former academic given his statements) would fall back on the faculty only teach 6 hours a week story. Studies show that faculty on average devote 39 hours a week to teaching and that does not include service or research. Who cares what the governor makes there are no markets for governors and the governor is currently spending 240,000 a year on his temporary residence and we aren't getting much for the $150,000 he is paid. It is a sad state of affairs when junior college faculty are called upon to rant about faculty at tier one Universities being worthless researchers in an attempt to destroy the education system. One must ask how low can they go. Are they going to stoop to asking some faculty members mother to make statements about how she doesn't understand what her child the professor does?
James Harner
The American Enterprise Institute researcher who asserted that 21,674 articles were published on Shakespeare between 1980 and 2006 needs some basic instruction in research methodology. It is likely that he or she did a basic keyword search of the MLA International Bibliography. The World Shakespeare Bibliography Online--the authoritative record of Shakespeare research worldwide--records 34,011 articles on Shakespeare for the period 1980-2006.
Wilkins Micawber
Ah, yes, the eminent Dr. Ronald Trowbridge, formerly VP of Hillsdale College, the "citadel of conservatism", bringing balance and perspective to the discussion.
These insights from a man who, in a presentation at Hillsdale during the Center for Constructive Alternatives seminar on "The Future of American Labor Unions" recounts his personal experiences during a strike on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. Trowbridge the Sage, standing serenely above the fray, yet mocking his former colleagues for reading Shakespeare and Austen, listening to Mozart and Schubert, speaking French, and drinking tea and sherry. All the while calling them mobsters, Yahoos, worms, and trousered apes.
That Dr. Ronald L. Trowbridge, Ph.D.
Matthew Davis
Dr. Trowbridge, let's talk salary. You stated "football coaches, who work with bodies, are subject to intense accountability. Professors, who work with minds, are not. Go figure." These coaches make well over a million dollars (often several times over) a year. At Texas A&M, Assistant Professors (the lowest tenure-track rank) in English -- which you made much hay about made between $60 and $70 thousand dollars of a year. Nobody made more than $200 thousand. And these are people with PhD's.
The administration of the campus makes between $100 and $434 thousand a year. The administration of the university system, which seems to be topheavy with vice chancellors and directors, makes roughly the same, with the chancellor an outlier at $534 thousand. I assume your argument veered away from accountability to salary because I'm supposed to ask the question why the professors (who again, have PhD's and who do more than just teach two classes -- as you are an instructor yourself you know that argument is hogwash) get paid so much. Why do administrative salaries get a bye?
One last point, regarding accountability - since you point out that you're an adjunct, I'm sure you're aware that the purpose of accreditation is to make sure universities are accountable to the same standard throughout the region they're accredited in and that students receive the education they expect. Yet -- since you seem to be writing on behalf of the Texas Public Policy Foundation -- you mention nothing about Rick O'Donnell's desire to create a separate system of accreditation for Texas higher education. Wouldn't this undermine the accountability you so fervently want? Or is accountability really a code word for cutting costs (and by doing so, often cutting quality) in every avenue except, apparently, administration, which you strangely don't mention.
Jim Hall
Funny Numbers
According to the Tribune's salary database, the professors of Texas A&M have a median salary of $127k. There are 53 professors making over $200k, so I have a hard time imagining that 40 professors chosen at random showed an average salary of over $200k. Elsa Murano is still showing on the payroll at $450k, which is probably her former salary as president of the university. I just don't see that their data adds up.
Moral relativism on display at TPPF
I also find it amusing that a conservative think tank like TPPF routinely uses the "class warfare" tactic when it takes on universities, but decries it's use in discussions of tax policy.
Jim
maxdtex
I am in favor of accountability, but the manner in which it is being pursued is counterproductive. A system that funds based partially on course completion and graduation rate is already leading to changes in which faculty are being evaluated based on how many students successfully complete their classes. The result is faculty who are making their classes easier so their evaulation is better and the school gets more funding. To be more efficient, the state needs to stop funding colleges for students who never attend class or fail to pass any classes. Instead, the colleges allow those students to continue enrolling to get the state funding. Also, funding should not be based on 12th day class rolls since this encourages colleges to enroll students until that date who are already so far behind they cannot pass.
kevin mcnamara
I woudn't for a moment dispute that nothing of value issues from either Hillsdale College or TPPF. But the idea that Higher education consists of Harvard and Lone Star, or that 98% of universities an colleges are Harvardian in teaching load and research-to-teaching ratio (Texas' public colleges and universities do not even provide sabbaticals) is reason enough to doubt the accuracy of every claim in the argument. As is the implication that evaluation of teaching is not ongoing.My understanding is that Paul Harvey (or his staff) actually did research on the stories they told.
Back to school for Mr. Trowbridge!
Sharon Arnoult via Texas Tribune on Facebook
There are 27 public universities in the state of Texas. At only 2 -- UT-Austin and A&M-College Station -- is the teaching load 6 hours a semester. At all other universities it is 9 to 12 hours, so to say that "It is commonplace now for professors to teach only two classes, or six hours a week, per semester, with release time from the classroom to conduct research" is completely false, unless that statement is qualified -- as it is not here -- as only applying to those two schools which are major research institutions. Moreover, the use of student evaluations, WITH the addition of peer evaluations and/or grade distributions, in annually evaluating faculty, including evaluations for merit raises, is already standard practice, and no one has any objections to that. The objection is to the use solely of student evaluations for faculty bonuses, which is based on two mistaken assumptions -- 1) that students consistently give high evaluations to those faculty who are teaching the best and 2) that, in terms of "customer satisfaction," students are the "customers" of higher education. To some extent they are, but the "customers" are also the people and the employers of this state, who are not well-served if an over-emphasis on giving students 'what they like' results in college graduates who are unable to meet deadlines, analyze and synthesize complex information, and communicate clearly, what I would suggest are key things, beyond specialized area skills, that employers expect in college graduates.
Lon Berquist
One would expect to get a thoughtful critique of Texas higher education from someone with such extensive university teaching and administrative experience as Dr. Trowbridge.
Instead, we get more of the same generalities and selective quotes to support the ideological perspective of the TPPF. It is astonishing that this man was an administrator at a university. “Our universities have shifted priorities to research first, students second.” Since when? Research universities have long had research as a priority, as they should. Teaching skills certainly should be a priority at Lone Star College, where Dr. Trowbridge is an adjunct. But highlighting his experience at Lone Star reveals Dr. Trowbridge’s fundamental misunderstanding of the mixed, yet crucial role, of the range of colleges and universities in Texas. From community colleges, to teaching colleges offering four year degrees, to our research universities offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees; all have a place in Texas higher education. And yes indeed, research universities should conduct research on medicine, technology, and (yes) Shakespeare.
His critique of research reveals even more confusing logic, blinded by free market ideology. My goodness, yet another Shakespeare article! Let’s consider an alternative focus of research, “There has been 21, 674 articles reporting research on cancer. Do we need the 21,675th?” Well Dr. Trowbridge, what say you?
In questioning the value of research, and calling for “some process of evaluation,” one wonders how Dr. Trowbridge achieved tenure. Did he not conduct research, have it reviewed by peers, and have it published where it received further scrutiny or ”evaluation” from other scholars in his field? Did he not submit his research and teaching evaluations to a tenure committee, made up of departmental faculty and representatives from peer institutions? Did he not pursue and receive research grants, which included overhead costs to financially support his grad students, his department, and his university?
In their continuing call for transparency and accountability for Texas higher education, TPPF displays a woeful ignorance of how a research university works. Should they successfully impose their vision of higher education on Texas, I look forward to Dr. Trowbridge’s lectures at Texas A&M Community College.
Bill Bush via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Every time TPPF speaks on this subject, they exemplify the reason why peer-reviewed academic research exists. A fact-checker would pick this op-ed apart for argument by distorting anecdote. The claim that the typical professor earns an annual salary of $200,000 is embarrassingly inaccurate. The typical teaching load at every public university other than the two flagships is 3-4 classes per semester. Preparation, grading, and mentoring students requires substantial work outside of class - for each class. Then you throw in research and service requirements, and most professors work well above 40 hours per week and for much less than the ridiculous salary amount he presents here.
Sharon Arnoult via Texas Tribune on Facebook
A&M has both a veterinary school and a medical school, which would skew faculty salaries upwards considerably, and flagship salaries are higher than other university professorial salaries anyway. I am reminded of what the late Ann Richards, God bless her, replied when informed that a professor of neurology earned considerably more than she did as governor: "A neurologist is worth more than a governor."
Neil Sapper
In a blast from the past, read about Trowbridge at Hillsdale College:
http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9609/hillsdale.html
The Texas Tribune needs to bring us guest editorials by the Village Idiot (take your pick of Texas communities). To give space to this loon without reference to his right-wing past does not serve a new publication well.
poryorick
@Neil: That article should be the preface for any public argument by Trowbridge. His perspective is informed by a history far beyond what anyone would consider objective or even mildly ideological. He is a culture warrior whose failure to succeed in the market of ideas has resulted in his taking a position that seeks to undermine education and replace it with a distinctly partisan form of brainwashing.
That the ideological approach of the TPPF and its disciples has gained so much currency in the debate over higher ed in this state is a sad commentary on how we collectively view the importance of those institutions on which our future is built.
Neil Sapper
@poryorick -- The shame is that The Texas Tribune gave this refugee from Hillsdale College the bandwidth for "an editorial." People like Trowbridge march to an anti-intellectual tune. Let him go back to the Michigan hinterlands from which he came. He deserves no place at the higher-ed table in Texas. Enough!
kyle field
How about this: UT won't tell Hillsdale how to run their school and Hillsdale won't tell UT & A&M what to do. Stop intervening with the market. Students can go to teaching-centered schools if they want, there are many of them out there. Thousands still want in at our R1 schools, many more than applied or enrolled at Hillsdale. He knows now of which he speaks. Don't use your free time to push your ideas on us, as you pointed out, this is a hobby for you. Some of us take it more seriously.