Posted on 05/27/2026 1:36:07 PM PDT by karpov
Why do public university officials do the things they do? What drives their decisions to allocate scarce resources in some ways and not others?
In his recent book The University Unfettered, Ian F. McNeely offers a lot of insight into those questions. McNeely is a former (and current) faculty member and administrator, and he’s writing about his experiences at a state flagship university. He doesn’t say which one, although it’s easy to figure it out if you want to. But which state flagship doesn’t really matter, as there’s nothing unique about “The University” and those who run it.
It is clear from the outset that NcNeely is a “Progressive” who buys into most of the academic left’s beliefs and dislikes. He agrees with the idea that the country needs to get most students through college because failure to earn a BA “is a powerful predictor of diminished life chances, precarious employment, and even premature death.” And McNeely can’t hide his animosity toward non-progressives, for instance, when he writes that opposition to the left’s diversity agenda stems from “McCarthyite paranoia.” (For but one countervailing view, see this piece by Rick Hess.)
The University McNeely writes about is in a state where public funding has steadily declined to the point where only nine percent of its funds come from state appropriations. McNeely regards the “public disinvestment” from state colleges and universities as a great mistake that has heaped the costs on students and their families, but never considers whether they should bear the costs rather than the taxpayers. Nevertheless, schools such as the University have done quite well when they obtain their funds from willing donors, and McNeely says that “unfettered” universities do just fine when they are “emancipated to compete openly with their peers to achieve excellence.”
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
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“McCarthyite paranoia.” against conservatives is rampant on college campuses.
George Orwell said: "Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them."
spending almost always increases to match the revenue, regardless of whether the spending is useful, and so-called higher education revenue has been inflated by $1.7 trillion dollars of student loans backed by we Federal Taxpayers!
“That’s the trouble with you innerleckchuls,” Onnie Jay muttered, “you don’t never have nothing to show for what you’re saying.”—from Flannery O’Connor’s WISE BLOOD
I spent over 4 decades teaching at Big Ten and other universities, but some things just never made sense to me. Universities spend big money to attract well-known academics. Why? The real reason is in the hope that those faculty bring in research and other money to the university. As a general rule, these brilliant professors never see the inside of a classroom. Students don’t have the chance to interact with these people. Those expenditures and faculty hires have no direct benefit to the students who attend. There are exceptions, but they are rare.
Same outcome from local schools K thru 12. Actually the opposite was found. More spending brings lower results in academic performance at some point.
The comic strip “Tank McNamara” features ESU (Enormous State University), Tank’s alma mater.
Likewise of huge elementary and high school spending. The public cost approaches what it costs to send a kid to a state university to waste his time.
Education is failing or has already.
Paying for a college degree has shown little return. Coming out dumber has proven that consistently over the past few decades.
Too many universities are just high school on steroids. You have to take a bunch of classes that have nothing to do with a useful major such as engineering, nursing, business and the like. Stuff you learned (or should have learned) in high school. Very expensive and frustrating.
Great Orwell quote.
Those “intellectuals” suffer from the age-old disease, Lackalogic.
The liberals build monuments to themselves while feathering their nests with big salaries and pensions. The students hardly enter in their thinking.
They don't have scarce resources. They are rolling in the dough.
And that is the problem.
This is rich people stuff that us poor ordinary people can not understand.
Anything connected with government is flooded with money.
And so they spend it on stupid stuff.
Stop giving them my money.
Yes, I know. How can you be against education? Because they are buying the sterling silver toothpicks with MY money.
Shut up.
Just got notice today of ballot measures requesting $375 per student increase and $many thousands of dollars for upkeep and classrooms...at only $26.37 per month for us ordinary homeowners. This is the third request in recent memory.
Of course the notice does not give any reasoning details behind the increases. I will have to see if we now are creating more and smarter graduates.
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