Recently there has been a flurry of concern, mainly in the administration and faculty lounges and among some influential alumni of The University of Texas and Texas A&M, about initiatives for accountability in higher education developed by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and supported by Gov. Rick Perry. The initiatives primarily consist of […]
Archives for April 2011
A Discussion We Should Have
Hats off to Congressman Peter King for conducting hearings on the risks of domestic infiltration of radical Muslim jihadists. We have for too long deferred this conversation, and it shouldn’t be and isn’t about intolerance or discrimination, for Americans of all people do not need to be lectured about tolerance–our very creed is grounded in […]
Texas Graduation Standards At Risk
The current Texas legislative session is largely about the budget crisis, and the media reports have particularly sensationalized the potential cuts in public education funding, but if one looks more closely, there is a larger threat in public education policy, one that would undermine much of the progress we have made in standards and accountability. […]
Thoughts on Libya
I don’t have any particular insights on our mission in Libya. Granted, this is a difficult call. We are in uncharted territory here. But I have at least come to some preliminary conclusions in my thinking: * Libya is our business, we have interests there, and they are not all about oil. * We shouldn’t […]
A Different Kind of Madness
As I write, the NCAA basketball championship game is upon us, and there is no bigger spectacle in college athletics than the Final Four. And I’m a big fan, but I continue to worry about the imbalances in the way we measure and reward success for these young athletes and the schools they represent. I […]