Texas A&M Alumni Complain About Political Interference

Inside Higher Ed pointed to the development reported below in the Houston Chronicle on the attempt by Texas Gov. Perry (right) and a management consultant to impose a faculty evaluation system at the U of Texas and Texas A&M. Prior posts on this blog have pointed to the issue:

Signaling the spread of a roiling controversy, 22 "distinguished alumni" at Texas A&M University on Tuesday criticized higher education reforms advocated by Gov. Rick Perry and an influential campaign contributor as "naïve … proposals from inexperienced individuals."

The "Open Letter to the Texas A&M University Community" criticized the proposals of Jeff Sandefer, an Austin businessman and architect of the "Seven Breakthrough Solutions," which have been championed by Perry as a means of making higher education more cost-effective. Sandefer, who has contributed nearly $450,000 to Perry's campaigns, sent his own mass email this week defending his ideas as a pathway to "a superior education at a far lower cost." ...

"It is our opinion that several of these proposals will do significant damage," the alumni wrote. "We encourage you to ask the Board of Regents to end their well-known support for the seven proposals. We call on you to ask the board of Regents to resist inappropriate political intervention …"

In response to one of the "seven solutions" promoted by Perry and Sandefer, Texas A&M published an online ranking of professors on their "productivity" based on the number of students they taught. The ranking earned the university a rebuke from the prestigious Association of American Universities, an organization of the nation's top research institutions...

Full article at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7549024.html