Legislators Create Higher Ed Oversight Committee
Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have created a new Joint Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence, and Transparency. It will be chaired by Senate Higher Education Chairwoman Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas.
The members from the Senate will include Dallas Republican John Carona, Lubbock Republican Robert Duncan, Amarillo Republican Kel Seliger, Houston Democrat Rodney Ellis and Austin Democrat Kirk Watson.
The House members will be Angleton Republican Dennis Bonnen, San Antonio Democrat Joaquin Castro, Dallas Democrat Eric Johnson, Brenham Republican Lois Kolkhorst and Waxahachie Republican Jim Pitts.
"The talented members ...
Comments (4)
Rick Chafey via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Of course they did. Intellectual freedom is antithetical to centralized government rule. The Afghan Taliban does it; the American Taliban does it... what's new under the sun?
Colin Strother via Texas Tribune on Facebook
zaff chairs the committee that ALREADY IS SHOULD BE OVERSEEING HIGHER ED. such BS. zaff: do you existing job before you create a new job.
James Jones
So, let me see if I get this straight. The Regents try to do their job and get a handle on why the cost of higher ed in Texas sky-rockets year after year while students continue to graduate in droves laden with debt and ill prepared to enter the work force. They ask for some basic data showing what the academics produce in the way of teaching and research as compared to their pay, and they explore some simple reforms to tie compensation to these ends. These efforts are met with a firestorm of resistance from the higher ed power structure, culminating now with this oversight committee, the obvious purpose of which is to usurp the power of the Board of Regents. It seems to me that the Regents must have been on to something, and some very powerful people are bound and determined to cover it up. Why doesn't the press dig into the real story here? If anyone is out there who knows, I urge you to enlighten the rest of us.
Sam wise
James Jones
The issue is simple, the regents have not stumbled on something. They are being fed an order by the governor to implement a plan by a person(s) who have virtually no academic experience. They want to give performance measures for teaching that have not been defined and hold out the carrot of better parking and better offices for those that excel. that is the corporate world and only shows how naive the think thimble is about what education is all about. If you follow their plan you develop diploma mills that will destroy the concept of eduction in favor of the equivalent of a drivers license. the resistance is reasonable given there is no theory or basis for the 7 solutions none. This was dreamed up by an individual who holds a grudge against UT and can't let it go. They want to destroy higher education of the entire state to satisfy the grudge. The University of Houston hired outside independent consultants to evaluate the 7 solutions. They are not positively inclined toward the implementation but acknowledge like every faculty member that some of the solutions are worthy of discussion. However, discussion comes before implementation and the governor and TPPF wants to implement and discuss later. That's called defend implementation not discuss it.