New Regent Suggests Budget Cuts Hurt University Enrollments
Published 2017-10-04 by
Cory Allen Heidelberger
I might like my new local Regent. Governor Dennis Daugaard appointed Jim Thares to fill hoary old Harvey Jewett’s seat on the Board of Regents just three months ago, and already Thares is giving the Governor heck. Responding to a report that high school students taking dual-credit classes are the only thing keeping South Dakota’s public universities from suffering a 7% drop in enrollment since 2010, Thares blames the Governor’s budget cuts and argues for more money for higher ed:
Jim Thares
Regent Jim Thares of Aberdeen said several times the start of the decline in South Dakota high-school graduates attending the state universities appears to have coincided with the Legislature’s decision to reduce state funding for the state universities in 2011.
…Thares said Tuesday the public university system is a big business. “And I don’t think we tell that very well,” he said.
A report presented by Jeff Mehlhaff, a budget analyst for the Legislative Research Council, said the universities needed an additional $15.7 million annually to reach the regional average for state funding.
“In the overall scheme of what the return is, I think it would be a heckuva investment in the state of South Dakota,” Thares added. “That kind of ask is not out of line” [Bob Mercer, “Regents Consider Letting School Presidents to Set Fees, Tuition,” Rapid City Journal, 2017.10.03].
Jim shouldn’t let his business thinking get too out of hand: universities are public institutions, not businesses. But if a Daugaard man is willing to contend that our current administration’s stinginess has hurt our public universities and that the state needs to pick up more of the tab for young people to get a degree in South Dakota, I’m ready to back him up. Keep pushing, rookie Regent Jim Thares!
Mr. Jewett was one of the swellest Regents ever. I am told that hosted parties and paid for many things out of his own pockets and was a endless shill for the city of Aberdeen. My good friend Lar really despised Mr. Jewett, for reasons I still don’t understand.
David Newquist
“How entrepreneurial do we want our universities to be,” is a telling question from Regent Sutton. Note it is not “How intellectually and academically competent are our universities ?” The current business mindset in the Regents, as I have recently suggested, is what invites and makes possible EB-5 and GRAR-UP scams in the education systems.
David, do we have any Regents who come from the intellectual/academic tradition that you and I do? Do we have any Regents who do not focus on the business mindset?
David Newquist
Since Janklow reshaped the Board in his own image [http://northernbeacon.blogspot.com/2017/09/regents-and-undermining-of-education.html], there has usually been one regent who has a putative relationship with education, but they seem to silently go along with what the more dominant members recommend. Currently, this role is served by Joan Wink. http://www.joanwink.com/wink-world/
leslie
Mr Thares, many believe BOR is a hotbed of cronyism where members self- deal, cover-up, and allowed EB5 to mismanage $600Mil, yes-$600 Mil. We welcome an ethical player to the higher ed game in SD. GOAC’s Tidemann and AG Jackley twisted fact finding to protect Rounds, Daugaard, Regents, NSU using lawyers, lawyers, lawyers, state and private.
Mr. Jewett was one of the swellest Regents ever. I am told that hosted parties and paid for many things out of his own pockets and was a endless shill for the city of Aberdeen. My good friend Lar really despised Mr. Jewett, for reasons I still don’t understand.
“How entrepreneurial do we want our universities to be,” is a telling question from Regent Sutton. Note it is not “How intellectually and academically competent are our universities ?” The current business mindset in the Regents, as I have recently suggested, is what invites and makes possible EB-5 and GRAR-UP scams in the education systems.
David, do we have any Regents who come from the intellectual/academic tradition that you and I do? Do we have any Regents who do not focus on the business mindset?
Since Janklow reshaped the Board in his own image [http://northernbeacon.blogspot.com/2017/09/regents-and-undermining-of-education.html], there has usually been one regent who has a putative relationship with education, but they seem to silently go along with what the more dominant members recommend. Currently, this role is served by Joan Wink. http://www.joanwink.com/wink-world/
Mr Thares, many believe BOR is a hotbed of cronyism where members self- deal, cover-up, and allowed EB5 to mismanage $600Mil, yes-$600 Mil. We welcome an ethical player to the higher ed game in SD. GOAC’s Tidemann and AG Jackley twisted fact finding to protect Rounds, Daugaard, Regents, NSU using lawyers, lawyers, lawyers, state and private.
Another way to increase college enrollment, improve lives, improve the work force, and strengthen families — attack the right side of this graph.
http://www.educateown.com/colorado-offered-free-birth-control-and-teen-abortions-fell-by-42-percent/
Notice how we are the side-boards for West Virginia.