No room for basket weaving

I found a great read from The Chronicle of Higher Education about the different approaches college officials and policy makers nationwide are proposing this year to deal with large budget cuts in higher education. The article, Colleges Press New Ideas as They Brace for Bumpy State-Budget Sessions, mentions several universities that are now pitching to lawmakers ideas that would normally be politically unpopular during better financial times.

They include:

-Merging institutions
-Replacing tenure with 4-year contracts
-Making a public research university private
-Less state regulation
-Capping enrollment
-Cutting state-aid programs (scholarships)
-Reducing the need for faculty by reducing the number of general-education credits required
-Increasing cigarette taxes and using revenue for higher education – revenue discussion

However, some state lawmakers are pushing for more accountability by proposing cuts to underenrolled and redundant programs and basing how much appropriation a school receives on the number of graduating students rather than the number of students enrolled. Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney of Washington summed it up with this quote from the article, "There's no room for basket weaving anymore, anywhere."

Here on the islands, the University of Hawaii, in October, proposed a hiring freeze, electricity conservation and spending cuts to address the projected 4% revenue shortfall. It would be a savings of $30.6 million.

Now that the 2009 Legislative Session is around the corner, the Committee on Finance will be holding an informational briefing with UH officials to discuss their financial plan given the most recent revenue projection, which will be determined by the Council on Revenue this Friday. The info briefing will be on Thursday, January 15, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in conference room 308.

House finds Alzheimer's bill unnecessary

While Alzheimer's Disease is a serious medical issue for Hawaii residents, House lawmakers today decided to defer a bill that would create a task force to study the feasibility of establishing an Alzheimer's research center under the the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM).

Members of the Committees on Education and Higher Education felt that SB 2545 was missing an important piece of the puzzle -- communication with medical school officials, including JABSOMs newly appointed dean, Dr. Jerris Hedges, and interim dean, Dr. Gary Ostrander.

If made law today, the medical school would have a legal obligation to form a temporary Alzheimer's task force. The legislation would essentially force a working relationship between the Alzheimer's Association and the University of Hawaii without confirmed willingness from the medical school.

It was also pointed out that legislation was unnecessary because a task force could still be established with agreements between both entities and without the Legislature acting as the middleman. The bill lacked communication between the parties involved, prompting the committees to defer it indefinitely.