What $200,000 a year buys at the U of Texas

Inside Higher Ed points today to a story in an Austin, Texas paper. The story speaks for itself.

UT regents' special adviser losing his job: Rick O'Donnell's criticism of academic research didn't sit well with lawmakers, others.

Austin American-Statesman, 3/24/11, Ralph K.M. Haurwitz

A special adviser with controversial views on research, teaching and other matters was reassigned by the University of Texas System on Thursday to a new job that will end by Aug. 31. The move is unlikely to quell concerns about the direction of the state's largest and most prestigious university system under Gene Powell, chairman of the Board of Regents, whose priorities echo a number of those expressed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Indeed, the Ex-Students' Association of UT-Austin, also known as the Texas Exes, said Thursday evening that it was calling on alumni to urge regents to renounce the special adviser's assertions that much academic research lacks value and that some tenured faculty members should be replaced with lower-cost instructors. The Exes called such views "the most serious threat our university has faced in years." ...

...O'Donnell was reassigned Thursday as special assistant for research, reporting to Scott Kelley, executive vice chancellor for business affairs, said Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the system. O'Donnell will assist two panels advising the regents, one on productivity and excellence, the other on online and blended learning. O'Donnell will continue to be paid $200,000 a year...

Full story at http://www.statesman.com/news/local/ut-regents-special-adviser-losing-his-job-1347933.html

It's no picnic in Texas: