Our Universities: Strictly Business

November 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Walter Wendler

“Listen, I want to congratulate you and Macy’s on this wonderful new stunt you’re pulling. Imagine sending people to other stores. I don’t get it…Imagine a big outfit like Macy’s putting the spirit of Christmas ahead of the commercial. It’s wonderful. Well, I’ll tell ya. I never done much shopping here before, but I’ll tell ya one thing. From now on I’m going to be a regular Macy’s customer.”

– From the script of “Miracle on 34th Street” –Peter’s Mother (Thelma Ritter), telling the store manager that Santa Claus sent her to Gimbels’, Macy’s archrival, because she could get what she needed there.

People decry the idea that a university should be seen as a business. But enlightened, insightfully-led business is another matter. Subsidies may make us lazy.

Education gets business subsidies of $1 trillion according to the Government Accountability Office. That may create indolence.

For public institutions, the subsidies are easy to see: State House appropriations, low interest loan guarantees, low cost bonding, research grants, contracts, and service initiatives for public benefit. Private institution subsidies are less obvious but equally pervasive, except direct state appropriations.

We should appreciate the help, yet when it comes to treating the organizations like real businesses, we fall short. R. H. Macy would have said we only buy half the equation…the half that brings resources, not the half that serves people. Santa Claus got it.

For example, according to Susanna Kim in an Oct. 18, 2012, ABC news posting, the University of North Carolina denied in-state tuition to Hayleigh Perez, a U.S. Army veteran. Because she was not technically a resident of North Carolina, even though she
was stationed at Fort Bragg before she was deployed to Iraq in 2007, she was subject to higher tuition at out-of-state rates.

This is not good business. It’s not even close. Business acumen would suggest that any veteran, no matter where she is from, be granted in-state tuition. A strictly business perspective would recognize the folly of mistreating veterans in any way. Illegal immigrants in Maryland pay in-state rates since the “Dream Act” passed voter muster last week. Veterans in North Carolina may not.

UNC Pembroke and the state twisted, turned, and rationalized with circuitous bureaucratic gibberish: strictly un-businesslike.

Leadership responded: “We pride ourselves on being a military-friendly institution… serve more than 800 military personnel annually… strive to provide services tailored to their needs… creating the Office of Military and Veterans Services.”

Pure bureaucratese. Creating offices is action without effect when service is left wonting. Bad business.

California State University leadership established new fees to punish students who take too long to finish their degrees. At first glance, this may seem like a very businesslike proposition. But it too is bad business. There are too many ways to create incentives
for students to complete degrees on time or early.

Many universities provide fiscal incentives for early completers, strictly business. It rewards desired behavior. B.F. Skinner and Sam Walton would be proud.

Not the Cal State schools. For all the chatter about the hundreds of millions of dollars that Proposition 30 will provide after being approved by voters on Nov. 6, 2012,

Cal State leadership takes the decidedly un-businesslike posture of fee structures designed for fiscal flagellation. When repeating a class, students are billed an additional $91 per unit, and enrolling for more than 18 credits draws another punitive assessment. All this according to a Los Angeles Times piece by Carla Rivera on Nov. 8, 2012.

The goal is good but the path torturous. Don’t castigate some poor collegian who takes two runs at calculus. Reward the good student who gets a B or better by giving a 25 percent refund on tuition and fees.

Many institutions create incentives for students by not charging for courses above 15 credits per semester: the noble and worthwhile goal to get students in and out more quickly. Carrots, not sticks: strictly business.

Nontraditional students, veterans, single moms and dads, workers displaced by bankruptcies all get bruised by business-blind blunders masquerading as good business. But it is a naïve charade.

Our good universities are not in the business of collecting tuition and fees from as many enrollees as possible while simultaneously soaking students through punitive fees, mindless bureaucratic decision-making, and fuzzy focus on a furtively founded bottom
line.

We’d better know where our bread is buttered because it’s good business.

Filed Under: Columns, Opinion Tagged With: ,

Franklin County Farm Bureau news

November 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Larry J. Miller

Now that the dust has settled, we can see more clearly what the future will hold for taxpayers in the days ahead. Therefore, here is how I see the future and how it will affect farmers and taxpayers.

On the federal level, with the re-election of President Obama and to solve the financial crisis that both Democrats and Republicans have created, our taxes will be going up! And I am not saying just for the rich people but for everyone who makes money and files a tax return.

Government spending will not decrease but we will pay more to finance a bloated federal budget. This will cause the growth of the economy to decrease in the long term and reduce the income of the government because of lower employment caused by higher taxes. And we still do not know the total affect of the new health care program, which by the way; will cost the common man more taxes for premiums.

We still do not have a farm bill which leaves us wondering about issues that will affect us into the next crop year.

On the state level, we are basically in the same situation. Income taxes were increased by 66 percent, but the budget is still not balanced and there is no hope that it will change at all very soon, all the while jobs are leaving the state compounding the problem. Pension problems, which the state created by not making pension payments because of budget shortfalls, will be sent back to local taxing districts and the only recourse that local districts will have is to increase property tax. Guess who pays for that?

Locally, unemployment will increase because of increased environment regulations on coal emissions which will limit the expansion of coal mines.

In Franklin County, we have three functioning 911 services which cost us three times what it should. We will continue to employ nine school superintendents because we will not accept school consolidation.

Yes, all of the above looks very gloomy but we must hold our elected officials to a higher standard and demand change. They work for us!

You may want to put this prognostication in a place to remember and tell me if I was right or wrong in a few months.

This is just a reminder that our County Annual Meeting is on Monday, Nov. 26 at the Benton Civic Center. Registration begins at 5 and the meal will be served at 6:15. If you would like to make reservations please call our office by Monday, Nov. 19 at (618) 435-3616.

If you would like to order fruit this year you must order by Tuesday, Nov. 27th. You can order oranges, grapefruit and tangelos – 4/5 bushel – $25.00 & 2/5 bushel – $15.00.

We have pecans in our office now – one pound bags of shelled pecan halves for $9.00. We also have about 20 bags 12 oz bags of chocolate covered pecans halves in – $9.00 each. Call (618) 435-3616.

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

Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion Tagged With: ,

Our Universities: The Morality of Cost and Value

November 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Universities systematically misrepresent the value of a degree.  All degrees may have some value, but how much, to whom? University leadership should help students decide what works for them and why. The idea that any degree under any circumstances has good value is a lie.
“Whereas students’ minds used to be the chief concern of colleges and universities, it is now more their bank accounts (more accurately, that of their parents and of the taxpayers). If students happen to learn anything useful while enrolled, that’s good, but if not, as long as they’ve paid their bills, that’s not the university’s problem.”
— George C. Leef —
___________________________________________________________________

By Walter Wendler

High cost, low value degrees drive students into lifelong debt through specious promises. Even low cost, low value degrees are a sham. The seemingly good intentions of providing everyone a college degree yield little individual or social benefit if the degree is of poor quality, given not earned, in a field of limited or no opportunity.

Political expediency maybe — long term value — I think not.

Degrees seen as meal tickets, gateways to happiness, or guarantees of good jobs, create a misbegotten sense of a secure investment for many families and students – and anything that even looks like a degree will do.

Consider this clip (name changed): “Instant U has been a provider of quality adult education for over 100 years. Our online bachelor degree completion programs are ideal for men and women seeking a more rewarding future with greater earning potential and job security.”
Even publics are at it.  GetEducated.com lists the cheapest degrees available. Not just profiteering privates, but high-minded publics. Trust is evaporating.  People expect more.

A degree in literature earned by an intelligent and motivated student with an A- average, providing a means to prepare for graduate or professional study, may have great value. The same degree earned by a student with a C- average, and no intention of graduate or professional study, may provide little or no value in the market place, further aggravating poor return on investment and lost opportunity cost.
The intention and ability of the student makes the same degree simultaneously valuable, or nearly worthless. And if the student and family swallowed specious advertisement and marketing campaigns, they might be choking on high-debt from a low-return investment:  An economic ball and chain considerably more confining than ignorance of Chaucer or calculus. Evanescent leadership stands by, watching — counting heads, hoping to balance the books.

A university that espouses the value of an education without assessment of fit is practicing a form of immorality.  If a manufacturer jimmied up the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards at the auto dealership, it would be in court battling a class action law suit. Universities jimmy up faith in outcome while peddling loans to students for degrees that won’t get two miles to the gallon while parading as opportunity in Sunday clothes.
We need truth-telling leadership lest the public trust in universities diminish even further.
If truth drives down enrollments, so be it.  If universities are seen as employment palaces stimulating local economies, regardless of outcome, students are starved, and communities destroyed.  Benefit, public and individual, is short lived when naively proud graduates are left holding a bag marked “The National Interest” has a jester’s bauble inside.

Institutions focused on anything other than the intellectual, emotional, physical, and fiscal well-being of the students are on a path of deceit and deception leading to devastating impacts on higher education, a national point of pride for over two centuries.
The value of any degree, if marketed as a warranty for the American dream, is a most miserable mendacity.
Because universities covet tuition and fee dollars, they toy with the emotions and aspirations of students and families.  A poor degree with low utility, and all too frequently, high debt, is about what you would expect…nearly useless.

The marketplace relentlessly ferrets out deception but it takes years, while admission decisions are turned around in 24 hours.  Open-admission, low/no-standard degree programs, public or private, for profit or not, on-line or on-campus, participate in a criminal boondoggle diluting what should be one of life’s great investments.

If our universities reduce the time to degree attainment, and/or the cost of the process, and maintain quality and fit, everybody wins.  However, if quality is lowered, standards dismissed, and costs increase, nobody wins: not the borrowers, lenders or institutions – no matter what marketers trumpet, current cash flow indicates or leadership claims.

(Walter Wendler is former chancellor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and currently is director of the School of Architecture at SIU-C. )

Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Uncategorized

Franklin County Farm Bureau News

November 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

By J. Larry Miller

We are busy preparing for the Annual Meeting on Monday, November 26 at the Benton Civic Center with registration beginning at 5:30 PM. Our Ag-in-the-Classroom Coordinator, Melissa Lamczyk, is preparing for a silent auction and the Trio Nine Mile Creek will be providing entertainment. A meal at 6:15 will be catered by Martin’s Catering. Please call us at 435-3616 to make reservations by November 20th.

There is some good news this morning, the 2012 elections are history and depending on your point of view, you may be happy or sad but everyone is glad that it is over. One thing is for certain and that is that the vote will affect the lives of everyone as there are major problems that need attention and will cause taxes or services to change.

I must admit that I am a political junkie and believe that I am informed of the personalities in government. For example can you name two heads the various branches of government such as the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense. What about our State Treasurer or Director of Agriculture? I must confess that 20 years ago, I could name them all but today I am not sure. This is a good test as to how informed you are on the issues. You must know the players to know the game.

How will the results of this election change our lives? Perhaps not much in the next few days but long term there will be many things that could affect us all. The biggest is the financial situation that the State and Federal governments are in and will they continue to be kicked down the road or will strong measures be made to correct the approaching cliff that is on the horizon. Can anyone deny that we cannot continue spending at the present rate?

As a result of President Obama being re-elected, many believe that there is good opportunity for a Farm Bill to be passed during the lame duck session of Congress. Some would think that a possible one year extension of the present bill could be in the offering but we need to get this issue settled and move on. We can also expect more government regulations by way of the US EPA concerning environmental issues.

We certainly need to pray for our leaders as they take leadership and guide our country.

We are still taking orders for grapefruit, oranges and tangelos until next Wednesday November 144/5 bushel is $25.00 and 2/5 bushel is $15.00 with delivery around December 7 in plenty of time for the holidays. If you want to place an order call 435-3616.

Also, pecans are in – if you placed an order and have not received a call yet you can pick them up at the office on Route 14 West of Benton. We ordered plenty of extra this year so if you are just in need of some of the most delicious pecans just stop by or call. They are $9.00 for a one pound bag of pecan halves and for the first time this year we have chocolate covered pecans as well. There is a limited supply of these so if you are in the market please hurry.

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

Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Uncategorized

Millions being spent on politics in the middle of poverty, misery and hopelessness

November 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

‘Obscene’ – that is the word that comes to mind when I see the amount of money being spent on elections nationwide, but particularly in our area.

I want to emphasize that this is not a political endorsement for either party, instead it’s just food for though here on Election Day Eve.

Dodging the mud and outright BS that is being slung, and fending off the lies and distortions that are being told via television, radio, newspapers, websites and I’m certain carrier pigeon and smoke signal these days, I ran across an article about spending in this year’s general election that caught my attention. Along with a kicked-in-the-gut feeling, the article brought to mind an interview I had last week on my weekly radio show, “Sound Off” – that airs each Wednesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. on WQRL (106.3 and wqrlradio.com online). And … yes … that was an unabashed plug.

Let me explain.

During the show I interviewed Mary Abbott, who is the Southern Regional Director for the Illinois Hunger Coalition and also serves on Governor Pat Quinn’s Commission to End Hunger. Abbott doesn’t mince words and laid out in black-and-white just how bad the situation is here in Southern Illinois. Abbott also emphasized that the situation is much worse than it is being portrayed in many of the political commercials that are airing virtually non-stop.

Abbott, by her own admission, is “in the trenches” and sees firsthand the dire circumstances of poverty, unemployment and hopelessness that has engulfed many people right here in our backyard in Southern Illinois.

While I could devote this entire offering to those numbers let me just share a few with you.

In Franklin County unemployment is 12.8 percent – highest in the state. But, Abbott said that number is far too low because it does not take into account those who have fallen through the cracks or those who have just quit trying. In her estimation the true unemployment number is “in the ballpark of 15 percent.” Or, nearly twice the national average.  Along with being an embarrassment, that number is also unacceptable.

While it has been labeled a national disgrace that 1-in-6 people (16.4 percent) across the United States are now receiving food stamps that number pales in comparison to those using food stamps in the two biggest counties in the 59th State Senate District and two of the largest counties in the 112th Congressional District. According to Abbott 1-in-4 people (25 percent) in Franklin County and 1-in-5 (20 percent) in Williamson County receive food stamps. Based on actual numbers 10,183 people in Franklin County (population 39,627) and 13,000 in Williamson County (population 66,622) receive monthly food stamps and medical help.

Abbott also said that according to projections 2,500 more people will be added to the food stamp list next year in Franklin County, pushing the number to more than 13,000 in the county. Based on the population that is 1-in-3 or 33 percent.  Again, that’s embarrassing and unacceptable.

Abbott said is is also common for 50-70 percent of schoolchildren in many Southern Illinois counties to receive two meals a day at school as part of the free lunch program, provided for families that live in below-poverty level households.  My first thought was that a school calendar is 182 … so where do these kids eat the other 183 days?

With that list of numbers seared in your mind I want to share another contrasting set of numbers with you.

According to the Sunlight Foundation during the current election cycle there has been more than $7.3 million dollars spent on the 12th Congressional race between Republican Jason Plummer and Democrat Bill Enyart. Those two, as I’m sure you know, are vying for the seat being vacated by Congressman Jerry Costello. And most observers, both Republican and Democrat, would agree that this race is perhaps one of the ugliest, most negative and just plain disgusting election races … ever.  Again, the number to keep in mind is $7.3 million.

And in the 59th Senate race between incumbent state Sen. Gary Forby, (D-Benton) and Republican challenger Mark Minor, also of Benton, it was reported more than a week ago that in excess of $1.1 million dollars – with the vast majority being spent by Forby – had been spent in the state senate race.  Again, the number is $1.1 million.

OK, let’s compare those numbers.

On one hand we have people, and many of them children, hurting, struggling, unemployed and according to Abbott out of hope. And on the other hand we have political parties and deep-pocketed political action committees throwing fistfuls of money at a candidate or candidates right here in the middle of all that poverty and misery. In both races, again right here where the food stamp lists are growing and the food pantries are fighting to keep up, there will be more than $8.5 million spent to elect two candidates. After writing that last paragraph I feel like I need to take a shower.

I plan to trudge off to the polls tomorrow and vote my beliefs and my conscience regardless of party affiliation and I hope you will too.  But, I will also take with me to the voting booth tomorrow the knowledge that these contrasting numbers are a sad, and nauseating reality that our political system is broken, perhaps beyond repair.

 

Filed Under: Benton News, Christopher News, Coello News, Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Royalton News, Sesser News, Thompsonville News, Uncategorized, Valier News, West Frankfort News, Zeigler News

Still clacking after all these years …

November 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
By Bruce A. Fasol
Why Me-why NOW?  If I have asked these hard questions, maybe you have asked them of me too. Why no longer full-time radio, and why online work from a tech newbie?
I do still have a radio presence. after 39 years, it is hard not to have a stake in radio.  I plan to broadcast all the West Frankfort Redbird boys basketball games this year.  And, as usual, I will be joined in the booth by my partner of 33 years, Hall of Fame broadcaster Rick Westermeier.  Rick and I have also added other games – for other radio stations- to our broadcast schedule this winter.  We are really excited to be able to expand our reach and bring quality broadcasts to areas that may not have been well served before.  Of course it could not happen without those other radio stations that have trusted us with their airtime. I am also looking at some other things in radio that interest me. I’m no longer burdened with having to be one place, very early and limited in scope.  I may not always like the Boss, but I work for myself now and it is liberating.
A couple of months ago, Jim Muir approached me with an idea.  Jim has made a huge success of his online sports magazine.  He, as I had, had heard rumblings of discontent over traditional newspapers.  Traditional radio,television and newspapers are all under scrutiny with faster, more reliable news outlets popping up online. That was what brought Jim to the conclusion that Franklin County needed an online newspaper to pick up the slack of what was not being reported- and to improve the content of what was being carried on traditional paper and ink.
I was not immediately convinced.  You see, I am technically challenged. I did not see the potential of on online paper.  I did some asking about and made a discovery that many people — of all ages — check online for news frequently each day.  One newspaper can be printed daily.  One online newspaper can add content at will.  Yes, I knew some would see it.  But, why would advertisers buy it? I discoverd online has the same durability (and more) as traditional print.  It can be read and reread at will.  However, I was educated on THE biggest advertising bonus of an online paper. That bonus is that a website can be directly linked to the add. Paper and ink can not do that.  Now, a businesses inventory can be accessed with a click of a mouse. Big stuff that even I can see.  And, introductory rates which are bargain basement helped me see why businesses in Franklin Colunty can get in on ground floor of something big.
Money to be made and stories to be written … not a bad bait to lure ol’ Bruce into a new field.  And, it was just that challenge that appealed to me most. I love the idea of watching a great idea unfold and grow.  In our first month I was astounded to learn that 7,000 unique visitors came to our site, and, did they ever stay! We clocked with 56,000 page hits in just the first month!  I love history and am loving being a part of it with this online paper.
Thank you Jim Muir for inviting me to bring whatever talent I have to this endeavor.  I will do what I have always done: work hard to report the news from Franklin County that you may not read, see, or hear any place else. Readers deserve that, our advertisers are guarnteed that.
What YOU Can do for me is to Facebook me to be a friend, then you can send me your best ideas for good,positive feature stories. I look forward to working for-and with- you all!
Filed Under: Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion, Uncategorized

FCA Daily Devotion – Renewal

October 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
II Corinthians 4:16
When do you feel like your body is wasting away and your strength is drying up?  Maybe that’s at the end of practice, half-way through preseason or with one week to go in a long, difficult season.  How can we have our hearts renewed and find the strength to press through such feelings?  Today’s scripture gives us such encouragement.
In the second letter to the church at Corinth at chapter 4 and verse 16 we read, “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”  Paul was aware of his friends’ perilous times and the physical toll it was taking on them.  He identified with their plight.
It’s the nature of competition and long seasons to wear down our bodies.  We can identify with these people and the outward wasting away of their bodies.  The wisest among us also know how to be inwardly strengthened, day by day in our hearts.
Here’s the challenge for us.  Can we trust our hearts to lead us to do the right thing, even when our bodies are crying out for us to quit?  Can we continue to find new strength through renewed hearts and press through the hard times?
As you prepare to compete today, trust your heart to the one who gives strength without measure.  Ask Him to fill your heart with courage and to enable you to compete strongly.  You will be amazed at how your mind and your body will respond to your heart’s lead.
Bible Reading Plan:
Song of Solomon 4:8-16
Jeremiah 52
Filed Under: Akin Junior High Sports, Benton High School Sports, Benton Junior High Sports, Christopher High School Sports, Christopher Junior High Sports, Columns, Ewing Junior High Sports, Franklin Co. News, High School Sports, Junior High Sports, Sesser-Valier High School Sports, Sesser-Valier Junior High Sports, Thompsonville High School Sports, Thompsonville Junior High Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports, West Frankfort Junior High Sports, Zeigler Royalton Junior High Sports, Zeigler-Royalton High School Sports

Northern Unit Meeting

October 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment
By Kristi Brose
The October meeting was held on Oct. 16 at the extension office with Joyce Lee hosting. Eight members answered the roll call of their favorite Halloween costume. They were Ginger Prior, Judy Webb,Ola Dalby, Linda Duncan, Mary Bauer, Carolyn Odom, Carolyn Lynch and Joyce Lee.
Christmas Ideas Day was discussed,it will be Saturday, Nov.3, at the Civic Center. Everyone there gave their $20 donation to the club instead of having a craft table. Mary Bauer will take recipe to Taster’s Treat table and several others will make cakes for cake walk and bring stuff for the Country Store. Ginger gave the 4-H report.
The 4-H Achievement night was held at the Christopher Community Center on Oct. 24 at 6:00 p.m. Carolyn Odom’s famous Broccoli Cheese soup was served for lunch, along with several dips and desserts. The Thanksgiving meeting will be November 15 at 11:00 a.m, Judy Webb will be making the turkey and dressing.
Filed Under: Benton News, Columns, Franklin Co. News, Opinion

Our Universities: Serving the Public Good

October 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Service from universities to the extended community always has value. The best universities have codified a service imperative into their mission statements and are committed to providing insight and ideas to the community through individual students, faculty, and staff.
“The light of the university watch towers should flash from State to State until American democracy itself is illuminated with higher and broader ideals of what constitutes service to the State and to mankind.”

— Frederick Jackson Turner —
_____________________________________________________________________

By Walter Wendler

The Morrill Act, authored by Senator Justin Smith Morrill, created a “grant of land dedicated to the establishment of a university” in each state.  November marks the end of a year-long celebration praising the benefits of the Morrill Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862, in the midst of the bloodiest war in American history. The sesquicentennial celebration heralds the best in American higher education.

The land granted was to be sold or administered to build a perpetual fund “to remain forever undiminished,”  and the proceeds used for the  “maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”
A noble and worthy purpose to be sure.

The act profoundly affected universities and society. On September 28, 2012, four former secretaries of agriculture gathered at the University of Nebraska to discuss the impact of the land-grant institutions on agricultural productivity. They deemed it unparalleled.
At Penn State, Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn of the World Food Prize Foundation presented the Norman E. Borlaug Medallion to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.  The medallion recognized the progress of U.S. agriculture through research conducted at the land-grants.
Likewise, much attention was paid to innovation in industry and manufacturing. The two-pronged “A&M” moniker comes from the idea of “Agricultural and Mechanical” colleges.  While many forces fueled the fires in the furnaces powering the Industrial Revolution, the land-grant universities were the hottest and brightest.

During the mid-20th century, the land-grant mission transformed itself into a more general public outreach:  The principles used to promote the best in agriculture and industry flowed to diverse avenues of human endeavor, leading to the universally espoused, triangular university purposes of teaching, research, and service. Today, land-grant universities are 7 million students strong, and responsible for 60% of all federally funded research.
President Lincoln could scarcely imagine the land-grant mission manifested in the second decade of the 21st century. Yet, he would immediately recognize it.

Universities make the greatest contribution to the public good when individual faculty and student aspirations are pursued, personal intellect is sharpened, and insight is cherished for the benefit these bring to the individual and, not coincidentally, for breathing life into the greater social order. Not coincidence, but purpose.

The visionary plan produced eddies and swirls, and helped create electric light, mass production, the moon landing, television, cell phones, and iPods.  The agricultural enterprise that in 1862 occupied 60% of the nation’s workforce numbered less than 2% in 2012.  Yet, the productivity of U. S. farmers is unmatched.  Incalculable.

Colleges established under the act reached out to people who otherwise would have not had the opportunity for study. The central tenet of the act, “to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life” creates access to higher education. It is impossible to imagine a public institution without it.  This focus caused land-grant universities to be referred to as “people’s colleges,” “farmer’s colleges,” and “democracies’ colleges.” So powerful is the purpose that private institutions emulate the principle: And, we all call it access.

Someone plucked from the current tide of “industrial classes,” secures the opportunity to sharpen his or her mind and benefit the greater community.
Twenty-first century universities serve people with diverse needs and desires.  The “several pursuits and professions in life” should never be lost in the sea of headcounts, capitation, tuition income, or any of the confounding variables that legitimately affect modern institutions of higher learning.
Our universities must be forever attentive to this fundamental purpose and irrevocable responsibility: Individual growth leads to serving the public good. And, when well managed, universities need public support for the public treasure they represent.

(Walter Wendler is former chancellor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and currently is director of the School of Architecture at SIU-C. )

Filed Under: Columns, Opinion
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