On the Approaching Tenth Anniversary of Mark Yudof's Inauguration

As President of the University of Minnesota

Mr. Bonzo has been associated with BigU since 1970. During this time he has observed the reign of presidents Malcom Moos, Peter McGrath, Kenneth Keller, Nils Hasselmo, Mark Yudof, and Robert Bruininks.

Of these presidents, the one whose influence on the university will be the most lasting and who did the best job was Mark Yudof. It is possible that Ken Keller might have had a larger influence if he had served longer but his presidency was cut short by a harmless mistake or overweening arrogance depending on what you thought of his Commitment to Focus program.

Now Mark Yudof was an outsider and he did not stay at the university for very long. Some apparently feel that this is bad for the university and seem to be willing to settle for a lifer who knows the institution well and will stay as president for a long time. Hasselmo, Keller, and the present occupant are examples of this lifer type.

Mr. B. is not a great fan of administrators but in his career he has observed two excellent presidents, Yudof at Minnesota and the late Howard Swearer while at Carleton. Swearer later served at Brown University where he did an outstanding job. They were both great writers, articulate, cultured, and comfortable in dealing with students, janitors, secretaries, and faculty. Yudof knew how to deal with state legislators and other politicians including Jesse Ventura. Swearer didn't have to, but I am sure he could have picked it up. Both individuals were scary smart but did not take themselves too seriously.

Events of the past ten years are indeed depressing, e.g. the destruction of General College, the prostitution of the University to Coca-Cola, Twin City Federal, and Pepsi Cola, addiction to consultants and the latest management fads, disgraceful treatment of workers. Now in cynical moments when ugly things happen at BigU courtesy of our administration it can be consoling to think: "It's this way everywhere." Don't believe it. Leadership matters.

What follows are some excerpts from Mark Yudof's Inaugural Address. They make you want to go out and labor mightily to keep the University of Minnesota a great university. Let's hope that some day we have another leader of Mark Yudof's caliber in the Big House.

Inaugural Address ( October 17, 1997)

I am deeply honored by my appointment as the 14th president of the University of Minnesota and by all of those assembled today in Northrop Auditorium to celebrate that ascendancy. I accept that honor with gratitude and humility. I accept it with the certainty that I would not be standing here today but for the family that nurtured and guided me.

Today marks a transition or passage in my own life and in that of my family, and it may also evidence a further evolutionary stage in the life of this great University, an accelerated evolution toward higher levels of excellence and service to this state and nation. I certainly hope so. I will do my absolute best in the years ahead. I approach the 150th anniversary of the University with a confidence borne of deep respect for our government leaders, the Board of Regents, and our splendid faculty and staff. Most importantly, I have faith in our students, those sons and daughters of Minnesota, who are our sole reason for being.

One critical value is community. The University should be a functioning community in which students, staff, and faculty are part of a larger whole, in which there is a sense of social obligation that transcends self-interest, and in which there is a culture of civic responsibility, civility, and tolerance.

In recent years, too many in the academy have abandoned community, with its commitment to fairness, willingness to sacrifice for the good of the entire enterprise, and a sense that we are all in this together. They have played the politics of distrust, envy, cynicism, and self-advancement.

It is fundamental--as Emmanuel Kant beautifully explained and the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States embody--that the individuals in our community be treated with equal respect.

The need for integrity permeates every aspect of the University. The education mission of the University must be taken seriously--not just the way to get state funding.

Administrators should tell the truth, keep their word, implement what they promise, and not dissemble. My point is plain enough: Without integrity, the phrase higher education is an oxymoron.

Within our resources and true to the multiple purposes of a great land-grant institution, the hydraulic that drives the University should be the quest to be outstanding, to do things as well or better than any other institution in the nation.

We should always nurture a climate in which academicians are not intimidated by outside forces, other faculty members, students, or administrators.

I pledge today that I will always defend academic freedom. After all, whatever the titles, I am first and foremost a member of the academy and a fellow professor. All I ask in return is that the faculty never accepts mediocrity, that it hold itself to the highest standards of intellectual and pedagogical excellence, and that it police itself for those few colleagues who fail to uphold the highest standards of our profession.

Minnesotans expect us to be fair in providing access to the University for their sons and daughters. If we do not provide reasonable access--including access for those who are underprepared and historically underrepresented in higher education and in the upper levels of our socioeconomic life, the taxpayers and state government of Minnesota will turn their backs on our graduate, research, and outreach functions. Simply stated, it is imperative that we continue to embrace our land-grant roots if we are to thrive.

When making decisions, I view shared governance and consultation with constituent groups as only fair because of the enormous stake they have in the University. Without fairness there is no legitimacy and no buy in to the institutional vision.

To the best of my recollection, no great scientific discoveries, no insightful social science tracts, and no novels have been produced in Morrill Hall. No classes are taught in Morrill Hall. No patients are made well in Morrill Hall. My point is that we must value delegating academic and other decisions to campuses, colleges, schools, departments, and faculties. Administrators can facilitate, they can help the deans to build better English or physics or public health programs, but they cannot actually do the building. Help, or get out of the way! The great universities of the world--whether Bologna 900 years ago, Trinity College-Cambridge in the 17th century, or Stanford and Berkeley today--are highly decentralized. Without authority invested where the real work of this University is done, the light of excellence will only grow dimmer.

If war is too important to be left to the generals, then education is too important to be left only to professional educators. University administrators have not yet cornered the market in acumen and foresight; a monologue will not suffice.

We must also value our obligation to reach beyond the boundaries of our classrooms, libraries, and laboratories. We must value using our vast stores of knowledge to help solve the great public policy issues of the day; to help alleviate suffering; to assist in the development of aesthetic sensibilities; and to preserve the ecology of the planet. This is outreach and service where it touches and can be touched.

As a newcomer, let me tell you a great secret about the University of Minnesota, one that you may have overlooked. It is a secret that makes me very proud to be here. The University of Minnesota system, with its 48,000 students, varied campuses and programs, University and General Colleges, partnerships with MnSCU institutions, plans for distance learning, and more, has created the best balance between access and excellence that I have observed in any public university in the country. Self-doubts are inevitable in higher education, but in this case Minnesotans should be patting each other on the back.

Some would urge the University to pull back on its land-grant responsibilities, to rein in the access programs, to abandon the General College, to minimize the importance of the University of Minnesota Extension Service and other outreach programs, tone down our efforts to strengthen elementary and secondary education, or renege on the promise of U2000 for undergraduates.

But at what cost? To save so little and destroy so much? I will not support such efforts. Any short-term gain to research or graduate and professional programs occasioned by cutbacks to the core will be self-defeating.

The result will be a decreased level of public support for the entire University enterprise. There will be less to share. The University is built on its undergraduate program, though it rightfully aspires to and has achieved much more. If the foundation cracks, the whole edifice is in jeopardy.

At an inauguration there generally is unbridled optimism for the future and a sense that all is possible. I am honored by your confidence and good will. But I also am reminded of what Clark Kerr once said of university presidents:

The university president in the United States is expected to be a friend of the students, a colleague of the faculty, a good fellow with the alumni, a sound administrator with the [regents], a good speaker with the public, an astute bargainer with the foundations and federal agencies, a politician with the state legislator, a friend of industry, labor, and agriculture, a persuasive diplomat with donors, a champion of education generally, a supporter of the professions. . . , a spokesman to the press, a scholar in his own right. . . a devotee of opera and football equally, a decent human being, [and so on]. . . .

No one can be all of these things. Some succeed at being none.

At the crossroads of expectation and reality, human fallibility and aspiration, individual will and institutional inertia, I hope that you will forgive my inevitable lapses, take joint responsibility for the nurturing of values and goals, and find comfort in the progress we make together.

God bless all of you and God bless the University of Minnesota.

Amen - Bonzo

So What's It Going to Be at BigU?

A Medallion or a Yugo?

Mr. B. has previously written about the Yugo strategy that was unfortunately endorsed today at the U of M by the Board of Regents.

See: "The Fix is On, Another Fast Shuffle at BigU, or If You Can't Compete on Quality Compete on Price"

Thanks to OurLeader for further evidence that discussion of such matters is not for the stakeholders. Big Brother knows best. So much for transparency and openness. There are many unintended consequences on the horizon.

Out of state (non-reciprocity) tuition is to be set at $2000 per semester higher than in state tuition. This is a cut of about $8000 per year. It will be interesting to see how much traffic this generates from out of state students. Needless to say the new rate is significantly less than out of state tuition at so-called medallion schools that the U would like to emulate:

Many of the nation’s best and brightest students consider the University of Minnesota a “medium-quality school,” not in the same class as Michigan or Wisconsin.

The university is not viewed as a “medallion” destination [According to BigU, the BigTen medallion schools are Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, and Wisconsin] by top academic prospects. Even honors students who choose Minnesota rate its academic quality lower than the schools they turned down, according to an internal university analysis.

“Medium-quality, high-affordability” schools like the University of Minnesota must keep tuition low or offer big scholarships to lure good students. “Medallion schools” can charge higher tuition and offer fewer merit scholarships.

Oh well, if you can't compete on quality, compete on price. There was even talk in the early stages of the proposed Ten Year March to Greatness that a high quality residential college should be formed to attract outstanding students. Someone must have finally realized that this would cost a lot of money, more than we are apparently willing to spend except for football. BigU is not Carleton, St. Olaf, or Macalester. Education at BigU remains a business. It will be interesting to see the reaction of ColdState citizens to this move, once its implications become more fully understood.

From the Pioneer Press:

by Paul Tosto (Article Last Updated: 06/27/2007 04:26:20 PM CDT)

The U will significantly cut tuition at the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses for students from states outside the Upper Midwest. Starting for students entering in 2008-2009, those "non-resident, non-reciprocity" students will pay only $2,000 more per semester than Minnesotans for the Twin Cities campus and $1,000 more than Minnesotans in Duluth. Right now it's nearly a $6,000 difference on the Twin Cities campus and nearly $5,000 for Duluth.

Officials say that while the U's commitment to Minnesota students remains solid, the university is concerned about projected declines of high school students in Minnesota and neighboring states and how it might affect the university's future enrollment. Reducing non-resident tuition would make the U potentially more attractive to students outside the Upper Midwest.

One of the deans at an open forum on the budget claimed that going out of state, to Illinois for example, was going to be necessary in order to keep up minority enrolllment at BigU. Excuse me sir, you have heard of the late, lamented General College? You do know that we have a large minority population in North Minneapolis that might be fertile ground for BigU to do some of this vaunted outreach and community involvement. Perhaps then we could educate our own minority citizens at BigU rather than the citizens of Illinois, or Florida, or California. Or is that too much to ask of a land grant institution that aspires to be one of the top three public research universities in the world, but is having trouble rising to the top half of the BigTen?

See: "Oh Lord, It’s Hard to be Humble, When You Have Ambitious Aspirations"

At least for now it is apparently not the medallion, but the Yugo for BigU. Let's all hope for better in the future.

Bonzo

p.s.

Professor Vivek Kapur, Director of the Biomedical Genomics Center at BigU, has just announced that he will be decamping for one of those BigTen medallion schools BigU wishes to emulate - Penn State.

Some difficult choices face our leaders at BigU: Coke or Pepsi? Research or Teaching? Duplication of medical schools or children's hospitals? Becoming the third greatest public research university in the world or pursuing our mission as a land grant university? The medallion or the Yugo?

Driven to Discover Question of the Week

Why do people steal famous paintings—such as Munch’s The Scream—that are sure to be recognized?

Are you being Driven? To Distraction?

Driven to Discover question of the day:

"How much cotton is in a 100% cotton shirt?"

Mr. B. has noted previously the obnoxious public relations campaign (Driven to Discover) being waged by BigU, or should I say by their advertising agency? Thus he was a little annoyed to see the latest version of M magazine arrive in his mailbox complete with Driven to Discover logo front and back as well as another one of those obnoxious questions of earth-shaking importance: "Why don't spiders get caught in their own web?" I leave it to the interested reader to pursue this matter. Could it be evolution or is it perhaps intelligent design? Apparently many of our congresspeople don't believe in evolution, so the answer is obvious. To my great surprise there were actually a number of perceptive letters printed in this issue of M.

To wit:

...I found the article in the winter 2007 issue of M somewhat frightening. In the article, Dean Thomas Fisher writes that the College of Design "educates students to be leaders in the field of social change via design, and to be visionaries for a better future." then works through a list of politically charged buzzwords that leave little doubt about where his personal political allegiances lie. Must some unsuspecting 18-year-old who enrolls at the U wanting to learn how to design Web pages, or blouses, or houses, or gardens--and maybe also make the world a better place in accordance with his or her own personal beliefs and vision--also get an entire load of ideology about exactly what the visions should be?

David W. Downing, St. Paul

And our old friend Will Shapira - who must be BigU's worst letter-writing nightmare - opines:

I take strong issue with the upbeat message and feel-good tone of the M spring 2007 article about the new football stadium. I believe it is a total waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult and embarrassment to those of us who abhor the jock mentality that has spread from the Bierman Athletic Building to the office of President Bruininks.... [ellipses are in the printed letter, so it may have been shortened.] How does a football stadium help Bruininks move toward his purported goal of making the U a top research university? Ski-U-Bah!

Willard B. Shapira

Now Mr. B. has always thought of W. Shapira as some kind of anti-athletics nut (sort of like Mr. B) but he has an interesting background indicating that his position may be a lot more subtle than some of his letters indicate.

He is identified as a "Minnesota Daily sportswriter, 1954-58, Daily sports editor, 1956-58, Minnesota Gopher (yearbook) sports editor 1956-58."

Kudos to M magazine for printing these letters. Maybe something could be done about them by OurLeader and the Board of Regents? Mr. B. still strongly believes that BigU can be a great university. But we have a lot to fix and a good start would be to drop the expensive and lame Driven to Discover campaign and the ambitious aspiration of being one of the top three public research universities in the world.

For a different model of athletics and academics see:

Quartet Set for 'C' Club Hall of Fame Inductions

(which is a description of post-graduate activities of the latest inductees into the Carleton College 'C' Club hall of fame)

Ciao, Bonzo

Mrs. B. is in Nuevo York, so I can spend the day and evening in the lab...

The Fix is On

Another Fast Shuffle at BigU or
If You Can't Compete on Quality Compete on Price

Once again BigU is pursuing a manipulative course of change without prior discussion or consultation with the affected stakeholders. A massive tuition cut for non-resident students is planned with the notable exception of Wisconsin and the Dakotas. This action was set up by an editorial in the Strib published yesterday, on the same day that OurLeader apparently put forth this plan to the Regents who will vote on June 27. It is just this kind of quick and sneaky approach to decisions at the U that makes stakeholders - students, faculty, staff, as well as citizens of ColdState - suspicious of the good will and intentions of BigU's administration. This kind of behavior is hardly the way to improve the academic and consultative climate on campus, among the administation's professed goals. This behavior reminds Mr. B. of days gone by when re-engineering was in vogue at BigU. Move quickly before anyone has a chance to react. Do it when no one is around to argue. These tactics failed when used in the reengineering campaign and badly damaged the U. We have yet to recover from its effects.

From today's Strib:

U has plan to keep enrollment up with a tuition bargain

Officials say a recruiting effort coupled with lower nonresident tuition could be the ticket to stabilizing projected enrollment declines.

By Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune

In California, there isn't enough room in universities for all the kids who want to go to college. And in Florida, community colleges have started offering four-year degrees to expand the capacity of higher education.

And so we are going to get a lot of business from Florida and California? In your dreams. Mr. B. has recruited for BigU in warm states and it is a very tough sell. Students literally shudder when Minnesota is mentioned. Minnesota wants to be Florida's community college? California kids would rather attend BigU than, say, the University of California at Santa Cruz?

Would some of those students come to the University of Minnesota if they didn't have to pay much more than Minnesotans do?

That's the experiment the U is likely to pursue beginning in fall 2008. Officials are proposing to dramatically cut undergraduate nonresident tuition to attract more students from around the nation. Last year, nonresident tuition and required fees on the Twin Cities campus were $21,040, compared with $9,410 for Minnesota students. If the proposed change had been in effect, nonresidents would have paid only $4,000 more per year than Minnesota residents.

If you do the math, that is a cut of ca $8,000. Heckuva deal. Of course it means that for each of the new students attracted someone paying lower tution will be squeezed out… But what the heck our educational mission here is obviously taking a backseat to research, so who cares?

U President Robert Bruininks told the Board of Regents on Thursday that the plan would keep university enrollment up in a time when the number of high school graduates in the Midwest will drop.

Could someone please explain to me exactly why enrollment at BigU has to be so large? We are a small state. Why are we duking it out with large population states like Ohio for the largest state university? Could it be because a large university will support a large budget?

Because most U graduates stay in Minnesota to work, he said, that would benefit the state economically.

Of course that is because most U graduates - now - are from Minnesota. Here some numbers, conspicuously absent in most U pitches, would be useful.

The U enrolls about 10 percent of Minnesota's high school graduates each year and that would not change, Bruininks said. But the composition of the rest of the undergraduate class could look different.

Now, 72 percent of U freshmen come from Minnesota,

[Someone pointed out to Mr. B. that it is closer to 65 percent and that it will probably hit 60 percent in the next few years. Mr. Bonzo will be watching.]

while almost 19 percent are from Wisconsin. Between 3 and 4 percent come from North Dakota and South Dakota.

Now let’s think carefully about the implications here. The out of state mix is going to change and less students will be taken from Wisconsin and North and South Dakota. Now people from those states are used to the weather and the intellectual/social climate of the upper Midwest. They are more likely to stay here than people from, er, California, Texas, or Florida. Interesting that the U, by recent actions, is working to make enrollment of Wisconsin students a less attractive option to Badgers.

Enrollment slipping

But over the next decade, the number of high school graduates is projected to drop 3 percent in Minnesota, 6 percent in Wisconsin, 23 percent in North Dakota and 8 percent in South Dakota. Already, the number of students from the Dakotas attending the U has declined 10 percent. And five of the six other states in the middle of the country that send more than a handful of students to the U also face shrinking numbers of high school graduates.

Ah, finally, the dirty little secret emerges. All of this talk about getting better and better students is predicated on a large applicant pool and it is shrinking. Perhaps it is time to retract enrollment at the U as Wisconsin did some time ago? Why, exactly, does enrollment at the U have to be so high?

"Over the next 10 years, the U needs to position itself to recruit from other states," said Peter Zetterberg, senior analyst in the U provost's office.

Why? Just as the football team seems to be positioning itself to capture the best athletes in Minnesota, maybe the U should take positive steps to capture the best students in Minnesota...

A test case

The U's Twin Cities campus already draws more students from Illinois than it used to, the result of a decision a few years ago to recruit there.

Could we please have some numbers here? How many students over the past ten years were from Illinois? How much money was spent on the recruiting effort?

What other states could be targeted for recruiting isn't clear yet, but potential targets include California and Texas, which already send students to the U.

How many, exactly? It is very unlikely that we will see significant enrollment from either California or Texas in the future. (As most of the kids would say: “Brrr...”)

Zetterberg said the U wouldn't lose money through the change partly because tuition discounts and scholarships mean few nonresident students pay the full amount now. And the new policy should draw more students, he said. Even with tuition cuts, nonresident students would be fully paying the cost of their education.

Once again, numbers would be nice. “Trust us?” Trust but verify.

The plan also would drop nonresident rates at the Duluth campus to just $2,000 more per year than the Minnesota rates. Nonresident rates have already been dropped at the Crookston and Morris campuses.

Regents will vote on the proposal as part of budget decisions June 27.

The fix is on. For once it would be nice to see the Board of Regents do more than rubber stamp OurLeader’s scheme. For once it would be nice to see some real numbers about revenue differential. For once it would be nice to see the U administrators talk straight on these matters. Do we want more money from Wisconsin students? If so, why are we willing to cut nonresident tuition for others by quite a bit (eight grand) and lose revenue on them? To Mr. B. it appears that these two different lines of thought are not consistent.

This latest questionable scheme seems to be an act of desperation by an administration in real trouble with their ambitious aspiration to be one of the top three public research universities in the world. If you look at nonresident tuition for Michigan and Wisconsin, BigU's rate will be significantly cheaper. Thus it appears that a college education is in the same category as a used car. If the product is inferior and isn't selling well, cut the price.

Once again OurLeader makes a bold and audacious (would that be bodacious?) move.

Are we selling Yugos? Perhaps we are...

Bonzo

Oh Lord, It’s Hard to be Humble,
When You Have Ambitious Aspirations

By executive fiat Mr. Bonzo, as everyone at BigU, is driven to discover. His most recent discovery is the US News & World Report Rankings of America’s Best Colleges, version 2007. Alas, the rankings for public national universities are disturbing news for a BigU in the third year of our ten year march to greatness.

America’s Best Colleges 2007

1 Harvard University (MA)
1 Princeton University (NJ)
3 Yale University (CT).
4 University of Pennsylvania
5 Duke University (NC)
5 Stanford University (CA)
7 California Institute of Technology
7 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
9 Columbia University (NY)
9 Dartmouth College (NH)
11 Washington University in St. Louis
12 Northwestern University (IL)
13 Cornell University (NY)
13 Johns Hopkins University (MD)
15 Brown University (RI)
15 University of Chicago
17 Rice University (TX)
18 University of Notre Dame (IN)
18 Vanderbilt University (TN)
20 Emory University (GA)
20 University of California – Berkeley *
22 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
23 Georgetown University (DC)
23 University of Virginia *
25 Univ. of California – Los Angeles *
25 University of Michigan – Ann Arbor *
27 Tufts University (MA)
27 U. of North Carolina – Chapel Hill *
27 Wake Forest University (NC)
30 Univ. of Southern California
31 College of William and Mary (VA)*
32 Lehigh University (PA)
32 Univ. of California – San Diego *
34 Brandeis University (MA)
34 University of Rochester (NY)
34 Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison *
37 Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
37 Georgia Institute of Technology *
37 New York University
40 Boston College
40 University of California – Irvine *
42 U. of Illinois – Urbana - Champaign *
43 Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
43 Tulane University (LA)
45 Univ. of California – Santa Barbara *
45 University of Washington *
45 Yeshiva University (NY)
48 Pennsylvania State U. – University Park *
48 University of California – Davis *
50 Syracuse University (NY)
50 University of Florida *
52 University of Texas – Austin *
53 George Washington University (DC)
53 Worcester Polytechnic Inst. (MA)
55 Pepperdine University (CA)
55 Univ. of Maryland – College Park *
55 University of Miami (FL)
58 University of Georgia *
58 University of Pittsburgh *
60 Boston University
60 Ohio State University – Columbus *
60 Purdue Univ. – West Lafayette (IN)*
60 Rutgers – New Brunswick (NJ)*
60 Texas A&M Univ. – College Station *
60 University of Iowa *
66 Miami University – Oxford (OH)*
66 University of Delaware *
68 Fordham University (NY)
68 Univ. of California – Santa Cruz *
68 University of Connecticut *
71 Brigham Young Univ. – Provo (UT)
71 Southern Methodist University (TX)
71 Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ)
74 Indiana University – Bloomington *
74 Michigan State University *
74 SUNY – Binghamton *
74 Univ. of Minnesota – Twin Cities *
78 Baylor University (TX)
78 Clemson University (SC)*
78 North Carolina State U. – Raleigh *
78 St. Louis University
78 University of Colorado – Boulder *
78 Virginia Tech *
84 Clark University (MA)
85 American University (DC)
85 Auburn University (AL)*
85 Iowa State University *
85 Marquette University (WI)

Public Universities that are ahead of BigU are bolded*. Wisconsin has dropped one spot from last year and Minnesota has dropped several spots to be tied for 33rd in the public university category. The eleven BigTen schools, including Penn State and Northwestern, are in green. BigU is tied for last place in the BigTen with Indiana and Michigan State.

Now OurLeader and other BigU administrators can cry that the criteria used for these rankings is suspect and that their own numbers are a better method of ranking. But looking at the criteria used in the US News rankings, they don't seem particularly unusual or unfair to Mr. B. Somehow, using them, Wisconsin is 40 [sic] positions above us. And the majority of our competition in the BigTen beat us. With the exception of Northwestern, they all bear the same burden of being a state supported institution. How can this be? And let's face it - if a prospective student is going to be looking for ways to evaluate potential places to attend college, he or she would be foolish not to consider these rankings. They are readily available to prospective students - just google college rankings and see what pops up.

So Mr. B. concludes with his usual request to OurLeader and his functionaries. Please drop this "one of the top three public research universities in the world" stuff. You destroy all credibility when you speak this way. "In the world" reeks of hubris. We have a lot of important work at BigU that should have priority. You would be surprised at what will happen if you can come up with a scheme that the faculty can buy. Let's fix things that are obviously broken. Going on a Children's Crusade at this point is foolish.

"We're number 74!" Now that is a rallying cry. Or, perhaps "Tied for last in the Big Ten - Nowhere to go but up!"

There is obviously plenty we have to do before we worry about becoming one of the top three public research universities in the world. This ambitious aspirations business is a smokescreen. To even mention it, given the sad current state of affairs, is disgraceful.

Mr. Bonzo

If You Build It, Grants Will Come?

Or, Could Someone at BigU Please Be Honest and Responsible About Expansion of Biomedical Research?

It’s nice to see that the direct phone line between Morrill Hall and the Strib is still working. Mr. B. has previously commented on the attention that should be paid to claims of millions of dollars in research funding that will be dropping like manna from heaven if only BigU will throw up multiple buildings and hire new faculty, even though we can’t keep the ones we’ve got...

See: Trees Do Not Grow to the Sky or, Why the State Legislature Should Not Write a Blank Check to BigU for Biomedical Research Buildings

From the StarTribune

Last update: May 01, 2007 – 6:04 PM

Editorial: Put research buildings on separate track
For new industry's sake, let go of legislative control.

Minnesota has the ingredients to be a biomedical science leader -- world-class medicine, innovative agriculture and a major research university. What's needed is a way to bring those ingredients together ASAP for some creative synergy.

That's what Frank Cerra aims to accomplish as senior vice president of the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center. He has a solid plan: Create a biosciences zone on the Twin Cities campus, build state-of-the art facilities, hire 200 top faculty and set out to win upwards of $100 million a year in grants for research that cures disease -- and creates jobs.

Uh, huh… And just exactly how much is it going to cost to hire those 200 faculty and provide them with start up packages? Let’s see a real analysis here, please. It is not just the buildings - it is the money to make them functional. You can just see how this is going to work. Oh, state legislature, you gave us the money for the buildings and now we need the money to hire the people to put in them. And what if that doesn’t happen?

It's ambitious but achievable [sic] -- provided Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature get behind it. Authorizing one building every few years, as the political tides permit, won't turn the heads of the high-caliber faculty Cerra is courting. An upfront commitment for five new buildings will.

My goodness, "ambitious but achievable" - that phrase seems familiar to Mr. B. Let's see what a little googling will do. Would you believe: " The plan is ambitious but achievable because the momentum for change is ... " taken directly from OurLeaders UM2005 Annual Report. Surely this must be a coincidence? Have the Strib editorial writers become Kool-Aid drinkers?

Cerra explains: "Recruiting every one of these faculty is a three- or four-year effort. We compete with Harvard, [Johns] Hopkins, Michigan, the California schools. It's a seller's market. These faculty want the best facilities to do their work in. That's very important to them. What do I show them?"

Excuse me, sir, we compete with Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, the California schools? Have you been sampling the Kool-Aid, too? Sorry Dr. Cerra, let’s get real here. Have a look at the latest rankings in US News & World Report and see what institutions are actually our competitors. See: "Speaking of Rankings." As far as I can tell the traffic between BigU and the above institutions has only been one way. (Chip Bolman -> Harvard, David Sherman -> Michigan, Chad Boult -> Hopkins...) Fortunately for BigU the California schools have a little problem with the cost of real estate. Californians can sell their houses, move to Minnesota, and buy a McMansion - there are a few examples of this type known to Mr. Bonzo.

The state ought to show them a new, fast-track process to authorize bond issues for four new buildings (a fifth is already under construction), for a total of $235 million from the state and $60 million from the university. The university's proposal would bypass the Legislature's usual bonding process. It would create a separate governing board, empowered to issue those bonds as needed to open one major building every two years.

Sorry, but there is a lot more at the U than biomedical research. Why can’t the biomedical researchers compete with the rest of the campus programs and if their needs are legitimate and overwhelming AND the money is available to fund the faculty to go in the building without crippling the rest of the university, then maybe we can talk about it. A blank check for this purpose is not appropriate.

This idea is making its second appearance at the Legislature. This year, as last, it has Senate support. But it has run into resistance in the House from legislators reluctant to let go of their grip on the bonding purse strings. They need a gubernatorial push.

Perhaps it is not just the bonding purse strings. Might it be fiscal responsibility? I realize that to some BigU administrators this may be a novel concept... Some responsible people in the state legislature may have realized that new buildings will also require additional funds to fill them with faculty and equipment. Sort of like a new stadium will require expensive new coaches to fill the stadium. The march to greatness has required an expensive advertising campaign, Driven to Discover, and the road to GreatBigU will need to be paved with gold. Do you really believe that OurGov TeePaw, Republican vice presidential candidate wannabe, is going to allow taxes to be raised so that BigU will have enough money in the future for ambitious aspirations? If so, then I have a nice maroon and gold Yugo I'd like to sell to you.

On Monday, the Legislature sent a $334 million building projects bill to the governor that did not include the Biomedical Sciences Research Facility Authority. Pawlenty vetoed that bill yesterday, saying it was too large. But he also called the idea of a streamlined bonding process for biosciences buildings "a good idea" that "either this year or next year should go ahead." States including Arizona, New York, Texas and Wisconsin have recently announced similar biosciences building plans. If Pawlenty wants to keep Minnesota in the running for this new industry, next year may be too late.

Uh, huh… Mr. B. suggests an honest conversation about the building plans AND the additional money that is going to be required to hire the faculty and buy the equipment to fill them as well as an honest estimate of how much money this spending-spree will net, particularly because of the currently disastrous NIH funding situation. NIH is the source of the bulk of funding for biomedical research. If a case is to be made then let’s be responsible and honest about it, at least.

An amazed Bonzo is disappointed with the Strib for having taken a position that does not seem to be in the best interest of BigU or ColdState. Rather than cribbing from the University for this editorial, perhaps they should do an independent analysis of the real cost of hiring hundreds of new faculty and a realistic estimate of the amount of NIH funds that could reasonably be expected from the proposed building spree.

It is time for BigU's administration to start walking the talk of responsible leadership and frank discussion.

Mr. Bonzo

ps: If we run out of Coke and Pepsi at BigU, at least there is apparently still a lot of Kool-Aid.

Valuing Honesty
OurLeader’s State of the University Address

From an Editorial in the Minnesota Daily today:

April 13, 2007

Valuing Honesty in State of the U

The University address should be honest and open and should address problems we face.

Last week, University President Bob Bruininks gave his State of the University address at Coffman Union.

He began his speech by speaking of the challenges of the 21st century and the University's three-fold mission that is inscribed on Northrop Auditorium.

Many such addresses ignore problems and issues, and sway toward optimistic outlooks and inspiring words alone. However, it can often be more valuable for the speaker to remain honest and address problems the institution or organization is facing head-on, especially in regards to solutions to these problems.

In his speech, Bruininks did this a few times.

The rest of the time, he focused on the University's plan to become one of the top three public research universities in the world, on how the incoming 2010 class is the best-prepared in history, on University partnerships, on the coordinate campuses and how well they're doing, on the University's academic goals and on our "exceptional faculty and staff," to name a few topics.

The value of an address such as this is apparent. It's meant to be informational and uplifting, but we do believe that University community members receive the most value from openness and honesty, especially when tackling tough subjects such as the problems the University is facing.

Mr. Bonzo has earlier addressed some of these tough subjects. Previous relevant posts include: Speaking of Rankings and OurLeader Gives 2007 State of the University Address, Ambitious Aspirations to Greatness or Can BigU become GreatBigU?

Further relevant rants include: It's the Ick Factor and Photoshop Manipulation of Scientific Illustrations and One Can Only Marvel.

Perhaps OurLeader can speak to some of these issue in next year's State of the University of Minnesota address?

Ciao,
Bonzo

Speaking of Rankings -
(Or not Speaking If You Are OurLeader)

The First Annual BonzoSummary (BS08) of BigU's Progress Toward Greatness

The US News 2008 Edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools (2008 ed.) has appeared. [The numbering scheme is a little odd, because the report issues in 2007 for data that was presumably collected in 2006. But we will stick with the US News numbering scheme.] These are the rankings that university administrators like to dismiss as meaningless - except of course, if their school does well, then the rankings are very informative or even valuable research. A perceptive article on this topic, "Law Deans Hate Rankings, Love Ranks," has appeared in the Pioneer Press.

The Annual BonzoSummary (BS) will keep track of how BigU progresses along the road to greatness as we are re-engineered, er transformed, into GreatBigU. This will serve to monitor our progress toward becoming one of the three top public research universities in the world.

Disclaimer: The BonzoSummary will track medical schools, law schools, business schools, and engineering schools. There is (quite) a bit more to a university than these parts, but it is unlikely that one will be in the “top three” without strong performance in these areas. Having said this, some of the best universities in the world do not have medical schools, e.g., Caltech and MIT - despite what the Arizona/Florida rankings claim.

Engineering
University of Minnesota - tied for 23 overall
U.S. public universities above us:

3. Berkeley
4. Georgia Tech
5. Illinois
9. Michigan
11. Texas
12. Purdue
13. UCSD
14. Texas A&M, Wisconsin (tie)
16. UCLA, Maryland (tie)
19. UC Santa Barbara
21. Penn State
23. Minnesota, Washington (tied)

Thirteen public research universities ahead of us in Engineering

Schools of Business
University of Minnesota - tied for 25th overall
U.S. public university business schools above us:

8. Berkeley
11. Michigan
12. Virginia
16. UCLA
18. Texas, North Carolina (tied)
22. Ohio State, Purdue (tied)
24. Indiana
25. Georgia Tech, Maryland, Minnesota (tied)

So in the US there are 9 public university business schools ahead of us.

Schools of Medicine
Research
Minnesota - tied for 39

5. UCSF
6. Washington
10. Michigan
13. UCLA
14. UCSD
15. Pittsburgh
19, UT Southwestern
20. University of North Carolina
23. University of Virginia, University of Colorado (tied)
27. University of Alabama/Birmingham, University of Wisconsin (tied)
30. University of Iowa
31. Ohio State
32. Oregon
39. University of Minnesota

Fifteen above us in research

Medical Schools - Primary Care
University of Minnesota - 13 overall

Above us

1. University of Washington
2. North Carolina
3. Colorado
4. Oregon
5. Michigan State
6. East Carolina
7. Vermont
8. UCSF
9. Wisconsin
10. Nebraska
11. U Mass
13. Minnesota

Eleven above us

Law Schools
University of Minnesota - tied for 20 overall
Higher Ranked Public Universities

8. Berkeley, Michigan (tied)
10. Virginia
15. UCLA
18. Texas
20. University of Minnesota

Five above us

So what's it all about (Alfie)?

It should be painfully obvious by now that the administration declared goal of being one of the top three research universities in the world is inappropriate, given any reasonable estimate of our current ranking against US institutions. The "whole world" part smacks of hubris and just makes things worse. Sure one can argue that these rankings don't mean anything or that there are better rankings (Arizona/Florida, anyone?). However, the US News ranking is very important and is consulted by students and faculty for unbiased information about relative strengths of graduate programs. Google "university rankings" and see what pops up.

Mr. B. is not particularly upset about these rankings and in some cases they are quite impressive - go Law School ! [BigU's law school has actually gone down one place since last year - but such small fluctuations are meaningless in the rankings game.] There are some hints here as to how we can improve. Perhaps we should consider them rather than going off on a vainglorious crusade to becoming one of the "top three research universities in the world?"

It will be interesting to see how things progress at BigU in the coming decade, the time frame OurLeader has given for BigU's achieving Greatness. The Bonzo Summary (09) will appear next Spring in the third year of the Great March.

More snow, the real thing, is predicted tomorrow at BigU.

Ciao, Bonzo