New Plan for '21st Century Maricopa'

In an article titled Efficiency from Incompetence, David Moltz, writing in Inside Higher Ed, examines tensions in and around the Maricopa Community College District. Maricopa's board of directors hired external consultants for $1.4M and has asked its chancellor to review for implementation the many changes in the resulting plan, which is titled "21st Century Maricopa." There are many interesting dimensions to the circumstances. SCUPers will be interested in looking at the plan and its supporting documents. According to Molz, tensions are so high that many thought the consultants would be hired for the plan's implementation, but the board has charged the chancellor with the redesign of the entire district. From Moltz's report:

Months after it was chastised by an independent panel for displaying “a consistent lack of civility” and creating “a climate of fear and mistrust,” the governing board of the Maricopa County Community College District has asked its chancellor to review and possibly implement a sweeping series of recommendations to improve the “efficiency” of the Arizona system.

The plan to redesign the district, marketed under the moniker “21st Century Maricopa,” is the result of $1.4 million worth of Alvarez & Marsal consulting work requested by the governing board last summer. The request, however, was made before the college district’s accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, encouraged an independent panel to examine an anonymous complaint it received alleging that the Maricopa board had put the district’s accreditation at risk by severely micromanaging educators.

The board’s hiring of outside consultants to weed out redundancies in the district and find further ways to save money is viewed by many local observers as a slight against Maricopa's leadership.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

AGB's Trusteeship Magazine: Several Articles

Nonmembers of AGB can no longer access the entire contents of this great magazine. Here is the current Table of Contents, though. (PDF) The lead article in the current, July/August 2009 issue is titled "The Gremlins of Governance: by Richard Chait, and its description reads: "Many college boards wrestle with 'three gremlins of governance.' None haunts every campus to the same degree, and yet all are familiar and problematic." Other articles of interest in this issue include: "Your Institution in a Global Economy" by William Freund; "Getting By Isn't Good Enough for Higher Education" by Geanie Morrison and Denise Merrill; and "Presidential Transition Teams: Fostering a Collaborative Process," by Rochard B. Artman and Mark Franz.

The Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB) has recently published a new report titled, "The AGB Survey of Higher Education Governance." Its executive summary and introduction is available at no cost here. (PDF) Description: "A wide-ranging study of best practices and policies for higher education governance reveals that while many important policies and practices are in place to guide the work of college and university governing boards, there is also room for improvement. Covering issues such as assessment of individual trustees to presidential compensation, the report, based on a survey of 700 respondents, is the first comprehensive and focused look at higher education governance: how well boards are meeting their responsibilities, what issues are at the top of their agendas, and which policies and good practices guide their work." The full report can be purchased here.

Public Institution and University System Financial Conditions Survey

From the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB), Cristin Toutsi and Rich Novak report on an overview of public higher education's financial situation.

"Using such metrics as funding levels, budget cuts, strategies for cost reductions, creative board actions, tuition and financial aid levels, enrollment projections, private support, and current board practices, we have tried to capture the essence of the challenges college and university boards are facing and how they are responding."

Full it here:
http://www.agb.org/user-assets/Documents/center/BudgetReportonPublicsApril2009.pdf

Trustee Survey Paints Grim Budget Picture for Public Universities

Paul Fain reports on a new survey from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). All 23 pages of the survey report can be downloaded here (PDF).

Even before the recession, shrinking state coffers were causing budget woes for 42 percent of the boards surveyed, with trustees reporting an average reduction in state contributions of 6.4 percent in the fiscal year that ended last June. And trustees were grim in their assessment of the future, with 73 percent predicting state budget cuts next year. Almost a third said they would face state reductions of 10 percent or more.

The recession has harmed private giving, the survey found, with 18 percent of boards reporting a delayed fund-raising campaign, and 22 percent saying they were extending a current campaign.

Trustees were mixed in their views of whether federal stimulus money would help avert the budget problems on campuses.