Educational Excellence and Picking a New President
By Art Small, Originally Printed in the CR Gazette
Since the departure in June of David Skorton, who left the UI for the presidency at Cornell University, much attention has been focused on the matter of the search for a new president. Across the state, and certainly within the University community, it has been a major subject for discussion. Certainly having a quality president of the university is extremely important and almost every public figure of any note in Iowa has expressed an opinion on the subject. Less attention has been devoted to what is a more serious and less correctable problem: the serious under-funding of Iowa's three Universities.
A new president will ultimately be found, even though the process by which that individual is selected probably will not meet with universal approval. That new president will be gratified to find Iowa's politicians quite willing to articulate strong support for higher education in the state. During the most recent campaign the state Democratic Chair said Iowa Democrats would “secure educational excellence” while “making college more affordable” and the Republican Chair said his party had “a positive vision to achieve world-class education” and would “strive to provide our children a world-class education.” Further, both candidates for Governor promised to address the problem of ever higher tuition increases.
Great sentiments. But when that newly selected president looks closer he or she will find a different and more difficult reality. The total sum appropriated for Iowa's Regents Universities in Governor Branstad's last year of office was $628,572,092. But for the past 5 years the amounts appropriated have been $16.5, $40, $54, $39 and $55 million below that amount. In addition, and making matters worse, during the eight years of Governor Vilsack's term the Consumer Price Index has risen over 18 percent and the Higher Education Price Index has jumped 27.8 percent. Also, during the same period, at the University of Iowa alone the number of undergraduates has increased 11 percent and the number of tenured and tenure track faculty has decreased 3.4 percent. To help make up for the shortfall, tuition and fees have been more than doubled. This certainly has not been a recipe for “world-class education.”
The new president will soon find the reality behind the political rhetoric is not pretty. Will the new Governor and new Legislature address this funding problem? Who knows? That issue has not been much discussed. It will take money, serious money. To find a new president the Regents simply have to get their act together and pick one. That shouldn't be all that difficult and there does appear to be an adequate supply of qualified candidates. But it will take a lot more effort to get the needed funding. Will the new Governor, the new Legislature and the new Regents have the desire or the will to be up to this more difficult challenge? In short, will they find a new recipe for the promised “world-class education”?
Arthur A. Small
Blog For Iowa 