The fourth finalist for the University of Iowa president told a sometimes hostile, standing-room-only crowd of UI community members Tuesday that they were right to question whether he had the experience necessary to lead the university.
“It’s a legitimate question,” J. Bruce Harreld said during his public forum in the Iowa Memorial Union.
But it’s equally legitimate, the former IBM executive continued, for the rest of the state to ask questions about whether they are getting enough return on their investment in the university.…
In addition to airing concerns about J. Bruce Harreld's personal business history, several University of Iowa questioners Tuesday noted they are more concerned at how his inclusion among the four finalists fits into a long-term trend they see among colleges, universities and their governing boards: Looking to the corporate sector to for leaders to turn around institutions of higher education.
Ed Wasserman, a professor of psychology, suggested in his question that providing a businessman with no university leadership experience was the equivalent of “giving the fox the key to henhouse” when it comes to transforming UI into a bottom-line business rather than an institution of higher learning.
Business leaders in Iowa, however, view Harreld’s inclusion among the finalists providing a needed contrast with the more academic finalists.
“The selection of Mr. Herrald was a pleasant and refreshing surprise,” said Elliott Smith, executive director of the Iowa Business Council. “His strong foundation of experience in the private sector dovetails nicely with roles in higher education. … It is vitally important for the U of I to be fearless and aggressive in this president selection process given the uber-competitive environment the school finds itself in today.”
Harreld’s candidacy also offers strong evidence that the 21-members of the UI Presidential Search and Screen Committee were listening actively to the concerns raised by the business community, said Ed Wallace, deputy director of Iowa Workforce Development.…University as firm gains ground.
Iowa City Press-Citizen
UI finalist: A non-academic can run a university
Jeff Charis-Carlson
The Academics just don't get it. The University as an institution isn't delivering what society needs. The lack of ideas and inability respond to what people need except by complaining about their inability to distribute money within their institutions is revolting. It isn't the profit side of business they need help with, it is the innovation, inclusiveness, and ability to change the model to fit the market demands of society.
ReplyDeleteTeaching fantasy economics is a great example. The world is absolutely suffering for lack of understanding of economics, universities themselves are underfunded because of bad economic teaching. But.. the econ professors keep teaching all the useless but interesting ideas that economists must know to be serious economists so they can impress people with their word games and elegant magic tricks of logic.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_creation
ReplyDeleteWikipedia lies.
Spam spam spam people!
My impression is that a university president's main job in this day and age is fundraising -- begging the legislature for money, begging wealthy alumni for money, and begging corporations for money.
ReplyDeleteWhat would it be like if Uncle Sam picked up the tab and universities could focus on research and teaching?
This is true, Dan. The reason that business wants a business person in the job is to ensure that the institution is managed the way that the business community wants. It's not only about efficiency and cost saving. It's about every aspect of the institution, including academics. A lot of it is due to the current belief that universities need to be funded by donors, which means wealthy business people for all practical purposes. Of course, then they want a say in how their money is spent.And they get it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem. Educational institutions used to be administered by people who were academic that also had organizational skills. but they appreciated what the academy, collegiality, and education was about from the inside. Now the trend is toward professional administrators. This began back in the 80's under the Reagan Administration as part of the neoliberal trend.
At that time, professors became providers working for the administrators rather than the students. It was a noticeable shift for those who spanned the shift. In my view, it was not an advance.
"What would it be like if Uncle Sam picked up the tab and universities could focus on research and teaching?"
ReplyDeleteA miracle.
We'd then get basic research done. Lower level R&D done. It'd be on open patents and businesses could leverage the output. Win-win all round.
Could there have been an Internet without DARPA funding doing the research? I doubt it.