At 8:30 the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee continued its review of rules. In addition, Mohan Rakesh, Director of the Office of Performance Evaluations, briefed the committee on the operations and goals of his office.
Later this morning I attended the funeral of former Senator Atwell Parry in Nampa. Senator Parry, affectionately know as “At,” was a long serving Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. I served with him for several sessions when I first came to the legislature.
At 2:30 the Senate convened briefly to advance legislation and appointments through the “orders of business” and adjourned.
The Senate Education Committee heard from Dr. Nick Hallet, who has been appointed by the Governor to the Charter School Commission. Dr. Hallet is a former UI professor as well as public school superintendent. Paul Agidius addressed the Committee in his capacity as President of the State Board of Education. We also heard from Dr. Mike Rush, Executive Director of the Idaho State Board of Education as well as Dr. Art Valais, President of Idaho State University.
I asked this trio questions regarding the Board’s decision to allow University Presidents the authority to reduce salaries of tenured faculty, as well as other staff, even though the tenured faculty have contracts.
I still don’t know here the idea originated. Did it originate from the Presidents Council, as rumor has it? Or not? If so, which President or Presidents supported it?
Dr. Valais went to great length to explain that he supported tenure for reasons of academic freedom, with which I agree. I believe that if education is about ideas and both the ability and freedom to think for ourselves, as I believe it should be, then faculty should be free to explore all ideas, whether politicians or administrators like them or not. Folks laughed at the Wright Brothers, McCormick, Eli Whitney, Henry Ford, Edison and others who had ideas not harmonious with contemporary thought. But, they advanced the lot of mankind. Kudos to Dr. Valais for understanding and articulating this and fighting to protect it.
My disagreement with all of them lies with their efforts to separate tenure and salary. They continue to insist that the two are different issues, while I think that tenure isn’t worth a whole lot if your contractual salary can be arbitrarily lowered because of the financial condition of the institution. Or, if someone is upset with your ideas and the result is the lowering of your salary. You really don’t have tenure unless both your position and your salary are protected. I am amazed that these folks really think they can hoodwink legislators with this shallow reasoning.
I am equally amazed by the ease with which they discount concern, organized and individual, from tenured faculty.
We need to remember that the University of Idaho has seen some very poor leadership in the recent past that resulted in negative effects on both faculty, the university, and retired personnel. The nomads simply moved on while the people in our community suffered.
I really don’t know a lot about how national organizations rate colleges and universities, so I can’t comment on possible censure actions that might be taken by various organizations. Some people think something along these lines might happen. At this time, I simply have not been provided with information to comment on this.
I am concerned, however, that this policy might affect future decisions by potential researchers as to whether they might locate in Idaho or not. Why would someone want to bring their research dollars with them when the President of an institution has the power to lower that salaries of a whole Department, whether they have contracts or not? Research dollars create a lot of jobs in Latah County and the surrounding area. Losing them is a major concern.
The transition of the College of Law appears to be right on schedule. Private funds are being raised and third year law courses are scheduled to open in Boise in the fall. The big question now is whether the Legislature is going to be, or legally can be, circumvented. The way this transition will take place is that the courses will be expanded to the second year, then all three years. Gradually the bulk of the courses will move to Boise and the UI campus will become increasingly insignificant until it closes. Great economic development for Boise, a kick in the teeth for Latah County.
The Idaho Farm Bureau hosted a reception for Legislators at the Red Lion Downtowner. Latah County members as well as Miss Idaho and Rep. Tom and Jo Ann Trail joined us at our table.
Our prayers are with Rep. Shirley Ringo who recently had surgery in Seattle.