By Mitchell Schnurman
mschnurman@star-telegram.com
Exxon Mobil turns to the leading universities in America for the research and technology that provides its lifeblood. But its CEO warns that the company will look elsewhere, outside Texas and outside the country, if necessary.
A university president says that great researchers are great teachers, too.
They give college students the chance to learn from the creators and read the next editions of textbooks as they're being written.And a Nobel laureate insists that the nation's top research universities are more than a national treasure: "They are the heart and soul of our prosperity," said Dr. Michael Brown, a UT Southwestern Medical Center professor who made great discoveries about cholesterol.
It's not surprising that top scholars and business leaders in Texas believe in the value of cutting-edge research. What's troubling is that they feel such a need to defend the idea today.
Just two years ago, the Legislature passed an ambitious initiative to help create more research universities here, and voters approved a constitutional amendment to fund it.
More than $600 million is on hand to be awarded to emerging universities if they hit benchmarks on doctorate awards, federal research dollars and more.
For a state that had been a laggard in higher education, this development was a significant advance -- a public declaration that Texas was determined to live up to its potential.
Suddenly, the narrative has shifted 180 degrees. Research appears to be under attack, as conservative groups challenge university traditions.
A big budget shortfall is forcing deep cuts at colleges, as well as K-12 schools, and lawmakers won't even consider raising revenue.Students, faculty and alumni are protesting en masse, and the state's reputation is taking a hit. In
The New York Times, the
Chronicle of Higher Education and even publications in Europe, people are questioning Texas' commitment to university research.
Gov. Rick Perry felt compelled to write an op-ed piece this month, calling such assertions "a big lie" -- a disinformation campaign aimed at cutting off discussions on ways to improve public colleges.
But Perry's fingerprints are all over the reform push. He named a new UT regent, who hired a special adviser with ties to the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. Rick O'Donnell had argued that much of university research was wasted and that schools could get by with fewer tenured faculty, and he pushed for data on teaching loads at the UT system.
O'Donnell was fired last month, after just six weeks on the job, and he wrote a scathing letter that accused UT leaders of sabotaging his efforts.
Policymakers have long debated whether universities put too much emphasis on research at the expense of classroom teaching. Perry and reformers insist that colleges can do a better job of managing resources and boosting graduation rates.
That concept sounds simple enough, but it morphed into proposals to micromanage faculty hours, reward teachers for scoring high on student surveys, and separate teaching and research functions.
"We see this as a real threat to our mission," said Dan Formanowicz, a biology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, who also chairs the faculty advisory council to the UT system.
This month, the council sent a letter to regents, urging them to not go down this path.
"To limit the number of faculty that can engage in research," the letter said, will "assure that Texas lags behind other states."
He said that scientists around the country are talking about the conflicts here, making it much harder to recruit top scholars. Many current professors are reportedly looking for posts outside the state, too.
It's not just a perception problem. A proposed state budget calls for a 25 percent reduction in one part of the research universities program that matches large donations. Across-the-board cuts will again reduce money for schools and financial aid, and probably mean higher tuition.
In a cost-cutting move last week, UT Arlington said that 27 faculty members had accepted buyout packages. Their positions will not be filled, despite a rapid growth in the school's enrollment and big progress on research.
Shockingly, most of the attention on the research-teaching debate has focused on the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M, the crown jewels of the state's public research universities. Their results demonstrate the potential payoff from these big investments, and their examples helped fuel the ambitions of UT schools in Arlington and Dallas, and the University of North Texas.
Those three are among the seven emerging research universities aiming for Tier One status and a share of the state funding pool. It can take decades, even generations, to become a research leader, so the effort demands vision and staying power.
But two years after launching a great initiative, Texas is getting weak in the knees.
It's as if state leaders -- and the public -- need a remedial class on the value of research.
The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas offered one recently with a forum in Austin. David Daniel, president of UT Dallas and one of the drivers of the Tier One effort, explained the outsized impact of the country's 59 top research universities.
They account for just 1.5 percent of the nation's colleges, but they have the vast majority of federal research dollars, members of the national academies and Nobel Prize winners. Their students create more businesses and attract more venture capital.
Daniel showed a slide of 17 major companies, including Amazon, Home Depot, Medtronic and Staples. The common thread: Each was founded and based in a city with a top research university.
Perhaps most important, Daniel said, almost two-thirds of National Merit Scholars choose to attend those 59 schools.
Among the 10 largest states, Texas has about half the average number of such universities per capita, so it's losing many promising students every year.Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil and a UT Austin grad, said that society has to be willing to differentiate the top schools and top talent -- and nurture them, even if that makes people uncomfortable.
Remedial classes have a place in many colleges, he said, and Exxon needs workers from every educational background.
But it's the best and brightest, working at the top universities, who will push the next frontier.
We must focus on developing that top-end potential, he said at the forum, because that's how society will solve its most daunting challenges.
"If we start lowering that standard, we will not address those challenges and someone else will," Tillerson said. "It won't be us."
Not us is not a label that Texas wants to have.
Mitchell Schnurman's column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. 817-390-7821
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