Big Week at BigU

Win some, lose some

Despite last week’s lack of new posts, it was not a quiet week in Lake Wobegun [sic]. Mr. B. did not post last week, however, because he wanted the situation at BigU to sink in. One of the best science bloggers in the business, Pharyngula, aka my own colleague PZ Meyers at the excellent U of M, Morris, campus was kind enough to cite my post in giving his opinion: "Depressing News from My University," wherein he writes:

"UMM recently hosted the University of Minnesota board of regents, and we got a look at the status of the whole U of M system. It's not a happy story. We have an administration with ambitious goals (that's good), but they seem to be a bit divorced from reality — they want to turn us into one of the top three public research universities in the world. That sounds like a great 50 year plan, but I'd rather see an ambitious and feasible 5-year goal, myself."

and

"The ultimate problem is declining investment in education, both in higher ed and our source of students, the Minnesota public schools. Rather than touting grand dreams, it might be wiser of our administrators to highlight the deficiencies in the support our government is giving us, and get them to quit taking the UM system for granted."


[ET, Chairman Bob, hello - are you listening? Do you really want a dialog or do you just want to continue on your merry way, with the volume of the propaganda machine turned up full blast?]

Regular readers will recall that the last post dealt with the miserable ranking of the U compared to our self-selected peers in a number of factors related to the administration's “ambitious aspiration” for BigU to "become one of the top three public research universities in the world [sic].”

Sigh… Denial - It’s not just a river in Egypt.

So what else happened?

This week Leo won the big one, Mystic Lake casino made a 12.5 million dollar donation to BigU, the “little green guys” ran over the Gophers, and yet another example of denial surfaced at BigU.

Leo Hits the Ball Long

Leo is of course Professor Leonid Hurwicz, who is an emeritus member of the economics department and this year’s Nobel Prize winner in economics along with Professors Maskin and Myerson of Princeton and the University of Chicago. Another recent economics laureate with Minnesota connections is Ed Prescott who left a few years ago - in the middle of the academic year - due to an apparent tiff with BigU’s administration. Ed moved to Arizona State where he subsequently received the economics Nobel Prize. Mr. B. notes without further comment that BigU’s economics program has recently hired a large number of new profs.

By all accounts Leo is a modest man and a great teacher. Thus it would appear that work of the highest quality can be done at BigU, despite the fact that we are not currently one of the top three… (You know the drill.)

Little Green Men Stampede Over Gophers

BigU’s football team is struggling this year. Mr. B. was once an ardent Gopher fan, but he has recently lost interest because of the disgraceful performance of the revenue producing teams in graduating student athletes. We are at the bottom of the BigTen. Until we are at least in the respectable middle, enthusiasm will be hard to generate. Mr. B. was an undergrad at Northwestern, so he knows how tough playing football can be in the BigTen. But NU has been to a real bowl game more recently than the Gophers, despite having high academic standards and the best graduation rate in the BigTen.

We have won a single game thus far this year and last weekend we lost to some little green men, approximately the term applied by our football coach to the North Dakota State University Bison who stampeded over the Gophers. Most of the Bison are from Minnesota. I read somewhere recently that the newest NDSU class has more Minnesotans than North Dakotans. It was a home game but the ratio of NDSU fans to Gopher fans must have been about 3/2 in favor of NDSU. The Bison are in a football division below the BigTen and have fewer athletic scholarships. So a loss to them was quite a disappointment, given the large amount of money that was spent last year in order to try to get things in order for future opening of the new, expensive, stadium that will need to be filled. The Bison have now won 20 games in a row, their last loss having been to the Gophers a year ago. NDSU apparently has a great coach who knows how to play the people available to him to best advantage.

$ for Twin City Federal Stadium and

Student Scholarships

The Mystic Lake Casino is a tribal operation that generates a lot of revenue. Alex Bonzo used to work there during summer vacations while he was attending college, so Mr. B. has a soft spot for the casino, even though he is not a gambler. They gave the U 10 mil for the naming rights (which will not be exercised by the casino, but rather the tribal owners) for an area near the front of the stadium. They also donated 2.5 mil that the university is going to match for a student scholarship endowment for native Americans. That should generate about 250K/yr for students which is great. You can’t lose them all.

Disingenuous or Merely Being a Good Cheerleader?

Our provost sent out an odd blanket email last week in which he raved about how wonderful were the ACT scores of our incoming freshman as well their class rank in high school:

“Also featured in local newspapers, and on local radio and television, is the Twin Cities campus's incoming freshman class, which is the best prepared, highest achieving...”

“The Star Tribune's article “U's freshman class has its ACT together” succinctly points out such facts as the class's elevated ACT scores, the increase of students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class.”

Mr. B. is not so sure that citing ACT scores or class ranking is a good argument that we are making progress toward entering the upper echelons. Honesty would seem to require admitting the following:

Our 2006 ranking for Exceptional Students:

Top 10% of High School Class: 10th

Average ACT Score: 10th

2-Year Retention Rate: 10th

6-Year Graduation Rate: 11th

The self-selected peer group consists of:

University of Florida

University of Illinois

University of Michigan

The Ohio State University

Pennsylvania State University

University of Texas

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Los Angeles

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin

I would prefer that we compared ourselves with the other BigTen schools, Northwestern excepted, since they are our actual competition and struggle with the same realities we do. The fact is that even as we improve so does our competition, the so-called Red Queen effect.

Another little problem may be found in the athletics department. There is much chatter about the outstanding recruits who will soon be flooding BigU due to the salesmanship of our new million dollar football coach. Whether he can actually coach is still an open question, see "little green men" above. But he is in good company with OurLeader and ET, since talk, rather than performance, seems to be in vogue at BigU, see "Disingenuous" above.

One of the new recruits, a 4* - meaning that he probably is an outstanding football player - apparently has an ACT score of 13. Sound like business as usual? Maybe OurLeader should look into this...

Don't hold your breath.

From the Land of the Green Giant with neighboring little green men,

Ciao, Bonzo

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

"Don't squander good will," lawmakers tell BigU

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota is jeopardizing its support in the Minnesota Legislature by not reaching a fair settlement with striking workers, lawmakers said Tuesday.

At a news conference held at AFSCME strike headquarters in Dinkytown, three state legislators urged a quick end to the strike by clerical, health care and technical workers that began Sept. 5. They are the second group of lawmakers in as many weeks to speak out about the dispute. "I am incredibly disappointed with the administration's actions," said state Senator Patricia Torres Ray, DFL-62, adding that having a "world class university" means the administration needs to "treat our workers as world class workers." State Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-60B, was equally direct. "We don't want the leadership of this institution to squander the goodwill they now have . . . . We don't want the strike to last a day longer," he said. "I speak for many of my colleagues in demanding that the collective bargaining process resume and the university come back to the table."

The 2007 Legislature boosted the university's appropriation in part to fund increases in compensation, said state Senator John Marty, DFL-54. "We didn't expect the pay raise would be dished out so that the people at the bottom of the pay scale get the least. But that's what's happening here.

"President Bruininks, I appeal to you and the Board of Regents. I think it's time to get back to the bargaining table."

Currently, no talks are scheduled.

The legislators said they are concerned the growing gap in compensation between frontline workers and top university administrators is mirroring practices in the corporate world, where CEOs earn hundreds of times the pay of the average employee.

"We cannot have that in a learning institution, in an academic institution," said Torres Ray.

The horse, Bob, time to get down. The longer you stay up there, the worse you are making things. I don't think you are going to be able to go over to St. Paul and ask for a whole lot of goodies after this.

If you can't even pay your lowest paid workers a decent wage, what makes you think the legislature will bankroll your ten year march to become "one of the top three public research universities in the world [sic]?" For the sake of the workers, the students, the faculty and staff, for you own credibility, please think about this.

An alumnus and faculty member - Mr. Bonzo

Comments of John Marty
On Employee Strike at BigU

State senator John Marty has a lot to do with funding for BigU at the Minnesota state legislature. I am sure that OurLeader is aware of this. When he makes his next sack cloth and ashes trip over to the legislature, I hope he keeps Marty's recent remarks in mind.

16 September 2007

The current University of Minnesota strike is typical of labor disputes around the country. The workers say they need and deserve better wages, management says they cannot afford them.

Regardless of how one talks about the increases, when inflation is factored in, a new clerical worker starting at the University today makes about 5% less than someone taking the identical job in 2003.

These are not highly paid employees; they include some of the lowest paid workers at the University. They really need more money. The average clerical, technical and health care worker makes $34,000 per year. That is the average; starting workers make much less. One striking employee said that even after working at the U of M full-time for 11 years, his family of four qualifies for food stamps.

Ironically, many of these people who work for the University of Minnesota could not afford to send their own children to school there.

The employees point out that the Legislature appropriated funding for 3.25% increases, but the university says that it cannot afford that much for the AFSCME workers. President Robert Bruininks said, "We believe we have a fair offer out there, and we believe we have to run the University in a way that is responsible to all of its employees."

Last year, the university president's salary was $384,000. That is more than the average striking worker makes in a decade.

On top of that, his compensation package included an additional $150,000 that he receives in deferred compensation, for a total of $539,000.

Everybody expects the University President to receive good compensation. But this year, his salary increased by $39 thousand, and his deferred compensation jumped an additional $25 thousand, bringing his total compensation to $598,000. That works out to be a 12% increase this year. Just the increase in his compensation, $64,000, is almost double what the average striking worker makes in a year.

This does not meet Bruininks' own criteria that the University be "responsible to all of its employees." It is easy to see why the AFSCME workers feel they are treated unfairly.

President Bruininks and his administration are paid to make some big financial decisions. It is sad that they appear blind to the impact of their actions on the lives of their own employees.

John Marty is a state senator representing District 54.

Another pair of important state legislators that OurLeader has annoyed by his intransigence are Tom Rukavina [Chair, Higher Education and Work Force Development Policy] and Mary Muphy [Chair, Education Finance and Economic Division] who have written him a letter about the situation.

Continuing to ignore the problem is not going to lead to a solution. OurLeader needs to get off his horse and start good faith negotiations for the sake of any remaining credibility the University might have in the social justice area. Do we really aim to be one of the "top public research universities in the world [sic]" on the backs of our lowest paid employees?

By the way, I hope OurLeader and Joltin' Joel are enjoying the football season after spending roughly five million dollars to do a coaching swap.

Ciao, Bonzo

Say It Ain't So, Bob...
The AFSCME Stike Continues - Let 'em Drink Coke!

From today's Daily:

September 14, 2007

Letters to the Editor

To the president

Dear Bob,

I can no longer just sit here fuming about your behavior toward your employees without writing to you. I worked very closely with you for almost four years - I read your mail, I wrote your letters, I corrected your grammar and spelling, I sat in your office and discussed folk music and James Taylor - in short, I considered myself to be on an equal footing with you as a human being.

I understood your mission to be one of supporting K-12 education and providing the most educational opportunities for the greatest number of people. I met amazing and talented people in your office, people who, like you, had altruistic and selfless goals for our community. I stood at your side as you handed out community service awards to those very people, and at your side I learned how important the little people behind the scenes can be.

When I hear people talking about you or your practices in a negative way, I have always stood up and spoken on your behalf - my description of you has always been "he's a stand-up guy." But I can't do that anymore. This current strike is no mere misunderstanding - you are insulting 3500 loyal employees by not giving us the money that we have worked so hard to attain. The very money that we asked the Legislature to provide for our salary increases.

Please show us that you are still a stand-up guy. Give me a chance to go back to American Federation of State, County and Municipal headquarters and tell them that I was right - you wouldn't treat us as peasants while you are raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

Marjorie Magidow Schalles

University employee

Lack of appreciation

I have been a University employee for 23 years now, and am not on strike. However, I must agree that the University does not appreciate its employee's experience based on its negotiations with AFSCME. Adding step increases together with cost-of-living increases to equal the rate of inflation demonstrates this.

I would add that the rate of inflation is highly debatable. On many items for a worker making $30,000 a year, it is not 4 percent annually. Gasoline was $1.50 a gallon four years ago. For University employees the out-of-pocket cost of health insurance for a family has gone up 300 percent in four years.

For several years University employees received cost-of-living increases below the rate of inflation when the budget was tight. Now, the question is: Can someone live in the Twin Cities on $30,000 a year?

Steve Wietgrefe

The 'U' and politics

Tuesday's article "Franken shows his support for campus strikers" included a quote by University spokesman Dan Wolter taking a political cheap shot at DFL Senate candidates Al Franken, Mike Ciresi and Jim Cohen for supporting our striking workers. In doing so, Wolter, a former GOP staffer, started the University on a slippery slope toward partisan politics, an arena in which the University does not belong.

If this is how President Bruininks' administration handles governmental relations, it is no wonder we have so much trouble getting sufficient funding.

Insulting political candidates, their supporters and the supporters of striking workers is a foolish and self-destructive move for this institution. Wolter and Bruininks should apologize to the candidates and to us.

David L. Liebow

Barack to OurLeader:

Be Reasonable, and Soon

Another politician "using the strike to shop for votes" ?

Dear President Bruininks,

I write today to strongly encourage you to support your frontline health care, technical, and clerical workers who are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. I am moving a campaign event I had scheduled at U of M for this Saturday off of University grounds in solidarity with the strikers.

The workers’ requests are simple and reasonable. Their real pay has dropped over the last few years as the cost of living has increased.

Workers who dedicate themselves to the University of Minnesota and provide essential support to its core educational mission deserve a wage that allows them to raise a family and plan for retirement.

I strongly encourage you to take the steps necessary to end this strike and make the University of Minnesota a place that respects all of its workers. I will continue to monitor this situation, and I look forward to your favorable reply.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Time to get off the horse and negotiate?

Ciao, Bonzo

A Voice of Reason?
The AFSCME Strike at BigU Continues

A University of Minnesota faculty member has written an opinion piece on the strike that appeared this morning in the Strib, excerpts of which are given below:

In labor markets, economists theorize that employers reward productivity gains with wage and salary increments that also cover inflation. This year, the University of Minnesota won funds from the Legislature for an overall 3.25 percent annual salary increment. U administrators awarded faculty and other professional employees raises of 3.25 percent and higher. Left to the last, the clerical and technical workers were offered only 2.25 percent and health-care workers 2.5 percent, not even enough to counter rising costs of living.

The university contends publicly that its offer is 4.25 percent, a figure achieved by folding in the normal step increases to which workers are entitled. Step hikes reward productivity gains that come with experience. They encourage and reward longevity, saving the university considerable training and ramp-up costs from turnover. The equivalents of step increases for faculty members -- the large salary jumps involved in moving from assistant to associate to full professor -- are not computed into annual increases. Gov. Tim Pawlenty agreed to raises of 3.25 percent in addition to step increases for state employees. The 4.25 percent claim is misleading and disingenuous.

The university's resistance sends the message to our support staff that their skills and commitment are not valued and that they are replaceable. Most faculty and professional workers on campus understand the key role that clerical, technical and health-care colleagues play in advising students and solving problems; in time-dependent grant and payroll work, and in events operations, alumni interface, patient care, technology monitoring, bill paying and much more. They have had to learn and implement many new technology systems. Their institutional memory, knowledge of university rules and procedures, and networks of relationships inside and outside the university are central to the viability of our educational, research and outreach activities. They deserve a productivity increase comparable to that given to the rest of us.

Ironically, it costs the university much less to give a 3.25 percent raise to clerical and technical workers than it does to give the same increase to faculty and administrative staff, most of whom earn much higher salaries. We're not talking large sums here. Raising the offer from 2.25 percent to 3.25 percent for a striking worker who makes $30,000 a year would cost just $300, while a comparable 1 percent for a faculty or administrator who makes $80,000 would cost $800. We're not talking about much more than a million, a small fraction of the U budget.

For efficiency, equity and affirmative action's sake, the university should offer the union 3.25 percent as quickly as possible. The strike is causing considerable disruption to our teaching, research, outreach and financial activities. The longer it goes on, the more good workers we will lose, because the best will leave when they aren't treated well. Why go through all this for such a tiny share of the university budget?

Ann Markusen is professor and director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the university of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Meanwhile on another planet, Al Franken visited the U in support of AFSCME and some excerpts from an article in yesterday's Daily follow:

Franken shows his support for campus strikers

The politician said fair wages and treatment are important factors in motivating workers.

By Elizabeth Graca

Franken is "not the only candidate using the strike to shop for votes," said University spokesman Dan Wolter. "(It) is part of the political process."

[Dan Wolter is a mouthpiece for BigU's administration.]

Wolter also expressed the administration's hope that Franken will continue to address higher education in the future.

Franken said higher education has been a concern of his before the strike, and it would continue to be after the dispute is resolved.

"Students here need to know, they need to be reminded what unions and what labor is about," Franken said. "The unions gave this country a middle class. The unions gave this country the weekend."

"Imagine that, a learning moment at a University," he said.

In the same issue of the Daily, the aforementioned mouthpiece reports the good news that:

Fundraising and construction move forward

By Jake Grovum

The financial plans for the stadium call on the University to raise $86.5 million in sponsorships and donations, University spokesman Dan Wolter said. The University has raised just over $60 million so far and has less than $25 million left to locate.

Social justice anyone?

Two interesting quotes - guess where they came from before you hit the link.

Investing in "human capital" is one of the most important values of any society and one of the most effective means to promote democratic understanding and social justice.

The question arose, “why public work?” as a distinctive, different framework, compared, for instance, to the more widespread understanding of civic engagement that focuses on educating students for civic virtue, or an approach focused on the pursuit of social justice in a world of grave injustices.

(It is not hard to find things like this on the BigU website and I didn't even try to locate the most outrageous. But then some pigs are more equal than other pigs.)

Some Pigs
Are More Equal
Than Other Pigs

AFSCME voted (73% favorable) to turn down BigU's latest contract offer. Thus it appears that a strike may occur on the first day of fall semester classes at the University of Minnesota. Clerical and technical workers are not happy with the proposed salary increase.

OurLeader's response:

Bruininks acknowledged that a first-day-of-school strike "would not be pleasant." He also said that the university would have to adjust its budgets if the AFSCME workers are given a larger contract.

"We would have to go back and make some appropriate adjustments to [other employee groups'] compensation," Bruininks said. "When you start to multiply the impact of this, the impact could be very great.

Ah, the old divide and conquer technique. Rather ham-handed, don't you think? But then Bruininks is a self-described 'dirty player' and apparently proud of it.

"The only way it could happen would be by cutting budgets and, inevitably, that means laying people off. [Could this be a threat?] I don't think it's a very good bargain and I'm not willing to enter into one that will weaken the university at this time."

Mr. B. notes that president Bruininks is perhaps not the best person to be making such comments given his own large salary increases, platinum parachute, and recent purchase of a million condo downtown.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Ciao, Bonzo

For the Record

On the One-Sided Tuition Reciprocity Squabble

Mr. Bonzo has posted extensively on this situation.

It is unfortunate that OurLeader did not exert a little leadership in getting this thing settled. He repeatedly tried to frame the issue as one of fairness, complaining that Wisconsin students were unfairly paying lower tuition than Minnesota students, while he knew full well that Wisconsin was reimbursing the State of Minnesota for the difference.

Why didn't he address the real problem that was on the Minnesota side of the border? This is what leaders do. I doubt that Mark Yudof would have found himself in this embarrassing situation.

Thanks to our Wisconsin neighbors for bailing OurLeader out.

From the River Falls Journal:

Editorial: Glad to help, Minnesota

River Falls Journal

Published Friday, June 29, 2007

News that the two governors have brokered a new college tuition reciprocity deal must surely be welcomed by Wisconsin and Minnesota citizens — including the 3,000-some UW-River Falls students who come from the Gopher State.

The problem with reciprocity was always on the Gopher side of the border. Judging by the governors’ deal it looks like Bucky Badger did the fixing.

Tuition costs are going up very fast in Minnesota, faster than Wisconsin’s. This meant the 12,000 Wisconsin students going to Minnesota universities paid less for tuition than the 14,000 Minnesota students going to Wisconsin universities.

Under a longstanding reciprocity agreement, Wisconsin had to make up the imbalance. And it did — to the tune of $20 million in just the past three years alone.

So what’s the rub? Wisconsin’s payments were deposited in Minnesota’s general fund — not the University of Minnesota System’s budget. Don’t ask us why the state of Minnesota and its university system couldn’t figure how to divvy up this money.

But it couldn’t and Wisconsin took the rap. The new deal has Wisconsin students bound for Minnesota paying higher tuition rates, but then being paid off by Wisconsin with “reciprocity tuition supplements.”

Bottom line: Since Minnesota’s bureaucracy and its lawmakers can’t handle money or rein in high tuition, Wisconsin is going to pay its students directly to settle the difference. That cuts out the whiny middleman (Minnesota) and puts an end to the tuition controversy.

Good diplomatic work, governors Jim Doyle and Tim Pawlenty.

Q.E.D. - 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?