Swett’s nomination should spur changes in UNC Board of Governors selection
CHAPEL HILL – Purnell Swett has a decision to make, and members of the State House of Representatives have some explaining to do.
The newly elected member of the UNC Board of Governors can take his seat on the governing board when his term begins on July 1. He can also decide not to accept his post due to his 1998 conviction for taking money from the school system he headed.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
RALEIGH – Early Friday morning, while many in North Carolina were sound asleep, state House members approved a $20.3 billion budget that keeps in place temporary taxes that were scheduled to end and provides more than $11 billion in funding for education in the state.
The budget process now moves to the state Senate, where leaders there are expected to make significant changes to the House budget document.
Included in the House budget is $2.5 billion in funding for the University of North Carolina system and $926 million for community colleges. The remainder of the education budget, more than $7.6 billion, goes to the Department of Public Instruction.
What If the U.S. News College Rankings Went Bye-Bye?
Ask Americans how they know which colleges and good and which ones aren’t so good and they’ll probably say, “the U.S. News college rankings.”
For several decades, the annual issue of U.S. News & World Report that focuses on the rankings of colleges, universities, and graduate schools has been treated with exceeding respect by the public. It purports to identify the best university, best liberal arts college, best law and medical schools and so on according to a complicated formula. Rarely do people analyze that formula and ask if it’s a reliable means of identifying schools where students are most likely to receive an excellent education.
Let’s Hold Off the Blame Game at Virginia Tech
It seems fruitless on this day to comment on the “inside baseball” of the state budget process or the academic climate within higher education. There are other days and other weeks for those serious conversations.
This week, all such policy discussions take a back seat to the briefness of life.
Today I turned my thoughts to my disbelief and anger over what occurred Monday at Virginia Tech. We were all shocked as news began to circulate that a gunman – in two separate shootings – killed 32 students and professors and then later himself, leaving 33 dead in all. The gunman was identified Tuesday as Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old Virginia Tech student originally from South Korea. Many at Virginia Tech described Cho as a “loner.”
Senate elects BOG candidates
Just as the state House did last week, state Senate members elected three new members to the UNC Board of Governors and re-elected five others during voting held Thursday.
The Senate elected Frank A. Daniels Jr., Ann Goodnight and Clarice Cato Goodyear as new members to the BOG. They join Ronald Leatherwood, Purnell Swett, and Marshall Pitts, Jr., who were newly elected earlier this week by the state House.
Daniels, Goodnight, and Goodyear were joined in election by R. Steve Bowden, John W. Davis, III, Peter Hans, Adelaide Daniels Key, and Estelle Sanders, all of whom were re-elected by the Senate.
The Federal Takeover of Higher Education
Editor’s Note: Guest columnist Richard Bishirjian is president of Yorktown University, an online liberal arts college dedicated to teaching the forms of knowledge we have inherited from western civilization.
Two events occurred in Washington, DC, in late February that could foreshadow a significant decline in the independence of American colleges and universities.
First, representatives of accrediting associations, state universities, and private colleges engaged in negotiated ‘rule-making’ with representatives of the Department of Education. This rule-making was to establish procedures by which college students are tested, and by which colleges and universities will be compared on the basis of that testing. The other event was even more ominous — an announcement that actions would be taken to control the independent system of accreditation of American higher education by establishing a national accreditation foundation.
UNC-Rocky Mount doesn’t stand up to fiscal analysis
Business and political leaders from Rocky Mount and eastern North Carolina have championed the idea of transforming North Carolina Wesleyan College into a public institution within the UNC system. A study commission authorized by the legislature is wrapping up its findings, and supporters are already referring to the school as “UNC-Rocky Mount.”
Their argument is that a public institution would spur economic development in Rocky Mount and eastern North Carolina and give more students access to higher education. Before the state commits to spending a substantial amount of money making a private college, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, into the 17th state-supported campus, the costs and benefits need to be carefully examined.
Legislature Should View “EARN” Scholarship with Caution
Responding to Governor Mike Easley’s plan to provide tuition-free college for two years, Shannon Blosser of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy said, “The legislature should view this program very cautiously. It could create an expensive entitlement for students that will put heavy burdens on taxpayers.”
“It seems to be more of an effort by the governor to leave an education legacy than a sound program for students and taxpayers,” said Blosser. “Most of the students who will benefit will be students who have already been planning to go to college – and preparing for it academically and financially.”
Governor Easley’s “EARN” initiative (Education Access Rewards North Carolina) would allocate $150 million over the next two fiscal years to cover scholarships in the University of North Carolina system. The scholarships, at $4,000 per year, would cover two years of college. They would dovetail into the existing Learn and Earn program, which allows high school students to attend a community college while still in high school and complete an associate’s degree in one year after high school at no charge.
Gov. Easley releases budget recommendations
RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley on Thursday released his $20 billion budget recommendation to the General Assembly, which calls for a new $150 million scholarship grant as well as a special bond election for university projects.
The budget also increases spending on on-line education programs offered through the University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System.
Easley presented his budget at a press conference in Raleigh. Officials from his administration will meet with legislators Tuesday morning to discuss further details of his budget proposal.
House Committees Announced
House committee assignments were handed out this week, completing the committee assignment process for the General Assembly. Senate committee assignments were announced last week.
Four committees (including subcommittees) will take up higher education issues during the 2007-08 legislative session in the state House. That also includes a committee charged with nominating members to the UNC Board of Governors.
In 2005, the selection process was
clouded in controversy when legislators failed to follow General Statutes that outline the nomination and voting procedures. General Statute 116-6, which lists the BOG election procedures, states “If a sufficient number of nominees who are legally qualified are submitted, then the slate of candidates shall list at least twice the number of candidates for the total seats open.” It also says that nominees are to be approved 30 days after legislative appointments are completed. Legislators followed neither provision in 2005, leaving some to vocally criticize the vote.