What will "running NMSU like a business" turn out to mean?

It is difficult

to get the news from poems

but men die miserably every day

for lack

of what is found there.

                         – William Carlos Williams

Many at NMSU and in our community are aghast at the sticker price of the new Garrey Carruthers: $950,000 (vs. $373,000), and two sets of benefits; but we get two brains and four hands. Faculty raises have been rare and minimal, some profs are concerned, and now we hear more high-priced administrative positions are planned.

Originally, the “university” was Socrates sitting under a tree with younger folks who thought they could learn something from him. As more students came, and maybe Plato started teaching too, they needed someone to collect the trash (or water the tree). That's the origin of college administrators -- an origin too few of them care to recall.

I've heard some good things about Dan Arvizu. 

I've also read Sun-News stories on his plans to “run NMSU like a business.” 

I second his urging that New Mexico improve K-12 education. Then improve it further. It's central to everything else. A state's financial return on dollars spent on early-childhood education is extremely high.

I might also agree with “teaching students to think like entrepreneurs.” I hope that means “creatively” or “outside the box” or “open to innovations.” But what if it's limited to “think greedy” or “how can I manipulate others to get absurdly rich”? Those are understandably prized in our capitalist system; but they have their limits, and unpleasant byproducts. (Without the ethical base and wider perspective you get from the humanities, why not destroy natural resources or other people's lives if it helps the bottom line?) 

There's a lot of knowledge that really matters, even if it doesn't pay for itself in any obvious way.

If you haven't read history, and don't care about it, you end up like Donald Trump, basing decisions on whims. Or, if you're cagier, like Vladimir Putin: quite successful but with a defective moral compass.

I understand times change. Latin and Greek used to be required, then optional, but encouraged. Now most kids wouldn't know what they are. That would appall some of my teachers, but it's how things are. 

Poems don't sell. Reading history won't teach you the electronic equivalent of how to hammer in a nail or weld a pipe. Shakespeare doesn't specifically mention antitrust law or arbitrage.

But thinking creatively and logically and having a wide and deep base of knowledge can be helpful, in any field. There are few careers where speaking coherently and writing clearly and concisely aren't incredibly important. 

Scientific research? Scientists at universities used to do independent and relatively unbiased research. They experimented – and found what they found, whether or not it supported their hypotheses. Now research in medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and other fields is increasingly bought and paid for (openly or otherwise) by large entities who have already spent bundles on their products – and aren't real open-minded about how the research will turn out. 

What might “running a university like a business” mean in that context? (Some profs would say the Regents are already imitating business, by paying NMSU's top execs disproportionately.)

Chancellor Arvizu has his mantra: STEM; but science and engineering won't teach us what to use them for.

I hope he understands that a stem exists to support fruit and flowers. 

                                                   -30- 

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 26 August, 2018, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and KTAL-LP 101.5 FM, streamable at www.lccommunityradio.com.]

[I look forward to meeting Mr. Arvizu.  I've invited him on my radio show.  As I mentioned above, I've heard some good things about him from folks who've talked to him.  And I do recognize that we live in a world where it takes a whole lot of dollars to run a university, and improve that university.]

[Meanwhile, "Happy Birthday!" to J. Paul Taylor.  He's 98!  The Friends of the Taylor Family Monument will celebrate with him at their annual membership party, from 3:30-5:30 at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.  A local hero and a great friend!]  

  

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