Public-Colleges Responsibilty to the Public Square

Glass Responds to article by Jeffrey Selingo in The Chronicle of Higher Education


Public Policy - Public Square
June 19, 2011

Milwaukee, WI
I agree that public-college leaders (chancellor-president-board of regents/governors-faculty and administrators) are NOT doing their part to collectively “open the door” to needed dialog, communication, ideas, and buy-in with the People for addressing the myriad of issues facing the universities and the customer base they serve. This includes public-colleges that are: 2-year, 4-year and above.

They are allowing “opportunities of engagement” in our national infrastructure wellness to go untapped. Specifically, to engage the public domain - students, parents-tax payers-business leaders (especially at the neighborhood-level), elected-appointed leaders, donors, faculty, and staff in a “WE” format for higher standards of operation that will yield economic growth, durable budget requirements, research and development, global competitiveness and BOOSTING graduations with relevant certifications and degrees.



New Paradigm
A NEW paradigm for the second decade of the 21st Century is needed. It is below the “cruise level”, 30,000 feet above the ground. It is where the have-nots and the potential middle class are en masse.

It includes the social media concept but not limited to web-based and mobile technology, especially since there is a huge digital gap in our urban and rural populations. Our public-colleges (2-year, 4-year and above) must get the attention and buy-in of their customer base. That means innovative ideas and actions that include digital partnerships with the neighborhood-level residential and commercial population and partnering with all three levels of the public school system to maximize all common coffers funding (local-state-federal-donor).

It is a NEW day at the “public square”. It has/is expanding due to the local, national and global demands for practicum and real time links in the world of education-to-work, education-to-research, education-to-technology and education-to-neighborhood level business development (rural and urban).

The successful public-college classroom is “today’s realities” in discovery, remedy and wellness. It is Life Science, Digital Technology and Energy Security through INNOVATION – bold INNOVATION in problem solving. Creating an excitement in the city or town that galvanizes the “entire” population in problem solving.



Head wind
There are growing head winds that can and will prevent budget and economic growth. They can be addressed with success at this time. For example, the top competitor in Wisconsin for line item funding in the biennial budget is the “WI Correctional System”. That is a social issue that our flagship university, University of Wisconsin – Madison law school, should have as a No. 1 case method – working with the neighborhood stakeholders and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (where most of the men and women come from Enduring Concentrated Poverty and return for quality of life and sustainability). However, the refrain is high recidivism due to lack of dialog that could produce change and reform.

This is true not only for UW-Madison, a flagship public-college, but all public-colleges in or near large urban and rural settings that have large populations of African American, other People of Color and the Work-Challenged (un-, and under-employed; un-, under-skilled; un-, under-financed neighborhood-level businesses, disabled, and re-entry (those returning from WAR, INCARCERATION, Boomerang unemployment and Boomerang Retirement).

For Wisconsin, it speaks to state statute 36.01(1)(2) and Mission. So, why aren’t we addressing this crucial human issue in the public square?
Public-colleges have a built-in Empowerment Zone. It is their target audience, The People – their constituents. The taxpayers, heads of households, students (all students, especially those who have been “by design” left out) have much to offer - valuable hidden talent, submerging markets and emerging markets that can cure many ills and help improve our floundering economy.

President Obama’s administration is making it possible for education and technology attainment.

Whether a flagship or a newly established public-college, the college must take the lead, be engaged in informing the public so that they are producing individuals in the public domain with degrees and certifications that are relevant.

It is not all about the lofty towers of years of degrees, written books and writing published papers for notoriety in published journals that do not affect the bottom line. Quality of life, economic development and global competitiveness in the life science, digital technology and energy/environment security are paramount for ongoing discussion and action in the public square. The threats of the public domain are too acute.

Trust - Substance
Chancellors and presidents must be seen as part of the whole and trustworthy. Their success in public relations as well as those they work with on campus must lead in outreach to the larger community that they have neglected especially those cities and towns with Enduring Concentrated Poverty. For these are the areas for emphasis of public-colleges - their reason for being. The growing cost of tuitions by leaps and bound have reached a crescendo level. Students are experiencing high education debt that is drowning the current graduate and bankrupting families – default on loans that are co-signed by parents or god-forbid, the death of the college student. This is compounding when at graduation time there are no jobs and shortly after graduation loan payments are due.

To the question of, does anyone of substance want these jobs? I would say definitely. My question is what we are defining as “substance”?

Just as there has been the influx of charter-choice at the elementary-secondary level of public education, it will present itself in the months and years to come at the 2-year, 4-year and above colleges.

Why? Because there are large funding dollars around public education. Case-and-point, the reform sought by Governor Scott Walker is a hybrid model of what I mean – siphoning off and creaming the crop with power while using public funds. In 2009-2010, Milwaukee‘s Mayor Tom Barrett and then Governor Jim Doyle staged a heated and unsuccessful try at taking over the public school in Milwaukee. It was all about getting control of public education funding.

Governor Walker is removing the cap so others with higher incomes can siphon off the funding from Milwaukee Public Schools. Milwaukee being the largest city, over a half-million people and Milwaukee Public Schools were at 82,000 students. The “substance” here is the government funds.

Incentive
Given that public-college ex-Chancellor Carolyn A. “Biddy” Martin, University of WI-Madison, annual salary was about $430,000, without adding 25% benefits; spacious housing accommodations for 11,000 square feet (with full staff) and a personal skybox at Badgers football games; I do not think there will be a problem finding someone. The problem is, will it be the right one who will speak out in the public square for Wisconsinites?

The problem for the stakeholders – students, parents and taxpayers, is receiving the dynamism that is expected and/or needed from the new leader for the funds paid and time served. Often this may be two-4 years; before one leaves. Since Dr. Martin came in 2008, she is less than four years in tenure.

So, the questions are: What is the focus of the selected public-college leader that takes the position? How will he/she be evaluated? Who will they answer to? Will they receive expectations that are comparable to the task at hand? Are they qualified? Will President Kevin Reilly, the WI Board of Regents and the search committee do the right thing in selecting the next UW-Madison Chancellor? Given the recent Code of Conduct in the recent University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee selection of the eight chancellors, we will see.