Sometimes I think that people don’t understand the impact of ALEC’s statement “With nearly 2,000 members, ALEC is the nation’s largest” – this statement represents almost a third of all legislators in the United States.
Why is one third important? Because this “hidden majority” impacts everything in our states, moving us toward a Koch-esian type of economics and moving our states toward a “free-market” ALEC philosophy that privatizes and destroys every segment of our public entities.
In 1998 Jesse Ventura won the MN governorship with 37% of the vote. Just barely over the 33% majority that ALEC claims to have in the state legislatures.
If you think that ALEC’s “hidden majority” in our state legislatures and US Congress is not the cause of what is happening today – please reconsider.
On to my topic of the day – Higher Education Funding – and yes, it is related.
I have taught in higher education in both public and private universities. I’m done with that now, but my allegiances lean toward the public universities and the opportunities that they offer to every student. I always felt that the students I taught in the public universities were there “for a reason” – to better themselves, to reach the American Dream, to learn and succeed or to be the first in their family to graduate from college. Yes, I had some not so inspirational experiences with students at publicly funded universities, but overall my experience with students at publicly run universities was much more rewarding from a professor’s point of view.
With that said – the current onslaught of legislation to defund our public universities is very troubling to me.
It was reported somewhere that currently 20 states are making massive cuts in funding to higher educations. A quick search of the web showed articles on the following states cutting higher education spending.
California, Texas, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Washington, Utah, North Carolina, Missouri, Maryland, Iowa, New York, Colorado
We are not talking about nuisance cuts to higher education here – we are talking about an on-going yearly reduction in funds to public institutions of higher education that will threaten the existence of our public education system as we know it.
Statements such as this
"It's the elephant in the room," said J. Bradley Wilson, a former chairman of the UNC system's Board of Governors. "We've always said we want to keep the doors open as wide as we can. The question is, can we afford that anymore?"
puts the problem of reduced funding to public universities in perspective - in probably the most profound and horrific manner.
And it’s not just an issue of keeping the doors open to the university – it is about keeping the doors open for generations to come – to reach for and achieve the American Dream.
Broadly available education and opportunity is fundamental to opening doors to better job opportunities, higher wages, and greater job security.
Advanced educational degrees correlate to higher earnings and greater employability.
So what do state schools do when the legislatures are constantly cutting their funding – year after year. For many they see privatization of certain sections of their school as the only answer.
A writer in Kansas asks the same question.
…with state support dropping for Kansas universities, what are the chances that KU’s School of Law or School of Business might consider operating without state funding? Apparently, a growing number of deans, chancellors and presidents across the country are thinking about it.
Unfortunately for state universities the biggest benefactors for private funding are also the people who have the most extreme political views in the United States – the Koch brothers.
Although the Koch agreement with Florida State was penned in 2008, it didn’t become a public issue until this year. During the last three years – Koch has had complete control over the University’s economic department.
A foundation bankrolled by Libertarianbusinessman Charles G. Koch has pledged $1.5 million for positions in Florida State University's economics department. In return, his representatives get to screen and sign off on any hires for a new program promoting "political economy and free enterprise."
The foundation can also withdraw its funding if it's not happy with the faculty's choice or if the hires don't meet "objectives" set by Koch during annual evaluations.
During the first round of hiring in 2009, Koch rejected nearly 60 percent of the faculty's suggestions but ultimately agreed on two candidates.
Yale University once returned $20 million when the donor demanded veto power over appointments, saying such control was "unheard of."
Jennifer Washburn, who has reviewed dozens of contracts between universities and donors, called the Koch agreement with FSU "truly shocking."
Alternet reported that in addition to Florida State, other Koch funded schools include
George Mason University - Mercatus Center (public institution)
West Virginia University (public institution)
Brown University - Political Theory Project (private institution)
Troy University - Center for Political Economy (public institution)
Utah State University: - mostly for the Huntsman School of Business (public institution)
So when I read something like this
Officials at the University of Minnesota, one of the nation’s largest and most respected state-aided universities, currently are giving serious study to the possibility of depending on private money rather than unreliable state funds to support several of their schools.
Due to shrinking state funding, Minnesota’s School of Law and the Carlson School of Management are looking at the possibility of operating without state funds, relying on private support.
…. The University of Minnesota’s chief financial officer noted that as state funding approaches zero, “What does it mean for a college to be out of state money?
I become very concerned about the future of Minnesota state run colleges and universities. I become very concerned about the loss of the concept of a liberal studies education. I become very concerned about future generations of students – who rely on state run colleges and universities. I’m becoming more convinced the Minnesota ALEC legislators are doing this purposefully.
ALEC is inundating and influencing decision making of their ALEC member legislators and Alumni in the US Congress with privatization “success stories” such as this:
One of the country’s top research institutions, the University of Michigan, is for all intents and purposes a privately-financed public university today. Only around 10 percent of its budget comes from state subsidies thanks to greater control over its mission and operations combined with aggressive cost-cutting and private fundraising efforts.(10 Questions State Legislators Should Ask About Higher Education, 2011)
And ALEC had previsouly convinced the following states - Arizona, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, Ohio, Texas, and Tennessee – that their higher education woes will be eliminated if they hire HCM Strategists to implement a program designed by Lumina Foundation for Education to do onsite management of their higher education programs and funding. Yet, if you look at the most current list of states cutting funds to higher education shown above, many of these same states are still cutting funding - what they have implemented is not working!
First of all, there’s appears to be a conflict of interest here, as Lumina Foundation funds ALEC activities
American Legislative Exchange Council (Washington DC) $295,000to help state legislators explore policy options intended to increase student success and productivity within American higher education.
An “article” in Inside ALEC September 2010, distributed to all ALEC members, has the following statement
The HCM Strategy Labs represent an opportunity for states to lead in trying times. By taking on the challenge of creating high-performing higher education systems that are responsive to our students’ and our national economy’s needs —we will help engineer an economic recovery and greater prosperity.
This one page article / advertisement was written by Martha Snyder, Senior Consultant for HCM Strategists
In a Huffington Post 2010 editorial it is noted that
With the support of the Lumina Foundation for Education, our firm, HCM Strategists, helped deploy "Productivity Strategy Labs" to help states tune up and overhaul their higher education funding and policies
Just what we need – more interference by ALEC hacks in our public entities.
Last, but not least – based on previous research and writing of mine – this ALEC experiment is going to fail, just like the other “free-market’ experiments that ALEC pushes on our states and the taxpayers end up paying for. Its failure will be caused by the same factor that causes failure for all the other ALEC initiatives – the sole focus of everything ALEC does is the money side – the benefits provided for the private sector (corporate) members of ALEC. They choose to ignore that there other factors involved – such as people.
Minnesota ALEC members have already brought HCM Strategists into our state. Its bad enough having to deal with the chaos caused by ALEC legislative members and ALEC alumni; now everywhere you look ALEC private sector members are trying to run every aspect of our government and our schools – because we have ALEC legislative members giving the states to the corporations.
I’m sure that as part of their higher ed indoctrination and brain-washing of ALEC members, ALEC has convinced them that the HCM and the Lumina program is their “last chance”. Why not create that level of fear? If ALEC’s proposed educational system fails because of this ALEC “free-market” “experiment”, so what?, it was a last ditch attempt anyway. Then the Minnesota ALEC members don’t have to feel quite so guilty when the Koch’s walk in and buy the university’s schools of business and law. The ALEC legislators can claim that the sale to ALEC corporate private sector members saved the state schools (the ones that the Minnesota ALEC legislative members destroyed with malice.)
Minnesota ALEC legislators have bought into this ALEC “free-market” experiment and brought it into our state and because of that, it is my opinion, Minnesota’s ALEC legislators will destroy the Minnesota state funded system of higher education. The best land grant university ever to exist (as far as I’m concerned) will be destroyed because Minnesota ALEC legislators have pledged their allegiance and service to the ALEC corporate members and have chosen to no longer serve their constituents, the citizens of Minnesota.
Minnesota legislators who are ALEC members are not the majority. But they are not the minority. Minnesota ALEC Legislators are having a tremendous impact on the state of Minnesota and everyone should be concerned. We must remove every ALEC member legislator from the Minnesota legislature and our one sole ALEC alumni from the US Congress (Erik Paulsen). They must not be re-elected. They are no longer serving the citizens of the state of Minnesota - they are serving ALEC corporate members.
We are letting 33% or so of our legislators ruin our state for the benefit of the ALEC corporate members. When is it time as Minnesotans we stand up and say, “No more ALEC! We want representative government!”? Would someone please let me know when the time comes – ‘cause I think we’re running out of time.
The University of Minnesota - Koch Brothers School of Management.
So sad, So sad.
Oops, almost forgot the proverbial “straw that will break the camels back” resulting in the sale of the U of M Carlson School of Business to the Kochs.
Two members of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents are known ALEC Alum
Laura Brod – Past Minnesota State Chair of ALEC
adn Steve Sviggum
Please Protest ALEC- August 5th - New Orleans
If you can't be there - please donate to cover the costs.
If you don’t know what ALEC is – please read this, or this, or this.