By Walter V. Wendler

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, started a discussion with SB1565 that could return the prestige of the higher education enterprise to one of the best in the nation. The not-ready-for-prime-time proposal calls for a conversion of universities to a funding model more like the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Association: not-for-profit organizations intended for public benefit to operate at the direction of a board of directors towards the public good. That sounds like a university to me.

Additionally, Brady’s concept proposes that the current state allocation of $1.2 billion to universities be directed to qualified students to attend institutions of choice, rather than directing appropriations to institutions.

It creates competition and complexities that Adam Smith’s market place will sort out.

This embryonic idea regarding higher education and public benefit parallels the evolution of the GI Bill; legislation that struggled to life, adapted to changing circumstances, and is nearly unanimously regarded as the Petri dish of the American middle class; the success of Kennedy’s loudly proclaimed aspiration to put a man on the moon; and the progenitor of the information revolution through the instigation of modern digital computing.

The GI Bill was hotly debated, and passed through Congress by a single vote. On a warm summer day while the D-Day invasion was at full throttle, Rep. John Gibson of Georgia made his way from his sickbed into the U. S. Capitol to vote “yea” and broke the deadlock, allowing FDR to sign the bill on June 22, 1944. It transformed a nation. The divisions of opinion evidenced in the deliberation of the GI Bill will likewise occur regarding Brady’s proposal.

A brigade of the status quo is already digging trenches in response to Brady’s suggestion. Shamefully, platoons of reactionaries don’t believe the average citizen can grasp the power of the idea. It is daring and challenges the rut-worn road of conventional thought to be sure. Thoughtfully, Brady’s postulation assumes the average Illinoisan, and the families from whom they spring, have the intelligence to make sound educational and economic decisions given the opportunity.

In six short years of experience, slightly more than an average gubernatorial term in our state, the GI Bill of 1944 was subject to significant modification proposed by the VA and the Bureau of the Budget, supported by a number of congressional studies: The original bill sent funding directly to universities but proposals to provide resources directly to qualified students by 1950 subjected the blueprint to a national debate.

It seems that in post-WWII America some universities, and fly-by-night post secondary institutions of every stripe, public and private, were bilking, milking, and sapping the system for personal gain all the while beating veterans out of earned benefits, and taxpayers out of tax dollars. If this doesn’t sound like the current deceptions perpetuated by the likes of Corinthian Colleges, soon to be defunct for bilking, milking and sapping, or the lackluster academic performance of the University of Phoenix, Kaplan, other for-profit, or incompetent not-for-profit providers, even some public institutions, we are myopically not paying attention.

Unscrupulous lenders are involved making loans to students who are unprepared but accepted by universities into too many low value programs — not for their individual or community potential — but for their bulging pockets packed with government loan guarantees. Hard working students who meet the grade deserve a chance, not a mirage fogged by institutionally hyped hope.

Adam Smith’s academic market place, driven by student self-interest, has more state and national value in determining resource flows than institutional interests driven by maintaining “what is” rather than seeking what’s best.

This was the wisdom of the U.S. Congress in evaluating and finally retooling the GI Bill in 1952 that directed government support in the form of educational disbursements to individuals rather than institutions following the second Great War where blood was spilled to protect individual liberty. While in its infancy, Brady’s bill with its nascent ideas has muscular genes. It deserves careful consideration by people inside and outside the education/financial complex.

The status quo in higher education is going to hell in a backpack. Costs to states are too high, students too indebted, degrees of too little value and charlatans too prevalent.

There is a meritorious idea on the table. Illinoisans owe it a serious, no-holds-barred, discussion.

Student Leadership

Overwhelmingly, the 7400 state lawmakers nationwide attended and graduated from public universities. Again overwhelmingly, these elected officials attended schools in their home states. All but four of the 535 members of the United States Congress have a post-secondary education.   A sound bite from Ted Cruz’s announcement of his intention to seek the U.S. presidency last week reveals that he participated in “student council.”

Universities, by default or design, have a role to play in educating leaders, of encouraging participation in the processes of representative governments and the complexities of participatory democracy. And elected officialdom in the United States currently needs help. According to a 2012 poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute of Southern Illinois University Carbondale Illinoisans believe, “political corruption is the norm for both federal and state governments…” Likewise, a Rasmussen poll shows that voter confidence in the U.S. Congress is still at dismally low levels. Are universities responsible for this confidence deficit? Not solely, but they have a role to play.

The University of Phoenix, where enrollment is sinking like a rock, makes no serious claim for educating students to become leaders. Rather, it claims to effectively prepare people for jobs. I believe the differences between these two goals, workforce preparation and leadership capability, are nil. In those with whom I work, students, faculty and staff of every stripe, I see a remarkable congruence between people who are capable in their own areas of expertise, and have a propensity to participate, manage, and lead the extended community. Every residential university website that I have visited addresses leadership opportunities for students in order to prepare them for the opportunities and responsibilities in a free society. And rightly so.

Unfortunately, the institutional success rate for engaging students is not a point of pride. Nationally less than 4% of the student population participates in student elections according to the American Student Government Association. Typically the majority of student leaders do not fulfill their term of office. On my campus, nearly 10 years ago, Nate Brown, an energetic student government president conducted a study and found the majority of undergraduate student senators never appeared on the ballot, but were appointed because of a lack of participation. Only a few students in 100 could identify the student senator who represented them.

These trends haven’t changed much in the last decade. Recently, at the University of Memphis, 1,524 students voted in campus wide elections, less than 8% of the student population. The reasons for lack of participation sound astonishingly familiar to declarations on 24-hour-a-day cable outlets and major network news. Apathy, ignorance, belief of no impact, and a multitude of other frail excuses explicate voter absence.

The anti-Semitism exhibited at UCLA recently, and the apparent racism seen at the University of Oklahoma, put an exclamation point on the importance of the cultural impact of campus climate. Anti-semitism, racism and other unacceptable forms of discrimination exist but are not rampant on college campuses. Thankfully, generalizations don’t work.

I teach in a classroom that has students from Nepal, Benin, Moscow, Vietnam, and China, as well as first-generation Americans of Mexican descent, Polish descent, second-generation Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, German-Americans, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, people of diverse sexual orientation and a fellow in a wheelchair – every persuasion of the human condition. In this setting I find inquisitiveness and appreciation for different worldviews, religions, races, ethnicities, and other defining characteristics of individualism required for a free and open society: And each seems to learn from all. The young man from Hoyleton, Illinois, population 531, is as wide-eyed as I am sometimes. And all this variety from 27 souls, including me and the guy from Hoyleton.

This is a crockpot for student leadership and 21^st century citizenship, not a pressure cooker of rules, regulations, canon and code; but a simmering of various conditions, ideas, and perspectives in ways that provide appreciated insight while not detracting from distinctive perspectives. Life gets juice from the poaching that occurs here, and the sense of appreciation that I get in engaging this heterogeneous group of people as they become part of something larger than themselves is hard to describe, but powerfully important for me and them.

Universities have a role to play in cultivating leaders who understand complex groups of people with different cultural, ethnic, intellectual, and social perspectives. And while institutional leaders have a central role to play, they cannot do it alone: faculty and staff are live models, and should accept that mantle of leadership for the students who observe them every day in living citizenship. To the extent that universities engage students, they fulfill their responsibility to help students become capable contributors to economic sustainability, individually and collectively, and participants in a free society.

This responsibility should be aggressively pursued as it is a founding and distinguishing characteristic of the U.S. college campus, critical to the continuation of a free society, and the stewpot from which attitudes and ideas are distilled.

“AFTER GOD HAD carried us safe to New England, and we had built our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God’s worship, and led the civil government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity…” [sic] New England’s First Fruits

By Walter V. Wendler

Quality transfer students can bring positive characteristics to the university, not the least of which is a willingness to work.  Avril Thorne, Professor of Psychology at U.C. Santa Cruz made this observation:

“If I could only choose one student next year, and randomly, it would be a transfer student. They are seriously not kidding around.” _____________________________________________________________________

I have previously reflected on the price/value of community colleges for many students.  Depending on whose count you accept, there are nearly seven million students enrolled in community colleges right now.  Many plan to transfer to senior institutions although only 30% do, according to the U.S. Education Department.

Foundations see the value in helping students through the community college transfer process.  The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Transfer Initiative provides support for students to move from community colleges to some selective four-year institutions such as Amherst, Bucknell, Berkeley, North Carolina, and Michigan, to name a few.

Institutions interested in casting a broad net and creating a campus reflective of the populations they serve should look carefully at community colleges.  The majority of Hispanic and African American students enrolled today are enrolled at community colleges.  Encouraging and supporting them through an intelligent transfer process will yield a more diverse group of university students.

Community college students make up a significant share of learners accessing Pell Grants — two million in 2005: and the numbers continue to grow.  The cost of attending community colleges is about 30% that of attending university, so students who start at a community college leave with less debt per class.

The age of those attending community colleges and universities is increasing.  The shifting economy and the need for retraining them drive students into community colleges so that 33% of the students are over 30. A significant number pursue continued university studies, especially as the economy remains soft in many career fields.

I told a nontraditional student recently, “There is not a better time to be out of the workforce and in the classroom.”

Attentive universities will see these trends, and being responsive will increase their enrollment of good students.  Community college students who transfer have higher graduation and retention rates than those of freshmen who enter four-year institutions directly, so return on investment is high.  It’s good business, but that is not the point:  It is the right way to serve many people who will benefit personally and professionally from the experience of attaining a baccalaureate degree.  In addition, communities and the nation are better served.

The University of California offered admission to 19,607 community college transfer students in 2009, a number that continues to increase annually.  The average acceptance rate for all students in 2008 at the University of California was 74.40%, but for community colleges it was 82.40%.

I would argue that everything above is good news – providing opportunity and service to students is always good.  Now, here are the challenges.

In the state of California, and it is a fairly good predictor of national trends in higher education, only 40% of the community college students who seek four-year degrees are successful, according to the Mercury News.  There are many reasons why, but the senior institutions that figure out how to overcome the challenges will be beneficiaries of dedicated, hardworking students who will increase diversity, retention, and graduation rates.

The community colleges nationwide are overflowing with students. Low costs, unemployment and other factors have created a flood of students.  Full courses delay student ability to meet transfer needs.  As university tuition and fees continue to increase, many students will quit at the community college level for lack of funds.  In some locations the transfer processes are confusing. Some states are responding. For example, the Illinois Articulation Initiative makes the process of transfer between participating institutions nearly seamless.

Innovative and persistent universities that desire to serve transfer students more effectively can do so, but they must focus diligently on a wide range of student needs, and appreciate the complexities that these students must address.

According to the higher education leaders, many elected officials, faculty, students, staff and the general public, higher education budget cuts will send universities, and therefore their states, into decline. Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal last week included a decrease of $300 million in state support for higher education. It amounts to 13% according to the New York Times.   Rebecca M Blank, leader of UW Madison, the flagship campus, said if she eliminated the Schools of Nursing, Law, Business, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine she’d still have to find other places to save money.

Things aren’t much better on the East Coast. Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy has proposed a budget that stipulates a $40 million hole in the University of Connecticut, the diamond in the necklace of higher education in the Constitution State. UCONN President Susan Herbst said that “managing a reduction of that size will necessitate deep and significant cuts throughout the University.”   Malloy left public education alone but did propose additional resources for special charter and magnet schools. Presumably these institutions are producing good results, but the jury is out.

In the desert Southwest, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey also brought out the hatchet, hacking $75 million, or 10% of state support to public higher education. Some say Ducey didn’t go far enough. Interestingly, Eileen Klein, President of the Arizona Board of Regents, is not sure about the cuts and their impact but does like the liberating potential of a stronger “public – private” approach to higher education. Michael Crow, at Arizona State University made international news with an inventive initiative to provide educational opportunity to Starbucks employees. The partnership offers reduced cost study through ASU to all Starbucks employees. Like it or not, it’s innovative and forward-looking.

Stringent financial times are driving many institutions into the ground. However, those same conditions prod other institutions to reflect diligently on what they do for whom, why, when, and how they do it, and to what effect. Leadership must ask legitimate questions of faculty and administrators in a shared governance, shared responsibility environment. It will advance a form of unparalleled academic freedom and ideation.

Governor Bobby Jindal’s seemingly merciless reductions in funding higher education are attributed to a potential presidential bid in 2016. This year, he’s trying to plug a $400 million shortfall. Both he and Governor Walker are being chided for appealing to the hardest right-leaning base of the Republican Party. Maybe, maybe not. The pension systems, ancillary costs, luxurious un-necessaries, and a multitude of other forces are driving the cost of education up while state revenues are disappearing in too many states in the nation.

And finally, Illinois freshman Governor Bruce Rauner proposed a budget with $6 billion in cuts to universities and other state enterprises. Rauner says this budget is “honest with the people of Illinois.” If that were the case it would be a refreshing change considering how many former state leaders served time, or are currently in state pens, for abject dishonesty.  For Illinois universities a reduction of over 30% in state support is called for. Not to trivialize the amount, but for some institutions in and out of Illinois, state support is less than15% of the total budget. Nonetheless a 30% drop in state funding requires that university leadership bring out the ax and chop off “business as usual” at the root. “Oh, I believe in yesterday” won’t work, no matter who’s running for what or which political party they represent.

If only one state were involved, these kinds of cuts could be blamed on a misguided state leader. But it’s not just one state. In fracking insulated North Dakota universities must change because mission is changing, even though the Peace Garden State has more resources than ever. Governor Jindal was a university president. Did he forget that?   Many in Wisconsin claim that Scott Walker has disdain for higher education. “He never even graduated from Marquette,” they say. And it’s true. However, holding a degree from a university proves no love, appreciation, understanding, or concern for higher education. University presidents have pilfered for personal profit at universities from which they have been given PhD’s while the institutional trajectory spiraled downward.

It is illuminating that reporting on higher education budget reductions occur in the “politics” sections of newspapers. In the “higher education” sections imagine headlines like these:

“New Tax Breaks Promote Record Private Giving To Higher Ed”

“Groundbreaking Liberal Arts Program Stipulates 50% of Degree Requirements Acquired off-shore”

“Coalition of University Presidents Proposes 401K Style Pensions for All Campus Employees”

“State Flagship Outsources Everything but Teaching and Research: Returns to Basics”

“Intercollegiate Athletics Programs Sold to Spectrum Sports Management, Inc.”

“New Pricing Structure Calibrates Costs to Combination of Student Ability to Pay and to Learn”

“Scholarships to Community College Graduates Equal Those for New Freshmen”

“Reduced State Oversight:  Faculty Say Academic Freedom Up while Student Cost is Down”

“University Degree Provides New Opportunity for 338,875 Toyota Employees Worldwide”

“Tuition and Fees Set At 237 Different Levels Depending on Student and Academic Program”

Just a few thoughts and I know: I am dreaming.

 

 

By Walter V. Wendler

In loco parentis, “in the place of a parent,” suggests that an organization or institution should or can act toward the benefit of a child in the absence of his/her mother or father. This ancient contract was embedded in English common law and a standard expectation of parents towards schools; and schools willingly accepted the burden of absentee parenthood, at the primary, secondary, and even university levels as an integral part of the educational process.

Since late in the 1940’s the inviolability of the concept has been chipped away at by civil libertarians to provide constitutional protection and liberty to students at every step of the educational ladder. In the 1960’s, a number of “adult citizen” freedoms, speech and assembly for example, were placed on universities through acts of the courts and legislatures at the state and national level, that limited in loco parentis, almost killing it. But, the concept still breathes.

Student-as-child and student-as-citizen create conflicting forces that are nearly impossible to navigate. Here are five perspectives.

One: A university rarely encourages structure on behavior from a moral perspective, which would be seen as restrictive and illiberal, yet expects faculty members to report all discussions of possible sexual crimes to authorities through covenant. Current law, The Cleary Act, disallows, for better or worse, a faculty member’s respect for a student’s wishes for a confidential consultation. Is the student a child or an adult? Is the faculty member a parent, teacher, confidant, or law enforcement officer? What is a school? Sexual crimes occur to be sure, but the same acts in a non-student environment under different conditions or circumstances are not equal.  Does this inconsistency create confusion?

Two: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) require institutions to treat students as adults; talking to a parent about a student’s academic performance is illegal without written permission, even when the parent is footing the bill. The same concept governs if binge drinking is suspected. However, The Cleary Act mandates that if a faculty member talks to a student about a reportedly non-consensual sex it must be disclosed to authorities, but whether it can legally be shared with a parent is unclear. Rape, whether fueled by a night of drinking, or a pathological indifference to anyone’s interest other than a perpetrators demand for immediate self-gratification, is a felony: Rape is rape, on- or off-campus. Yet, in the face of convoluted logic, universities are accepting responsibility to act as parents and police, moral and legal roles respectively, in fear of losing federal funding in accordance with The Cleary Act. It seems you can have it both ways. Does this baffle you as much as me?

Three: Intervention in personal decision making cannot be institutionalized. And for the stalwart few who insist on trying to communicate the positive benefits of personal moral perspectives that don’t excuse criminal irresponsibility by adults — silence is a condoning force — be prepared for a barrage of criticism. You will be branded a Neanderthal. Brow beating a particular perspective into students is foolishness, but sharing experiences through moral perspective can be educational. We all have one, and it should be shared as a cogent aspect of the teaching/learning process.  Is this mysterious?

Four: Universities are not special places where rule of law is suspended and students are treated extra legally, or like children through the tradition of in loco parentis.   In the case of Dixon v. Alabama a clear and appropriate argument was made that students should be afforded the same access to due process as any adult citizen. Does this translate to a faculty member being required to report a case of sexual misconduct? Why is a citizen on the street not required by law to do the same? What makes the relationship between the faculty and the student special and limited to some areas of life, and off limits or subject to required state intervention in others? Is this a solvable puzzle?

Five:   Students are adults and should be afforded the same rights, responsibilities and privileges thereto appertaining. Not quite. When a fraternity or sorority breaks campus rules, usually they break civil laws too, yet are seldom prosecuted as criminals, except in the most egregious cases, but rather expelled or suspended from school. The protection of students as special status citizens works to break down personal responsibility for actions and undermines the purpose of the university. If in loco parentis is seen as detrimental to the rights of students, it should be eliminated in whole and if that be the case, the need for student discipline hearings and equally extra-legal exercises would vanish.

Faculty and staff are not cops and courts. Students should enter the criminal justice system for violations of law. Or be law abiding citizens and enjoy the benefits of freedom, like studying.   Can you have it both ways?

Have we allowed in loco parentis to become just plain loco?

Gay Bowlin, Manager

Doug Yoder was in the office on Tuesday giving a Farm Bill update. There is not much time left to make your decision on what you will be doing with your farm ground. February 28 is the deadline to make your decisions and all paperwork must be competed and signed by all parties.

I cannot even begin to explain any of this in a short article so the best thing to do if you have not done this or if you have questions is to call the FSA office at 438-4021 ext. 2. You can go to www.ilfb.org/farmbill for more information.

So far this month, corn prices are averaging $4.13 vs. last year’s $4.62.  Soybean prices this month are currently averaging $9.58 vs. last year’s $11.36. We still have the remainder of February to go. I know that some of you out there reading this think that farming is a “money making” machine. These falling prices show that farmers are not making the amount of money now that they did last. If you take into consideration that the cost of literally everything is going up including the cost of fuel and seed and machinery then farmers are making much less per acre.

U.S. House Republican leadership put H.R. 636 on the schedule for today (Friday February 13^th).  The bill makes the Section 179 small business expensing option permanent at $500,000, indexed to inflation.  IFB is also supporting permanent deductions for charitable contributions of food and for donations of conservation easements.

The Waters of the United States Regulatory Overreach Protection Act of 2015 (H.R. 594) now has 143 cosponsors, including six Illinois republicans — Reps. Bost, Kinzinger, Schock, Shimkus, Rodney Davis, and Hultgren.  We expect to hear in the coming days about a bill that will be introduced in the Senate.  Several Illinois environmental groups are using Twitter and other social media to encourage our elected officials to stay off any anti-WOTUS bill that is introduced in the Senate.

For those of you who are using TWITTE we will need your assistance in the coming days to remind Sen. Kirk of his strong past statements against EPA over-regulation and encourage him to sign on to the #ditchtherule effort.   We will also continue to focus on Sen. Durbin and all members of the Illinois delegation.

The Franklin County Farm Bureau has many businesses giving discounts and/or support to our members. Here are just a few:

Benton Dairy Queen – 1218 N Main St, Benton, IL (618) 439-3378

• $1.00 off round of mini-golf or $1.00 off a Royal Treat (not valid with other offers)

The Wild Trillium – 807 Public Square, Benton, IL (618) 435-3744

• Local Artisans – unique gifts – follow us on Facebook for special “party” information

Extreme Auto Care & Service – 210 W Main St, Benton, IL (618) 438-0024

• Free detail with service work of $300 or more – 10% senior discount (55 and over)

West Frankfort Bowl – 108 E Poplar St, West Frankfort, IL (618) 937-9096

• Free drink with purchase of meal or free shoe rental with paid bowling

Rhino Linings of Southern Illinois – 1201 W. Webster, Benton, IL (618) 438-6144

• 10% off Rhino and Accessories (not valid with other offers)

For more information on joining the Franklin County Farm Bureau please call our office at 435-3616. There are many more discounts available to anyone who has been a member in good standing for at least 30 days. So don’t wait – call or come by and join now. The savings are amazing and it is a great organization.

Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.

On his path to becoming Illinois’ next governor, equity investor Bruce Rauner boasted he would be able to fix the state’s massive financial problems, assuring voters, “I’ve been a success at everything I’ve done.”

 

Here’s the link to the story in the Chicago Tribune.

(NOTE:  As I was preparing for my annual “Christmas Memories” show on WQRL, that will air Dec. 17, I come across this column that I wrote 10 years ago.  I brought back good memories for me and I hope you enjoy. Merry Christmas!  — JM)

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The young man in the frayed black and white photo looked to be in his early 20s. His eyes were bright and optimistic and he had a full head of thick, dark hair. He had a broad smile which made me feel that he was happy when the photo was taken.

It’s because of that young man, I thought, that I’m standing here in the middle of this two-car garage on a blustery Sunday afternoon in November.

The young man that held my stare that day was my dad and the photo was taken at a time when he had his entire life ahead of him and long before he knew me. When the photo was taken I suppose I was, as the saying goes, still just the gleam in his eye.

My dad, Bill Muir, had died six weeks earlier and in the ensuing weeks since then my family had gone about the task of sorting out his personal belongings — sorting out 87 years of living, 60 years of marriage, the birth of four children and more than four decades of living in the same house on the same corner. I guess it’s fair to say that we were sorting out his life, and it was a good life.

That particular day found me going through the large two-car attached garage. I would describe the day as a cross between a therapy session and a trek down memory lane.

My parents’ generation has been correctly called “the greatest generation” however I believe they could have also been called “the keep-it generation” – meaning that they would prefer to keep their possessions, whether they needed it or not, rather than throw it away.

I’ll stop short of calling my dad a pack rat, but I laughed out loud at some of the things I discovered – all neatly in place I should add – and shook my head wondering why he kept some of the items he did. I discovered one small box with approximately 25 nozzles from empty cans of spray paint and a shoebox full of heels off of shoes, some worn and some new. Another box contained at least 50 small pieces of used sand paper. In many instances there was more paper than sand. And it was like that throughout the day, rolls and rolls of tape, shoestrings, coffee cans, nuts, bolts, nails and even a box of water bills from the 1950s and 1960s. Upon examination the water and sewer bill back then was $2, mailed in an envelope that contained a four-cent stamp.

Perhaps the prize of the day came in mid-afternoon when I pulled a small motorized object from a closet inside the garage. It was mounted on a stand and had a spotlight attached with a well-worn electric cord that had a small switch. I knew immediately what the gizmo was and knew that there was also a second piece. Upon further searching a plastic, multi-colored wheel about the size of a plate was found. I remembered the apparatus because it was used with an aluminum Christmas tree. The wheel was connected to the small motor and sat on the floor beneath the tree. As the wheel turned the tree changed colors from red to blue to yellow and to green. It was all the rage in the early 1960s.

I quickly assembled the wheel to the motor and sort of held my breath as I plugged in the well-worn electric cord. To my amazement the spotlight lit up, the wheel slowly started turning and the chiming sound of “Silent Night” could be heard.

At the exact same second that the light came on I was immediately transformed in my mind into a small boy standing with my dad on the sidewalk in front of our house braving the cold, while waiting for it to get dark to see the aluminum tree change colors for the first time.

In the high-tech world we live in today children would consider an aluminum Christmas tree and a multi-colored light that plays Christmas carols dull and boring. But, standing beside my dad that cold December night many years ago it was a magical moment – a moment that brought a smile to my face and at the same time put a lump in my throat when I recalled it more than four decades later.

When we look around this holiday season it would be easy, with a sagging economy, increasing unemployment and growing anxiety at every turn, to get robbed of the joy and wonderment associated with this wonderful time of the year.

So, instead of dwelling on things I have no control over I’m going to instead offer thanks for good parents, that wonderful old aluminum Christmas tree, a multi-colored revolving wheel, spray paint nozzles and a box of used sandpaper.

In short, I’m going to be thankful this holiday season for a garage-full of good memories.

 

By Jim Muir

In order for a university to create positive economic and social value it must serve the community and region where it is located.  However, when a university only works to serve the local community, without a vision to expand influence, little university or social value is accrued. Patrick Geddes gave birth to this idea a century ago in his classic text, “Cities in Evolution.”  Marshal McLuhan’s concept of the “global village”  is often misunderstood and causes a university to overstep regional needs as a means to increase reputation.

 

This thinking is especially detrimental to universities in rural regions, where the positive impact of increased employment, cultural and recreational opportunity, and general economic development may be most powerful like a company town. The impact of a single university in a major metropolitan area, while consequential, almost disappears in comparison.

U.S. land-grant institutions; Texas A&M University, the University of Illinois, Penn State University for example, are located in rural regions. These universities continually transform local economies while having global impact.  All are internationally known, in part because they addressed local needs in becoming stalwart economic work horses.

Other examples have value.  Emily Dickenson, writing in her upstairs bedroom with only the fortification of family and familiarity, touched the world mightily for generations.  She understood deeply rooted cause and effect human emotions common to all souls and was able to express those relationships through the prism of her outwardly small world.  An international audience that crosses every geographic and cultural divide harmonizes with her sensibilities of the human condition.  She was a contributing citizen of the world community from a second floor bedroom.

On the other hand, the worldly, sophisticated, well traveled Henry James’ “In the Cage” fails for his being out of touch with the working people about whom he vicariously writes.  Ellen Douglas’ reflection, “Provincialism in Literature” provides these working perspectives.  A well-grounded understanding of problems and circumstances clarify rather than confuse provincialism and regionalism.   Provincialism breeds narrowness of mind, but effective regionalism draws ideas from multiple sources and coupled with focus benefits individuals, communities, and the world.

Moreover, while a region is seemingly distinct they are frequently replicated in many places around the world.  The soybean and corn production farming of central and southern Illinois is one example.  The Illinois Soybean Center, housed at SIU Carbondale is a team effort of government/industry/university collaboration for powerful regional benefit. Furthermore, if the College of Agriculture at Southern Illinois University has a positive economic impact on the region through increased crop yields, and the same principles will be of value in other delta locations where similar geographic, social and commercial regional forces are at work.

Ramon Lim, M.D., Ph.D., who is Professor Emeritus of Neurology in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, makes a strong case for the combination of regional distinctiveness and international excellence regarding the University of Iowa and its powerful contribution to the “land locked” state of Iowa.

Regionally and globally 4,000 MIT related companies employ 1.1 million people and have annual world sales of $232 billion according to Jonathan Cole (Research Universities and the Future of America) in concert with the civic leadership of the Boston Metropolitan Area. MIT has a long history of scholarly productivity.  The University of Alabama, Birmingham creates a $4.6 billion economic impact on Birmingham adding 61,205 jobs according to the National Science Foundation report.  It is only 75 years old — young by comparison to MIT.  A recent decision to eliminate football was regionally based, creates significant consternation, and would make little sense in many rural university towns.   Birmingham doesn’t need a football program evidently.   Given the impact of Alabama and Auburn for talent, fans, or brand why bother?   The University of Alabama Birmingham will be known for research prowess in medicine and related fields, and economic impact that creates more “wins” in the long run.  Birmingham and UAB will be pleased with where it goes, and with better odds than a 60 yard downfield “Hail Mary” pass.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s “What MIT Can Teach Colleges About Becoming an Economic Powerhouse” cites one of the ways that MIT has provided such economic power beyond the adherence to academic excellence —  they helped “Build regional ecosystems. To increase the likelihood of spinoffs, encourage close ties with industry and government.”  MIT’s model mirrors the marriage powerhouse of Stanford and local government in Silicon Valley.
Adam Smith’s observation in the “Wealth of Nations” is correct:  “The policy of some nations has given extraordinary encouragement to the industry of the country; that of others to the industry of towns. Scarce any nation has dealt equally and impartially with every sort of industry.”  This perspective, when regionally focused, holds true for universities.   There is seamlessness and healthiness in interactive regional and national economies:  Thinking and acting locally generates value globally.

Rural and urban universities help regions become economically stronger and simultaneously increase reach because they address real issues they know something about.  Ms. Dickenson demonstrated the power of reach from her bedroom.  Vicarious experience and copy-cat approaches are superficial: Henry James found that out.   Regional responsiveness is not provincialism and leads to healthy creative economies.