Lawmakers ‘tense’ about proposed NDUS reforms
September 28, 2012 at 1:30 am in Grand Forks Herald
A meeting between the North Dakota legislative higher education committee and Chancellor Hamid Shirvani was “tense” Thursday after he revealed the details of his proposed reform to the education system, said Sen. Mac Schneider, D-Grand Forks. Continue Reading
This story highlights one of the festering wounds left over from the FS debacle: namely who is in charge of policy making for the 11 colleges and universities.
By refusing to rule on this issue, the state supreme court simply delayed the inevitable showdown. The lawmaker’s quoted in the article illustrate this continuing controversy.
The SBHE is constitutionally charged with setting policy for NDUS. By adopting the changes sought by the new chancellor, they were simply doing their job (remember they did not give him everything he wanted, they picked and choosed, as is their right).
The lawmakers expressing concern over policy issues and changes show the legislature’s willingness and almost need to interfere where they do not belong. The legislature appropriates funds. Policy making is the job of the SBHE.
Policy making was removed from the executive and legislative branches because they proved themselves incapable of doing the job.
Hopefully this issue will come to a head and the state supreme court will decide once and for all who is in charge of policy. It cannot be both.
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The ‘Legislative Concern’ is nothing more than the economic impact this policies will have on the individual communities. There was an article in the Bismarck Trib about MSU (Minot) being concerned that they won’t be able to give ‘discounts’ to Canadians who come down to their school. They charge them in state rates.. My big question is, why are people from another country getting reciprocity rates? They aren’t American citizens and quite honestly not welcome to my tax dollars.
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Because in the long run we make money off them. They SPEND here. Live in Minot, eat in Minot, families come visit Minot, etc, etc, etc,
Same reason GF is so Canada friendly.
No ethics or political statement, just plain old capitalism
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Which in all honesty should stop. It has been proven statistically time and time again that we export our educated students. That reaps this state zilch.
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Legislative appropriations account for about 22% of the UND budget. This is why enrollment and tuition have soared. In other words, the state is a minority shareholder. Much the same is true for the other 10 campuses. Legislators forget that, and believe they should be allowed to micromanage higher ed. It’s also true that they view campuses primarily as economic impact of communities, which is why most of them are protected in the Constitution, instead of judged by their academic legitimacy. When push comes to shove, as is true for just about everything in ND, the status quo will reign supreme, and Shirvani will be gone in three years out of frustration.
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Given this state’s history of inertia, you may be right. I hope not. That is why I advocate for a constitutional showdown.
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ND has a glut of campuses, it’s that simple. UND and NDSU can recruit from the outside, but traditionally, the others have attracted from a 50 mile radius. The state doesn’t come close to footing the bill. Which is why DSU and Williston had to come up with a way to generate income by becoming a diploma mill and renting out housing. Sadly, nothing will change, despite Shirvani’s best efforts.
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