Thoughts about the MN Independence Party

Tom Horner's Statement.

U-M Regents dropped the ball in naming advisory committee to recommend next prez. Six professors on a 12-person committee? I'm calling for the regents to add business people (large and small employers); people from Greater MN who know
the challenges of our rural communities; and, experts on online education -- lifelong learning will be essential; we need people who understand how to make it happen.

There are two Higher Education institutions in the State of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota (U of M) and the Minnesota State College and University system (MNSCU) and while both of these great institutions provide for the Higher Education needs of the State, they have two greatly different prerogatives (for the lack of better term) on how that goal is to be achieved.

MNSCU is chartered or guided by the Legislature to provide the people of Minnesota with access to Higher Education, providing Technical Training, Certificates, Two Year and Four Year Degrees, and recently Advanced Degrees.

The U of MN is a Land Grant University with three distinct missions, regardless of how we feel about it General Higher Education is not among the three missions of the U of MN. Research, Education, and outreach are the stated goals of the U of MN.

To the average individual Education is Education, what separates MNSCU from the U of MN is the goal of education. MNSCU goal in education is to prepare individuals to fill needs in and of the State, while U of MN goal is more to prepare those people to for its other mission statements (Research and Outreach). In one of the greatest simplifications MNSCU is mandated to teach how to do something while the U of MN is mandated to teach to understand why we do something and to think about how to do that something better. Both of those ARE very great and important deeds and requirements of our society.

As both the U of MN and MNSCU are looking for new leaders, your statement is far truer about how MNSCU should look for its next Chancellor rather than the U of MN should look for its next President.
Online Education currently should be the purview of MNSCU; it fits their mission better than that of the U of MN. Small Employers, why what can they bring to the table for an organization that has a cyclical budget and employees tens of thousands of people. Arguing that the President of 3M should be included is one thing but Mom and Dad’s Convenience Store* is a whole different matter. Challenges of the Rural Community, what has that got to do with the University of Minnesota? Again I understand how systems work (butterfly wings in china = greatest snow storm in Minnesota history in August), but again they are better and more qualified people (than just being from Rural Minnesota).
Basically you are suggesting that I should be invited to sit on the Advisory Committee to Ford Motor Company simply because I drive a Ford Vehicle. In that case I just don’t bring enough to the table.

You also need to consider where the Money comes from, at MNSCU 1.3 Billion dollars of its 1.7 billion dollar budget comes from Tuition, Fees, and State Funding; on the other hand the University total budget of 1.7 Billion dollars 1.2 Billion dollars comes from Tuition Fees and State Funding, but there is a large addition to the U of MN Budget, Capital Expenditures, Self-Sustaining and Federal Funded projects are not included in that amount, neither are the budget of Fairview University Hospital. If you examine the total budget for the U of MN it receive as little as 41% of its budget from the State and that amount is getting less every year. If the current trend continues in the very near future, say 2016, the U of MN will receive less than 25% of its funding from the State. And People think the U of MN “thumbs it nose” now at State, wait until that point.

While I agree that the U of MN advisory committee should be broader, but not in the way you are thinking. There should be Provosts, College Presidents (emeritus), and other leaders from OTHER Large Land Grant Universities should represent the largest segment of the advisory committee. The problem is those individuals from other Institutions probably wouldn’t serve on the U’s committee. So the Regents set up a committee with the best that they can get.

*Please note my parents ran a small Convenience Store in the Vacation Country. So I understand the challenges of “small town rural Minnesota.” I go see it on a regular basis.

If you want to argue there is no reason anymore for Two Systems, or for Fairview University Hospital to be separate, or… Those are totally different arguments. Both President Brunnicks and Chancellor McCormick have stated that maybe it is time for the State to re-evaluate how these systems work.