Politics threatens Texas higher ed
Texas A&M is being switched to allow students the most control just as waves of wholly home schooled students arrive. Is this to help the schools teach more effectively, or is it just to make them more fundamentalist friendly?
Perry is now exercising his political clout within the Texas A&M System big time.
Earlier this month, two A&M University System regents aligned with Perry forced A&M System Chancellor Michael McKinney, 59, into early retirement, the Dallas Morning News reported.
McKinney, a former lawmaker and medical doctor who once served as the governor’s chief of staff, apparently was not moving fast enough or being assertive enough in pushing forward the “seven breakthrough solutions” for Texas higher education authored by Perry supporter Jeff Sandefer, an oilman and Texas Public Policy Foundation board member.
McKinney’s resignation has faculty and staff at the system’s flagship university and others worried.
Will the governor use this as an opportunity to put in place a “yes” man who he can control from Austin?We hope not.
There needs to be an independent national search for a new chancellor for the A&M University System. An appointee with political ties to the governor could spell disaster on several fronts.