Reports are that Governor Daniels is going to replace outgoing Purdue President France Córdova. I have a general policy against talking much about local politics. While I haven’t decided if Purdue’s administrative decisions qualify, I don’t think I’m too far out of line repeating something I posted on Twitter: “I think Gov. Daniels role will be to raise piles of money like Jischke. And, with his connections, he’ll likely be good at it.”
Anyway, based on some comments in another thread, there seems to be some appetite to talk about this; so, have at it.
I would like for him to sell Ross-Ade Stadium to a foreign corporation (before you freak out, be reassured that Purdue can lease it annually). He should then use the money to build something in Bloomington.
Yeah, like a football program that can produce bowl eligible teams consistently.
And maybe Mitch the Budget Bitch can pick up some side money selling marijuanna. He excelled in that as an undergrad.
Well, to repeat, university presidents should have strong academic credentials along with the other necessary talents, especially at the more prominent universities. If you look up Martin Jischke on wikipedia, you will see that the ability to raise “piles of money” was probably the least of his qualifications for the job. I’m sure Mitch has many skills to bring, but I’d prefer him bringing them to a corporation where the connection to the mission would be more clear. I’m not an alum nor a parent of one so I won’t be making any giving decisions based on my feelings, but this leaves me uneasy on several levels for various reasons. I also suppose there will be similar cases that people will be able to point to, or is this a precedent? If there are other cases, I’d wonder how they worked out in hindsight?
Yours is the least vitriolic and reasoned negative response I have seen.. and right on the money. Not to mention the ethical dilemma of having appointed 8 of the 10 Trustees….
As somebody who spent time at Purdue during Jischke’s and Cordova tenures, as a student *and* as an employee, I’ll say that the University has a lot more suck in it now than it did when I arrived ten years ago. Education plays second fiddle to research, and good professors who refused to research were ousted, either directly or indirectly. Department heads had to fight at great expense to get funding for professors focused on teaching classes. And programs that didn’t have valuable research properties associated with them withered and/or died, regardless of their value or importance as education programs. Professors in those valuable research programs were allowed to waste huge sums of research money on frivolous and/or ridiculous resources, while others were scrapping by with whatever they could get donated from Alumni in good positions.
After Mitch’s assault on higher ed (and education in general) over the past few years, I don’t think he’ll be welcomed with open arms by the faculty, staff, or students.
I only hope I’m proven wrong, but I don’t have much confidence at this point.
My wife is a biology professor at a Purdue regional campus. Her department chair told us at dinner a couple months ago that the focus on new programs at Purdue are in the Certificate and Associates arena.
Maybe Mitch can take Purdue public and compete head on with University of Phoenix and EDMC. Now that would be a fitting legacy for the boy.
This is exactly the response I am seeing from most of the people I know at Purdue – across the board -faculty, staff and students. Granted, I don’t have many hyper-conservative friends, but it seems like most are opposed to having a non-academic, especially one who has worked so hard against public education.
I have more questions than opinions on this.
Was not the predecessor to Michael McRobbie at IU very unpopular with the faculty? To the point of “no confidence”? He ended up having a rather short tenure. (PS: I thought I heard he also hired his crony Kelvin Sampson over the misgivings of the director of athletics.) But if this is not popular with the faculty, and I have no way of knowing about that one way or the other, I don’t think they will find it easy to comment on.
I wonder how this will be for McRobbie, who does a fantastic job at IU. If I had McRobbie’s job, I would find it hard, as I think (again, not know) that the presidents of major universities, and especially within a state, have a competitive yet compatriot type of relationship, based on similarities in their academic achievements and career paths in the university setting.
bump up in pay to about $700K, but I’d bet if he’s walking on campus and saw a nickle near the edge of the street, he’d push anyone walking with him into oncoming traffic just to pick up the nickle for himself.
And Daniels would claim they tripped.
If the person protested, he would kick their teeth out and laugh at them for mumbling.
Teeth? Knee caps maybe. His little legs can’t reach anyone’s teeth.
Daniels could also take a big swing at their knees with the cute little brain bucket he wears when he rides his scooter.
Can’t be anything but bad news for Purdue. Is it true that Gov. Daniels appointed most of trustees who made the decision to hire him? Why would a university such as Purdue focus on Associate’s degrees and certificates?
Yes, he appointed 8 of the 10 Trustees who were enTRUSTed with power to oversee and guide the university – or maybe just given cushy seats, so that he’d have a place to land while trying to sort out his political future?
Daniels doesn’t appear to have much of a political future. I cannot and will not get into the details here, but despite Daniels appearing to make a presidential run a year or so ago, he backed out suddenly. While I would never wish a head injury upon anyone, it appears that his noggin’s unfortunate encounter with a door knocked some sense into Daniels, making him realize that both his personal and political skeltons would or could come out once he received scrutiny from press other than the friendly Star.
I would have expected Daniels to move to a think tank such as the Heritage Foundation or the Cato Institute, but he has become quite the know-it-all on educaton issues. This move to Purdue was probably at least a Plan B for him. It is, no doubt, part of some agenda of his to turn a respected university into an over-sized community college and/or a haven for dubious research in the sciences. I have no problem with community colleges, but Purdue is not one. It is a respected university, but I have to wonder what damage could be done to its reputation under a President Daniels.
If Internet comments are any indication–which they may not be–a lot of Purdue alumni are upset about this.
Because if we can turn major universities into nothing more than glorified trade schools (as opposed to centers of advanced learning and thought where critical thinking and social criticism are fundamental precepts), then we can churn out docile, submissive worker drones who will obediently follow the dictates of their capitalist overlords (who have a vested interest in maintaining the neo-feudal status quo) without making any noise or fuss about the possibility of there being a better way to live.
Bah- that’s precisely what public school K-12 is for.
Why would a university such as Purdue focus on Associate’s degrees and certificates?
Revenue and lower costs to establish the programs. And it could be that the sites of these programs would be at the regional campuses, not West Lafayette.
I get that, but that is a stupid move for a large university. No offense to you, by the way. We already have IVY Tech plus who knows how many for-profit schools that offer certificates and associate’s degrees. IU’s regional campuses are moving away from associate’s degrees and toward bachelor’s degrees. Seems like a step backwords for Purdue and for the state. I have nothing against IVY Tech, but why would Purdue want to compete with them? Maybe it is too late for Indiana, but we need more people with bachelor’s degrees and above here.
No offense taken. I am just repeating what was told told to me by a Purdue DC and Director of something.
I agree, Purdue and IU are institutions of higher learning and not vocational schools. (This is not to diminish Ivy Tech. It is a good institution, although stretched pretty far.)
Agreed. I would also add that there is nothing in Daniels’ history to suggest he would function primarily as a fundraising figurehead at Purdue. Anyone who has worked for or with any state agency knows he is a micro manager with a hot temper. Also, why stack the Board of Trustees with friendly folks if he is merely going to spend time raising money for the school. Don’t be surprised if Purdue makes a change in its retirement age requirement shortly before or after Daniels arrives on campus.
The dirty little secret about IVY Tech is that their graduation rate is 6 1/2 percent. They bring in a load of cash from students that sign up and go to classes for a short time before dropping out.
I’m aware IVY Tech has an extremely low graduation rate. If Purdue becomes a larger version of IVY Tech, would they do any better? I’m an IU person, but I would hate to see Purdue become a glorified vocational and technical school. I would not wish a President Daniels or a CEO Daniels on any organization. I suspect that a lot of Hoosiers are unaware of the immeasurable damage Mitch Daniels and his former campaign staff have done to this state. They may have heard about a thing or two, but the bigger picture is mostly hidden.
And, no tenured positions necessary (I would imagine), Carlo.
Why would professors deserve tenure, if no other public school teacher deserves it? There’s a whole host of his decisions – from the long-term lease of the tollway for short-term gains, etc… that could spell disaster for Purdue if applied on the university level.
I didn’t read your Tweet or this blog until this morning, but the Jischke parallel was exactly what occurred to me, as I have noted in several places over the last 18 hours or so. J.D. from Georgetown plus his varied CV should prove to all but bitter-enders that he’s a plausible candidate to head a great research University.
From what I’ve seen, I don’t peg Gov. Daniels as having an ideological streak. His motivators seem to be ego and money. His inclinations run toward rewarding the folks at the top of the various pyramids; but I expect that’s more a factor of rewarding the guys he runs with than reflective of a grand philosophy of How Things Should Be.
I tend to guess his approach to higher education as President of the university will be different than his approach as governor. We’ll see.
Well, maybe he has an ideological “streak” – but it’s nothing like all consuming.
Sorry, I cannot agree with you about that at all. Daniels may appear to be nominally tolerant on some social issues on occasion, but he has a very strong ideology.
Roger, you certainly have a point, but what makes my “cynic alarm” toll loudly in my head is that he appointed the very people (or, at least 8 of 10) who are “hiring” him. That just smells bad, even for Indiana.
If he had chosen to become a university president outside of Indiana (where his influence upon any college’s Board of Trustees would have been minimal), well bully for him. But, he didn’t. To me, it just looks like one more example of how insider relationships work for successful politicians (of either party). And, I don’t mean that in a good way.
True. The Indianapolis Star revamped yesterday’s story and added a response from Daniels to those who questioned his qualifications. I am sure it was not intended this way, but Daniels and his wife as much as admitted he had been the recipient of right-wing welfare for his entire career.
Just for fun, and to waste some time, go over here to see the havoc being wreaked at University of Virginia. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/21/teresa-sullivan-university-of-virginia-_n_1614148.html
The headline mentions the UVa Board as “political donors lacking academic experience”. I spent way more time reading up on this than I really had to use, but it is interesting and alarming to an outsider (maybe not so surprising to the insiders). The main issue for the president’s downfall seems to have been the pace and method by which UVa should move to “on-line” courses. I only connect with this because some news story (can’t recall which one) on the Purdue-Daniels move mentioned Purdue has less on-line offerings than some other universities, and I found that curious.
I mean I found that a curious and random thing to stick in the article, not curious about Purdue’s offerings. I do recall hearing that some at high levels in the state bureaucracy consider the top universities to be “over-resourced” in the technology area.
Scary stuff. Are the trustees Daniels picked for Purdue similar to the UVA Board members
I’m no fan of McRobbie, but thank God Daniels didn’t have his sights set on IU.
Liberal arts and social sciences would not survive a non-academic oriented administration. Their value is not understood by those with bottom-line POV. I heard an interesting comment in an interview on the radio just in the last few days: All we know of the many cultures that came before us are their arts: literature, music, theater, visual arts. These are the very things that do not find support in the modern day of budget cuts and profits over all, and yet they are the most valuable traces we can leave behind to demonstrate who we “were”.
Agreed. I know we often think in this shorthand that Purdue is all science and IU is all social sciences and liberal arts, but that’s not quite true, as you know. There’s plenty at Purdue for a person like Daniels to mess up, cut, or eliminate. There are numerous fields of study at IU for an anti-science person to mess up.
I don’t think that Daniels is anti-science in the sense of being a creationist, but I could see him making Purdue into a place where dubious research on climate change or the environmental hazards of CAFOs could prevail.
I could also see him doing things similar to what he’s done at state agencies. He could cut some program that costs the university half a million per year because it was allegedly wasteful or rife with fraud while simultaneously creating new jobs for his cronies with salaries and benefits that total well over a half million dollars per year. Nevertheless, he’d be hailed as a “visionary leader” and “fiscal conservative” for doing so.
More on the University of Virginia corporate board fiasco.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/24/uva-teresa-sullivan-ouster-_n_1619261.html
I hear they have reinstated the president, bowing to student and faculty pressure. But the link has more deep background than latest news.
For some reason I have become fixated on this story.
Although I don’t really have the time to be fixated on it, I’m like you, except more so about the Daniels pick for Purdue than the UV story. Apparently, some Purdue people feel that the trustees were secretive about Daniels being the frontrunner, because if word had come out earlier, there would have been a lot of protest. Somehow, I doubt that.
Being secretive and sneaky are just part of M.O. of Gov. Daniels and his friends. I used to work with several state agencies in my previous job working at a non-profit agency. Gov. Daniels’ people were always making secretive deals and then pretending that some hand-picked overseeing group had freely voted on a matter, or would claim that multiple bids had been reviewed before handing a job over to a contractor, or would hold a last-minute “town hall meeting” on some controversial issue in hopes that no one from the town would show up. They tried that last trick concerning the proposed I-465 Connector toll road, except it backfired. According to a someone I know, the room where the town hall meeting was held overflowed with people despite the last-minute notice. Gov. Daniels had to back down from the proposal–for a time, anyway.
I guess I’m so riled up about this because I’ve seen the destructive ways of Gov. Daniels and his minions up close. I have no reason to believe that a Mitch Daniels will become some sort of hands-off fundraiser at Purdue who will listen to the ideas of others or build bridges or anything remotely like that. That man had an agenda from the time he took office as governor in 2005 and has pretty much stuck to it. Daniels has an agenda for Purdue now, and I really doubt it is simply to to take some “cush” job before he retires from public life.
If you can search news archives, you may find there are connections between the governor’s office and the commission on higher education. Also the criticisms of higher ed by said commissioner. Just saying that it does seem cozy.
I’m aware of some of that. The man has tentacles everywhere. I have family members and friends who work in higher education, but not at Purdue.
I’ve been puzzled as to why people seem to think Mitch Daniels would be an effective fundraiser for Purdue. Maybe he’s helped raise funds for his fellow Republicans, but his abrasive personality and track record as governor could turn off a lot of potential Purdue donors. One donor has gone public about changing her will.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120629/NEWS04/120629015?odyssey=mod|mostcom
Try this link instead: http://tiny.cc/8ptogw
Possibly relevant, inasmuch as it gives us a picture of what we might expect from a Daniels-run Purdue:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27/texas-republican-party-2012-platform-education_n_1632097.html
Texas conservatives have come right out and acknowledged that they are categorically opposed to independent thinking.
After all, we can’t have people thinking for themselves; if they did, then someone might get a wild hair to dress up like Indians, throw tea off ships, and declare independence from Great Britain.
If Texas conservatives had their way, the American Revolution would never have occurred.
Why should we expect better from Mitch Daniels?
What Daniels would do would not be quite as brazen as the Texas Republicans. He and his buddies would claim to be all for independent thinking while doing everything they could to quash it. Even with his hot temper, Daniels is very good at saying what he thinks people want to hear while doing the opposite.
I wad told that there it has been reported that a former Purdue Dean, Marilyn Haring (?) has changed her estate plan to revoke a bequest of one millions dollars to Purdue. Here cited reason was the hiring of Daniels and his higher education policies.
Perhaps someone else has seen this story.
See above. :)