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Apr/May/Jun 2004 Vol. LVI No. 4 |
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President's Column
Possibly the most significant issue in the coming biennium affecting the quality of higher education in Texas was presaged in a TACT First Alert on April 20, 2004:
TACT was the only faculty organization that testified in committee against SB 1500 (HB 1544) that would have required three two-year institutions to offer baccalaureate degree programs as a pilot project. TACT’s testimony was effective, and the bill died in committee. However, eleventh-hour, closed-door maneuvering put the provision into the Coordinating Board's sunset law, SB 286.
It was noted in the Winter TACT e-bulletin that although there are logical arguments against locally-funded community colleges offering baccalaureate degrees, “SACS accreditation criteria seem to shift with the political winds.” It is clear that in the current legislative climate, we will get no help from SACS in thwarting the bid of locally-funded community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees. In fact, SACS and other accrediting agencies have been fighting for their lives (and ours) to maintain relevance in the face of provisions being pushed in the re-authorization of the federal Higher Education Act. In a memorandum (3/19/04) from James Rogers, Executive Director of SACS’ Commission on Colleges to the CEOs of member universities, he noted that
TACT will need to join with other faculty organizations to help insure that sane accreditation processes and standards prevail. In the meantime, faculty should join other organizations for their national presence or for their legal aggressiveness, but all Texas faculty in state-supported institutions should join TACT. As the only faculty organization with a lobbyist but without locally-funded community college membership, TACT alone will be able to lobby effectively against locally-funded community colleges being given permanent license to offer baccalaureate degrees. Now is the time to join or renew your membership in TACT and become an active supporter, before it is too late for all of higher education.
Most TACT chapters elect new officers to coincide with the new school year. Please take a few moments during the dog days of summer to discuss with your colleagues some version of a candidate forum, luncheon, coffee or meet-and-greet with your state legislators in early October. Call me to attend or help with invitations, logistics, etc. We will have a draft of our upcoming issues and talking points soon.
While we’re looking ahead, let me mention that the Fall TACT Conference in Austin is scheduled for October 22-23, to which we will invite legislators and the new Higher Ed Commissioner, Raymund Paredes. The Spring Conference and Legislative Day will be February 17-19, 2005, when we will remind our legislators of the goals we have already told them that we expect to be accomplished.
One of our talking points that I expect will top the list will be that the Legislature should reinstate the budget cuts made last session AND add more for growth. This will be challenging in the middle of the antithetical goals of new money for public education, lower property taxes and protecting the state’s business climate (a.k.a., no new business taxes). It is important that we emphasize our agreement with the state’s goals of Closing the Gaps and a “seamless” education from kindergarten through higher education. Fixing public school education while retreating from the financial commitment to our universities and the professionals who staff them is akin to planting a garden and cutting off the water supply.
From the TACT staff, let me thank you for what you do on a daily basis for your students. Four of us in this office hold six degrees, two-thirds of them from Texas institutions. It is a pleasure for us to be your partners in the educational processes to assure that the next generation of students has the opportunity for excellence that we’ve enjoyed. To strive for less is to abdicate the success that all of Texas has come to expect.
U.S. House of Representatives
Congressional District 31
Washington, D.C., 20515
As an original and consistent promoter of the Texas policy on “Closing the Gaps,” the Texas Association of College Teachers supports changes to the federal reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, specifically the elements facilitating student loans and other financial aid for students.
For many reasons you understand, Texas is at a crossroads in preparing our future educated workforce, and the recent tuition deregulation leading to cost increases makes it essential that we remain proactive in supporting our students. Specifically, we endorse:
1. Lowering the cost of student borrowing by eliminating the 3 percent loan origination fee.
2. Increase the loan limits to cover the increasing cost of higher education.
3. With limited resources, permit the most needy students with first access to federal loan programs.
Congressman, we appreciate your efforts to return Texas to the economic land of opportunity we all expect. You may be assured that members of this association are committed to facilitating the best education our young people can absorb to help them grow into productive, socially-responsible, and taxpaying Texans.
Sincerely,
President
Representative Fred Brown receives TACT Legislator of the Year Award
Texas A&M University TACT Chapter President Paul Parrish presents State Representative Fred Brown of College Station with the TACT Legislator of the Year Award. In the background is TACT Executive Director Chuck Hempstead. Representative Brown was supportive of higher education issues during the past regular legislative session on the Appropriations and Higher Education Committees, and successfully carried TACT's legislation to permit larger contributions to the Optional Retirement Program.
FY03 ORP Participation Report Summary
TACT Doubles Member Liability Coverage
Beginning November 1, 2004, TACT members are eligible for twice the current Educators' Professional Liability Insurance coverage. Personal asset protection will increase from $1 million to $2 million for only a twenty percent premium increase (from $49/year to $59).
"This is something the TACT Board realized we could accomplish in partnership with our insurance carrier to significantly enhance membership value at the nominal cost of eighty-three cents per month," said TACT President Jim Puckett. "Everyone is aware of the litigious society in which we operate, and jeopardizing one's family financial future is not a risk we need to take in order to practice our profession. In fact, I would hope that our members who do not presently participate consider buying the current coverage for the remainder of this policy year."
A quick review of the literature suggests that this inexpensive coverage may help cure insomnia.
Several years ago, within the California State University System, a professor filed suit against two of her colleagues claiming sexual harassment. Both defendants retained private counsel after the State Office of General Counsel denied representation "because this lawsuit concerns matters outside the course and scope of their university employment," causing one defendant to promise countersuits.
In another case, this one on the East Coast, a nationally respected legal scholar demonstrated a traditional tort lesson in class by "tapping" (his word) a student on the shoulder. You guessed it - she called it a "caress" which reminded her of being terrorized, raped and molested when she was 11 years old. The subsequent civil charge was styled "assault and battery."
A professor providing expert testimony based on her research at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania must have been so convincing that she was sued for $225,000 for defamation. In this case, the private school administration and legal counsel came to her assistance.
What's the latest battleground in the area of faculty evaluation? It might be "collegiality," according to AAUP's Martin Snyder as quoted in the New York Times. A Maryland professor won $425,000 from a public university based on "personality discrimination," though it was reversed on appeal.
Issues surrounding academic freedom are fraught with interpretation and, when they inevitably reach the courtroom, dollars seem to be the magic barometer of who wins. The issues are important; ruining someone's retirement shouldn't be the answer. Think about the emotion of your profession and whether separating your passion from your financial future isn't worth sixteen cents per day.
Austin, TX
June 2004
(from back l-r) Joe Kemble, East Region VP (Lamar University-Beaumont), Jeremy Curtoys, Legislative Chair (Tarleton State), Chuck Hempstead, Executive Director (Austin), Larry King, VP of Conferences (Stephen F. Austin State), Robert Nelsen, Northeast Region VP (UT-Dallas), Frank Fair, VP Financial Affairs (Sam Houston State), W. Allen Martin, At-Large (UT- Tyler), (front l-r) Jim Puckett, President (Texas A&M-Kingsville), Debra Price, VP Membership (Sam Houston State), and Laurie Hawke, West Region VP (Tarleton State). Not Pictured: Elizabeth Lewandowski, President-Elect (Midwestern), Gary Coulton, South Central VP (Texas A&M-Kingsville), Thomas G. Palaima, At-Large (UT- Austin), and Claudia Stuart, West Texas A&M (At-Large).
Quality of Higher Education in Texas: “Shared Governance”
by Dr. James Puckett, TACT President... Higher Education Commissioner Don Brown reported that the Coordinating Board was expecting to hear in June that the Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, would approve the pilot program authorized during the regular session (against TACT's advice and testimony) permitting four rural community colleges to offer selected bachelor's degrees. ...
.... what we found during the course of our many meetings with key staff, was that many in Congress had very little knowledge of the accreditation system as a whole and, to the extent they had views on accreditation, it was often negative and inaccurate. We even encountered those who believed strongly that accreditation should no longer serve as the gatekeeper for federal financial aid and that this relationship should simply be abolished. However, in the end, such ideas did not prevail and we believe that we were successful in limiting significant new incursion of federal authority into accreditation. ....
Executive Director’s Report
by Chuck Hempstead
Fall Semester Ripe for Political Activity
If there has been a recurring theme of the past 40 of these Bulletin articles I’ve written, it is this:
1. Due to the proliferation of special interest groups and political activists, and the short, 140-day regular legislative session, January of odd-numbered years is too late to educate legislators, and
2. The absolute best time to catch the attention and empathy of elected public officials is shortly before election day in November.
TACT Weighs in on Higher Education Reauthorization Act
May 11, 2004
The Honorable John Carter
Dear Congressman Carter:
James M. Puckett, Ph.D.
New TACT Board Takes Office
