Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Commenting on my post, below, in which I offer congratulations to Mitch Daniels, who at the end of this year will step down as governor of Indiana to become president of Purdue University, Ricochet member Robert Barraud Taylor asks a question that strikes me as more than intriguing.
In Robert's own words:
As not only a former Hoosier, but a former professor within the...well, let's say the Indiana Higher Education System, so as not to be too specific...I was pretty excited by the Governor's decision. My wife was even more excited: "Think of what Mitch did to Motor Vehicles! Imagine what he can do to Purdue!" (She is referring to the fact that the average wait time in Indiana at the BMV is phenomenally miniscule...and that the Governor personally monitors the average time.)
Myself, I am not so sanguine. University presidents of the last thirty years have succeeded by doing nothing. A reformist university president--a near-oxymoron, alas--requires all the capabilities and instincts that Machiavelli wished to see in a Prince.
This makes me wonder what other Ricoteers inside or on the fringes of academia would advise the Governor. What are some measures, tactics or reforms that he could plausibly introduce?
My first suggestion: make undergraduates work a lot harder than they now are. More homework, more labs, more everything. Most of cultural problems on campuses come from undergrads having too much free time.
And there you have it: The state of higher education being what it is--which is to say, far, far from what it ought to be--what advice would folks here at Ricochet give to Mitch?
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May '11
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
I just hope he doesn't say something really stupid and offensive like there might be genetic differences in the intellectual predelictions of men and women.
May '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Fold the football team. It's an embarrassment. The last time Purdue won the Big Ten outright: 1929. Two lousy appearances in the Rose Bowl.
Purdue put the first man on the moon (Neil Armstrong) and the last (Gene Cernan). It's a more noble undertaking than trying to be Quarterback U.
May '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Avoid too much Triple XXX Family Restaurant. We want him living to a ripe old age and this place won't help (especially the Duane Purvis).
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
The question is excellent, but the truth is that most university presidents are powerless. It takes about twenty years of concerted effort to turn an institution of this size and complexity around. The tenured are intractable.
That having been said, there is one area in which a determined university president can really have an impact -- and that is on the size and shape of the administration. The chief reason that tuition has increased at a much, much faster rate than inflation over the last fifty years is that university administrations have grown like topsy.
That era is over. The higher education bubble will burst, and the schools that will prosper will be those who cut costs intelligently. Cutting administration is a no-brainer. Its members contribute nothing directly to the enterprise. They are support staff, and support is not an accurate term for what they currently do. Ask any faculty member anywhere (apart from Hillsdale) whether the administration is overstaffed, and you will get an earful.
So our man Mitch should cut -- and when I say, "Cut," I mean, "Cut." He should presume that 75% of those employed on the administrative side could go and no one would miss them.
Apr '11
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
EJHill: Fold the football team. It's an embarrassment. The last time Purdue won the Big Ten outright: 1929. Two lousy appearances in the Rose Bowl.
Purdue put the first man on the moon (Neil Armstrong) and the last (Gene Cernan). It's a more noble undertaking than trying to be Quarterback U. · 13 minutes ago
Indeed Purdue has a great science program. Many fine biologists work there and were trained there, that I know.
I have always wondered if work-study programs could be used to staff undergrads into science labs. Labs always need people to make media, solutions, or do simple maintenance. Also it is bound to teach people more to work in a lab that man the desk at the library...(this is a very random and non-big thought I know).
Dec '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Quit and run for the real Presidential post.
Apr '12
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Paul Rahe gave the answer that immediately and forcefully came to my mind. Cut administrative fat. There's a heinous amount of it, and as an outsider with frugal instincts, he is the perfect man for the job.But, as a secondary goal, might at least try to help academic departments read the writing in the wall, so they can get to thinking about how to make themselves more useful and less insular. Most academics feel little pressure to "sell" themselves to the general public. That's probably going to change soon, but I'd like to see them getting some time to put their own houses in order before the axe falls.
Edited on June 22, 2012 at 10:55pmMay '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Who has the power to eliminate all of the destructive phony disciplines that have emerged since the late Sixties? Maybe the new President will have some influence in re-establishing some measure of accountability in the "public" university.
Jun '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Distance Learning, Distance Learning, Distance Learning.
I think universities will either lead the way, or get trampled by it.
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Aug '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
President of Perdue?
"It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken."
Oct '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Kind of outside his purview, but I'd like to see university presidents do something to ensure that their English majors can correctly identify a gerund, a participle, and a comma splice.
I've interviewed too many Stanford and Berkeley English grads who can't.
(Though I realize Purdue might be better than most schools in this area, since it manages the world-renowned Purdue Online Writing Lab.)
Jan '11
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
So much of the university president's job is representing the school to the outside world. But as the leader, it may help to deal with the internal matters as if he was representing the customer (i.e., the student and parent).
When the Aggrieved Studies Department insists on funds to "raise awareness" (perhaps by a video where people scribble complaints on their faces) about the injustice of white people ... like this story ... I want the university president to represent the tuition-payer's perspective. As in, "There's no way Mr. Mulville is going to pay for that!"
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
"Most of cultural problems on campuses come from undergrads having too much free time."
As a current undergraduate, I can say definitively that this is not the case.
May '12
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
As the parent of a Purdue student, I hope that he will do something about instructors and/or departments dropping classes in consecutive semesters that are required in a major discipline. That way students can graduate in 4 years and not have to spend an extra semester at school to finish their studies because a class is dropped so the instructor can go on sabbatical or because there are not enough students to fill the class.
Jul '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Exactly. And let me reinforce that observation. A friend of mine, a conservative academic who teaches in the Indiana Higher Education System and who undoubtedly voted for Mitch Daniels in the last election, is deeply upset with the Governor becoming President of Purdue.
Why? Because this fellow is a Liberal Radical teaching some kind of (Fill in the Blank) Studies? Absolutely not. He is upset because he knows that the Governor will cut things if he can, and because there are few forces more reactionary and intractable in the known universe than a tenured professor.
Which is why few professors think that any college president should serve longer than five years, at most ten. It makes them too powerful. Gives them a power base. That might lead to (gasp) change.
May '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
First, commence commenting on politics again. Lord knows the liberals at Purdue will go on commenting. (Unwise, I know, but it'd be nice to get some equal time.)
Second, undo the expectation that your university needs to be a luxury resort. I visited OSU last year with my son after more than a decade away and was horrified to discover it's become Pamper U. Five-star hotel type stuff. Ridiculous. (From what I've read of Gov. Daniels, this is exactly the sort of thing that will eat at him.)
Third, in a couple years grant in-state tuition to two teens from Ohio.
May '10
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Paul A. Rahe: ....
So our man Mitch should cut -- and when I say, "Cut," I mean, "Cut." He should presume that 75% of those employed on the administrative side could go and no one would miss them. · 6 hours ago
"Mitch the Knife" is just the man for the job. Purdue isn't going to know what hit 'em.
Sep '11
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Recognize that he's in a competitive industry, even while 99% of his competitors think they're still tenured professors with a government-backed retirement scheme. Texas (under Rick Perry) is actively working toward a $10,000 four-year degree. What will Indiana (Purdue, after all, being a state school) do to respond?
Step 1: replace branch campuses with abysmal graduation rates with distance learning. The IUP branches are embarrassing, and dramatically dilute the Purdue brand.
Apr '11
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
Do a "GM- Saturn" Strategy
I agree with Prof. Rahe - there is little he can do. The power of the faculty makes change too slow. Real change will come from outside established institutions.
I think Gov. Daniels should try and pull of a "GM-Saturn" strategy by starting a branch campus with all new rules. (except he should not water it down to failure like GM did with Saturn.)
No tenure, rigorous academics, wide political views among the faculty, low-overhead, extensive use of distance learning and e-books.
Then after a few years, compare old vs new.
May '12
Re: Your Advice for the New President of Purdue?
I agree with Paul Rahe's recommendations. I worked as staff at a university, in IT, and I actually spent more time supporting other staff, not students or faculty.
He's going into the job with connections in the Legislature. Purdue is a public university, and therefore the faculty sign contracts with the state.
Using his connections, he should make an attempt to end tenure there. Faculty, regardless of rank, should be offered 5 year contracts.